Overview
The best news of 2010 is the decrease of the world’s hungry from 1.023 billion to 925 million, though most of that change is due to a reversal in high food prices and global economic crises, according to the UN’s Committee on Food Security (CFS). Taking this into consideration, 2010 saw a continuation of the issues we saw in 2009, with a renewed effort by governmental and intergovernmental agencies to find solutions to the global food crisis.
The United States, fulfilling its $3.5 billion pledge for food security made at the 2009 G8 Summit in L’Aquila, created the Feed the Future initiative to guide its agricultural investment and food security goals in the developing world. On the domestic front, Type-2 diabetes remains a growing problem, with as much as one third of the U.S. population predicted to be affected in 2050. President Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act which aims to fight this trend by requiring healthier and more nutritious food in our nation’s schools, hoping to reduce both childhood obesity and hunger. President Obama will also soon sign the Food Safety and Modernization Act, a bill that aims to make our food system safer following the myriad reports of contamination in recent years.
Internationally, we have seen the aid community continue to emphasize that agricultural investment, particularly for Africa, is crucial to ensuring food security. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) called for increased investment in African agriculture, and president Obama is trying to make food security in Africa the center of the U.S. government’s “Feed the Future” initiative. Irish Aid pledged 2 million Euros in early January to help increase maize production in Malawi, and in a private sector move, Standard Bank of Africa announced that it would loan $100 million to smallholder farmers in four African nations over the next three years.
To help us understand the multifaceted and complex issues involved with global food security, the GFS blog started a “5 questions for…” series this year, and will be continuing it into next year. This series interviews prominent authors and opens their unique perspectives on the topic of food security to GFS readers.
Most Unexpected Event
The scope of humanitarian crises in Haiti, Pakistan and the Sahel put an even greater stress on global food security this year. In Haiti, the earthquake made over 4 million people, almost half of the population, need food assistance. Now, even with the emergency phase over, 2.5-3.3 million people are still food insecure. Pakistan’s summer floods made around 10 million people dependent on emergency food assistance. Droughts in 2009 in Africa’s Sahel region created severe food shortages in nations such as Niger, Chad, and Nigeria this year; making food insecure nations even more insecure. These crises are even more devastating because they happened in locations where people were already struggling with food security. Once the immediate humanitarian crises are eased, economic development will be needed to put these nations on the path of long-term food security.
Honorable mentions for most unexpected events ranged across the world. The European Union considered giving more power to member states to decide whether they want to grow genetically modified (GM) crops, and in the U.S., the FDA may approve GM salmon for the first time. Wildfires and drought caused Russia to temporarily ban exports on grain, pushing global wheat prices to a twenty three month high before the World Bank publicly discouraged other countries from following suit. The 2010 volcanic eruption in Iceland made headlines because of how it limited airline travel, but it also affected global shipping, curtailing Kenya’s ability to deliver foodstuffs and goods to Europe, causing Kenya’s economy to lose $3 million per day and thousands of jobs.
Person of the Year
As long as this category exists, it will be difficult to select one person as the “Person of the Year” for Global Food Security. In a year of two particularly catastrophic natural events that put people at higher risk of both short- and long-term food security, individual food aid donors stood out as a crucial first responders. Following the earthquake in Haiti, for example, millions of dollars poured in to the Red Cross within just a few days to aid survivors of the devastated country. People who had learned about Haiti’s needs took advantage of current technology that allowed them to donate funds in $10.00 increments, small amounts which quickly added up. Similar instant-donation campaigns were established for the victims of the floods that struck Pakistan in late July.
Individual food aid donors reacted instantly, when time was of the essence and money donated for emergency funds allowed aid organizations to mobilize faster and with more resources to tackle the particularly difficult challenges facing Haitians and Pakistanis, as well as other individuals in countries where food security is not guaranteed.
What to watch for in 2011
Time is ticking down for reaching the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) for halving hunger by 2015, and it will be important to look at what actions will be taken to tackle systemic hunger and malnutrition. There was a record number of hungry people in 2009, and then a reduction of this number in 2010. Will the number of hungry decrease again in 2011 and move the world closer to reaching MDG 1? How much will the global economy influence donor countries and their commitments to tackling systemic food security issues?
Another trend worth watching is how countries like China and India tackle have high levels of poverty and hunger, as their populations and economies continue to grow. Progress may be measured by the ongoing debate over India’s Food Security Bill and its possible passage. China’s environmental issues, rapid urbanization, changing eating habits will affect China’s domestic food needs in 2011, as well as its relations with other countries. As evidenced by its buying of land in Africa to grow crops and the bid by a consortium of Chinese companies for a major Canadian fertilizer company, China’s needs will drive it to be more active in securing its food supply and can impact prices for major staple crops.
A September post on Plumpy’nut and other practical solutions to hunger and malnutrition asked: Can solutions be founds to address intellectual property concerns over the needs for “generic” versions of these products?
Finally, food security issues are often strictly thought of as problems of the developing world, but in 2011, there will be some interesting food security issues playing out in the developed world. How people in the U.S. and EU will react after steps taken in 2010 to open up markets to more genetically modified foods? Will end-of-the year legislation in the U.S. counter troubling health, nutrition and safety number in the coming year?
We will track these trends and more in 2011 on the Global Food Security blog. Keep reading!
Posted by Michael Lucivero and Rishi Sidhu.
