Due to increasing urbanization and automation, people are living more sedentary lifestyles. These factors combine to make weight gain difficult to avoid.Overnutrition also occurs in developing countries. It has appeared in parts of developing countries where income is on the rise. It is also a problem in countries where hunger and poverty persist. Economic development, rapid urbanisation and shifting dietary patterns have increased the burden of overnutrition in the cities of low and middle-income countries. In China, consumption of high-fat foods has increased, while consumption of rice and other goods has decreased. Overeating leads to many diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes, that may be fatal. Agricultural productivity
Local food shortages can be caused by a lack of arable land, adverse weather, and/or poorer farming skills (like inadequate crop rotation). They can also occur in areas which lack the technology or resources needed for the higher yields found in modern agriculture. These resources include fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, machinery, and storage facilities. As a result of widespread poverty, farmers and governments cannot provide enough of these resources to improve local yields. Additionally, the World Bank and some wealthy donor countries have pressured developing countries to use free market policies. Even as the United States and Europe extensively subsidized their own farmers, they urged developing countries to cut or eliminate subsidized agricultural inputs, like fertilizer. Without subsidies, few (if any) farmers in developing countries can afford fertilizer at market prices. This leads to low agricultural production, low wages, and high, unaffordable food prices.
This is a form of social security in which all citizens or residents of a country regularly receive an unconditional sum of money, either from a government or some other public institution, in addition to any income received from elsewhere. Successful initiatives
Ethiopia pioneered a program that later became part of the World Banks prescribed method for coping with a food crisis. Through the countrys main food assistance program, the Productive Safety Net Program, Ethiopia provided rural residents who were chronically short of food a chance to work for food or cash. Foreign aid organizations like the World Food Program were then able to buy food locally from surplus areas to distribute in areas with a shortage of food. Aid organizations now view the Ethiopian program as a model of how to best help hungry nations. Successful initiatives also include Brazils recycling program for organic waste, which benefits farmers, the urban poor, and the city in general. City residents separate organic waste from their garbage, bag it, and then exchange it for fresh fruit and vegetables from local farmers. This reduces the countrys waste while giving the urban poor a steady supply of nutritious food. World population
Restricting population size is a proposed solution to malnutrition. Thomas Malthus argues that population growth can be controlled by natural disasters and by voluntary limits through "moral restraint." Robert Chapman suggests that government policies are a necessary ingredient for curtailing global population growth.