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Africa: Food Alarm And New Proposals
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AfricaFocus (Washington, DC)
ANALYSIS
13 April 2008
Posted to the web 14 April 2008
Washington, DC
This is the season for economic reports, and, as usual, the message is mixed. The World Bank and the Food and Agriculture are stressing the structural crisis caused by rising food prices, and propose some new remedies, both immediate and medium-term.
The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cite 2007 growth rates of 5.8% for Africa and 6.5% for sub-Saharan Africa, respectively. Both note, nevertheless, that few African countries are on track to halve poverty by 2015.
The IMF predictably proposes a private-sector emphasis in response, while the ECA lays out a wider range of actions.
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains a press release from the World Bank on the food price surge and the Bank's response, excerpts from a speech by World Bank President Robert Zoellick, and a report on new Food and Agriculture Organization proposals for changes in food security operations and planning.
Another AfricaFocus Bulletin sent out today includes excerpts from reports on Africa's economic outlook released by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on food and agriculture, see http://www.africafocus.org/agexp.php; on economic issues more generally http://www.africafocus.org/econexp.php
For a current roundup of critical views on the "Green Revolution" approach to Africa's food crisis, see Pambazuka News 361 "AGRA - green revolution or philanthro-capitalism?"
(http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/361)
Many thanks to those of you who have recently sent in a voluntary subscription payment to support AfricaFocus Bulletin. If you have been intending to do so, now is a good time. Help AfricaFocus reach more people with reliable information on Africa.
Send in a check or pay on-line with Google Checkout or Paypal. See http://www.africafocus.org/support.php for details.
Food Price Surge Could Mean '7 Lost Years' in Poverty Fight, Zoellick Says
WB President Calls for Plan to Fight Hunger
April 11, 2008 - The crisis of surging food prices could mean "seven lost years" in the fight against worldwide poverty, World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick said.
"While many are worrying about filling their gas tanks, many others around the world are struggling to fill their stomachs, and it is getting more and more difficult every day," Zoellick said at a press briefing on the eve of the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings.
To meet this crisis, Zoellick is calling for a "New Deal on Global Food Policy."
For the "immediate crisis," he urged governments to fill the US$500 million food gap identified by the UN's World Food Program.
Under the New Deal, the World Bank will nearly double agricultural lending to Sub-Saharan Africa over the next year to US$800 million to substantially increase crop productivity. In addition, the International Finance Corporation - the World Bank Group's arm for private sector development - will boost its agribusiness investments.
Zoellick is also proposing that sovereign wealth funds around the world allocate US$30 billion - one percent of their US$3 trillion assets - to investments for African "growth, development, and opportunity." At his press briefing Thursday, Zoellick said rising food prices are also contributing to malnutrition, one of the "forgotten" Millennium Development Goals.
"This is not just about meals foregone today or about increasing social unrest. This is about lost learning potential for children and adults in the future, stunted intellectual and physical growth.
Even more, we estimate that the effect of this food crisis on poverty reduction worldwide is in the order of seven lost years. So we need to address this not just as an immediate emergency but also in the medium term for development.
"Meetings such as this are usually about talk. Words can focus attention. They can build momentum. But we can't be satisfied with studies and paper and talk. This is about recognizing a growing emergency, acting, and seizing opportunity, too. The world can do this. We can do this. We can have a New Deal on Global Food Policy."
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Zoellick said the poor spend as much as 75 percent of their income on food. "In just two months, rice prices have skyrocketed to near historical levels, rising by around 75 percent globally," he said.
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