Cheap Staple Food Built Empires

[upepo]

In the ancient world, most great empires arose along river valleys. This was primarily because river valleys provided the fertility and water that enabled populations to grow huge amounts of staple foods. With the easy availability of staple food, populations had the time and energy to pursue other beneficial human endeavors instead of devoting all their resources trying to obtain food.

The idea of building empires on cheap food lives on to this day. The United States, which is the equivalent of a modern day empire, is built on cheap food, largely supported by government subsidies. A lowly worker earning a minimum hourly wage of $7.25 can easily afford decent meals and still have some money left to devote to other needs. In the list shown below, we try to approximate how much various food items would have to cost for a Kenyan worker earning 30K to enjoy the same affordability as a US worker earning an hourly wage of $10.

Given the high food prices in Kenya, it is no surprise that a majority of the population work for an entire day just to afford some basic food such as ugali and vegetables. Think of the achievements such folks could reach if they did not commit all their resources to securing food, not forgetting the immense health benefits when the entire population is well fed.

 

[DeepInYourMind]

In the ancient world, most great empires arose along river valleys. This was primarily because river valleys provided the fertility and water that enabled populations to grow huge amounts of staple foods. With the easy availability of staple food, populations had the time and energy to pursue other beneficial human endeavors instead of devoting all their resources trying to obtain food.

The idea of building empires on cheap food lives on to this day. The United States, which is the equivalent of a modern day empire, is built on cheap food, largely supported by government subsidies. A lowly worker earning a minimum hourly wage of $7.25 can easily afford decent meals and still have some money left to devote to other needs. In the list shown below, we try to approximate how much various food items would have to cost for a Kenyan worker earning 30K to enjoy the same affordability as a US worker earning an hourly wage of $10.
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Given the high food prices in Kenya, it is no surprise that a majority of the population work for an entire day just to afford some basic food such as ugali and vegetables. Think of the achievements such folks could reach if they did not commit all their resources to securing food, not forgetting the immense health benefits when the entire population is well fed.

Kenya is the so called medium income country in East Africa, making fun of the other countries being classified as Least Developed Countries, yet both Uganda and Tanzania have higher levels of food security than Kenya.

Driven by greed, upgrading the status of the country to qualify for larger loans, most of which doesn't even land into the country.

Instead of expensive loss making projects like an railway to the middle of nowhere, focus should have first been on 100% food security, free quality education and working healthcare services for all. But the latter ones provide little opportunity for the usual tribal lords to feast on Kenyans' resources.