Food Aid
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.
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Aug 23rd, 2010 1:53 PM UTC
By Field
Recently, I met with Delaware Senator Tom Carper’s (D-Del.) State Director, Larry Windley, who was interested in learning more about ONE.
We spent a good amount of time discussing the Global Fund. Windley was intrigued to learn that the organization is delivering fantastic results on the ground in many of the poorest countries. I made sure to tell the Senator to support a commitment to the Global Fund — at least $6 billion dollars over three years — to help ensure that no child is born with HIV by 2015.
Windley informed me that international aid initiatives do not fall under the senator’s subcommittee assignments, but Sen. Carper would likely support President Obama’s stance on the Global Fund replenishment.
We also had a very productive conversation about the Global Food Security Act, and whether the senator would support the legislation. Windley informed me that Sen. Carper tends to be supportive of the long-term, self-sustaining agricultural development this bill promotes.
At the conclusion of the meeting I learned that the senator will be sending me a written response in the near future with his position on both issues. In the meantime, he now knows about ONE’s presence in Delaware and that his constituents expect their senator to lead by example and support the fight against extreme poverty on behalf of the world’s most vulnerable people.
Be sure to connect with other Delaware members on ONE’s Mid-Atlantic Region Facebook Group.
- Nicole Ferrari, ONE member, Delaware
With Russia’s announcement last week that it will prohibit all grain exports until the end of the year, it has become more important than ever to pass the Lugar-Casey Global Food Security Act.
Russia has experienced extreme drought and wildfires, leaving their wheat yield drastically low for the remainder of the year –- 20 percent less than what they expected. Their wheat shortage has caused wheat prices to increase to a two year high, potentially increasing world wheat prices.
Africans are particularly affected because they rely on grain imports for survival. The average African income is also lower, so an increase in food prices disproportionately affects them.
Many African families are unable to feed themselves and their communities because they lack the basic tools to work the land and harvest their crops. The Global Food Security Act would help Africans address this problem and support African farmers in their fight against hunger in their own villages, empowering Africa to feed Africa.
Supporting small farmers in Africa with seeds, fertilizer, successful farming techniques and basic infrastructure is an effective way to grow economies in poor countries.
These commonsense investments can help farmers earn their way out of poverty, providing families with sustainable incomes and giving local communities self-sustaining futures. But right now, the Global Food Security Act is stuck in the Senate. Get the bill moving and take action now. Tell your Senator to support a bill that will give Africa its best chance to feed itself.
Famine in Niger affects 12 million – Expensive imports and aid remain out of reach for 12 million people in Niger – 80 percent of the population – which is facing the worst food crisis in years. Aid organizations say that the immediate obstacle preventing them from meeting urgent food needs is a donor shortfall of more than $100 million. (Afua Hirsch, The Guardian)
Horn of Africa once again polio-free – The Horn of Africa is again polio-free, with Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda having reported no cases for more than a year, said UNICEF. The victory is attributed to a series of multi-country immunization campaigns, along with greater technical support and strong political engagement. (Peter Mutai, Xinhua News)
Make Maternal Health Priority, African Leaders Told – Speaking at last week’s African Union summit, the Deputy U.N. Secretary-General maintained that women and children are the “engines” driving future economic growth on the continent, and that leaders must making meeting the 2015 Millennium Development Goal deadline of improving child and maternal health a priority. (Abimbola Akosile, AllAfrica.com)
Kenyans to Vote on Controversial Constitution – Kenyans will vote on a controversial new constitution this week—the latest step by the nation’s leaders to bring political change to their country to quell tribal tensions. The U.S maintains a new constitution is central to this effort. (Sarah Childress, Wall Street Journal)
New focus on Sanitation in Burkina Faso – Burkina Faso has embarked on the construction of 55,000 latrines each year for the next five years to improve access to proper sanitation by more than 40 percent. The new initiative was spurred by findings that the current pace is insufficient to attain the Millennium Development Goal on sanitation in a context of rapid population growth. (Brahima Ouédraogo, IPS)
ForeignPolicy.com posted an interesting article on food aid and nutrition– particularly food aid in disaster regions– that I think is worth a read. The article’s title is “Let them eat Plumpy’Nut”, a reference to the nutritious, ready-to-use food for treating malnourished children, but the larger argument is one of striking a balance between providing food aid in the most expedient manner possible, and providing food aid that is most nutritious and capable of addressing child nutrition.
