MEAT EATING AND WORLD HUNGER
Consider the following statistics.
One thousand acres of soybeans yield 1124 pounds of usable protein.
One thousand acres of rice yield 938 pounds of usable protein.
One thousand acres of corn yield 1000 pounds of usable protein.
One thousand acres of wheat yield 1043 pounds of usable protein.
Now, consider: this one thousand acres of soybeans, corn, rice or wheat, when fed to a
steer, will yield only about 125 pounds of usable protein. This and other findings points
to a disturbing conclusion: meat-eating is directly related to world hunger.
Some nutritionists, environmentalists and politicians have pointed out that if the
United States were to feed that same grain to the poor and starving people of the world as
is fed to livestock, we could wipe out starvation and its corollary horrors. In fact,
Harvard nutritionist Jean Mayer estimates that reducing meat production by just 10% would
release enough grain to feed sixty million people.
It is a matter of record: in terms of land, water and resources, meat is the most
expensive and inefficient food anyone can eat. Only about 10% of the protein and calories
we feed to livestock is returned in the meat those animals provide. In addition, hundreds
of thousands of acres of arable land are occupied in raising livestock for food. One acre
used to raise a steer provides only about one pound of protein. That same one acre planted
with soybeans will produce 17 pounds of protein. In short, raising animals for food is a
tremendous waste of world's resources.
"To grow one pound of wheat requires only 60 pounds of water, where as production
of a pound of meat requires anywhere from 2,500 to 6,000 pounds of water." - Paul and
Anne Ehrlich, Population, Resources and Environment.
"To derive 1kg. of meat protein, the animal has to be fed 7-8 kg's. of vegetable
protein. It has also been estimated that to obtain 1 animal-flesh calorie, 7
vegetarian-plant-food calories have to be spent. Data compiled by the American agriculture
department shows that the land needed to graze 1 average animal can sustain 5 average
families of human beings." - Gopinath Aggarval, Vegetarian or Non-vegetarian:
Choose Yourself.
"An average American consumes about 120 kg's. of meat every year and to obtain it
about 1000 kg's. of food grains are fed to the animals. If the same Americans consume food
grains directly then at least 8 people can be fed for a whole year with the same quantity
as is required for flesh food for only 1 person. Professor George Borgstorm has estimated
that the amount of plant food fed to the animals in America alone would be enough to feed
1/2 the human population of the world." - Gopinath Aggarval, Vegetarian or
Non-vegetarian: Choose Yourself.
"If a cow yields an average of 10 kg's. of milk per day for an average of 10 month
in a year, it amounts to 3000 kg's. of milk which can satisfy the hunger of 6000 persons
once. In its 15 productive years on an average, a cow in its whole life can thus satisfy
the hunger of 90000 persons at least once. But if the same cow is killed and its flesh
used for eating, it cannot satisfy even 100 persons one time." - Gopinath Aggarval, Vegetarian
or Non-vegetarian: Choose Yourself.
"A diet of grains, vegetables, and beans will support twenty times more people
than a diet of meat. As it stands now, about half the harvested acreage in America is used
to feed animals." - Dr. Aaron Altshul, Proteins: Their chemistry an Politics.
"Research shows that for every sixteen pounds of grain we get back only one pounds
of beef". (USDA's Economic Research Service)
"The over consumption of meat by the rich means hunger for the poor." -
report to the United Nations World Food Conference, Rene Dumont, an agricultural economist
at Frances' National Agricultural Institute.
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