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Food Crisis in Africa
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Aug 29, 2008, 2:16am

The food crisis in Africa which has been described as a “silent tsunami” by many people is not a natural disaster. It is something that has been created by human beings. The balance between high energy cost and food crisis is very unlikely to be controlled and will be getting worse because of the global climate change. The consequences can be clearly seen. Some of them are increasing production and transport costs for agriculture, failing food stocks and land shifted out of food production to produce energy substitutes. It is more famous as “21st century food for oil crisis”. (Robert. B. Zoelick)

The worst hit areas are in the Horn of Africa, especially Somalia, North-Eastern Kenya and Ethiopia. According to the United Nation’s World Food Programme “some eleven million people need food aid in the region after poor rains”. Poor rains have made it worse but the root causes are many and complex. Half of these people are in a state of starvation and need to be helped urgently. The World Food Programme says, further south, about 12 million need food aid in countries such as Malawi and Zimbabwe.

The main reason for this crisis is of course poverty. Most Africans live in rural areas and so largely depend on a good harvest to get enough food to eat. They hardly have any irrigation system and totally depend on the rains. So, if the rain fails people have very little saving to see them through. To add to the increasing food prices, a devalued currency and drought means millions of people are going hungry. And the sad part is that it is getting worse day by day. United Nations, World Bank officials and aid groups fear it marks the onset of the worst food crisis in decades and are calling for $775 million in fresh emergency food assistance from rich countries. But unfortunately aid groups are already lagging behind in their efforts to provide food. This leaves people from even the poorest communities dependent on the market for food. While people were starving in parts of Nigeria last year, shops in the capital were full of food but many could not afford it.

“This is the new face of hunger” said Josette Sheeran, WFP executive director. Africa has become an example of what hunger really is. This in itself gives a clear picture of conditions getting worse in Africa. Poor women and children are most vulnerable regarding food insecurity. The high rate of HIV/AIDS is also a major factor in the region’s food crisis. Some of those who should be the most productive farmers- young men and women are either sick or have died. So their fields are being left unattended, while their children go hungry. People are being forced to sell their livestock, the only source of wealth they have as soaring food prices worldwide have hit the poorest nations of Africa. This can be a very good example of how worse the conditions are in Africa. Mauritania is caught in a global food trap, producing only 30 percent of what its people eat and importing most of the rest. (Anthony)
Strong global demand and limited supplies are key factors driving up prices, but just as important is a massive disruption in the free flow of global trade.

In recent months food producing countries from Argentina to Kazakhstan have begun to slam shut their doors to protect domestic access to the food they grow.
One of the most disturbing warning signs that the situation is turning critical here is a sharp increase in selling livestock, especially by poor farmers. The rush in selling is bringing down the price of livestock, though the meat prices remain high.

The crisis in Africa is becoming one of those issues which have been talked about a lot in the International community. There are a lot of talks going on to solve the crisis and the sad part is nothing seems to be working at all. For instance the G8 summit has food crisis as one of their biggest agendas. This shows some hopes of resolving the food crisis in Africa but the problem is simply talking and making promises won’t help.

Yes, they are making efforts to help resolve the crisis but why is nothing happening. The big countries are of course contributing in some ways to help resolve the crisis but this is not enough at all. A lot more has to be done if we are to at least make a difference to the crisis. More funding and more supplies have to be made to countries that are worse hit by the on going food crisis.

For instance, during the G8 summit in Japan where all the leaders came together to discuss the on going food crisis in Africa, they were served with a lavishing banquet. The Japanese government flew in 60 of the country’s top chefs to prepare meal for the G8 leaders. The lavish nature of the banquet was a disgrace and it was embarrassing that 283 million was spent on the summit which has placed solving the food crisis at the top of its agenda (macedoniaonline.eu). Dominic Nutt of Save the Children said, “It is deeply hypocritical there should be lavishing course after course on world leaders when there is a food crisis and millions can’t afford to eat. If the G8 wants to betray the hopes of a generation of children, it’s going the right way about it”. I totally agree with what Dominic says. He makes a point in his statement by criticizing the G8 leaders in doing this. They are clearly setting bad examples. They are the ones who can make a difference in resolving this crisis and this act clearly shows how irresponsible they can be. This reflects their ignorance to the on going crisis in Africa in some ways. Shadow International Development secretary Andrew Mitchell said “The G8 have made a bad start to their summit with excessive cost and lavish consumption. All of us are watching, waiting and listening”.

Phil Bloomer, Oxfam’s director of campaigns and policy said “Rich world politicians are failing to acknowledge the impact of their own unfair policies”. The World Bank estimates that the increases in prices of wheat, rice and maize cost developing countries $324 billion last year alone, which is equivalent to three years of global spending. This is in no ways helping resolve the crisis in Africa. Instead it is making things more difficult for everyone.

