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> Sure, there's some hunger in India, but AFAICT most people are already getting most of the calories they need. I'm pretty sure this is very wrong. Quick sea

> Sure, there's some hunger in India, but AFAICT most people are already getting most of the calories they need. I'm pretty sure this is very wrong. Quick search brought up the following: http://www.worldhunger.org/2015-world-hunger-and-poverty-facts-and-statistics/ http://www.worldhunger.org/2015-world-hunger-and-poverty-fac... > Hunger continues to take its largest toll in Southern Asia, which includes the countries of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The estimate of 276 million chronically undernourished people in 2014–16 is only marginally lower than the number in 1990– 92.

bryanlarsen 10y ago
Assuming that "chronically undernourished" means they're only consuming half the calories they need, and given that rice is a global commodity, that means an increase of demand of ~2%. That's insignificant compared to supply shocks caused by weather which can affect supply +/- 50%.
pkaye 10y ago
The average calorie intake in India is 2360. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_food_energy_intake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_food_ener...) The minimum recommend is 1800. That means either a vast number have an adequate calorie intake or there are a few "Bill Gates of calorie intake" in India. I think the first is more likely.
gumby 10y ago
Worse, India (the nation) wastes a huge percentage of the food grown due to poor infrastructure (bad roads, limited refrigeration in the godowns, etc). Also it's expensive to be poor: poor people in every country have to make a lot of bad-in-the-long-term tradeoffs due to transaction costs and loss of economies of scale (e.g. can't afford the savings of bulk buying). When people have an opportunity reduce their base survival worry there's a chance they can fix some of the bigger problems. I don't think the Maslow hierarchy is terribly insightful but it's the right argument here: some problems are simply unfixable when you are busy worrying that you will starve to death.

bryanlarsen 10y ago

Assuming that "chronically undernourished" means they're only consuming half the calories they need, and given that rice is a global commodity, that means an increase of demand of ~2%. That's insignificant compared to supply shocks caused by weather which can affect supply +/- 50%.

pkaye 10y ago

The average calorie intake in India is 2360. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_food_energy_intake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_food_ener...) The minimum recommend is 1800. That means either a vast number have an adequate calorie intake or there are a few "Bill Gates of calorie intake" in India. I think the first is more likely.

gumby 10y ago

Worse, India (the nation) wastes a huge percentage of the food grown due to poor infrastructure (bad roads, limited refrigeration in the godowns, etc). Also it's expensive to be poor: poor people in every country have to make a lot of bad-in-the-long-term tradeoffs due to transaction costs and loss of economies of scale (e.g. can't afford the savings of bulk buying). When people have an opportunity reduce their base survival worry there's a chance they can fix some of the bigger problems. I don't think the Maslow hierarchy is terribly insightful but it's the right argument here: some problems are simply unfixable when you are busy worrying that you will starve to death.