Within the fight against poverty, the right to food should be treated as a fundamental right, according to German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. The policy should ensure that the right to food receives priority, Wieczorek-Zeul called on November 6 in Berlin, at the presentation of the World Bank World Development Report 2008. World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development, Katherine Sierra, emphasized that development programs need to focus on the sector (Reuters).
Developing countries have made much progress in reducing poverty and hunger but have not been as successful in reaching the poorest of the poor, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute's (IFPRI), recent report “The World's Most Deprived”. Utilizing household survey data from 20 developing countries, the report found the reduction of poverty has been slower for the “ultra poor”, those who are living on less than 50 cents per day, most of whom are in Africa. The report estimated that some 162 million people could be classified as ultra poor, and if they were concentrated in a single country they would make up the seventh most populous nation after China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Brazil and Pakistan.
It is clear that much needs to be done in the reduction of poverty world wide, and we have clearly not come as far as we thought, however while the World Bank must increase its efforts and focus on poverty, they are not alone. International development organizations as a whole must increase there efforts to find more suitable and sustainable poverty reduction options.
