BU YADYOK P2

2023-2024 Spring B Week 5

KEY
WHY CAN’T PEOPLE FEED THEMSELVES?
Selective Listening

Pre-listening Activity:

Study the definitions of the following words and the example sentences about them.

biased (adj) : showing favour towards or against one group of people or one opinion
for personal reasons; making unfair judgements
Ex.: They presented a biased report on the immigration trends.

constitute (v) : to be the parts that together form sth

Ex.: Female workers constitute the majority of the labour force.

deficient (adj): not good enough

Ex.: Many experts think that the educational program is deficient in
meeting the needs of diverse learners.

deny (v) : to not allow sb to have sth that they want or ask for
Ex.: Her ex-husband denies access to her children just because he doesn’t want to.
No one should be denied a good education.

exploit (v) : to treat sb unfairly by making them work and not giving them much in return
Ex.: Immigrants in many countries are ruthlessly exploited by their
employers.

implement (v): to start using a plan or system

Ex.: The authorities have been implementing many reforms in schools.

rule (n) : a period of time during which a particular person or group is in control of
a country
Ex.: The people revolted against the military rule and established their own
government.

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restrain (v) : to stop sby/sth from doing sth, especially by using physical force

Ex.: They passed regulations that restrain companies from engaging in

unfair business practices.

unrest (n) : a political situation in which people are angry and likely to protest or fight

Ex.: The increase in fees sparked a new wave of student unrest.

Now, fill in the blanks with the correct forms of the words above.

1. The president failed to implement the plan that he had promised before the

elections.
2. Despite its agricultural potential, the country is deficient in effective farming

practices.
3. The murder of a boy by police caused civil unrest in many cities throughout the

country.
4. The pro-government media is criticized for giving biased reports on current events.

5. Under Israel's illegal occupation, Palestinians are being denied their basic human
rights.

6. Children constitute four out of every ten poor people in the United States.
7. Demands have been made for an end to one-party rule in the country.
8. Reports showed that the restaurant chain was exploiting its employees by
disregarding labour laws.

9. The contract includes a statement that restrains the employees from quitting their
job without prior notice.

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TEXT:

In my lecture today, I am going to talk about world hunger. According to the United
Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, 821 million people in the world were hungry

in 2017. This is a serious issue, and the problem is particularly severe in certain parts of

the world. We all know that people in Africa, Eastern and Southern Asia, and parts of Latin
America suffer from hunger. Why can’t people in these areas feed themselves? The major

cause of hunger has been falsely thought as overpopulation for many years. However, this
is not true. So why do these countries suffer from lack of food? Today we are going to

examine the beliefs and the reality about world hunger.

Let me first start with the beliefs about world hunger. There is a general belief that the

existing conditions of the world are not sufficient for everyone to feed themselves. At first,
this belief might sound true to you. However, it is one-sided because it only reflects the

idea of the global powers. According to this one-sided story, there are two types of nations
in the world: The first type is a minority of developed nations. These nations have made

progress in history, and this is because of their agricultural changes as well as industrial
changes. They are now successful in feeding themselves without any concern, so there is

no need to worry about them. And what about the second type? The second type is
underdeveloped nations, and these nations unfortunately constitute the majority in the

world. These nations remained behind the others, so they are now in a traditional state.

Now you may wonder why the majority of nations have stayed behind. The one-sided
story of the global powers says that these underdeveloped nations do not have natural

resources. They also say that these nations are deficient in cultural development, which is
needed for progress. Yet, these are not true at all. Well, what is the truth, then?

In order to understand the truth about the world hunger, we need to look at the history
of these nations. This is because it is not possible to understand the reality of today

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without looking at the history. For this reason, I will start describing the historical process

that brought about the present conditions of the world. To start with a fact, the nations
that severely suffer from hunger today have one feature in common: they were once

colonies. So we need to understand colonization to get a holistic perspective on the issue.

We also need to talk about the times before and after colonization to understand why
people can’t feed themselves now.

Have you ever thought about the life of traditional societies in the past? Let me first talk
about life of traditional societies before colonization so that you can learn more about the

facts. Before colonization, traditional societies could meet their need for food in two ways.
These ways were their own agricultural production and exchange of goods. These societies

had a well-functioning system, and this system met at least a minimum need of food for
all the members of their societies. After colonization, their system stopped working. It was

mainly because colonization destroyed their system. Well, why did colonization destroy a
system that worked, then? This is an important question that needs to be answered.

