It is not often that Olympics is followed by a world summit where pomp and spectacle gives way to some sober assessment of the harsh and painful realities of our world. We don’t know what made British Prime Minister David Cameron time the hunger summit held at 10 Downing Street yesterday to tie in with the close of the London Olympics. But it was a wise decision, especially in the context of the UN food agency’s latest warning that the world could face a new food crisis of the kind seen in 2007/08 if countries resort to export bans.
The Food and Agriculture Organization last Thursday recalled how a mix of high oil prices, growing use of biofuels, bad weather, restrictive export policies and soaring grain futures markets pushed up prices of food in 2007/08, sparking violent protests and political instability in some countries, including Tunisia, Egypt, Cameroon and Haiti.
“There is a potential for a situation to develop like we had back in 2007/08,” the organization’s senior economist and grain analyst Abdolreza Abbassian told Reuters.
Statistics are frightening. An unparalleled number of severe food shortages have added 43 million to the number of people going hungry worldwide this year. And millions of children are now at risk of acute malnutrition — the focus of discussions at yesterday’s summit. Save the Children warns that a sharp price rise would push millions of more children into hunger as many of the world’s poorest families already spend two-thirds of their income on basic staples. Higher food prices mean higher import bills for the poorest countries, which do not produce enough food domestically. This would affect development in other sectors of the economy.
Even in the best of times, our global food system is stretched to the breaking point by growth in population, especially in poor or underdeveloped countries, higher energy costs, and vagaries of weather. Experts at the Food and Agriculture Organization estimate global agricultural productivity must double by 2050 to keep pace with increased demand.
The situation calls for renewing long-neglected investments in agriculture assistance across the developing world by the United States and other developed countries, targeting small farmers as the fundamental drivers of economic growth. Most countries still lack adequate investment in agricultural and road infrastructure to facilitate the development of value-added products and new markets. They deserve UN help. At the same time, Group of 20 leading developed and developing nations must uphold their pledges of $ 22 billion to enhance global food security.
While the United States provides more than half of the world’s food aid, agriculture assistance today stands at only 3.5 percent of overall US development aid, down from 18 percent in 1979. Not surprisingly, agricultural productivity growth in developing countries is now less than 1 percent annually. These countries can reap lasting results by focusing on soil and water conservation and improved crop varieties.
Equally important is sending emergency food aid to prevent famine and needless deaths in Niger, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and northern Nigeria.