Global Food Crisis
A new report, The High Food Price Challenge: A Review of Responses to Combat Hunger, released by the UK Hunger Alliance and the Oakland Institute, reveals that a major initiative on food security, launched by the Group of 8 (G8) in July 2009, has failed to address the global hunger crisis, which currently affects more than a billion people.
Based on a thorough review of national and international responses to global hunger and featuring case studies from individual countries and regions that confronted the food price crisis using diverse strategies, The High Food Price Challenge shows that, beyond providing aid money, it is imperative that governments and international institutions rethink their policies to mitigate hunger and it proposes concrete measures.
“Africa needs investment in agriculture—better seeds and inputs, improved extension services, education on conservation techniques, regional integration, and investment to build local capacity. It does not need policies that enable foreign investors to grow and export food for their own people to the detriment of the local population. I’ll be even bolder—such policies will hurt Africa, fueling conflict over land and water…Africa is not a commodity. It must not be labeled “open for business.”
-– Howard G. Buffett, Foreword, (Mis)Investment in Agriculture
The Oakland Institute’s new report, (Mis)Investment in Agriculture: The Role of the International Finance Corporation in the Global Land Grab, exposes the role of the Bank’s private sector branch, International Finance Corporation (IFC), in fueling land grabs, especially in Africa.
Intended to inform current policy discussions on how to address ever-growing food insecurity, the 2008 Food Price Crisis: Rethinking Food Security Policies, the latest in the G-24 Discussion Paper Series, contends that it is essential to examine the structural causes of growing food insecurity and to understand the dynamics that have propelled the food crisis. The report authored by Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute, explores the different factors that are affecting food security in developing nations.
The report also examines both national and international responses to the 2008 food price crisis and growing hunger, which according to latest estimates impacts over a billion people, and proposes several short-term and long-term measures to address it.
The Great Land Grab: Rush for World's Farmland Threatens Food Security for the Poor, sounds the alarm on the threat that land grabbing poses to food security and livelihoods. While land grabs have not gone unnoticed, much attention has focused on individual countries, such as China and Saudi Arabia, buying land in poor nations. The Great Land Grab lays bare the insidious role played by international financial institutions like the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank and Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS), as well as rich nations, in promoting and facilitating this widespread land reappropriation--all in the name of promoting food security through foreign investment in agriculture.
A The Great Land Grab points out, there is a dangerous disconnect between increasing agricultural investment through rich countries amassing land in poor countries and the goal of secure and adequate food supplies for poor and vulnerable populations. The report critically examines the role of the private sector in agricultural development and exposes implications of private sector control over food resources. The report concludes that those who promote the benefits of private sector growth in agriculture fail to recognize that acquisition of crucial food-producing lands by foreign private entities poses a threat to rural economies and livelihoods, land reform agendas, and other efforts aimed at making access to food more equitable.
Additional Resources on Land Grab
The G8 extravaganza in L’Aquila, Italy from July 8-10, 2009 will highlight a new initiative to fight hunger that seeks a more coordinated approach to food aid and development.
Proposals to challenge hunger have become a key agenda item at international conferences since the 2008 food crisis. The G8’s performance on past commitments, however, casts a shadow on the sincerity of its intentions.
Click Here to Read the Briefing Paper
Voices from Africa: African Farmers & Environmentalists Speak Out Against a New Green Revolution in Africa, issues a direct challenge to Western-led plans for a genetically engineered revolution in African agriculture, particularly the recent misguided philanthropic efforts of the Gates Foundation's Alliance for a New Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and presents African resistance and solutions rooted in first-hand knowledge of what Africans need.
The battle over genetic engineering is being fought across the world, between those who champion farmers' rights to seeds, livelihood, and land, and those who seek to privatize these. While promotional campaigns for technological solutions to hunger regularly feature a handful of African spokespeople who drown out the genuine voices of farmers, researchers, and civil society groups, there is widespread opposition to genetic engineering and plans for a New Green Revolution for Africa. Voices From Africa is based on the essays and statements of leading African farmers, environmentalists, and civil society groups, and brings to light the real African perspectives on technological solutions to hunger and poverty on the continent--and the solutions that the people on the ground believe would bring true development.
Going Gray in the Golden State, a new report from the Oakland Institute documents the root causes of poverty among seniors in Oakland, California — the city with the largest population of impoverished seniors in the state that leads the nation in concentration of seniors living in poverty.
These vulnerable seniors, close to 400,000 Californians 65 and older, are acutely affected by the growing recession, which is causing deep reductions in safety net services.Governor Schwarzenegger’s $510 million line-item veto cuts in the 2008-2009 budget are bound to make things worse.
