Over the last six months, we have been watching global food prices climb — raising concerns of another food crisis that would again push millions in to poverty. In late November 2010, food prices were just 10 percent lower than at the height of the global food crisis in mid-2008. Experts at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) held a meeting to assess the situation.
Their conclusion? Nope, not another food crisis, just high prices. Now prices have actually surpassed even the highest levels reached in 2008. The FAO food price index that measures baskets of major grains, meats, dairy, oils and sugar reached 215 points this week — the highest ever since they began monitoring food prices in 1990. Yet, the FAO still says it’s not a crisis. How can this be? What’s different this time around? And is a full-blown crisis just around the corner?
Headlines have reported the food crisis in Niger as a “silent crisis” and a “double disaster,” where roughly 8 million people and 1 million undernourished children have been hit by devastating drought and flood in the course of less than a year.
Rising costs of bread in Mozambique last week spurred riots on the streets of Maputo, causing seven deaths. Massive floods in Pakistan affected 2.5 million people, says the BBC, leaving thousands food-insecure and homeless.
Russia has experienced severe droughts and has banned all exports of wheat, barley, maize and flour through the end of 2011. Global wheat prices have been on the rise since late June, notwithstanding that prices are much higher than historical averages, and over the long-term, predicted to keep going up.
According to the FAO food price index — at a score of 176 — wheat prices have reached their highest since September 2008. Does this raise cause for concern? It should.
I just got a press release from US Treasury announcing $224 million in grants to be distributed to 5 countries to increase food security. They are: Bangladesh, Haiti, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Togo.
Here are more details from the official announcement:
Partners in the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), a new fund to tackle global hunger and poverty, this week announced that five developing countries will receive the fund’s first grants totaling $224 million. The grants – approved for Bangladesh, Haiti, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Togo – will help each country increase food security, raise rural incomes and reduce poverty. These investments will help transform the lives of more than two million people in rural areas.
Launched in April 2010 with $880 million in commitments from the United States, Canada, South Korea, Spain, and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, GAFSP represents a global effort to aid vulnerable populations afflicted by hunger and poverty and is a key element of the Obama Administration’s initiative to enhance food security in poor countries. In the run up to the G-8 and G-20 Leaders Summit, today’s announcement demonstrates the commitment of the international community to forge a strong, swift and coordinated response against global food insecurity.
“Today we are making real progress toward our promise to fight global hunger and poverty,” said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. “These investments will help transform rural communities by empowering them to grow more and earn more. At a time of limited resources and with more than one billion people undernourished, this fund leverages our contributions to tackle one of the most pressing challenges of our time.”
On Thursday I attended the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the Global Food Security Act. Senators Kerry and Lugar presided over the hearing with Senators Casey, Menendez, and Cardin all also questioning the witnesses. There was an impressive witness line-up comprised of Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah, Dan Glickman, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and Catherine Bertini, former Executive Director of the UN World Food Program.
This hearing served to highlight not only the importance of global food security, which has been a topic of conversation and action some time, but to hear in greater detail how the Administration’s Global Food Security Initiative aligns with the principles of the Global Food Security Act.
Senator Kerry opened the event by reminding us that the International Affairs Budget is being challenged, and that short-changing programs like the Global Food Security Initiative will provide some budget relief, but at great cost to global efforts. Senator Lugar also noted the seriousness of food insecurity, and emphasized that with rising energy costs, climate change, and water scarcity, feeding a growing global population will be increasingly difficult without dramatic action.
We gained some additional insight into the Administration’s Global Food Security Initiative—which has been dubbed the Feed the Future initiative. Per Deputy Secretary Lew and Administrator Shaw’s testimonies, the Administration’s initiative will be centered on four principles: science and technology, the essential role of women in food security, the U.S. comparative advantage, and working in partnership with developing countries. Administrator Shaw emphasized that the initiative would coordinate with countries’ agricultural plans, focus on sustainable, location-specific innovation, and work to establish access to credit and markets.
Several important themes emerged from the hearing, including:
The importance of coordination, both on the ground in-country, and within the U.S. government, to ensure that the U.S. Global Food Security Initiative can have the fullest impact possible
The crucial role that women play in making this initiative successful. Projects within the initiative will be designed specifically to engage women, and gender disaggregated data will be collected to monitor the success of the initiative at making the most of the lynchpin role women play in producing food as well as feeding and investing in their families.
The need to continue to increase capacity at USAID to implement this food security strategy. Lower funding rates for agriculture in the last two decades have meant less staff capacity for agricultural projects at USAID. The agency has already begun scaling up their agricultural expertise, and will continue to do so in order to implement this initiative.
The links between food insecurity and instability. Increases in food prices in 2008 sparked riots across the globe. This is just one example of the possibility that increased food insecurity can lead to increased economic instability which, in turn, can spur political instability.
