Famine is widespread hunger and starvation. A region struck with famine experiences acute shortages of food, massive loss of lives, social disruption, and economic chaos. Images of starving mothers and children with emaciated eyes and swollen bellies during recent crises in Ethiopia and Somalia have brought international attention to the problem of famine. Other well-known famines include the great Irish potato famines of the 1850s that drove millions of immigrants to America, and a Russian famine during Stalin's agricultural revolution that killed 20 million people in the 1930s. The worst recorded famine in recent history occurred in China between 1958 and 1961, when 23–30 million people died as a result of the failed agricultural program, "the great leap forward."

Even though we may think of these tragedies as single, isolated events, famine, and chronic hunger continue to be serious problems. Between 18 and 20 million people, three-quarters of them children, die each year of...