Drawing upon survey data as well as first-hand testimonies from seniors, advocates, and social service providers, the report examines the lived experiences of seniors and contrasts their reality with the myths that obscure their dire situation. “Myths such as, ‘If you work hard and manage your money well, you’ll be secure in retirement’ are often used to pin the responsibility for economic woes on individuals, effectively passing the buck onto the backs of the most vulnerable and preventing action from being taken to ensure seniors’ welfare.
The report also highlights successful strategies for both elder care and advocacy, and calls for municipal and state planners to enhance the quality of services provided to seniors by drawing upon the successes of integrative, community empowerment-based models.
Click here to download a copy of the report
A key question that is often asked about ecological agriculture, including organic agriculture, is whether it can be productive enough to meet the world’s food needs. While many agree that ecological agriculture is desirable from an environmental and social point of view, fears remain that ecological and organic agriculture produces low yields.
This briefing paper by Senior Fellow Lim Li Ching summarizes some of the available evidence to demystify the productivity debate and demonstrate that ecological agriculture is indeed productive, especially so in developing countries.
Click Here to Read the Briefing Paper
Rapidly increasing prices for staple foods from 2006 to 2008 culminated into a worldwide food crisis: inflation soared, food shortages were prevalent, and a lack of purchasing power among millions of the world's poor led to widespread hunger and desperation. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that higher prices pushed another 40 million people into hunger in 2008, bringing the overall number of undernourished people in the world to 963 million (compared to 923 million in 2007). The Food Crisis and Latin America, a new policy brief from the Oakland Institute examines the impact of the 2008 food price crisis on Latin America and the Caribbean.
Skyrocketing prices increased the number of hungry and malnourished Latin Americans; boycotts and protests became rampant which caused widespread social unrest; and governments were tried to control food prices through emergency policy measures. While several factors are cited as causes of the dramatic rise in food prices, the new policy brief, The Food Crisis and Latin America, explains the lack of access to and affordability of food in Latin America a result of trade and agricultural policies implemented over the past three decades. Beginning in the 1980s, Latin America as a region enacted the most sweeping reforms to its trade policies in the world, producing dramatic increases in agricultural trade. The policy brief examines if these gains have done anything to shield the region from inflation in world commodity prices and if they have made Latin America more food secure.
The policy brief also finds that even though world commodity prices have somewhat stabilized and recent reports indicate a downward turn in commodity prices, store shelves across the region are still void of affordable food and the crisis warrants immediate measures to address the failures in the global food system.
Click here to download a copy of the report
The challenges facing agriculture today are immense. Of immediate concern is the global increase in food prices, starkly brought home by reports of food riots and food shortages in many countries around the world.
In addition, the challenges of climate change are increasingly urgent. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change makes it clear that warming of the climate system is "unequivocal," as observations of increases in air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and sea level rise have made evident (IPCC, 2007). Agriculture will therefore have to cope with increased climate variability and more extreme weather events.
Agriculture is thus at a crossroads. It has to find ways to feed the world while being environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable. Yet, it is increasingly clear that the path that agriculture has been on is not sustainable nor can it feed the world without destroying the planet (IAASTD, 2008). With the spotlight once more on agriculture, and with many critical issues that need resolving, finding the answer to the question of the nature of agricultural development required has never been more pressing.
In this new Briefing Paper, Lim Li Ching, Senior Fellow at the Oakland Institute, makes the case that agriculture needs to undergo a radical overhaul to become more sustainable and proposes sustainable agriculture as an option.
While making specific recommendations on how to move towards mainstreaming sustainable agriculture, the Briefing Paper points out that:
• Contrary to popular belief, sustainable agriculture is productive and could produce enough food on a global per capita basis to sustain the current human population, and potentially an even larger population, without putting more farmland into production.
• Sustainable Agriculture can Raise Incomes
• Sustainable Agriculture Mitigates Climate Change and has Climate Adaptation Potential
Read the Briefing Paper Here
This will be a grim Thanksgiving for millions in the U.S.
Hunger and food insecurity is on the increase in the U.S. as families face ultimatums: to pay for food or rent, food or medicine. The situation has been made worse with the U.S. facing the worst food inflation in 17 years. Families are running out of food by the end of the month, parents are skipping meals so children can have enough to eat, and families are doing without minimally adequate, balanced and healthy diets.
