Zimbabwe still hungry despite increase in crop production

Jun 25th, 2009 5:38 PM EST
By Beth Adler

Thanks to good rainfall, Zimbabwe has been able to increase production of maize—the staple crop in the country—by 130% to 1.1 million tons. Despite this increase, however, 2.8 million people will still face food shortages this year, as the UN Food and Agriculture Orgaization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) report. Zimbabwe’s food security situation is still extremely tenuous, with basic necessities out of reach for most households. The report also warned that Zimbabwe could see the lowest-ever wheat harvest this winter due to high seed prices and electricity shortages.

“This year’s improved harvest comes after two consecutive years of poor production,” said the World Food Programme’s Jan Delbaere, who worked on the report, reports AP news agency. “Having depleted their food stocks and sold livestock and other assets to cope with the effects of the recent crises, many rural households are still struggling to survive.”

If you’re curious about the report, you can find it here.

-Beth Adler

The Future of US Food Aid

Jun 15th, 2009 11:06 AM EST
By Pooja Gupta

I recently attended a hearing held by the House Sub-Committee on Africa and Global Health on the effectiveness of US food aid, specifically the use of locally and regionally-procured aid (LRP) as opposed to traditional in-kind aid.

Sub-committee members Rep. Diane Watson (D-CA) and Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) joined Chairman Donald Payne (D-NJ) to hear testimonies from senior officials from relevant US government offices, including the Government Accountability Office (GAO), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Transportation (DoT).

Prior to the testimonies, Payne, Watson, and Woolsey re-iterated the “monumental nature of world hunger,” reflected in the large portion of international aid designated to food assistance. This food aid is largely in the form of US-grown and shipped commodities, or in-kind aid – $2.1 million in 2008. In recent years, however, many are looking to the possibility of local or regionally-procured food aid. The World Food Program (WFP), for example, now almost exclusively employs LRP methods. The sub-committee asked: how effective is LRP and what are its potential challenges?

The hearing coincided with the release of a GAO report on the effectiveness of LRP, which much of the discussion centered around. It found that:

• LRP can be a less expensive method of food assistance: the average cost of WFP’s local procurements in sub-Saharan Africa was 34% lower than the food aid shipped from the United States.
• LRP also arrives more promptly: whereas in-kind food assistance took an average of 147 days to reach its destination, local and regional procurements took 35 and 41 days, respectively.
• Challenges do exist for LRP implementation, including the lack of reliable suppliers, weak legal systems in receiving countries, restrictions on donor funding, and limited infrastructure.

The report also noted the possibility of rising prices due to increasing demand in those regions where food is locally procured – making food more costly to families who already cannot afford it. This lack of reliable market intelligence – when and how to purchase in local markets – could curtail LRP’s success.

It’s important to ask as well, if LRP would stimulate or depress local and regional economies. Bud Philbrook, Deputy Undersecretary at the USDA noted that, “poorly targeted local and regional purchases have the potential to lead to price spikes and shortages of staple foods in source countries.” Too much demand in local markets can overwhelm the market and cause shortages that could harm more than help. The USDA noted that this risk exists for in-kind food aid as well and suggests that, “the best way to mitigate these potential adverse affects is through improved market intelligence.”

Most of the testimonies agreed that LRP could be an effective complement to in-kind aid, rather than a complete substitute. Jon Brause, Deputy Assistant Administrator at USAID explained, “Our U.S.-grown food will continue to play the primary role in meeting global emergency needs. The objective of alternative procurement methods…is to increase the number of tools at our disposal to ensure the greater effectiveness, efficiency, and impact of the U.S. Government humanitarian response – not to overhaul the current in-kind program.”

For more information, check out this Guardian article on the GAO findings.

-Pooja Gupta

WFP Engages Youth to Fight Against Global Hunger

Jun 9th, 2009 2:54 PM EST
By Pooja Gupta

Pooja Gupta is interning with the ONE Global Policy Team this summer, and today writes about an exciting new tool to spur youth involvement in combating hunger.