Some excerpts below, full piece here:
The problem for many critics of food aid is not the delivery method, though, but the food itself, which critics say is failing to address childhood malnutrition. Last year, MSF convened a seminar at Columbia University to discuss the problem. As Susan Shepherd, nutrition advisor for MSF’s Access to Essential Medicines Campaign, put it, “It is unacceptable that current food aid is not providing adequate, nutrient-rich food for the most vulnerable children.” MSF called for an expansion of malnutrition treatment with milk-based, fortified, and energy-dense therapeutic foods, including Plumpy’nut.
Action Against Hunger (AAH) has sometimes teamed with MSF to campaign for more nutritious food, including Plumpy’nut. “There is nothing inherently wrong with the standard corn-soy blend as long as it is enriched with micronutrients and vitamins, which isn’t always the case,” AAH’s senior nutrition advisor, Marie-Sophie Whitney, says. “We shouldn’t be feeding kids anything we wouldn’t feed our own children.”
There’s also the extremely sensitive issue of where the food for aid comes from — and what its effect may be on local trade. AAH charges that U.S. government food aid displaces local farmers by dumping cheap U.S. surplus grain. “Most countries have functioning markets and regional surpluses that go overlooked in the food aid equation,” Whitney says.
Last week, the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa hosted a panel discussion on their recently released recommendations for the new U.S. Government Food Security Initiative. In the Partnership’s latest policy brief, “From Commitment to Action: A Demand-Driven Approach to Improving Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa,” the Partnership recommends a demand-driven, African-owned framework in which to provide foreign assistance funding and programming to increase agricultural productivity.
The panel discussion, moderated by Dr. Julie Howard, Executive Director of the Partnership, included Emmy Simmons, former USAID Assistant Administration for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade, Frank Young, Vice-President, International Development, Abt Associates, Mary Chambliss, Former Deputy Administrator at USDA, and Abdoulaye Diop, Ambassador of Mali to the United States.
The Partnership’s report advocates for five actions as the Food Security Initiative is designed:
- Promote country-led development, ensuring that U.S. support aligns with country-led initiatives.
- Maximize flexibility and transferability of funds with the creation of a “Food Security Fund,” a single-Congressionally-mandated fund that would offer a more simplified and flexible mechanism for food security assistance programs. Currently, there are numerous funding mechanisms each with their own rules, procedures, and implementation models. A single Food Security Fund would simplify these processes and offer assistance at a country and regional level.
- Look toward developing multi-year compacts for food security initiatives to be funded by the Food Security Fund.
- Make food security assistance available to regional organizations, not just individual countries.
- Prioritize local capacity and institution-building through the Food Security Compacts and implementing a results-oriented, learning approach.
In the robust discussion, participants stressed that the creation of the Food Security Initiative is the perfect opportunity to translate the commitment of aid into effective implementation, drawing on some of the tenants of foreign assistance reform. Panelists emphasized the importance of working in collaboration with African partners in order to ensure that these initiatives are successful. The discussion also touched on the necessity of increasing transparency and coordination between U.S-led initiatives. The sheer number of organizations and initiatives on the ground in developing countries, coupled with the lack of coordination among them, makes it difficult for recipient countries to implement strategies successfully. With emphasis on food security coming from the administration, the G8, and developing-country governments, it will be exciting to see how the U.S. Food Security Initiative takes shape.
Check out the full policy brief here.
-Pooja Gupta
Many of you are following news reports of a hijacking that recently occurred aboard the Maersk Alabama off the coast of Somalia. Today comes word that some of the cargo aboard the ship is life-saving food aid en route to Catholic Relief Services programs in Rwanda. According to CRS, this consists of 49 containers holding “860 metric tons of bulgur wheat that are to be used by CRS relief workers for some of the poorest populations in Rwanda.”
Our thoughts go out to the crew aboard the Maersk Alabama in this very tense situation. We’ll bring you further developments as they occur.
-Chris Scott
