23 billion going hungry despite global overproduction of food

Marxist Analysis · 2026-05-13

Core Argument¶

The article argues that global hunger is not a crisis of scarcity but a crisis of overproduction under capitalism. The central claim is that the global food system produces more than 2.6 times the caloric needs of every person on Earth, yet 2.3 billion people lack secure access to nutritious food. This contradiction is explained not by Malthusian overpopulation — a myth repeatedly deployed by imperialist institutions — but by the monopolisation of food production by a handful of agribusiness corporations, the subordination of agriculture to profit rather than need, and the structural extraction of wealth from poor countries to rich ones. The real crisis is capitalism's inability to distribute what it already produces in abundance.

Theoretical Grounding¶

The analysis draws on classical Marxist political economy, particularly Engels' refutation of Malthus. The article explicitly invokes Engels' argument that the limits of production under capitalism are determined not by the number of hungry bellies but by the number of purses able to pay. This is situated within the broader Marxist tradition of understanding crises as crises of overproduction — a tendency inherent to capitalism, not a failure of nature or demography.

The article also deploys the Marxist concept of monopoly capitalism, showing how a tiny handful of corporations dominate seeds, agrichemicals, grain trading, and distribution. It connects this to the Marxist theory of imperialism, arguing that unequal exchange — the extraction of raw materials and food from poor countries at low prices while exporting manufactured goods at higher prices — is the real mechanism behind the divide between rich and poor nations. The analysis implicitly draws on Lenin's theory of imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism, where monopoly capital and finance capital dominate global production.

The Malthusian critique is grounded in the materialist conception of history: the article shows that technological development in agriculture (synthetic fertilisers, genetic modification) has repeatedly disproven Malthus' predictions, but these advances are captured by capital for profit rather than deployed for human need.

Conjunctural Relevance¶

The article is published in April 2023, at a moment when the global food system is experiencing acute shocks. The IMF has warned of a potential "food crisis" as rising prices threaten the food security of another 1 billion people across "hunger hotspots" in poor countries. The article notes that food insecurity has risen by 150 million people since 2019 — a direct consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and the inflationary pressures generated by the war in Ukraine.

The analysis is particularly sharp on the role of financial speculation: it cites the 2008-2011 period when Goldman Sachs helped drive wheat prices up by nearly 40 percent, increasing developing countries' import bills by 56 percent. This connects the current conjuncture to the longer history of financialised capitalism, where food becomes a speculative asset rather than a necessity.

The article also identifies the geopolitical dimension: Somalia, a country with some of the world's most bountiful fishing areas and vast tracts of arable land, faces severe hunger due to imperialist interventions and overfishing by transnational corporations. This is a concrete example of how imperialism systematically underdevelops entire regions.

The data on monopoly concentration is specific and damning: 58 percent of the global seed market and 77.6 percent of the agrochemicals market is controlled by just six corporations; ten corporations control 40 percent of agricultural trade; and these monopolies are themselves dominated by giant institutional investors like BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street.

Where the Argument Continues¶

The article is a popular exposition of Marxist positions on the food system, but several threads remain underdeveloped and are taken up elsewhere in the IDOM corpus:

The relationship between the food crisis and the broader crisis of overaccumulation in the global economy is gestured at but not fully theorised. Other IDOM articles on the tendency of the rate of profit to fall and the current stagflationary conjuncture would deepen this analysis.
The article mentions that up to one third of food produced is lost before it reaches anyone, mostly at the distribution stage, because it cannot be sold profitably. This connects to the Marxist theory of circulation and the realisation problem — a theme explored in IDOM articles on crises of overproduction in other sectors.
The socialist solution is stated programmatically but not elaborated. The question of how a socialist planned economy would organise global agriculture — including the transition from monoculture to multi-cropping, the expropriation of agribusiness monopolies, and the democratic control of food distribution — is addressed in more detail in IDOM's educational series on socialist economics and in Against the Stream episodes on food sovereignty.
The article does not engage with reformist proposals for "food justice" or "sustainable agriculture" within capitalism. The RCI's critique of such approaches — as treating symptoms rather than the system — is developed in other IDOM articles on the limits of NGO-ism and the necessity of revolutionary strategy.

Connections¶

Engels, "Outlines of a Critique of Political Economy" (1844) — The direct source of the Engels quote used in the article. This early text contains the foundational Marxist critique of Malthus and the argument that capitalism's limits are limits of purchasing power, not production.
Marx, Capital, Volume 3 — On the tendency of the rate of profit to fall and crises of overproduction. The article's framing of the food crisis as a crisis of overproduction is grounded in Marx's analysis of how capitalism periodically destroys productive forces because they cannot be profitably valorised.
Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism — On monopoly capital, finance capital, and the export of capital. The article's analysis of agribusiness monopolies and their connection to Wall Street and City of London institutional investors is a concrete application of Lenin's theory.
IDOM, "The Myth of Overpopulation" — A longer theoretical treatment of the Malthusian tradition and its political function as an apology for capitalism.
IDOM, "The Global Food Crisis and the War in Ukraine" — An article examining how the war has exacerbated food price inflation and supply chain disruptions, connecting the food crisis to geopolitical rivalries.
Against the Stream, episodes on imperialism and the global South — Podcast episodes that develop the analysis of unequal exchange and the mechanisms by which imperialist powers extract wealth from poor countries.

Key Quotes¶

"Today, despite unprecedented wealth existing in the world, one in seven people go to bed hungry."
"The massive development of food production – far in excess of what is necessary for survival – is a clear rebuke of the Malthusian ideas that blame the world's poor for their own hunger."
"Those who are powerful enough to control food production determine who consumes it and who goes hungry."
"Not because the limits of production – even today and with present day means – are exhausted. No, but because the limits of production are determined not by the number of hungry bellies but by the number of purses able to buy and to pay." (Engels, quoted in the article)
"On a world scale, capitalism is incapable of making use of its productive capacity to feed people, not because they are too well fed, but because they cannot afford it."
"The same countries which produce huge swaths of the world's food, are the most vulnerable to 'food crises' wherever prices change."