Global financial crisis threatens aid to the world's hungry, warns World Food Programme official

Pakistani people receive donated food at a distribution centre in Lahore on the eve of World Food Day. The UN's food-aid arm is US$2 billion short of the funds it needs to feed over 90 million hungry people worldwide. -- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Oct 17, 2008
UN agency issues SOS for food aid


Global financial crisis threatens aid to the world's hungry, warns World Food Programme official



By Radha Basu

THE global financial crisis has put the world's hungry at risk of not getting the food they need.
Given this year's skyrocketing food prices and more natural disasters, the World Food Programme (WFP) needs to raise US$6 billion (S$8.9 billion) - twice as much as last year - to feed 90 to 95 million people in more than 80 countries.

Its spokesman for Asia, Mr Paul Risley, told The Straits Times that if funds are not forthcoming, it may have to cut back on programmes or the number of people it helps.

'We are concerned that donor countries will reduce their commitments in view of the financial crisis,' he said. 'That's really the last thing we need.'

The food-aid arm of the United Nations is the world's largest humanitarian agency, providing rations to people from the poorest communities, conflict zones and areas decimated by natural disasters.

Ahead of World Food Day yesterday it said that it is still short of US$2 billion to feed the hungry this year.

Mr Risley said it is important for governments, companies and ordinary folk to open their wallets, even during difficult times.

'Millions of the world's poor are but a single natural disaster away from calamity,' he said.

In Myanmar, for instance, many people had sacks of rice stored in their kitchens but Cyclone Nargis devoured their supplies when it hit in early May.

'Living as we do in a world made very small by air travel and e-mail, helping is just the humane thing to do,' he said.

While disaster relief often spurs generosity, Mr Risley said that chronic hunger still lies below the radar of many donors.

'Hunger and malnutrition remain the biggest risk to health worldwide - greater than Aids, malaria and tuberculosis combined - claiming one child's life every five seconds,' he said.

Indeed, 25,000 people die every day from hunger-related causes, mostly in India, Bangladesh and sub-Saharan Africa.

A doubling in the prices of rice, wheat and maize early this year worsened the plight of the hungry.

The World Bank says the price hikes pushed an estimated 100 million people back into extreme poverty and malnutrition.

The number of malnourished people will rise to 967 million this year from 820 million two years ago, it says, wiping away years of gain from hunger-eradication programmes.

World Bank president Robert Zoellick said last week that while the financial crisis is the centre of attention, 'many forget that a human crisis is rapidly unfolding in developing countries. It is pushing people to the brink of survival'.

Citing the contributing factors, Mr Risley said that countries have been investing less in agriculture, with richer industrial nations preferring to import staple foods like rice.

In Asia, growing urbanisation has led to farmlands being eaten up by factories, and low-value crops like rice being replaced with cash crops like oil palm.

At the same time, rapid economic growth and burgeoning populations in developing countries have meant greater demand than ever for food.

It has not helped that food-exporting nations like the Philippines, India and Pakistan have become importers and imposed export bans.

Pakistan's ban on wheat exports, for example, directly affected millions in Afghanistan. 'Almost overnight, we had an additional 2.3 million mouths to feed in Afghanistan,' said Mr Risley.

Mr Risley, who visited Singapore recently, hoped the Government, companies and individuals would donate more to the programme.

Some, like Yum Foods, have already shown the way. The restaurant company. which owns Pizza Hut and KFC, raised US$118,000 for the WFP here in Singapore last year as part of a global campaign. A similar fund-raising effort this year will end next week.

'Money is the quickest means to transfer food from one plate to another - and provide a tangible gift of life,' said Mr Risley.

radhab@sph.com.sg

To donate, log on to www.fromhungertohope.com or http://www.wfp.org/

Oct 17, 2008

Oxfam appeals for funds: 'Nearly a billion people face starvation'

LONDON: Oxfam launched an urgent appeal to mark UN World Food Day yesterday, saying that even as hundreds of billions of dollars were being directed to tackle the financial crisis, the number of people worldwide facing starvation has risen to nearly one billion.

'Rich countries are directing their attention to high fuel prices and turmoil in the financial sector, but the number of malnourished people in the world rose by 44 million in 2008,' the British-based international aid charity said.

'Nearly one billion people are now going hungry. When you consider the speed of the world's response to the credit crisis, the delay in acting is shocking.'

Oxfam said it needed an extra US$26.2 million (S$38.8 million) for its humanitarian work, a sum that is paltry compared to the billions made available in days to bail out Western banks.

It also noted that five months after countries promised to give more than US$12 billion to address the global food emergency, under US$1 billion has been given.

'These are tough times for many of us, but huge increases in food prices mean that the world's poorest are being hit hardest,' said Oxfam chief executive Barbara Stocking.

The charity said higher food prices meant people were eating less and lower quality food, while children were being pulled out of school and farmers were migrating to city slums.

The Oxfam report contrasts the global food crisis with the huge profits being made by the farm and food companies, the Guardian reported.
'The trend in agriculture, as in international finance, has been towards deregulation and a reduced role for the state,' Ms Stocking said. 'It is time the world woke up to the need for developing country governments to support their poor farmers, and the obligation of developed countries to help them to do so.'

In a global opinion poll released on the eve of World Food Day, Britain's BBC World Service reported that almost two-thirds of people surveyed in the Philippines, Panama, Kenya and Nigeria say they are now eating less because of the rise in food prices.

While world grain prices have been tumbling back down the steep slope they climbed early this year, food bills from London to Manila remain 9 per cent to 16 per cent higher than a year ago, according to the latest national reports.

And experts worry that the wild swings may turn uphill again.
The global financial crisis 'puts us in a precarious position', said United Nations' food economist Abdolreza Abbassian, who fears farmers frustrated by falling prices and credit shortages will plant less.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, ASSOCIATED PRESS

WHILE more can be done to shore up food production, cutting wastage is an equally urgent need, says Mr Paul Risley of the World Food Programme.
'The terrible waste that occurs in developed societies is frustrating to people who have seen the face of hunger in so many countries,' he says.
When The Straits Times first meets him, he is at Lau Pa Sat amid tables laden with half-eaten pratas, laksa and satay.

'Too much food is in the wrong places at the wrong time,' he says, acknowledging that what is wasted cannot quite be shipped to starving folk elsewhere.

'But if all of us pledge that we won't buy and waste so much and donate the money saved instead, we could see real changes.'