While we have yet to see an implementation plan for this initiative, this hearing gave us a taste of the actions the administration intends to take. It was also promising to hear the common themes drawn from the hearing and to see the commitment to food security demonstrated both by the Senators and members of the Administration.
This week our partner organization Bread for the World, launched their 2010 Hunger Report A Just and Sustainable Recovery. “To blunt the surge of hunger, unemployment, and the long-term effects of climate change, we need a just and sustainable economic recovery,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World Institute. “If we do not reshape our economy with jobs that allow low-income workers to feed their families and move out of poverty, our recovery will not be sustainable. Like a bubble, it will only collapse again.”
The report notes that hunger is on the rise in both the U.S. and abroad—1.02 billion people are suffering from food insecurity around the world, up 100 million from last year. The report also argues that green jobs are the best investment that the U.S. can make. Green jobs will not only help reduce both unemployment numbers and carbon emissions, but they could also help address hunger and poverty throughout the developing world.
Yesterday’s launch panel included a host of engaging speakers. Robert Greenstein, the Executive Director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, described how the U.S. could address the financial crisis, including by financing an expanded food stamps program. Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Jr., President and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus, discussed how green jobs could provide opportunity for the poor and unemployed, emphasizing that Congress’ climate legislation must have a strong greens jobs component. Gawain Kripke, Director of Policy and Research at Oxfam America, cautioned that climate change is the next big crisis, noting that climate solutions must have pro-poor impacts, especially for developing countries.
If you’re interested in checking out the full report, it’s available here, along with some cool interactive tools.
Wednesday wrapped up the World Summit on Food Security in Rome. Just to recap in case you missed the last post, the Summit was intended to bring together heads of state and food security institutions, like the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Program (WFP), to further the global agenda on eradicating hunger and pursuing global food security.
The Summit attendees released a declaration that reinforces their commitment to fully realizing the first Millennium Development Goal of halving hunger and poverty by 2015. The declaration also commits to promoting better coordination of food security efforts at local, regional, and national levels, as well as reversing the decline in funding for food security, and addressing the challenges of climate change as they impact food security, including adaptation of and mitigation in the agriculture sector. The declaration did not adopt the FAO’s ask of $44 billion annually for food security initiatives, or the goal of eradicating global hunger by 2025.
The group did use the communiqué to outline the Five Rome Principles for Sustainable Global Food Security which form a basis for this work. The principles reflect the five principles proposed by the U.S. at the L’Aquila G8 Summit, which were reiterated by the leaders of the G20 at their meeting in Pittsburgh in September. If implemented, the principles—investing in country-owned, country-led plans; coordinating at national, regional, and global levels; investing in short-, medium-, and long-term initiatives to address hunger and food insecurity; providing a role for the multilateral system; and ensuring sustained and substantial commitments—will go a long way to ensuring that development assistance for agriculture and food security is effective.
Two countries did take forward steps at the Summit as well: Canada reiterated their commitments to the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative and their country plan which will coordinate Canada’s food security strategy. If you missed our post about Canada’s announcement, you can read it here. Germany also publicly announced their share of L’Aquila commitment: they will provide €700 million or about $1 billion over three years for food security initiatives. $300 million will be new money that is not already in the pipeline, and this pledge does not include emergency assistance. These clarifications are important next steps in constructing a global system that works for food security. We are eager to see further clarification of funding from these and other countries.
As you know, the FAO World Food Summit ended yesterday in Rome. Check out the articles below to see a variety of reactions to the Summit:
World leaders’ low turnout hits UN food summit (Reuters Africa)
The absence of world leaders at this week’s World Food Summit presented a challenge from the start. The Summit’s final declaration did not result in additional financial commitments; some have attributed this lack of progress to the lackluster attendance by heads of state. Less than a third of the 192 heads of states and governments invited by the FAO attended the Summit. Many sent their agriculture ministers instead.
What is the point of the world food summit on food security? (The Guardian Blog)
Despite criticism that the World Food Summit did not result in substantial increases in aid for agriculture, the president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Kanayo Nwanze, expressed that the point of the Summit was not to gather pledges, but to encourage the leaders of developing countries to commit themselves to making agriculture and food security top priorities.
Food security – collective race against crises (This Day; allAfrica.com)
At the three-day summit in Rome, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon declared that food and nutritional security are the foundations for a healthy life for all people. He called for immediate action against food insecurity and hunger and laid out a comprehensive list of measures to combat food insecurity, which, he said, will be exacerbated by population growth and climate change.
Declaring a vision for world hunger (Oxfam International Blog)
Yesterday, the summit released a declaration outlining its vision on international food security and how it can be achieved. The declaration focuses on the poorest farmers but critics are saying that it does not go far enough to address issues affecting food security, including the global economic crisis and the onset of climate change.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