The World Food Program (WFP) recently launched a web platform aimed to educate and inspire youth to get involved in the fight against global hunger which, according to WFP reports, has afflicted an additional 115 million people in the past two years alone. On their newly-updated website, WFP has created a section dedicated entirely to students and teachers that includes information and games for students, as well as ideas and activities for teachers. By designating a section entirely to education, WFP hopes to provide teachers with the tools necessary to fully integrate issues of global hunger into the everyday school curriculum, making it a staple in primary and secondary school education.

WFP notes that youth are deeply interested in the fight against global hunger. In their news release, WFP’s Director of Communications and Public Policy, Nancy Roman explained, “Today’s youth are hungry to know more about the problems which are causing food shortages across the globe — like conflict in Pakistan, high food prices, climate change and the global financial crisis.” To satisfy their curiosity, WFP offers a variety of web tools targeted at students and their teachers, hoping to engage both while inspiring them to take action on their own; the site even provides ideas for activities that students can host within their local communities. The hope is, with this education and awareness, participating youth will be poised to become future leaders in the fight against global hunger and poverty.

WFP hopes the site will be a “one-stop shop,” for students and their teachers. Notable educators around the world, including Cape Breton University, Auburn University, and 4-H Alabama, made contributions to the platform, which includes a blog, a list of resources and websites that educate about issues of hunger, classroom activities, and a section for interactive “fun and games.” The site also features WFP tools already popular, like numerous interactive games such as FreeRice.com and Food-Force.com. These games, in addition to entertaining, also educate students about the difficulties of providing hunger relief, as well as motivate them to take action themselves.

WFP’s “Students and Teachers,” platform hopes to enlist youth in the global campaign to end hunger by engaging them throughout their schooling. The “Students and Teachers,” site joins other successful, youth-oriented WFP initiatives such as the “Universities Fighting World Hunger,” and the “Really Good School Dinner” campaign, which promote youth engagement through awareness, education, and action. If you haven’t yet checked out the new site, you can do so here.

-Pooja Gupta

Cindy McCain: “The U.S. Should Lead On Congo”

May 14th, 2009 10:48 PM EST
By Virginia Simmons

After traveling to the Democratic Republic of Congo a few weeks ago, Cindy McCain urges the United States to support the United Nations World Food Programme as it strives to feed more than a million men, women and children in the region.

Read excerpts from her op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal below, and the full piece here.

Since mid-January, more than 250,000 people have been displaced in areas of North and South Kivu provinces due to fighting between the Congolese rebels and the army. The northeastern corner of the country, near the Sudanese border, is even worse off. There the violent militiamen of the Lord’s Resistance Army burn homes, murder civilians and kidnap children to turn them into slaves or child soldiers.

In the northeast region alone, the World Food Programme has launched an emergency operation to feed 154,000 people — a tall order during the rainy season, when roads become deep, mud-filled trenches and even airstrips are turned into quagmires. Of all the aid organizations on the ground, it is the biggest and most diversified. In addition to providing food, it is the lead agency for logistics, delivering vital goods such as medicines, blankets and agricultural tools on behalf of other aid groups….

As the world tries to figure out how to cope with the economic downturn, we Americans are presented with the challenge of giving even more. The price of cornmeal has risen by 35% in the last year, and the World Food Programme faces a 2009 funding shortfall of $77 million for its operations in the eastern Congo.

In 1994, in the city of Goma in eastern Congo, I watched as a Danish nurse attempted to feed a baby who obviously was not going to make it. Tears streamed down her face. I held my composure until I got back to my car and then wept, too. That day, I vowed to do all I can to prevent such needless deaths.

I hope that my country chooses to save lives in the Congo by continuing to support the World Food Programme as it strives to provide more aid to the orphans, the sick, and those torn from their homes.

