Furore over food

Ritesh K Srivastav Despite advancement in the field of modern sciences and the technological prowess, which we now command in the twenty first century, we have failed to find solutions for all that ails the human society. One such ailment is the lack of enough food to feed millions of empty stomachs across the globe. Millions across the world are dying due to starvation and acute poverty coupled with severe shortages of food grains and spiraling prices. Due to skyrocketing world food prices, millions of our brethren are unable to get a minimum square meal a day. The scarcity of food grains and subsequent deaths due to hunger and poverty has once again brought the issue to the top of the humanitarian agenda. Aid groups and several monitoring agencies have long been warning about the consequences of trade imbalances and adverse effect of climate change, but unfortunately no attention has been paid to the concerns raised by them. However, the recent food riots in Africa and Asia, finally brought the issue into the limelight. When the food crisis started the world economies and international bodies like United Nations asserted that nearly 100 million people across the world urgently need help as they are not getting enough food to eat to be able to survive. The estimated number of people affected by the world food crisis meant that the problem is indeed serious and affects people in every nook and corner of the globe. Fundamental shifts in the global economy and environment, rising fuel costs, erratic weather patterns, and the conversion of land to grow crops for biofuels, have all contributed to this problem in one way or another. The intensity of this problem can be easily gauged by the recent remark made by the former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who said, “Food is become increasingly scarce and expensive, and it is already unaffordable for many people.” “The world`s 200 wealthiest people have as much money as about 40 percent of the global population, and yet 850 million people have to go to bed hungry every night. This calamity is one of the worst violations of human dignity," he added. The food crisis is affecting the world`s most underprivileged, most under-nourished in Africa, South Asia and the Middle East. Prices for essential commodities like rice, corn and wheat, which were relatively stable for years, have skyrocketed by over 180 percent in the last three years. A bottleneck is developing whose consequences are potentially more severe than the global crisis in the financial markets. With nothing left to lose, people on the brink of starvation are more likely to react with extreme fury. Surging food prices are hitting those hardest who can afford it the least and the reports confirm that the situation is dire — and has the potential to grow much worse. For instance, in Niger, prices of bread, powdered milk and wheat flour have spiked, exacerbating the West African nation`s precarious food situation. According to reports, last year approximately three million Nigerians didn`t have enough food to meet their minimum nutritional needs. As of now, the country is inching closer to famine due to food shortages. In Syria, spiraling food prices have forced the aid agencies to cut back on the amount of food they can buy and distribute to hundreds of Iraqi refugee families. In Tajikistan, about 40 percent of households are down to no more than one warm meal a day. And as if this is not enough, neighbouring Kazakhstan has suspended wheat exports — shutting off Tajikistan`s primary supply of the grain. Somalia’s capital Mogadishu recently witnessed food riots, which claimed at least five lives, during a fierce-clash with the security forces. The incident took place when the security forces were trying to control a mob of at least 20,000 people, who went on rampage in frustration over rising food prices and record inflation. Iraq and Sudan, once the "bread baskets" of the Arab world, are nowadays dependent on the World Food Programme. More than a million people in Iraq and 2 million in Sudan`s Darfur region require food aid. Life in Darfur, Sudan`s western province is becoming more and more difficult. The Sahara has shifted southward in the last four decades, while rainfall has declined dramatically. Yields of sorghum, the area`s most important grain crop, have dropped by two-thirds. UN’s special rapporteur, Ziegler recently blamed the US and the EU for encouraging use of food crops to produce bio-fuels and thus contributing to an "explosive rise" in global food prices. Last year, the US used a third of its corn crop to create bio-fuels, while the European Union is planning to have 10 percent of its need supplied by bio-fuels. Andrew Thorne-Lyman, a nutritionist with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said in Rome the purchasing power of families in the developing world has been slashed by food price rises. “This means that they can buy less food or food which isn`t as nutritious," he added. The global economic woes have not spared the resurgent Indian economy, which is growing at a rate of over 8%. The prices of the essential commodities in India rose by 1 to 2 % and the rate of inflation inched up to a 42-month high at 7.61% recently. The spiraling inflation and price rise gave birth to a turf-war between the ruling UPA and opposition BJP. Reeling under pressure, the UPA government led by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, announced taking various administrative steps to rein in inflation. However, the efforts have so far failed to yield concrete results. Factors responsible for the food crisis The population explosion: World population is growing constantly, while the amount of arable land is declining. The population explosion is putting more and more pressure on the world economy and nullifying the global progress in the related spheres. Environmental change: The climate change is causing a loss of agricultural land, irreversible in some cases, as a result of droughts, floods, storms and erosion. Changing eating habits: Due to changes in the eating pattern, more and more arable land and virgin forests are being turned into pasture for livestock. The yield per acre in calories of land given over to pasture is substantially lower than that of arable land. Slow market reforms, tariffs: In view of the global food crisis, the World Bank has urged the developing countries to introduce market reforms and abolish protective tariffs, which often causes massive damage to local agriculture. Rising incomes: The growing purchasing power in poorer