Global Food for Thought

Expert Commentary - In Defense of Smart Foreign Assistance

By Rajiv Shah

This piece originally appeared on USAID Impact Blog

This week more than 2,000 government, civil society and private sector leaders have gathered in Busan, South Korea with one goal: to improve the quality and effectiveness of development aid.

The setting is especially significant; 50 years ago, South Korea was largely a country of peasant farmers. It was poorer than two-thirds of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa and its people barely lived past the age of 54.

Today, South Korea is a high-tech hub, a net donor and its people have some of the longest life expectancies in the world. South Korea also happens to be the seventh largest market for American goods; we sell more to the South Koreans than we do to the French. The free trade agreement President Obama recently signed with South Korea means we’ll be selling even more to Seoul in the future, leading to high-paying American jobs.

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Be a Doer: Forward the Facts

Be a Doer: Forward the Facts

By Sung Lee

Speaking at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ event last week, USAID administrator Rajiv Shah urged the public to participate in the relief efforts for famine-hit Horn of Africa and the critical need to sustain America’s long-term commitments to invest in global agricultural development through the Feed the Future Initiative.

FWD Campaign: spread the word about the Horn of Africa

“More than half of all Americans responded directly to the crisis in Haiti,” said administrator Shah.  Famine in the Horn of Africa is “affecting four times as many people.  And yet most people have not been aware of it and just don’t see in the news the crisis that is unfolding.”

USAID’s first-ever public awareness campaign, called FWD - Famine, War, Drought - developed television and web ads featuring Dr. Jill Biden as well as prominent actors to help spread the word and elevate the profile of the crisis in the Horn of Africa, and to spur relief efforts to those affected by the famine.  The campaign suggests that people text ‘GIVE’ to 777444 and donate $10 to a group of humanitarian organizations including World Vision and the UN World Food Program.

“$10 will feed a child for a week in one of these refugee camps. It is impossible for us to imagine that this is true but that is in fact true. That is how cheap it is,” said Shah.

Situation in the Horn of Africa remains volatile

The Horn of Africa faces its worst drought in 60 years.  More than 30,000 children have already died and families have walked hundreds of miles to Dadaab refugee camp, which has now become the third largest city in Kenya.

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Renewed Prosperity, Enhanced Security: The Case for Sustained American Leadership in Global Agricultural Development

Renewed Prosperity, Enhanced Security: The Case for Sustained American Leadership in Global Agricultural Development

A Statement to the United States Congress by Members of the Advisory Group of the Global Agricultural Development Initiative
Issued by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, November 14, 2011

THE CHALLENGE: Feeding the World

World population reached 7 billion on Monday, October 31. It is expected to exceed 9.5 billion by 2050. Today, while much of our attention is rightly focused on the glaring needs at home, another crisis is quietly brewing: the growing global demand for food and the deep poverty and hunger of 925 million people threaten the basic human condition and America’s national interests.

The solution to this crisis lies in the improvement of the agricultural systems in the developing world and so reducing poverty in the areas where it is deepest and making nations more economically secure – the twin foundations of international peace and prosperity. Growth in the agricultural sector is twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other sectors. This solution also creates opportunities for American businesses while strengthening our national security.

The U.S. Congress and Administration have recognized these benefits and since 2009 have demonstrated transformative leadership on global agricultural development. Yet, the current commitment to global agricultural development is fragile. U.S. leadership is critical to sustaining renewed international attention to these issues.

At a time when it would be tempting to ignore the plight of those so distant, we must realize that they are not so far away. With demand for food expected to more than double in the next 40 years, our futures are tied together in a world facing formidable challenges, including scarce natural resources and the effects of extreme and fluctuating weather patterns amidst ever-growing populations.

THE NECESSITY: How Global Agricultural Development is in America’s Interest

Some Americans ask why the government should spend their hard-earned tax dollars on agricultural development abroad at a time of severe economic distress at home. The answer is simple: America’s prosperity and security will be improved by the reduced hunger, higher incomes, more vibrant markets, and stable societies that agricultural development will make possible.

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Roger Thurow - Outrage and Inspire - "SIDETRACKED"

SIDETRACKED

A not so funny thing happened on the way to the G20 meeting in Cannes last week.  The leaders from the group of industrial and developing economies were heading in the direction of taking bold action against hunger and poverty and soaring commodity prices that were rattling the global food chain.  Then, in the days before arriving in the ritzy French resort town, they were distracted by the escalating economic calamity in Greece.  Instead of focusing on the poor and ensuring the global food supply, as they pledged to do, they were preoccupied with securing their own economies against the European debt contagion.

The G20 leaders did deliberate some about hunger and food prices.  Their final communiqué repeated the standard concerns from past meetings.  But you have to wade halfway through the statement to find them.  Paragraph 18, about the supervision of commodity derivatives markets: “We agree that market regulators should be granted effective intervention powers to prevent market abuses.”  Paragraph 19, about promoting agriculture production: “We decided to invest in and support research and development of agriculture productivity.”

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Ending Global Hunger Is Possible

By Rick Leach, president and CEO, World Food Program USA

This blog post originally appeared in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" Blog

Rick Leach serves as president and CEO of World Food Program USA, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization. WFP USA seeks to shape US public policy and generate resources to address global hunger. WFP USA seeks to shape US public policy and generate resources to address global hunger. Leach established WFP USA (formerly Friends of the World Food Program) in 1997 and led the organization until 2004. He returned to lead the organization in 2010.

Ending Global Hunger Is Possible

This week the Earth became home to 7 billion people, leaving many experts to wonder how we will provide for the most basic needs of the next generation of global citizens. That’s especially true given the challenges facing those already here.

Consider that nearly one billion people currently suffer from hunger – roughly one-seventh of the current world population, or three times the population of the United States. Consider also that the global economy remains challenged, and food prices continue to increase, putting millions more at risk of being unable to afford basic food items.

Now, more than ever, fighting hunger within the world’s most vulnerable populations demands solutions that leverage the best of government, the best of civil society, and, perhaps most important, the best of the private sector.