Quote of the Day

“According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), almost 1 billion people suffer from chronic hunger and almost 2 billion are under- or overnourished. Approximately 5 million children die each year because of poor nutrition. Access to adequate food during the first 1,000 days of life is vitally important for healthy future generations. Of the world’s hungry people, 98% live in developing countries. The root causes of food insecurity and malnutrition are poverty and inequity rather than shortages.

FAO statistics confirm that the world produces enough food to feed the 7 billion people living today, and even the estimated 9-10 billion population in 2050. Global agriculture produces 17% more calories per person today than 30 years ago, despite a 70% increase in population. Despite this, for the 2 billion people making less than $2 a day – many of whom live in rural areas where resource-poor farmers cultivate small plots of land – most can’t afford to buy food. It is the economic system that is responsible for this prevalence of poverty and hunger.” -  Hilal Elver, Special Rapporteur on Right to Food, ResearchProfessor, and co-director of the Project on Global Climate Change, HumanSecurity, and Democracy housed at the Orfalea Center for Global &International Studies at the University of California. 

Worth a Read

Poor Economics by Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee and Esther Duflo
http://pooreconomics.com/

What is striking is that even people who are that poor are just like the rest of us in almost every way. We have the same desires and weaknesses; the poor are no less rational than anyone else—quite the contrary. Precisely because they have so little, we often find them putting much careful thought into their choices: They have to be sophisticated economists just to survive. Yet our lives are as different as liquor and liquorice.

The average poverty line in the fifty countries where most of the poor live is 16 Indian rupees per person and per day. People who live on less than that are considered to be poor by the government of their own countries. At the current exchange rate, 16 rupees corresponds to 36 U.S. cents. But because prices are lower in most developing countries, if the poor actually bought the things they do at U.S. prices, they would need to spend more—99 cents. So to imagine the lives of the poor, you have to imagine having to live in Miami or Modesto with 99 cents per day for almost all your everyday needs (excluding housing). It is not easy—in India, for example, the equivalent amount would buy you fifteen smallish bananas, or about 3 pounds of low-quality rice. Can one live on that? And yet, around the world, in 2005, 865 million people (13 percent of the world’s population) did.

Living on 99 cents a day means you have limited access to information—newspapers, television, and books all cost money—and so you often just don’t know certain facts that the rest of the world takes as given, for example, that vaccines can stop your child from getting measles. It means living in a world whose institutions are not built for someone like you. Most of the poor do not have a salary, let alone a retirement plan that deducts automatically from it. It means making decisions about things that come with a lot of small print when you cannot even properly read the large print. What does someone who cannot read make of a health insurance product that doesn’t cover a lot of unpronounceable diseases? It means going to vote when your entire experience of the political system is a lot of promises, not delivered...And so on.

India - the booming economy ?

"Sometimes we get work, sometimes we don't. Together with our children we are dying from hunger. What can we poor people do? Nothing."

There are around 10 million children in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh . A decade ago 55% were malnourished. Two years ago the government's own National Family Health Survey put the figure for Madhya Pradesh at around 60%.

"Because of the increase in food prices a mother cannot buy an adequate quantity of milk, fruits and vegetables. So their staple diet has become wheat chapattis," she explains. "A child cannot survive on wheat chapattis alone. About 80% of mothers and children are anaemic because they can't get good quality food."

The problem of malnutrition is getting worse, not better.

The Future is Famine , Part 2

Further to this earlier post

"This is the new face of hunger," Sheeran , the head of the UN's World Food Programme (WFP).said. "There is food on shelves but people are priced out of the market. There is vulnerability in urban areas we have not seen before. There are food riots in countries where we have not seen them before."

The United Nations warned yesterday that it no longer has enough money to keep global malnutrition at bay this year in the face of a dramatic upward surge in world commodity prices . the WFP feeds 73 million people in 78 countries, less than a 10th of the total number of the world's undernourished. But with annual food price increases around the world of up to 40% and dramatic hikes in fuel costs, its budget is no longer enough even to maintain current food deliveries. The shortfall is all the more worrying as it comes at a time when populations, many in urban areas, who had thought themselves secure in their food supply are now unable to afford basic foodstuffs. Afghanistan has recently added an extra 2.5 million people to the number it says are at risk of malnutrition.

