By Robert B. Zoellick*
The disturbing images should be spurring the global community
to action: riots in Haiti, protests in Egypt, and violence
in many other countries around the globe, sparked by the rising
price of food. Hardest hit by the crisis are the world's poorest
people. The World Bank Group estimates doubling of food
prices over the last 3 years could potentially push 100 million
people in low income countries deeper into poverty. And
the problem is here to stay: the realities of demography,
changing diets, energy prices and biofuels, and climate changes
suggest that high food prices will be with us at least through
the medium term.
Since 2005, the prices of staple foods have jumped 80 [83%]
percent. Painful as these price increases are to the
American consumer, they strike an even more devastating blow
to the world's poorest people -children, as young as four
or five, forced to flee the safety of their rural communities
to fight for food in teeming cities; mothers deprived of nutrition
for healthy babies. For these families, food comprises
from half to three quarters of consumption, and there is no
margin for survival.
To help those who will be hit the hardest, the World Bank
Group is calling for a New Deal for Global Food Policy.
This New Deal should focus not only on hunger and malnutrition,
access to food and its supply, but also the interconnections
with energy, yields, climate change, investment, the marginalization
of women and others, and economic resiliency and growth.
We should start by helping those whose needs are immediate.
The UN's World Food Program requires at least $500 million
of additional food supplies to meet emergency calls.
The United States, the European Union, Japan, and other countries
must act now to fill this gap - or many more people will suffer
and starve.
Skyrocketing food prices have increased attention to the
larger challenge of overcoming hunger and malnutrition, the
underlying cause of the deaths of an estimated 3.5 million
children under 5 each year. More than 20 percent of
maternal deaths are traced to malnutrition. It weakens
immunities to diseases. Hunger and malnutrition are
a cause, not just a result, of poverty.
A shift from traditional food aid to a broader concept of
food and nutrition assistance must be part of this New Deal.
In many cases, cash or vouchers, as opposed to commodity support,
is appropriate and can enable the assistance to build local
food markets and farm production. When commodities are
needed, purchasing from local farmers can strengthen communities.
School lunch programs draw children to classrooms, while helping
healthy kids to learn, and some offer parents food, too.
The World Bank Group can help by backing emergency measures
that support the poor while encouraging incentives to produce
and market food as part of sustainable development.
Countries as diverse as Bhutan and Brazil have feeding programs
for vulnerable groups. Mozambique and Cambodia employ
locally-selected public works programs in exchange for food
- developing roads, wells, and schools. Others, such
as Egypt and Ethiopia, offer cash transfers conditional on
self-help steps, like sending children to school.
We will work with countries, especially in Africa, and partner
institutions, to seize an opportunity from the higher demand
for food. We can help create a "Green Revolution" for
sub-Saharan Africa by assisting countries to boost productivity
throughout the agricultural value chain and help small-holder
farmers to break the cycle of poverty. We will almost
double our own lending for agriculture in Africa, from $450
million to $800 million, and can help countries and farmers
manage systemic risks such as drought. We can offer
access to technology and science to boost yields. Through
the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank's private
sector arm, we will scale up investment and advisory support
to agribusiness operations in Africa and elsewhere.
To be most successful, we will need to integrate and mobilize
a diverse range of partners including the Gates Foundation,
the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Program,
and the International Fund for Agricultural Development; other
Multilateral Development Banks; agricultural research institutes;
developing countries with great agricultural experience, such
as Brazil; and the private sector.
A New Deal for Global Food Policy will contribute to inclusive
and sustainable development. Men, women and children
in poor, middle income, and developed countries will benefit
together. Income gains from agriculture have three times
the power in overcoming poverty than increases in other sectors,
and 75 percent of the world's poor are rural, with most involved
in farming. Working with our partners, we can ease the
burden of high food prices on the world's most vulnerable
people.
* World Bank President
www.bancomundial.org.ve
