famine

Definition

A famine is a widespread disaster that involves an extreme lack of food throughout a country or region.

Food crops can fail because of natural causes such as lack of rain and other poor weather conditions, crop disease, or insects
Food shortages can also be caused by war, or by bad government.
In the Bible, God often caused famine as a way to punish nations when they sinned against him.
In Amos 8:11 the term "famine" is used figuratively to refer to a time when God punished his people by not speaking to them. This could be translated with the word for "famine" in your language, or with a phrase such as, "extreme lack" or "severe deprivation."