The increases in the global price of basic foods is being caused by a "perfect storm" of factors: a rise in demand for animal feed from increasingly prosperous populations in India and China, the use of more land and agricultural produce for biofuels, and climate change.
Much of the blame has been put on the transfer of land and grains to the production of biofuel. But its impact has been outweighed by the sharp growth in demand from a new middle class in China and India for meat and other foods, which were previously viewed as luxuries.
"The fundamental cause is high income growth," said Joachim von Braun, the head of the International Food Policy Research Institute. "I estimate this is half the story. The biofuels is another 30%. Then there are weather-induced erratic changes which caused irritation in world food markets. These things have eaten into world levels of grain storage.The lower the reserves, the more nervous the markets become, and the increased volatility is particularly detrimental to the poor who have small assets."
The impact of climate change will amplify that already dangerous volatility. Record flooding in west Africa, a prolonged drought in Australia and unusually severe snowstorms in China have all had an impact on food production.
"The climate change factor is so far small but it is bound to get bigger," Von Braun said. "That is the long-term worry and the markets are trying to internalise it."

A growing taste for meat and dairy in newly prosperous parts of the world is one important factor. When it takes 10 kilos of feed to make one of beef, farming animals swallows land that might otherwise be feeding people. But the new middle classes of Beijing and Shanghai will not easily be persuaded that eating meat is a bad idea, especially if the persuasion comes from western countries that are far from vegan. Meanwhile, subsidies to biofuels, particularly in the US, are distorting global farming. The 60m tonnes of American maize being burned each year represents more than twice the UK's entire cereal crop. The world wants cheaper food, and it wants more food - without the environmental consequences. The overriding priority must be ensuring that the hungry are not made even hungrier - but with the capitalist system it will be the drive for profits that takes priority .

The impact has been felt around the world. Food riots have broken out in Morocco, Yemen, Mexico, Guinea, Mauritania, Senegal and Uzbekistan. Pakistan has reintroduced rationing for the first time in two decades. Russia has frozen the price of milk, bread, eggs and cooking oil for six months. Thailand is also planning a freeze on food staples. After protests around Indonesia, Jakarta has increased public food subsidies. India has banned the export of rice except the high-quality basmati variety.

"For us, the main concern is for the poorest countries and the net food buyers," said Frederic Mousseau, a humanitarian policy adviser at Oxfam. "For the poorest populations, 50%-80% of income goes on food purchases. We are concerned now about an immediate increase in malnutrition in these countries, and the landless, the farmworkers there, all those who are living on the edge."

1 United States The last time America's grain silos were so empty was in the early seventies, when the Soviet Union bought much of the harvest. Washington is telling the World Food Programme it is facing a 40% increase in food commodity prices compared with last year, and higher fuel bills to transport it, so the US, the biggest single food aid contributor, will radically cut the amount it gives away.
2 Morocco 34 people jailed this month for taking part in riots over food prices.
3 Egypt The world's largest importer of wheat has been hard hit by the global price rises, and most of the increase will be absorbed in increased subsidies. The government has also had to relax the rules on who is eligible for food aid, adding an extra 10.5 million people.
4 Eritrea It could be one of the states hardest hit in Africa because of its reliance on imports. The price rises will hit urban populations not previously thought vulnerable to a lack of food.
5 Zimbabwe With annual inflation of 100,000% and unemployment at 80%, price increases on staples can only worsen the severe food shortages.
6 Yemen Prices of bread and other staples have nearly doubled in the past four months, sparking riots in which at least a dozen people were killed.
7 Russia The government struck a deal with producers last year to freeze the price of milk, eggs, vegetable oil, bread and kefir (a fermented milk drink). The freeze was due to last until the end of January but was extended for another three months.
8 Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has asked the WFP to feed an extra 2.5 million people, who are now in danger of malnutrition as a result of a harsh winter and the effect of high world prices in a country that is heavily dependent on imports.
9 Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf announced this month that Pakistan would be going back to ration cards for the first time since the 1980s, after the sharp increase in the price of staples. These will help the poor (nearly half the population) buy subsidised flour, wheat, sugar, pulses and cooking fat from state-owned outlets.
10 India The government will spend 250bn rupees on food security. India is the world's second biggest wheat producer but bought 5.5m tonnes in 2006, and 1.8m tonnes last year, driving up world prices. It has banned the export of all forms of rice other than luxury basmati.
11 China Unusually severe blizzards have dramatically cut agricultural production and sent prices for food staples soaring. The overall food inflation rate is 18.2%. The cost of pork has increased by more than half. The cost of food was rising fast even before the bad weather moved in, as an increasingly prosperous population began to demand as staples agricultural products previously seen as luxuries. The government has increased taxes and imposed quotas on food exports, while removing duties on food imports.
12 Thailand The government is planning to freeze prices of rice, cooking oil and noodles.
13 Malaysia and the Philippines Malaysia is planning strategic stockpiles of the country's staples. Meanwhile the Philippines has made an unusual plea to Vietnam to guarantee its rice supplies. Imports were previously left to the global market.
14 Indonesia Food price rises have triggered protests and the government has had to increase its food subsidies by over a third to contain public anger.