To begin with, for the colonialists, agriculture in the colonies had two purposes. The first

purpose of the colonialists was to generate money. This was so because they needed
money to run the colonies. And the second purpose was to supply the needs of Europeans.

At this point, let me introduce you to an important concept: “cash crop farming”. What is
“cash crop farming”? Well, it can be described as the type of agriculture to make money.

The colonialists used cash crop policy to increase their profit. For example, before
colonization, people in Gambia grew rice and met their food needs. But with the colonial

rule, most of the best land was used for peanuts, and the colonialists started to sell peanuts
in the European market. Similarly, the colonialists forced Northern Ghana to produce

cocoa, Uganda to produce cotton, and Vietnam to produce rice. As a result, these societies
began producing cash crops for the colonialists instead of growing their own local food.

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Now, let’s look at how the colonialists selected what cash crop to grow in which colony.

The colonialists surveyed three things. These were the land, the climate, and the residents
in the region. Then, they started growing the chosen cash crop. In time, cash crop farming

affected the locals negatively, and ultimately this change led to hunger and social unrest.

At this point, you may wonder why native people gave up growing their own food and
suffered from hunger as well as social problems. Of course, they did not willingly quit

growing their own crops for themselves. The colonialists used two strategies to force the
locals. The first strategy was to use economic force to get the local farmers to grow cash

crops. This force was in the form of taxation, and it proved to be a successful strategy. As
a result, local people started to grow cash crops.

How about the second strategy used by the colonialists? The colonialists’ second strategy
to force native population to grow cash crops was the direct invasion of the land. The

colonialists took over much of the land of the local farmers. Of course, their taking over
was not in a friendly way. The colonialists practiced violence to get what they wanted from

the natives. However, they left the locals alone after they got the lands of the local farmers.
Naturally, those lands needed increasing numbers of agricultural workers who would work

for low wages. To meet this demand, the colonialists devised a variety of tactics to exploit
the locals. First, the basic rights of the locals were denied. As a result, the locals could not

get government services that they deserved. Even the most minimal infrastructure needs

such as access to water, tools, or seeds were denied to the locals. Not surprisingly the local
population could not produce their own food because they suffered from lack of land and

resources. Most of the locals did not even make enough money to pay the colonial
demands. Thus, hundreds of thousands of locals were forced to leave their lands to work

as slaves or for very low wages so that they could pay what the colonialists demanded.

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While the locals were suffering, the colonialists guaranteed their cheap labor supply and

boosted their earnings. Of all the strategies used by the colonialists, one was particularly
damaging and had the most significant historical consequence. They purchased food for

a very low price from other countries. By keeping the prices low, the colonialists aimed at

discouraging local farmers from growing food crops, and they succeeded. The domestic
market for such products was destroyed. For example, West Indies, and particularly

Jamaica, had become totally dependent on cheap imported foods in the 18 th century.
Unfortunately, the dependence of West Indies on imported food continues today.

As you can see, the colonial practices of the past are the real cause why many nations
cannot grow their food today while others can. This ends my lecture today. Thank you for

listening.

Answer the questions while listening to the lecture.

1. Most people mistakenly believe that overpopulation is the main reason for world hunger.
2. Other than agricultural changes, what has enabled developed societies to move forward?
industrial changes
3. According to the biased narration of powerful countries, the majority of nations are
underdeveloped because they lack natural resources and cultural development.
4. What characteristic do the countries that cannot feed themselves today share?
(that) they were once colonies
5. What are the methods that people in primitive societies used in order to feed
themselves during the pre-colonization era? (Write one.)
(their own) agricultural production / exchange of goods
6. Why did the colonialists implement cash crop farming policy?
to increase their profit
7. While choosing what cash crop to grow, what did the colonialists check other than the
area and weather conditions?
the residents in the region

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8. What action did the colonialists take to restrain the locals economically?
taxation
9. Local people failed to produce their own food due to inadequate land and resources.
10. The colonialists’ main aim for importing cheap food was for the locals to stop growing
food crops.

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