This year, the world will witness a new record, albeit a devastating one: for the first time in our history, over one billion people in the world suffer from daily hunger. That’s almost one in every six people on this planet living in fear of starvation.
It is a crisis with far-reaching effects. Hunger weakens immune systems and stunts child development. Without enough food, adults struggle to work and children struggle to learn, creating lifelong disadvantages and undermining sustainable economic development. Worst of all, hunger kills.
And without urgent action, it’s likely to get worse. Global warming is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as floods, drought, and tropical cyclones that destroy crops, livestock, and livelihoods. Rainfall patterns are also becoming more erratic, disrupting planting seasons for farmers. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), climate change could reduce yields from rain-fed crops in parts of Africa by 50 percent as early as 2020, putting between 40 and 170 million more people at risk of hunger worldwide.
Widespread hunger is not a symptom of low food supplies; it’s a symptom of poverty. Often there is food available, but people who are poor simply cannot afford to buy it. To truly tackle the problem, we must not just address the symptom. We must deal with the underlying causes, or hunger will continue.
In order to address hunger and poverty and prepare for the increased food prices and likely supply problems in the future, we must invest in farmers today.
Investing in agriculture—including crops, livestock and aquaculture—is a powerful poverty reduction tool. According to the World Bank, for every one percent growth in agriculture, poverty declines by as much as two percent. And because the majority of those who are hungry live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and natural resources for their livelihoods, investing in agriculture is the most efficient way to target those in need. Investments in the agricultural sector also contribute to overall economic growth by increasing efficiency in the marketing chain - reducing the share of poor people’s income spent on food, and enabling them to purchase other goods and services, like education, health care, and housing.
Most of the world’s remaining arable land is in developing countries, and dramatic gains in agricultural productivity are possible. Unleashing the potential of small-scale farmers and agribusinesses to produce and sell food will substantially reduce hunger and create a more resilient global food supply for everyone.
Agriculture in most developing countries falls far below its potential and is an important explanatory factor in the breakdown of food-system security in many parts of the developing world. Some countries that were once self sufficient in food are now net importers. The poorest have had to import increasing shares of their food supply.
And we must learn from farmers themselves.
In one of the most food-insecure regions of the world, farmers in the Sahel have mobilized to reclaim their land from the encroaching desert after the devastating droughts of the 1970s and 1980s. Farmers like Yacouba Savadogo in the Yatenga province of Burkina Faso, fought back the desert, slowly reclaiming land and protecting trees. Thirty years later, their work has secured 13 million acres of farmland, fed three million people, recharged village wells, and supplied useful and valuable tree products. Once-denuded landscapes are now home to more farmland, more water in wells, more livestock, and more trees. These changes have stimulated local markets, supported an ever-growing population, and diversified ways of earning a living. And despite increasing populations and the threat of climate change, food security has actually improved in the Sahel region.
Experiences like Youcouba’s remind us that solutions to food security may not emerge from the laboratories and technology centers of the developed world; they can also come from poor countries, authored by the farmers and communities themselves. International donors must recognize that solutions are often local, and the payoffs to investing in locally-owned solutions can be great.
International donors have failed to live up to their commitments to poor African farmers. Just over $1 billion of the $12 billion that donors committed last year to help poor countries cope with the global food crisis has so far reached the ground. Bad donor policies, such as forced liberalization of local markets and support for large-scale agricultural projects instead of small-scale community farmers, have also undermined African agriculture.
But it’s not just international donors that must pay attention. African leaders themselves must live up to their commitments. Agriculture is the backbone of most African economies and is integral to African development. Nearly 75% of Africans in rural areas attempt to make their living from agriculture, yet African governments have neglected and under-invested in their farmers. If Africa’s chronic food crises are to be addressed, then the agricultural sector must be transformed. African leaders have committed themselves to allocate a minimum of 10% of their national budgets for agriculture and rural development, but only seven African countries have reached this target, with most averaging only less than 5%.
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New directions in foreign assistance, agricultural development and climate change adaptation are needed to effectively reduce poverty in the face of growing global food, financial and climate challenges. Aid should be driven by local needs and capacities, and increased investments in agricultural productivity should be reinforced by improving natural resource management and integrating strategies for climate change adaptation.
We must all concentrate on helping poor farmers who have been left to fend for themselves on the front-line of hunger, poverty and climate change.
African farmers from the Sahel region demonstrate that it is possible to integrate the development goals of ownership, partnership, coordination and long-term commitment. Indeed, this integration is essential for solutions that boost agricultural productivity and adapt to climate change. We must learn from these experiences to improve our aid programs and to face the challenges of climate change and food security.
Raymond C. Offenheiser is the president of Oxfam America
