People love to criticize famines in China and Russia as being mismanagement by government (and they are), but they're missing the forest for the trees. Prior to the communist governments, famines were a common occurrence in China and Russia.

The Sichuan famine in 1936 killed 5 million. The famine in 1928 killed 6 million. The Chinese famine in 1906 killed 20 million. The Chinese famine in 1876 killed 10 million.

Yet, since the Great Leap Forward? China has not experienced a single famine. Similarly, the last famine in Russia was in 1947. People sit in their ivory towers where food can be imported from around the world and 40% of food is wasted and wonder why so many people died trying to get something so accessible. Meanwhile, places in Africa are still experiencing mass famine and nobody cares.