The world’s current food crisis has sent painful waves of hunger and malnourishment throughout the developing world. For those of us living in the United States, this crisis has most often been represented in numbers that have become all too familiar:
- Over the past year, the price of rice has increased by 74% and the price of wheat by 130%.
- By the end of 2008, the price of basic grains imported by some of the world’s poorest countries is expected to rise by 56%
- Almost 40 countries have experienced food-related social unrest over the last five months.
- Today, nearly 854 million people don’t have enough food to eat.
What we are less familiar with, however, are the reasons behind this crisis and what we can do to prevent future food shortages. And we can do a lot. The U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food explains, “This is an intolerable situation because it is a preventable one.” The world grows enough food to feed everyone. And yet hundreds of thousands go hungry.
While immediate steps must be taken to prevent hunger and famine, there are long term policy changes we can promote to prevent a prolonged food crisis and further suffering around the globe. Root causes of the food crisis:
- A rise in demand: With growing populations and ability to purchase food, many nations are now consuming more food, particularly animal protein, than ever before. This leads to increased demand worldwide and therefore higher food prices across the globe. Increased prices leave the world’s poorest people unable to purchase basic food supplies.
- Insufficient investment in agriculture systems in the developing world: Over the last three decades, many national governments and international agencies have failed to invest in technology, research and training needed to maintain sustainable agricultural output in developing nations. As a result, crop outputs have often been low, land lays fallow and rural communities have lost the skills and tools needed to produce food.
- Rise in the cost of oil: Pesticides and fertilizers needed to maintain crop yields contain oil-based products. With increasing oil costs, many vulnerable farmers and countries have been unable to purchase pesticides and fertilizers needed for food production.
- Increased demand for bio-fuel: The rise in oil prices has made the bio-fuel industry more lucrative. Many countries have therefore been driven to plant bio-fuel crops for international sale instead of planting food for consumption. As a result, countries are left without needed food crops.
- Speculative investment: Such investment on food crops has been largely unregulated and has led to increased food prices that benefit a few investors while leaving the world’s poorest without access to affordable food.
ACT NOW:
Contact your senators. Tell them that you support Senate efforts to develop a congressional plan aimed at addressing root causes of the food crisis. Express your desire for their offices to support Senator Joe Biden’s work on this issue.
Ask them to co-sponsor the Global Poverty Act. This act calls on the U.S. to develop policies that will help reach the international Millennium Development Goals and assist people around the world as they rise above poverty.
Contact your representatives. Ask them to contact Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Congressman Howard Berman, directly, to ensure that the House also develops long-term plans to address the food crisis and move forward decisively.
When you call, express support for the President’s recent decision to use 25% of U.S. foreign food aid funds for local food purchase. This decision will provide immediate and crucial support to local food systems in developing countries, thereby ensuring food security. The U.S. Congress needs to hear that there is constituent support for this step forward.
To contact your members of Congress, call the capital switchboard at: 202/ 224-3121 or visit:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt
CONTINUE TO ACT:
The current food crisis is linked to many issues that may interest you, and that you can work on in the months and years ahead.
Climate Change: Join in local efforts to protect the environment and offset rapid climate change. Express support for national policy-makers promoting a greater U.S. commitment to mitigate climate change.
International Trade Policy: Call on your congressional representatives to only support trade agreements that serve to protect local food systems, small-scale farmers and biodiversity.
Foreign Assistance: Many of the world’s most vulnerable populations benefit from the U.S. government’s foreign assistance. Without such assistance, disease and malnourishment would increase and necessary health services would be cut. Each year, encourage your members of Congress to support a robust foreign assistance budget
Fill the Bowl | Advocate
