East Africa
will face more devastating food crises in future unless governments take
action now, international aid agency Oxfam warned on Thursday as it
released a new report aimed at tackling world hunger within the next
five years.
The report, "Halving World Hunger: Still Possible", is launched as East
African leaders prepare to join the rest of the world in New York next
week to review progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the
first of which is to halve world hunger by 2015.
According to Oxfam, that goal is well off track but the report argues
that halving hunger is still possible if countries take the lead with
the right policies and invest in agriculture, food security, social
protection, and projects that prepare communities in advance for
disasters and mitigate their impact.
"The improved situation this year is more down to good luck than good
judgment. Another bad rainy season or failed harvest could see the
region plunged back into crisis," Leo Roozendaal, Oxfam's Acting
Regional Director, said.
"Governments must do much more to address the underlying causes of
hunger in the region, such as decades of under-investment in
agriculture, chronic neglect of the most vulnerable communities, and the
growing threat of climate change."
The Kenyan government has announced plans to introduce cash transfers
for families in the poorest urban areas, a measure Oxfam hopes will soon
be implemented as it would help give people the flexibility to cope with
hunger.
A hunger safety net program is already running in Turkana, one of the
country's most food insecure regions.
Ethiopia has begun a national program to combat child malnutrition with
some successful results.
According to the report, the EU is funding work in Somalia to improve
food security through initiatives driven by local communities. However,
overall the region is still a long way off reaching its targets.
Oxfam report comes as a result launched by FAO early this week which
estimates that nearly 10 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia,
Tanzania and Uganda are still classed as food insecure and in need of
assistance.
Of these five, Tanzania and Uganda currently have the lowest rates of
hunger.
According to Oxfam, this time last year, up to 23 million people in
Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Somalia and Tanzania suffered severe hunger
during a major food crisis that left over 1 million animals dead and
cost regional economies hundreds of millions of dollars.
Oxfam said now is the time for governments to invest properly to meet
MDGs and protect their countries against even worse crises in future.
Current forecasts warn of potentially extreme weather of drought and
floods in the region again later this year.
In the 10 years since the MDGs were agreed, the report says proportion
of hungry people in the world has decreased by just half a percent –
from 14 percent in 2000 to 13.5 percent today.
The report reveals that 925 million people across the world are still
classed as hungry. In relative terms, sub-Saharan Africa is the worst
affected region globally, with one in three people suffering from
hunger.
The report points to other African countries such as Ghana that are on
track to meet the MDG target and reduce hunger, by supporting local
producers and providing social safety nets for poor people who cannot
produce or buy enough food.
It also calls on donor nations to increase aid for these initiatives,
and rich governments to end unfair trade policies and agricultural
subsidies.
With African nations increasingly dependent on food imports, Oxfam urged
the region's governments to meet the commitments they have made to
investing more in agriculture.
In the 2003 Maputo Declaration, African countries committed to investing
at least 10 percent of their national budgets in agriculture and
increase productivity by at least six percent. In East Africa, only
Ethiopia has kept this promise. Kenya currently spends less then 5
percent.
"Halving hunger needs a twin-track approach. In the short term people
need support through nutrition programs, food assistance and safety
nets," Roozendaal said.
"But we also need to look long-term and strengthen people's resilience
and capacity to produce food, improve markets and establish social
protection programs."
Globally, the report finds nearly all countries that have managed to
successfully reduce hunger have invested significantly in local
agriculture.
Those that depend on imports are much more vulnerable to rises in global
food prices. With prices set to remain high, it is the poorest people
who can no longer afford to buy food – many of whom receive no help or
protection from their governments.
The voices of women, smallholders, agricultural workers and the poorest
people in society,
groups who are often most vulnerable to food crises, are often left out
of decision making. Despite producing food, few women own land and they
are often cut off from access to credit.
"It's been ten years since world leaders vowed to halve global hunger by
2015 but we are no closer towards achieving this goal. We know it is
possible. We have the recipe for doing it. The only missing ingredient
is the political will," said Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director of Oxfam
International.
"When world leaders get together in New York they must put their weight
behind a global action plan that will bring all countries together to
tackle hunger," Hobbs said.
He noted that tackling hunger must be part of a broader MDG package. "We
cannot ask a mother to decide between feeding and educating her child.
We cannot afford to miss a single Millennium Development Goal,".
Source:WangYaNan
Xinhua News Agency
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Xaarka
oo noqdey Kenya wax la isku dhaco. (Maxay tahay sababta)
Nin
cunay 22 dib qalooc. Yaab badanaa!!
Ninka
dunida culus, Maxaad ka taqaan
Qoyska
dunida ugu timaha dheer
Naagta
dunida ugu dheer(Yey u dhalatay)
