Rome Summit to study global food situation

JAKARTA: Is there an answer to world hunger? Such an ancient problem may seem insoluble but the facts are actually rather encouraging, at least for some countries previously regarded as almost hopeless cases. These countries have succeeded in producing or importing more food and making sure the poorest and hungriest people somehow gain access to it. Theirs are heart- warming stories.

Notwithstanding progress in some countries, a staggering 800 million people today -- the population of the United States and Europe combined -- consume too little food to meet the body's energy or nutrient requirements. The number is an improvement on the situation in the early 1970s, when an estimated 920 million did not have enough to eat. But it still represents a sum of misery and wasted human potential that is nothing less than tragic.

From Nov. 13 to 17 world leaders meet in Rome, Italy for World Food Summit that will take stock of the global food situation and its prospects. Organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Summit will provide an opportunity for heads of state and government to adopt a Policy Statement and Plan of Action, documents that constitute a detailed blueprint for a campaign to eradicate hunger.

We should be hopeful. If hunger and malnutrition can be reduced in the following countries, than progress is theoretically possible everywhere.

India has had economic growth of around 5.2 percent per annum since the early 1980s, three points above the average annual population growth for the same period. This vast and populous country has maintained a determined effort to develop domestic food production, reduce aid dependency and improve household food security over the past 35 years. The level of hunger and poverty is still high, but extensive use of targeted anti-poverty measures such as public works and infant nutrition programs has reduced vulnerability to famines and preserved a minimum status of food security, defined as a situation where everyone has access at all times to the food needed for an active and healthy life.

Tunisia has undergone rapid food security improvement since the beginning of the 1960s, thanks to a sound underlying economic and social process significantly influenced by public action. Increases in dietary energy supply (DES) -- a widely available indicator of food consumption -- from about 2 000 calories (a measurement of the energy value of food) per person per day to nearly 3 500 today, were achieved essentially through food imports. Extensive social safety nets at the household level have made sure that even the poorest get enough to eat.

Costa Rica has steadily improved its food security over the past 30 years, partly thanks to strong government measures to reduce poverty. This Central American country, after having financial and budgetary problems, had to apply measures to reduce the imbalances and adopt a more efficient production structure. Although less food is produced domestically now, export crop production has expanded, which allows more food to be available to consumers through imports.

Burkina Faso has pursued a mix of public policy measures, including macroeconomic policies such as the restructuring of public finance, soil conservation and water harvesting, new land settlement, household-level income generating and transfer measures. Since the early 1990s this landlocked West African nation can boast of a steadily improving record in the feeding of its people, though problems still arise due to its vulnerability to drought.

In addition, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Ecuador and Zimbabwe have made impressive progress in feeding their populations adequately.

Their successes can be duplicated in other countries provided the emphasis is on efficiency, effectiveness and a partnership involving government, civil society, particularly non- governmental organizations, and the private sector. Rural development programs should strive to improve employment opportunities, particularly for the poor, within a diversified rural economy.

Measures to achieve food security include making sure more food is available on the market, stabilizing prices, and increasing employment and incomes. These and many other tried-and-true methods will yield results, but only if the countries concerned and the international community put their will and resources behind it.

Some global trends are encouraging and mitigate in favor of a campaign against hunger now. The rate of population growth is expected to continue to decline from the present 1.5 percent a year to 1 percent in 2020-25. In coming years, many countries should achieve medium to high levels of per caput food consumption.

However, in low-income countries across the globe, we are in a race against the population clock. Birth rates remain high in many areas and the majority of the population survive on persistently low levels of income and food consumption. By the year 2030, the planet will have to nourish nearly three billion additional people. And it will have to do it without destroying the natural resource base on which we all depend. After all, development that is not sustainable is not development at all. FAO and others involved in the preparations for the World Food Summit emphasize that food security depends on actions and decisions that extend far beyond the agricultural sector. The objective is to set realistic food security targets that countries can attain individually or in partnership with others.

Areas earmarked for attention include creating the political, social and economic condition needed to foster food security, improving access to food, particularly among the poor and disadvantaged groups, promoting sustainable agricultural and rural development, and investing in agricultural research and training.

Heads of State and Government will address the Rome Summit from midday on Nov. 15 through Nov. 17. Only they have the power and the authority to influence policy in all economic sectors that play a role in food security. If they give their personal assurances that the time has come to attack hunger once and for all, then perhaps the 21st century will see the fall of one of humanity's most bitter foes. It is within our grasp.

-- UNIC