Global Mobilization to Address the Food Crisis by United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service 12:08pm 8th Aug, 2011   The skyrocketing rise in food prices worldwide represents a global development crisis of unprecedented scale. It undermines one of the most fundamental human rights of all - the right to be free from hunger - for perhaps an additional 100 million people to the more than one billion people who were already going hungry before the emergency erupted.    This crisis threatens to wipe out all progress achieved in meeting the Millennium Development Goal "to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger."    It has thrown into question the prevailing development and global economic integration models of the past 20 or 30 years, which among other issues have systematically undermined small-scale agricultural production in developing countries - while presenting a new type of global security threat.    Global Mobilization to Address the Food Crisis. This Online Focus page provides useful links and regular updates on the global mobilization by the United Nations and civil society to address the immediate as well as structural root causes of the current crisis.    Fertile Ground – How governments and donors can halve hunger by supporting small farmers.    “Poor people do not go hungry because there is not enough to eat; they go hungry because they are not able to produce enough and cannot afford to buy food.”    In the lead up to the MDG+10 Review Summit, ActionAid released a new report entitled Fertile Ground, which emphasizes that “empowering local farmers to produce more food for local markets is the bedrock of global food security” and thus can effectively contribute to halving world hunger (MDG1).    In addition, investing in agriculture has a very positive effect on reducing poverty. The report notes that recent research shows “that growth in agriculture can make twice the impact on poverty as growth in other sectors, both through its direct impact on raising the incomes of the large numbers of the poor who live in rural areas, and through the strong links between agriculture and other parts of the economy.”    The report also underlines that small farmers are responsible for 90 per cent of the food grown in Africa and produce about half the world’s food supply. However, they are as well the ones that go hungry as about three-quarters of the hungry people around the globe are small farmers and the landless in rural areas.    Based on extensive research and interviews with several hundred farmers in Uganda, Kenya and Malawi, as well as on an extensive global literature review, Fertile Ground examines the level and quality of current government and donor spending in areas critical to smallholder farmers.    It finds that – after years of decline in the 1980s and 1990s – there is today an increased international interest to re-invest in agriculture.    “Spending by African governments on agriculture actually doubled between 2000 and 2005.” It adds “where promises to support smallholders are being kept, the results are very good indeed.” However, more resources are needed to effectively and sustainable address hunger, poverty and environmental degradation.    “Too few governments are meeting the African Union target of allocating 10 per cent of their budgets to agriculture, and none is prioritising support to the women farmers whose role lies at the heart of food security,” the report warns.    The report calls for large-scale investment in small-scale agriculture, preferably with a focus on low-cost, ecologically sustainable and climate resilient methods of increasing productivity.    It informs that still too often preference is given to costly, chemical-intensive approaches that often benefit richer farmers most, and can do environmental damage.    The report concludes by recommending that:    1. “governments should develop robust and costed national “breakthrough” plans for halving hunger by 2015 through a massive scale-up of public goods provided to women farmers and other smallholders;    2. governments and donors should fully finance such plans by increasing their budgetary allocations and aid disbursements;    3. the focus of public investment should be shifted to low-cost, sustainable techniques and the research and extension needed to support these. Such techniques reduce climate risk and are most likely to benefit women and poor farmers.” Visit the related web page
	Next (more recent) news item
	Next (older) news item