wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 294-World food crisis especially impacts the poor

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>World food crisis especially impacts the poor

>Jul. 15, 2008

NOTE: Photographs and related stories are available at  http://umns.umc.org.

>A UMNS Report By Linda Bloom*

The skyrocketing cost of rice is affecting how Stop Hunger Now and other  relief organizations do their work.

Rice is the main component of the nutritious meal packages dispensed  worldwide by the group, which is based in Raleigh, N.C., and led by the  Rev. Ray Buchanan, a United Methodist pastor. "It (the cost) is having  an absolutely direct impact on what we're going to do," Buchanan said.

As a result, Stop Hunger Now may have to reduce its goal to package 5.5  million meals during 2008 or rely on more donations from volunteers who  put together the meals, he added.

Jeffrey D. Sachs, the well-known economist and special adviser to U.N.  Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, has described the worldwide food  situation as "the worst crisis of its kind in more than 30 years,"  according to The New York Times.

And those affected most by the crisis are the poorest of the poor,  according to June Kim, who monitors hunger-related projects for the  United Methodist Committee on Relief. "A lot of people living on $2 a  day are now having to pay more for food and getting less food," she  said.

Trouble is everywhere, according to news reports:

*	In the Horn of Africa, a lack of rain, poor harvests, soaring food  prices and inflation, and violence have hampered food aid.
*	In Haiti, where the cost of beans, corn and rice has skyrocketed, the  very poor are literally eating mud patties made out of mud, oil and  sugar.
*	In Australia, a six-year drought has nearly destroyed the country's  huge rice industry, reducing the rice crop by 98 percent.
*	In the Philippines, the government has distributed monthly cash  subsidies and "rice passes" in an effort to deal with food shortages.

>Perfect storm

Many say the crisis has arisen from a "perfect storm" of rising oil  prices, climate change and natural disasters.

UMCOR finds itself responding to more than just specific regional  problems related to food, such as drought in sub-Saharan Africa or  floods in Mozambique, according to the Rev. Sam Dixon, chief executive.  "It's not localized, as it often has been in the past," he explained.

Whether because of political instability, crop loss because of a natural  disaster, or the increased consumption of imported food in more  countries, "there are too many factors to address with one strategy,"  Dixon said.

The change in eating patterns has had an impact because of an increase  in average income in places such as India, China and other parts of  Asia. "People who are moving out of poverty eat better and they eat  higher on the food chain," Buchanan explained. "All that requires  enormous inputs of grain."

At the same time, in the United States alone, "a third of all the corn  being produced is now going to biofuels rather than human or animal  consumption," Buchanan said. The push for biofuels such as ethanol has  occurred as the United States tries to reduce its dependence upon oil  for energy.

The amount of grain available this year also is in question. U.S.  harvests of corn and soybeans are being threatened by rain and flooding,  while Australian wheat farmers are coping with drought.

Those with nothing left to lose can become desperate, as shown by the  food riots and demonstrations last spring in Haiti, Egypt, Yemen,  Indonesia, Côte d'Ivoire, Thailand, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Uzbekistan,  the Philippines and even Italy.

>Global security

"It's not just an issue of food," Buchanan said. "It's an issue of  global security. Global leaders are understanding that this is almost  like a tipping point. Right now there are at least 33 countries around  the world that are politically unstable ... by food insecurity."

The current crisis does seem to have a broader and more dangerous  impact, agrees Richard Williams, director of the social and economic  development program for Church World Service. "We feel that it is more  widespread because you hear more and more about food riots in a lot of  places at the same time," he said.

>"Food riots can destabilize a government."

With all the factors involved, "there are no quick fixes for this one,"  Williams added. "This is not a food drop somewhere."

In the United States, the Society of St. Andrew, a United  Methodist-related organization, is receiving fewer donations of food  while also fielding more requests for food, according to Marian Kelly,  director of its potato project.

When Kelly talks these days with staff at food banks and soup kitchens,  "I find they're all talking about the same thing. They don't have enough  food. Their shelves are all empty."

In addition, transportation "has been one huge, huge drain on our  finances," she said. "We need the food desperately, but then you've got  to have the money to move it from the farms to the feeding agencies."

Delegates to the June 3-5 Conference on World Food Security in Rome  declared that governments and financial institutions must provide more  food for the poor and increase agricultural production for the future.

>Political will

The Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, told the  conference that more than talk is needed to solve the crisis.  "Conferences and reports over many years have concluded that it is  feasible to end world hunger," he said. "They have appealed, again and  again, for the necessary political will. This experience has taught us  that conferences and reports are not enough to build the necessary  political will."

What is necessary, he said, is to strengthen advocates for the hungry  and poor--ranging from neighborhood groups and religious institutions to  governments, the press and political parties.

The supporters of Bread for the World--including United Methodists and  those from other denominations--"mobilize hundreds of thousands of  constituent contacts with the U.S. Congress each year," Beckmann pointed  out, leading the U.S. government "to more than double its funding for  poverty-focused development assistance during this decade."

In a statement at the conclusion of the Rome conference, the Rev. Samuel  Kobia, a Methodist from Kenya who leads the World Council of Churches,  expressed hope for "timely action" and said the WCC Executive Committee  would address the food crisis at its September meeting.

"Ensuring food security for all of the world's people is among the  greatest challenges facing humanity in the early years of the 21st  century," Kobia's statement said. "The churches have an essential role  to play, and to be effective we must face the global food crisis  together."

Churches should advocate against the production of biofuels "at the  expense of food production and the environment," the statement added,  and support small farmers and the just distribution of food resources.  "As churches, we must continue to accompany and support sustainable  communities and movements of farmers and landless rural workers."

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or  newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service Photos and stories also available at: http://umns.umc.org

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