Season 29 · Episode 5

Panorama: The Politics of Hunger

Before the year 2000, the world is likely to face famine on a scale hitherto unknown. Today .more than half the African countries still face severe food shortages, despite the millions of pounds of western aid which have been poured in to rural development schemes. But will increasing overseas aid, as the Brandt Commission recommends, really lead to less hunger? Or are African governments forced by their very poverty to pursue policies which actively discourage the production of more food?