A paper by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) commented, "Some nutrition studies show that the number of food-insecure people in the world would rise by more than 16 million for every percentage increase in the real prices of staple foods, meaning that 1.2 billion people could be chronically hungry by 2025; 600 million more than previously predicted."

The Ominous Future

The soaring cost of food is threatening millions of people in poor countries, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation has warned. Food prices have risen an unprecedented 40% in the last year and many nations may be unable to cope, the agency says. It is calling for help for farmers in poor countries to buy seeds and fertiliser, and for a review of the impact of bio-fuels on food production. The FAO says 37 countries face food crises due to conflict and disaster.

"Without support for poor farmers and their families in the hardest-hit countries, they will not be able to cope," said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf.

International cereal prices have already sparked food riots in several countries, the FAO points out

The causes of the rise food prices are a mixture of reasons .
Partly due to droughts and floods linked to climate change .
Changing diet in fast-developing nations such as China is also considered a factor, with more land needed to raise livestock to meet increasing demand for meat.
Rising oil prices boosting demand for bio-fuels , the use of land to grow plants which can be used to make alternative fuels - and the use of food crops themselves for fuel - has reduced food supplies and helped push up prices.

America's Hunger 3

The Illinois Food Bank Association, a coalition of eight America's Second Harvest food banks covering every part of our state, is working every day to provide food for hungry people. Each year, the members of the association provide approximately 80 million pounds of food to those in need. It feeds nearly 1 million people each year, and nearly 40 percent of the families served are working households.

American hunger 3

More than a million in the US state of Michigan -- or about one in 10 people -- will rely on a food bank this year. Others will subsist on inadequate food choices that contribute to more serious health issues. Some will just go hungry said Jane Marshall executive director of the Food Bank Council of Michigan .

About 274,000 households in Missouri do not have access to adequate food, according to the Missouri Association for Social Welfare . Since 1996 the value of families' food stamps has continually decreased .

More here and here

American hunger (2)

Further to this

Often described as the richest state in the richest country California has more than 2.5 million residents can’t afford to adequately feed their families, according to a new report by the Center for Health Policy Research at UCLA. 30 percent of poor people experienced food insecurity in 2005 up from the 29 percent reported in 2001. .

Merced County ranks third-worst in the state for the percentage of poor adults who have trouble putting food on the table (Only Kings and Napa counties had higher rates of food insecurity) . 25,000 low-income adults living in Merced have trouble getting enough food to eat. For about 9,000 of those people, the problem is so severe that they consistently experience hunger.

George Manalo-LeClair, one of the report's authors and director of legislation for the California Food Policy Advocates. "So much food is produced there, yet we see a ton of families struggling just to put food on the table."

Merced County Rescue Mission now serving between 8,000 and 11,000 meals per month countywide.

Meanwhile on the Eastern Seaboard the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that some estimates put the number affected by hunger in the USA at 35 million. 7,000 infants and toddlers live in Philadelphia households that are at risk for hunger.

American Hunger Pains

From the richest country in the world if we are led to believe the propaganda , that is .

A recent study by the Food Bank For New York reveals that the city's hunger problem, far from diminishing, is getting steadily worse. According to the report, since 2003, the first year data were available, the number of city residents who experienced difficulty affording needed food in the previous 12 months has increased tremendously.

While in 2003 the number of people struggling to put food on the table was about 2 million, in 2004 it already was 2.5 million, in 2005 2.6 million and last year it went up to almost 3 million - an increase of 48% .

According to the study, while the cost of food, housing, fuel and other basic expenses has gone through the roof in the last few years, real wages (what you can actually buy with the money you make) have decreased more than 10% since 2003.

Aine Duggan, the Food Bank's vice president of government relations, policy and research said.

