FROM THE FIELD
recent proliferation of global ‘days’, of
varying frivolity, but rarely can any have been more pertinent than today’s.The West’s media may currently be dining out on turmoil in financial institutions and markets, but
another crisis continues to have dire consequences for millions of people living in poverty. This weekend the World Bank announced that the food crisis has resulted in an extra 44 million people becoming malnourished in 2008, bringing the total of hungry
people to almost one billion - nearly one in seven people now goes hungry.In recent months global food prices have
come down slightly from their peak over the summer, but domestic food prices remain high and are predicted to remain so in the medium term. But if and when prices come back down, it won’t be
possible for many people living in poverty to simply return to business as usual. Short-term shocks have long-term consequences. Babies who don’t get fed properly now will feel the effects for a
lifetime; children who get taken out of school so their parents can spend the school fees on food or crop fertilisers will fall behind on their education, perhaps never returning the classroom;
enterprising women and men who are forced to sell off business assets may jeopardise their source of income for years to come. As Ban Ki-moon will say today,
widespread lack of food undermines “the wellbeing of an entire generation on whom the world will depend in the future.”Oxfam today launches a new paper that explores the lessons from the current crisis and recommends ten actions that poor countries should
take with the support of donor countries. These include spending more on agriculture to generate more food in both the short and long term and investing in schemes that provide protection to the most
vulnerable people. It also highlights the need for many farmers, particularly women farmers, to receive better access to land, water, seeds, fertilisers, technologies, loans, and markets. Often access
to these vital ingredients of successful agriculture is insufficient, insecure, or too expensive.The UN has estimated that if progress towards ending hunger and extreme poverty (known as
Millennium Development Goal 1) is to stay on course, between $25 billion and 40 billion of new funds must be spent each year on remedying the current food crisis. As the world’s financial woes
worsen, this investment is more urgent than ever. As Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank said this weekend, we must ensure that “as
governments and publics turn their attention close to home, they do not step back from their commitments to boost overseas assistance to meet the Millennium Development Goals.”[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
