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.
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Longer-term funding and political direction must be given to encouraging "green revolution"-type technological breakthroughs in agriculture. It is also time that rich countries take the lead in ending trade-distorting agricultural subsidies.
The rise in oil prices has significantly contributed to the rise of food prices. It will continue to do so. We need a solution to this crisis that connects it to oil prices. The oil bill for each country is becoming higher and higher, and with this increase in price, there is less and less money available for food imports.
Given that higher oil prices are a big part of the problem, I propose that each oil-exporting country create a poverty and agriculture fund, contributing a fixed amount (say, $10) per barrel of oil exported. This will be a small fraction of the windfall gain made from the higher price of oil. This fund would be managed by the founding nation, and would be devoted to overcoming poverty, boosting agricultural research, supporting social entrepreneurship and improving other areas such as health care, employment, women's empowerment, safe drinking water, information technology, soil quality, and education.
Josette Sheeran
Executive Director, United Nations World Food Program
Hunger and malnutrition are on the advance, fueled by aggressively soaring food prices. Many consumers feel the pinch, but for those living on less than a dollar a day it means catastrophe. From Burundi to Haiti to Afghanistan, the poorest of the poor are eating mud cakes and flour that is blue with mold, or skipping meals, sometimes for days. Even before this crisis, there were more hungry and malnourished people than ever—850 million. But now an estimated 100 million more are joining their ranks.
The WFP is the world's frontline hunger force, helping protect up to 90 million people a year from the devastation of hunger. It is as efficient as it is effective—we are proud of our standard-setting 7 percent cap on overhead. But just when the world needs us most, our operations have been hampered: contributions buy 40 percent less food today than they did just 10 months ago. In March, I issued an emergency appeal to world leaders to cover those losses—now set at $755 million—so we maintain rations for the millions of hungry we reach. We must also raise our base operations budget of $3.5 billion.
The world is moving boldly to help countries break the cycle of hunger at its root. Many countries, such as Malawi, Senegal and Ghana, have made huge gains against hunger and malnutrition. We are grateful for the generous pledges that are rolling in, but we still have a way to go.
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