Plumpy’Doz: Nutrition Innovation

Jan 2nd, 2009 12:38 PM EST
By Virginia Simmons

As we move on to a new year in our fight against global poverty and hunger, UNICEF is introducing an innovative food supplement — “Plumpy’Doz” — to very young children in Somalia.

The brown paste supplement is made from vegetable fat, peanut butter, sugar, milk, and other nutrients, and is designed to taste good to kid. Critically, it also has a longer shelf life than previous diet supplements and doesn’t need to be mixed with water.

Three teaspoons of Plumpy’Doz three times a day provides each young child with additional energy, including fats, high-quality protein and all the essential minerals and vitamins required to ensure growth and a healthy immune system.

Other partners, such as the World Food Programme and Doctors Without Borders, have already been using the supplement, but: “this is the first time that Plumpy’Doz will be distributed on such a large scale. UNICEF is working with partners to take proactive action to not only treat but prevent malnutrition,” said Christian Balslev-Olesen, said UNICEF Somalia Representative. “By adopting this new approach, we aim to reach children before they become malnourished.”

You can read a AFP article here and statements from UNICEF here.

-Virginia Simmons

NPR Covers Zimbabwe

Nov 25th, 2008 12:51 PM EST
By Chris.Scott

NPR aired a fantastic piece this morning about the food crisis in Zimbabwe. You can check out the interactive feature at NPR.org, complete with photos and a stunning audio slideshow. Definitely recommended!

Excerpts below, full piece here:

The U.N. says that a little less than half of Zimbabwe’s population — about 5 million people — will need international food assistance by the end of the year, with talk of a full-scale humanitarian emergency. Lee says the World Food Program is feeding 4 million people this month alone, but that stocks will run out by year’s end.

“At the moment, we have no food supplies for distribution in January and February, just when the crisis is reaching its peak,” Lee says. “So we can get to enough people in Zimbabwe, we can provide them with sufficient assistance, but we need additional resources, and we need those additional resources now.”

President Robert Mugabe’s critics blame his land reform and redistribution policies for triggering the current food crisis and economic meltdown. Productive white-owned commercial farms in this region used to be part of the Zimbabwean miracle — the regional grain basket — until they were occupied by Mugabe allies, and many farmers and workers were driven from their lands.

-Chris Scott

UN assists African farmers

Nov 10th, 2008 1:25 PM EST
By Chris.Scott

The Associated Press today reports on the UN’s efforts to help African farmers by buying up crops. They report that “the U.N.’s World Food Program will spend $1 billion buying food for the hungry this year, up $230 million from 2007.”

Approximately 350,000 African farmers will benefit from this new policy.

Excerpts below, full piece here

Now the [United Nations’ World Food Program] is trying to reach beyond simply handing out sacks of Western grain to help feed emaciated children. It wants to stimulate farmers like Maritim to produce more — and replace those shipments from U.S. and other agribusinesses — by providing a reliable market for their local crops.

The WFP is mounting this new effort in 21 countries, mostly in Africa, against the backdrop of a global food crisis with many causes, among them Africa’s long-running failure to feed itself. But experts say still more will be needed for a turnaround in African agriculture.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region in the world where food production per person has declined. Problems created by decades of underinvestment in agriculture and in roads and other infrastructure have been compounded by environmental degradation and rapidly growing populations. Of 34 nations the U.N. says are currently facing food emergencies, 21 are in Africa.

-Chris Scott

Rationing Food Aid?

Feb 25th, 2008 12:38 PM EST
By Virginia Simmons

The World Food Program is holding talks to create rationing plans if the costs of agricultural commodities (like wheat, corn, rice and soybeans) keeps rising at their current rate.

From today’s FT piece:

Josette Sheeran, WFP executive director, told the Financial Times that the agency would look at “cutting the food rations or even the number or people reached” if donors did not provide more money.

“Our ability to reach people is going down just as the needs go up,” she said.

WFP officials hope the cuts can be avoided, but warned that the agency’s budget requirements were rising by several million dollars a week because of climbing food prices.

Read the full piece here

-Virginia Simmons