countries has also triggered food demand in recent years, further depleting global reserves. Further worsening the situation, some top food exporting countries have decided to reduce the quantum of their exports in a bid to avoid food scarcity and rising inflation. This in turn is making the job of aid agencies more difficult since they can`t provide as much as these countries can. World oil prices: The resulting high crude oil price is pushing the "energy crops" being cultivated, instead of grain for food or animal feed. Civil wars: Millions of people displaced by civil wars need food, and yet they themselves are no longer capable of producing food. Speculation: Unfound rumours and speculations about likely wars between hostile nations are also adding up to global food woes. UN mediation & Task Force to end food crisis The worsening situation has forced UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to hold an emergency meeting in Switzerland to find ways to the growing crisis caused by soaring food prices around the world. The two-day high powered meeting in Bern was attended by World Bank President, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and the Heads of nearly 30 United Nations aid agencies. Ban Ki-moon, while addressing the gathering announced setting up of a UN Task Force to deal with the issue. He stated that the steeply rising price of food has developed into a global crisis and appealed the international community to find solutions to a problem that is adding up to poverty, hunger and instability. The UN estimated about 100 million of the world`s poorest people cannot afford to buy food. Because of the spiraling costs, the World Food Program says its original budget for this year is not enough to feed all the hungry. It is appealing for an additional three quarters of USD 1 billion to meet the extra expenses. The UN refugee agency opined that millions of refugees and internally displaced people will be badly hit by skyrocketing food prices, as they are highly dependent on food donations from the international community. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that a sharp rises in cereal prices have left 37 poor countries in an emergency situation. This has sparked food riots in many countries including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Egypt and Senegal. The crisis is helping radical Islamic movements gain strength in North Africa, the agency said. Assuming that the global food prices posed an unprecedented challenge, the UN announced setting up a task force to deal with the issue. UN chief, along with heads of 27 key international agencies, hammered out a battle plan of emergency measures, while exploring other longer-term measures to solve the global food crisis. Ban said that crisis could lead to social hunger, malnutrition on an unprecedented scale, adding that civil unrest in poor nations could not be ruled out. He even called on the donors to "urgently” increase aid to the UN’s World Food Programme, adding there was an immediate need to support the farmers, especially in poor nations, so that a repeat of this year’s food crisis could be averted next year. At the meeting, the World Bank President, Robert Zoellick announced the doubling of lending to African nations over the next one year to USD 800 million. Faced with criticism of diverting food grain for producing bio-fuel, which is jacking up global food prices, the US administration said that it enhance exports of wheat, corn and soyabean to address the issue. The US also promised an addition of USD 200 million in emergency food aid as part of the Iraq war budget. US Under Secretary of Treasury for International Affairs David H McCormick said that America would continues to grow its exports amid rising demand around the world and gives one half of all food aid in the world. What needs to be done Need more Malawis: Malawi, a famine-prone country in southern Africa, presents a classic example to the international community on how to deal with natural calamities like famine and drought. Three years back, the country established a special fund to help its farmers get fertilizer and high-yield seeds. As a result of its efforts, Malawi`s harvest doubled after just one year. An international fund based on the Malawi model would cost a mere Rs 401(USD 10) per person annually in the rich world, or 40,000 crore (USD10 billion) in all. Abolish subsidies: A lot of hue and cry has been raised over the farm subsidies provided by the US and Europe. The two big blocs should abandon their policies of subsidising the conversion of food into biofuels. The US government gives farmers a taxpayer-financed subsidy of Rs 6 per litre of ethanol to divert corn from the fuel and feed-grain supply. There may be a case for biofuels produced on lands that do not produce foods–tree crops, grasses and wood products–but there`s no case for doling out subsidies to put the world`s dinner into the gas tank. Weatherproof crops: For a poor farmer, sometimes something as simple as a farm pond–which collects rainwater to be used for emergency irrigation in a dry spell-–can make the difference between a bountiful crop and a famine. The world has already committed to establishing a Climate Adaptation Fund to help poor regions climate-proof vital economic activities such as food production and health care but has not yet acted upon the promise. What is true for food will be true for energy, water and other increasingly scarce resources. We can combat these problems–as long as we act rapidly. New energy sources like solar thermal power and new energy-saving technologies like plug-in hybrid automobiles can be developed and mobilised within a few years. The food crisis provides not only a warning but also an opportunity. We need to invest vastly more in sustainable development in order to achieve true global security and economic growth. Monitoring & strict action against hoarders & blackmarketeers: The governments should develop a mechanism to constantly monitor the situation in their respective countries and strengthen the Public Distribution System. The authorities should also take strict action against all those involved in unhealthy practices like hoarding and blackmarketing. Although the international community is now putting its best foot forward to deal with the situation, we as an individual also need to bring a paradigm shift in our approach towards these issues. A more sensitive approach and our voluntary contribution, however small or big, in world’s collective fight against such issues can make a real difference for sure.