How to Feed the World
The world needs a grain reserve to calm markets. Trade policy reforms are overdue to create a level playing field for developing-country farmers. Export bans should be stopped. They are hurting other countries, dependent on food imports. Grain-based biofuels distort world food markets. Food-competing biofuels production should be stopped.
Investment in agriculture must increase to address the problem of low supply. Developed-country governments should increase their investment in research that is relevant to productivity on small-scale farms. Developing countries should increase their investments in rural infrastructure and access to seeds and fertilizer for farmers. The amount of money needed for investment is large, because these investments were neglected for long.
This is a global crisis. It needs a coordinated global response by the G8 countries together with the big countries, especially China, India, and Brazil and the United Nations.
Muhammad Yunus
Managing Director, Grameen Bank
All the indications show that the current crisis will not be temporary. Unless firm global actions are taken immediately, the crisis will deepen and expand in other directions.
The rise of oil prices to unprecedented levels, climatic changes intensifying droughts, floods and cyclones, the increasing popularity of biofuels and the depletion of global food reserves have all combined to cause the current food shortage and inflation. A decline in global poverty in large countries like China, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh, which make up nearly half the world population, has led to higher consumption of food grain among newly better-off people, also raising prices. This has hit the poor, and particularly poor children, very hard.
An immediate global action plan should be put into place to secure food supply and financing for needy countries. The idea of creating a global food bank can also be explored seriously. The U.N. secretary-general should lead this effort. U.N. agencies like WFP, FAO, IFAD and UNICEF, multilateral development banks, regional development banks, research groups like the CGIAR and private-sector food-grain companies should be brought in to help prepare and implement the plan. Common goals should be defined so that all can move speedily in the right direction.
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Member Comments
Posted By: smokey_joe @ 05/24/2008 12:30:10 AM
Comment: Here's a simple idea to make a dent in hunger in the Philippines that has experienced rice shortages and high prices recently: If the world Bank can set up financing to buy one of those shiny new rice harvesting machines to send to the Philippines and people around the world can contribute a little bit to make the payments for the harvester, then the people in the Philippines can increase their production of rice and lift themselves out of hunger and poverty. If the first machine works well, then more could be bought later. I think the World Bank would like to see everyone's email about that idea.
Posted By: smokey_joe @ 05/22/2008 6:05:31 PM
Comment: The other night I saw a segment of the TV series "Modern Marvels" in which they showed a brand new rice harvesting machine that can harvest tons of rice in muddy fields with only a single driver running the machine. This type of equipment will probably only be available to American farmers for some time to come. But it shows how much America can do to relieve world hunger while earning a decent profit and solving some of our foreign trade deficit problems. I know there are vast tracts of unused land in Florida that would be ideal for this type of agriculture.
Posted By: smokey_joe @ 05/15/2008 5:59:33 PM
Comment: When ethanol from cellulosic biomass and liquid fuel from coal grow in production volume and vehicles are running on $1.00 per gallon fuel, then food prices will drop and food production will increase because of the reduction in cost to run all the farm machines that plant, fertilize, irrigate, harvest and transport food crops to the marketplace.