2. Potatoes were staple crop of the poor
Blight wiped out large amounts of the crop
from 1845-1848
British Parliament was slow to react to the loss
of the food staple
Exports of corn and livestock continued during
this time despite the widespread starvation
3. British policies caused the landlords to evict
large numbers of Irish poor tenants from their
land exacerbating the problem
British relief programs were short lived or
ineffective and politically unpopular
Resulted in the deaths of 1.1-1.5 million Irish
Also resulted in drastically higher emigration
rates
4. Period of extreme hunger from 1931-33 due to
government policies
Experts divided on cause
Partially socioeconomic – policies of industrial
expansion, shift from traditional
crops, redistribution of all farmers crops
Holodomor or “terror by famine”- active
propagation of hunger by authorities to prevent
social revolution
5. Socioeconomic factors
Collectivization-combining villages into large “collective
farms”
Redirection of crop land from grain to sugar
beets, cotton, and other crops
Procurement policy required all farms to provide large
amounts of harvest to the government
Holodomor
All food declared state property-youth organizations
were enforcers
Elimination of wealthy or uncooperative peasants
Estimated population loss of 6-7 million
Severe malnutrition-even reports of cannibalism
6. Severe reduction in food production in China
from 1958-61
Collectivization of farming into communes at
beginning of period
Shift to unsuccessful agricultural techniques
Forced shift of farmers to iron and steel
production
Continued export of grain despite widespread
famine
7. Occurred on top of several natural disasters
that affected crop production
Death toll estimates vary wildly; estimates
range anywhere from 15 million to 36 million
Estimates of total population loss are as high as
76 million
Severe hunger-Reports of
cannibalism, consumption of tree bark
8. All three famines caused by government
policies
Rights-citizens have a right to access to the
food the produce
All three famines partially caused by government
appropriating food produced by starving for other
uses
9. Categorical imperative-People should not be
treated as a means to an end
Irish grain production exported for profit of British
landowners
Ukrainian grain production appropriated for urban
areas
Chinese exported grain while citizens starved
10. Gray, Peter. 2006. Famine and Land in Ireland
and India, 1845-1880: James Caird and the
Political Economy of Hunger. The Historical
Journal 49:1, pp. 193-215. Retrieved February
28, 2013 http://www.jstor.org/stable/4091745
Donnelly, Jim (BBC). February 2011. The Irish
Famine. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victori
ans/famine_01.shtml
11. Lim, Louisa (NPR). November 2012. A Grim
Chronicle Of China's Great Famine. Retrieved
February 28, 2013.
http://www.npr.org/2012/11/10/164732497/a-
grim-chronicle-of-chinas-great-famine
Grada, Cormac. 2008. The ripple that drowns?
Twentieth-century famines in China and India as
economic history. The Economic History Review
61:s1 pp 5-37
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.proxy.lib.iastate.ed
u/doi/10.1111/j.1468-0289.2008.00435.x/pdf
12. Fawkes, Helen (BBC). November 2006. Legacy
of famine divides Ukraine. Retrieved February
28, 2013
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6179818.
stm
Kulchytsky, Stanislav (Kiev Day). February
2007. Holodomor of 1932-33 as genocide: gaps
in evidential basis. Retrieved February 28, 2013
http://www.day.kiev.ua/en/article/day-
after-day/holodomor-1932-33-genocide-gaps-
evidential-basis