G8 Agriculture Ministers admit failure on hunger May 5, 2009

Political leaders have admitted that they will probably fail to deliver on promises to halve world hunger by 2015, said international agency Oxfam at the close of a G8 Meeting on Agriculture in Italy today.

“G8 Ministers have made an extraordinary admission of collective failure. This would be a sack-able offence in any other arena,” said Chris Leather, Oxfam International’s Senior Food Advisor. “The G8 has failed the world’s one billion hungry people.”

Click here to read full article by Chris Leather, Senior Food Advisor, Oxfam International

The challenge of hunger: the 2008 Global Hunger Index March 5, 2009

With high food prices threatening the food security of millions of vulnerable households, hunger and malnutrition are back in the headlines. Some regions have made significant headway in combating hunger and malnutrition, but in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Global Hunger Index (GHI) remains high. Food prices appear likely to remain high in the near term, leading to food and nutrition insecurity for poor people. In this risky and changing environment, this paper highlights key trends and the geographic areas of greatest vulnerability.

In order to overcome the crisis, the authors note that specific actors should be assigned to precise responsibilities. In the process, governments and institutions can then be held accountable for their actions. Besides short-term solutions, concerned organisations must also address long-term solutions, such as reforming trade rules and biofuel policies. The paper argues that highlighting the weaknesses of the current world food system would enable the food price crisis to serve as a catalyst for building a more effective food system. Such a system would meet the food and nutrition needs of all people.

For detail read,

The challenge of hunger: the 2008 Global Hunger Index, by Grebmer,K., V.; Fritschel,H.; Nestorova,B

Feed The World? We Are Fighting a Losing Battle, UN Admits April 17, 2008

by Julian Borger
Published on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 by The Guardian/UK
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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, which have created a “new face of hunger”.

“We will have a problem in coming months,” said Josette Sheeran, the head of the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP). “We will have a significant gap if commodity prices remain this high, and we will need an extra half billion dollars just to meet existing assessed needs.”

With voluntary contributions from the world’s wealthy nations, the WFP feeds 73 million people in 78 countries, less than a 10th of the total number of the world’s undernourished. Its agreed budget for 2008 was $2.9bn (£1.5bn). But with annual food price increases around the world of up to 40% and dramatic hikes in fuel costs, that 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

“This is the new face of hunger,” Sheeran 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.”…

For detail see <http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/feb/26/food.unitednations>