Maravi

'Living standards for most Zambians deteriorating'

'Living standards for most Zambians deteriorating'
By Mutuna Chanda
Sunday October 28, 2007 [03:00]

A RECENT Norwegian Church Aid report has indicated that studies have suggested deteriorating living standards and conditions for most Zambians over the last 20 years. And the report has recommended that the World Bank and other donors should stop promoting privatisation. The report titled, ‘Deadly combination; The role of Southern Governments and the World Bank in the rise of hunger’, published by Norwegian Church Aid, Church of Sweden, Danish Church Aid and Brot-fuer-die-Welt is a study of the impact of economic reforms on hunger prone people in Zambia, Malawi and Ethiopia. The report released on October 13, 2007 noted the negative outcomes of the World Bank and IMF privatisation push.

“Following the collapse of state institutions previously providing services in rural areas, studies suggest increasing food insecurity among smallholder farmers, due to poor roads, lack of inputs and the collapse of channels providing for credit. Before liberalisation, inputs were delivered to farmers by parastatals despite poor roads; after privatisation the task fell on private traders to perform the same functions which depended upon profitability in turn depending on road conditions and proximity to large consumption centres,” the report stated.

The report noted that private sector activity had thus been limited to areas where there were sufficient volumes of production, and where transaction and transport costs were lower.

It noted that the farmers benefiting from out grower schemes have been limited to a few areas along the line of rail putting many farmers in outlying areas at a disadvantage.

The report stated that demands by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for privatisation of basic public services and trade liberalisation had helped worsen the hunger situation in the world.

“The World Bank’s formal and informal advisory role has been and is still problematic because it undermines the democratic ownership of policies in recipient countries. Governments should be presented with real policy choices rather than being pushed in the direction of liberalisation,” the report read in part. “The Bank needs to focus more on the consequences of reforms and to helping governments shape alternative policies rather than providing them with one recipe for reform.”

And the report has called for Northern countries to stop dumping their subsidised agricultural products and pushing for even lower tariffs in multilateral and regional trade agreements.

It further called for African governments to prioritise increased financing in agriculture research and development, food security and also ensuring that resources were better targeted at poor subsistence farmers while taking the lead in economic policy making processes.

Labels: POVERTY

posted by MrK @ 5:28 AM