"These numbers refer to people who are experiencing hunger and also to those who have trouble affording the food they need or the right type of food..."

Nor is it the poor and the homeless and the hobos who suffer .

"More middle-income people are joining the ranks of those struggling to put food on the table.The shrinking middle class is real."

The percentage of New Yorkers with household incomes as high as $50,000 to $74,999 that are having trouble affording the food they need went up to 28% last year from 14% in 2003, the study found.

"This study shows that there is a certain misconception about what it means to be struggling and hungry in New York. It is more widespread than people think. People working full time, the guy who cleans your building at night, the school guard - they all can be having trouble putting the food they need on the table." said Councilman Eric Gioia .

The number of those who lack savings to fall back on if they lose their jobs or become ill has increased dramatically. Among New Yorkers with annual household incomes ranging from $25,000 to $49,999, for example, the percentage of those not able to afford food immediately after a loss of household income rose to 26% last year from 16% in 2003 .

Nor is it in the big soul-less city that people go hungry .

In Rhode Island we read more people are going hungry than before :-

Michael Cerio, spokesperson for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, said. "People's wages are just not keeping up with cost of living and, because of that, hunger is now affecting one out of every eight households,"

In 1998-1999, when a study was done, the number of households affected by problems providing food was one in every 10. Each year, according to the statistics provided, the number appears to be increasing .This increase is due to a number of things, according to Cerio, such as the increased cost of fuel, home heating costs, rents, mortgages and utilities and other costs of living. Wages are increasing, he said, but it may not be enough.

"For the calendar year 2006, we fed 13,698 people," said Dan Sylvester, president of the West Warwick Food Pantry. "When they come, we give them three meals for three days, so that was a total of 123,282 meals last year."
And this year ??
Sylvester said, there has already been "higher totals than the same months last year."

"It just seems to get worse every year as rents get higher, the cost for fuel gets higher, the cost for electricity gets higher, and many people just can't do it," Sylvester said.

In neigbouring Warwick according to Jean Gattegno, president and CEO of Westbay Community Action said :-

"There has absolutely been an increase in people requesting food," she said. "As the costs of rents have increased along with medical costs and utilities payments, people just do not have enough money to make it through the month...We see a lot of people in crisis, but the underlying effect of the crisis is that they just do not have enough money to make it through the month .We see so many young people and young families who are working that are just not able to make ends meet. It really says a lot about the economy of the state." - It actually says more about the economic realities of the Capitalist State

The increased numbers the pantries are seeing are coming from more working families requesting help. The number of working poor accessing food pantries for assistance in this state, according to Cerio, is at almost one third (32 %) of the households served by the Food Bank Network. This number is up from 29 % on 2001 and 25% in 1997.

Pat Shurtleff, the human services director for near-by Coventry, said she is seeing an increase in the number of people accessing services from the food bank as well.

"We are seeing an increase in the number of families," Shurtleff said. "Many people are living paycheck to paycheck, so that when they have that extra unexpected cost come up - whether it be an increase in medication cost, a car that breaks down and needs to be fixed - it can really throw people off because they just cannot afford to put that reserve in the bank for things like that."

Doesn't really reflect the image we see of American capitalism on our TVs , does it ?

Famine and Hunger

A while back i came across a BBC inteview that was particularly insightful about the causes of famine so i think i'll post it main points on here .

Scottish Oxfam worker David Crawford :-

" As a member of Oxfam's humanitarian support team, I can be deployed globally at short notice. My job is to provide short-term leadership or support in emergencies or humanitarian situations. From last October, I have been based in West Africa as the senior humanitarian adviser for the Sahel region - Mauritania, Mali and Niger...

...The food crisis was widely perceived in the media to relate to food shortages which then caused widespread hunger and malnutrition...

...Although this played an important role at a local level, it wasn't the main cause as the following example illustrates. During the crisis, Niger was still exporting food and staple cereals were available in the markets. The problem, however, was the poorest and most vulnerable people hadn't produced enough grain to survive and couldn't afford to buy it in the markets.
Once people run out of money they turn to "coping strategies", for instance getting into debt or selling off their assets including their valuable animals...

....For the poorest people who are vulnerable to food crisis, the main problem is access to food, not availability of food - food is usually available but they can't get it..."

The truth is out there about the effects of Capitalism , but it is a pity those involved in combatting food shortages don't recognise Socialism as a viable solution and continue with their palliatives , over and over and over again , without ever learning the lessons of their own experences .