Hunger in Angola Essay

Hunger in Angola Angola has one of fastest growing economies in the world yet still suffers from hunger. The population of Angola was estimated to be 12,263,596 in 2007. The countries total infant mortality rate (IMR) was 184. 44 deaths per 1,000 live births with IMR for males being 196. 55 deaths per 1,000 live births and for females 171. 72 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2007 (www. geographyiq. com). The life expectancy is low partly because of starvation, unsafe food and water, and a high incidence of deaths from AIDS. The life expectancy of Angolan males was 36. 73 years and for females 38. 57 years in 2007. The total fertility rate was 6. 27 children born per woman, which ranks high compared to developed countries like the US which had a total fertility rate of 2. 09 children born per woman in 2007 (geographyiq. com). Angola is a developing country that depends on getting half of its food supply from imports and foreign aid (geographyiq. com). Agriculture still remains the primary method for feeding the countries people. Major barriers that face the country are few roadways for import and export, a corrupt government, drought, and unusable land due to landmines that were set during the 27 year long Angolan Civil War that ended in 2002. One of the major exports in Angola is oil and petroleum which contribute to its growing economy, but the countries people see very little of the revenue due to government corruption. Much of the oil from Angola is exported to industrialized nations like the United States. In this way the countries policies follow the dependency theory in which its natural resources are exported to countries that are well off. The country also supplies other natural resources for export which include diamonds, coffee, sisal, fish and fish products, timber, and cotton. The modernization theory would provide a good guideline for reducing hunger in Angola. In this way the country could begin to use its natural resources such as oil for export to provide revenues to feed its people. Also commercial farming and agricultural techniques could be taught so that more of the prime agricultural land could be used for mass agriculture. With the use of modern farming techniques the country could become self-sufficient and not depend on foreign aid. However, in Angola a plan to remove landmines would need to be implemented to allow safe farming. The country would also need to implement plans to build roadways in order to see continued growth in their export and import economies.