Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) – 862 million of the world’s poor suffer from malnutrition or live on less than two dollars a day, the majority living in developing countries. This is the dramatic starting point for the FAO’s High-Level Conference, which begins today, June 3, in Rome and will conclude June 5 on the theme: “World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bio-energy.” The Conference is expected to see the attendance of some 50 Heads of State and Foreign Ministers. Along with the FAO, are another two UN agencies working in the area of food and poverty: the WFP (World Food Program) and the IFAD (International Food and Agricultural Development), a sort of world micro-credit bank that in recent months, has been practically taken by storm by farmers from poor countries.
While the UN’s objective in 1996 was to reduce the number of poor persons on the planet 50% by 2015, going from the 800 million that they were then to 400 million, today the outlook is extremely negative. Not only is the objective not being reached, but recent figures estimate some 862 million people are living in malnutrition, a number that proves that the crisis is truly reaching unprecedented proportions.
The urgent problem today is that the increase in the price of many basic food products on a world-wide scale, and this will be the focus of the Conference. In the opening session, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon pointed out some priorities: firstly, the need to produce more food, for a 50% increase in production by 2030, in order to meet the demand. He also stressed the importance of not making interventions purely of assistance, as it creates speculation phenomena on the trade market. What is more suitable are the “brotherhood” initiatives between rich and developing countries. Lastly, Ban Ki-moon recalled that in 2015 the world population will have reached 7.2 billion people, which is why there is an urgent need for action. The Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone also spoke at the Conference, reading the Pope’s Message, that among other things affirmed that, “hunger and malnutrition are unacceptable in a world which has, in fact, levels of production, resources and knowledge sufficient to put an end to such dramas and their consequences.”
The causes of the present situation are many and complex: among those causing the most problems is the alarming rise in the cost of fuel, that particularly hurts farmers in poorer nations, for whom the costs of transport of products, as well as seed and fertilizer, begin to skyrocket. Even worse yet are the climate changes in some regions of the country, for example the “transfer” of rains from one time of year to another has produced real “shock” in agricultural production, not to mention the rise in desertification. Lastly, another relevant factor in the world food crisis is the speculation on the world trade market, as recently occurred with rice, a staple food product for hundreds of millions of people across Asia.
A recent report from the FAO indicates 22 countries that are particularly vulnerable due to the high percentage of chronic famine among the population (over 30%), as well as from the fact that they are net importers of food and energy. Among the most severely affected by the crisis are Eritrea and Niger, the Comoro Islands, Haiti, and Liberia. Among the short-term measures to be taken in facing the present situation, the FAO mentions the urgent need to employ local food production. The intervention efforts should include the distribution of seed, fertilizer, and feed for livestock, to the small farmers through vouchers and grants. According to the UN entity, a program of this kind, if it is carried out in an effective manner, could increase the supply in poorer nations and thus, the availability of food. It could also increase income for small producers and cut back on the rise of prices on the local market. (Mtp) (Agenzia Fides 3/6/2008)