Children are among the most vulnerable U.S. populations. According to a recent report from the USDA, hunger among children worsened in 2007, increasing by more than 50 percent. 691,000 children suffered from hunger sometime in 2007, up significantly from 430,000 in 2006.
Season of Hunger: A Crisis of Food Inflation & Shrinking Safety Nets in the U.S., examines the causes of growing hunger and food insecurity in the U.S. and suggests structural changes required to reform the precarious food system, emergency food assistance programs, wages, and employment in the United States.
Manufacturing Hunger: Indonesia'a Food Crisis, a field report by Senior Fellow Andre Vltchek shows how increasing food prices and stagnating incomes in Indonesia have lead to a situation where each grain of rice suddenly matters - at least for the majority of the people, and how excessive dependence on global markets, followed by the collapse of traditional agricultural structures, as well as almost non-existent social policies, have manufactured widespread hunger in the country today.
Click Here to Read the Field Report
World prices for basic staples have skyrocketed - up 83 percent compared to three years ago - while hunger and destitution reaches record levels. Skyrocketing prices have been blamed on a variety of factors - increased emphasis, however, has been placed on a surge in demand from emerging economies like India and China.
China and India grew at 11.4 percent and 9.2 respectively in 2007. With both nations occupying the top slots for population, with over a billion people each and accounting for nearly a third of world’s population it seems highly probable that a mass consumption in these two countries could be well poised to create a food crisis. The Blame Game: Who is Behind the World Food Price Crisis, however, reveals otherwise.
Click Here to Download the Policy Brief
The cost of basic food staples is skyrocketing around the globe. Billions of people who live on less than $2 a day are sliding into hunger and despair. Now more than ever, international entities and national governments must shift their agricultural policies toward sustainability, hunger prevention, and economic justice for farmers and farmworkers. The Oakland Institute and Grassroots International invite you to help bring about real solutions by signing a petition to show solidarity with the world's hungry.
Sign the Petition: Free Trade is Not the Answer to the Food Crisis
On June 3rd, 237 major NGOs, farmer organizations, trade unions and social movements from nearly 50 countries delivered a strong snub to WTO Director-General, Pascal Lamy, in his push to conclude the Doha Round as a solution to the global food crisis.
Click Here to Read Oakland Institute's Statement on the Collapse of the Doha Talks
Remarks from top U.S. officials on the causes of the food price crisis have caused quite a stir in India. These remarks come with criticism of export bans on key agricultural commodities that several countries including India have placed to meet domestic needs.
This Briefing Paper shows nutritional and consumption levels are declining in India and export controls on key agricultural commodities are designed to protect the poor and vulnerable against the current agricultural global price shock.
According to the World Bank, global food prices have climbed by 83% over the last three years. This increase in food prices is impacting the most vulnerable – the poor are particularly affected, as their diets rely on the very staples that are becoming too costly. In the meanwhile International Financial Institutions are promoting further trade liberalization and technological fixes such as the Green Revolution to boost agricultural production.
This Policy Brief examines the impact and causes of the soaring food prices and explores the viability of solutions recommended by the World Bank, WTO and the IMF to deal with growing hunger.
Click Here to Download the Policy Brief
UN agencies are meeting in Berne to tackle the world food price crisis. Will the "battle plan" emerging from the Swiss capital, a charming city with splendid sandstone buildings and far removed from the grinding poverty and hunger which has reduced people to eating mud cakes in Haiti and scavenging garbage heaps, be more of the same -- promote free trade to deal with the food crisis?
In the midst of the growing world food crisis, International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology (IAASTD), an independent and multi-stakeholder international assessment of agriculture has concluded that a radical change is needed in agriculture policy and practice, in order to address hunger and poverty, social inequities and environmental sustainability questions.
Read the Summary of the IAASTD Report
The current food price crisis has further intensified the debate and the need for reform of international food aid.
This new report from the Oakland Institute is not merely an update of Food Aid or Food Sovereignty??, but examines the most pressing issues in the food aid debate today and highlights the promise and need for a long-term and human rights-based approach to food security and the elimination of hunger.
Download The Status of International Food Aid Negotiations
Download Food Aid or Food Sovereignty? Ending World Hunger in Our Time
In recent weeks, several UN agencies have issued warnings against impending "food riots" because of the acute hike in prices of rice, corn, wheat, and other staples. Worst affected by growing hunger are the poor, surviving on less then $2 a day, in developing countries.
Governments are resorting to desperate measures to address growing social unrest before it destabilizes countries.It is however essential to understand the underpinnings of this food crisis before rushing to adopt policy solutions.