WFP warns of worse food crisis for the poor

WFP warns of worse food crisis for the poor
Written by Mutale Kapekele
Monday, June 22, 2009 4:07:34 PM

THE poor are yet to experience the worst food crisis, World Food Program (WFP) executive director Josette Sheeran has said. And Sheeran has urged G8 development ministers meeting in Italy, to remember the needs of the world's hungriest people and continue to support WFP, which is dependent on donations.

Poor households all over the developing world are eating fewer and less nutritious meals with many cutting back on healthcare and schooling for children.

Commenting on the WFP research results on the effects of the financial crisis, which focused on Armenia, Bangladesh, Ghana, Nicaragua and Zambia as case studies and published as G8 development ministers meet in Rome, Sheeran warned that the poor were yet to experience the worst.

"In each of the five countries, we were alarmed that projections were for more hunger and struggling. It demonstrates that for those living on less than $2 a day, the financial crisis is accelerating hunger and the worst is yet to come," Sheeran noted according to the WFP website. "We must not forget the urgent hunger needs around the world, or cut back on support for hungry people. The world's most vulnerable are being hit by the combined effects of the global financial downturn and stubbornly high food prices in many developing world markets. Hunger can lead to dangerous destabilisation, and impact global peace and security."

The studies revealed that the groups most affected by the financial crisis were unskilled workers in urban areas, families who rely on remittances from abroad, workers laid off from the export sectors and those working in mining and tourism.

"The worst hit was not necessarily the poorest of the poor, however, but a new group of people who face a downward slide into poverty," Sheeran said.

Sheeran pointed out that the cost of alleviating world hunger was relatively inexpensive compared to the trillion dollar rescue packages designed to save financial institutions and the automotive industry.

She said this year, WFP needs US $6.4 billion to meet the urgent hunger needs of 105 million people and that a generation could be lost if funds were not poured into her organisation.

"With one in six people going hungry, one child dying every six seconds, and 80 per cent of sub-Saharan African countries facing higher food prices than a year ago, the poor and the hungry are facing one of the biggest crises in our lifetimes," Sheeran said. "It is critical for the world to remember that hunger will have a permanent impact on children and we may lose a generation unless they have adequate access to nutrition during this crisis."

She warned that without food, people could venture into unacceptable options.

"We support the efforts of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to double global food production by 2050," she said. "At the same time we must remember, as the Nobel laureate and eminent economist, Amartya Sen has said famine is an issue of food access for individuals. Without food, people revolt, migrate, or die. None of these are acceptable options."

Sheeran observed that institutions that were there to help the underprivileged should expand and not contract.

"After the Great Depression, the world created institutions, including World Food Programme, which should expand - not contract - when times are bad. Global food aid is at a 20 year low and we must meet urgent needs to avoid an unprecedented humanitarian crisis," said Sheeran. "At this moment of dramatically growing need, it would be wrong to cut our funding. We have proven our ability to scale up when the world calls on us and equips us with the means to do so. We have also shown that we can do this in a way that supports recipient nations' own long term development strategies to tackle hunger."