The G8 leaders need to do much more to show that they are ready to tackle the food crisis in Africa in the long term. They must reiterate the promises to increase the aid needed now more than ever. They have to seriously start making necessary reforms, including increase in investment in agriculture in poor countries. One very good solution to this problem is targeting women and small farmers.” Rich countries” farm subsidies have systematically undermined production in small and poor countries. While prices are high, they should take the chance to end unfair subsidies once and for all. Aid should not distract from the urgent need for the fundamental root and branch reform in the European Union and United States” said Bloomer. Bloomer clearly points out what the problem is right now and he is totally right in what he says. The latest proposal falls behind clearly of what is needed in Africa and represents a step backwards in terms of development. (Oxfam International)

So the question is what can be done to make a difference in Africa. I would say a lot can be done. It won’t happen at once definitely but that doesn’t mean we tie our hands and do nothing. There has to be coordinated steps and it has to be backed by reliable resources.

First and most importantly, the G8 leaders have to agree to totally fund the World Food Programme’s emergency needs, support its drive to purchase food aid locally and ensure the unhampered movement of humanitarian assistance. (Robert.B.Zoelick)

We need seeds and fertilizers being distributed for the planting season. This is one of those very good methods to help make a difference in the food crisis in Africa.
Distributing food and providing funds are temporary ways to resolve the crisis but distributing seeds and fertilizers is a long term solution to this problem. It really helps and motivates small farmers to grow food in their own lands and this will help increase the production. On the other hand lands won’t be left unattended and will be used for a good purpose as well.
Zoelick in his article says “The key is not just financing, but fast delivery systems as well”. He makes a strong point by his statement because that is what has been happening for a long time. For this reason there has to be a good coordination between the donors and the civil society groups. There has to be an increase in investment in agricultural research and development. Producers in developing countries have to be helped in meeting food standards. This can be possible by connecting retailers with farmers. And if this is accomplished it will surely make a big difference to the on going crisis in Africa because this has been seen as a big problem for decades now. And the sad part again is changes are not happening.
There has to be actions taken in the United States and Europe to ease subsidies’ mandates and tariffs on bio-fuels that are derived from corn and oilseeds. High energy production should not be competing with food production which will expand opportunities for poorer countries and most of all Africa. This is one thing that has to be strongly thought about. I personally think it is the most important reasons for food crisis everywhere. Production of high energy is surely coming in the way of agricultural production and this is making things worse everyday.

Leaders from big countries are acting selfishly by keeping energy production as their first priority and not food production when there is food crisis everywhere. This again clearly shows their ignorance to crisis in Africa.
There needs to be more investment in agribusiness so that we can tap the private sector’s ability to work across the value chain, developing sustainable lands and water, supply chains, cutting wastage, infrastructure and logistics. We need to develop innovative instruments for risk management and crop insurance for small farmers. This will definitely encourage farmers to work in the fields and increase production. This will surely make some difference on the crisis that has been taking so many lives in Africa.

The need for rules that has been agreed multilaterally has never been stronger when the crisis is at its worst right now. Most of the people have called the situation right now as the worst it could ever be. So there has to be greater collective action to counter global risk that is threatening the lives of so many people all over the world, especially in Africa.

The problem that we can see right now is that the G8 summit puts food crisis on the top of their agenda but doing nothing to make it happen. Whenever there is a G8 summit coming up people always have high hopes that something good is going to come out of the summit but it is always the same. The same old promises every year. The leaders always promise these funds but all of us can clearly see what they have delivered so far. Yes they make promises but on the other hand they provide subsidies to the various industries in their countries. So they have to stop providing subsidies to their different industries so that the third world countries can compete with their industries. If this happens we will definitely see changes happening in the years to come. But this seems to be impossible when you see the ignorance of the leaders of G8 and other big economic powers. They are just acting too selfishly at the moment and this attitude has to be changed if this crisis is to be resolved. Something has to be done very quickly or everyone knows what’s going to happen in the years to come.

One other thing that I would like the G8 leaders is to release the third world countries from all the debts they owe to them. Releasing them from these debts will also help them revive their economies and invest that money on infrastructure and other necessary facets of development. This would come as a big leap for the on going crisis in Africa.

A substantial portion of green house gases are emitted by the powerful countries but the ones who suffer the most lie in the equatorial belt and most of these are countries in Africa. So the G8 should emphasize on some sort of carbon compensation schemes so that these worse affected countries get some financial rewards in return for all the sufferings they have to face. The danger is now clear to everyone. The G8 meetings need to come up with more clear plans. But only making plans won’t help at all. That is what has been seen and done for decades and the results are right in front of us. Promises have to be kept and every plan they come out with have to be made possible. There has to be more coordination between the G8 leaders and the governments of poor countries. One thing that’s coming in the way of development in these countries is their governments by themselves as well. There has to be proper governance and the funds that are coming have to be used in a right way. The G8 leaders have to keep monitoring where their funds are going.

Source: Sumeruh.worldpress.com

By Samir Shrestha

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