ns of security for their old age. Reasons about additional help on the land. Reasons concerning the cultural preference for sons. Reasons related to the laws of inheritance. Reasons dictated by traditional religious behavior. And reasons of personal pride”6 These are all reasons why poor people all over the country continue to have large families generation after generation despite their economic condition. The majority of the hungry live and work in rural areas. Why are poor people affected so much by hunger? The answer would be seemingly simple, that they are just unable to afford food. But let us examine more closely other reasons the poor across the world are so stricken with hunger. Many of the poor around the world are tenant farmers and do not own the land in which they work and live.7 These tenant farmers are many times paid very little for the service they provide to the owners and are unable to purchase the food in which they helped produce. Those who do own a small plot of land for farming their own land still need money to do so. In order to care for the land for the benefit of food production a farmer needs tools as well as other materials and resources, all items that cost money. “Adequate nourishment for a family depends upon its ability either to produce enough food for its own needs or to earn enough money to buy the food-or some combination of the two. Without this ability color the family hungry.”8 Malnutrition is the most common affect of hunger. Malnutrition is “a term indicating an impairment to physical and/or mental health resulting from failure to meet nutrient requirements. The insufficiency of nutrients may result from inadequate nutrient intake or from interference with the body’s ability to process and utilize nutrients.”9 Malnutrition causes many health conditions such as stunting of growth, tissue wasting, cognitive and behavioral deficits, or starvation. The lack of vit...
