G8 fuels the global food crisis

In a time of unprecedented plenty, ActionAid’s new report, Cereal Offenders, charges that G8 leaders are single-mindedly pursuing policies and practices around biofuels, agricultural aid and climate change that are fuelling the global food crisis.

ActionAid estimates that the 82% rise in food prices since 2006 has put 760 million people at risk of hunger in addition to the 100 million who have been pushed below the $1-a-day poverty level. Even before the latest crisis, 850 million people were chronically hungry and millions more were at risk of hunger.

Yet the food crisis has come at a time of record harvests. In 2007, world cereal production hit a new high and is forecast to increase again in 2008 by an additional 2.6% to 2,164 million tons.

Tom Sharman, Policy Officer said: “The global food crisis is creating poverty and hunger and it is being fuelled by policies and practices dictated by G8 nations.

“The rise of biofuel production and the increasing impact of climate change coupled with an unparalleled decrease in agricultural aid are creating a triple whammy for poor countries.”

ActionAid says that the voracious demand for biofuels is largely a consequence of the targets and subsidies that the rich world has established to build energy security.

Biofuel subsidies to US and EU farmers are worth between US$16 and US$18bn a year, or four times a much as all agricultural aid to the developing world.

Grain and vegetable oil are consequently being diverted to biofuels rather than food, leading to scarcity and rocketing prices. In the developing world, land on which farmers and pastoralists produce food is being converted to biofuel monocultures.

The result of this, according to ActionAid, is that around 260 million people are either hungry or at risk of hunger because of biofuels.

Almost three decades of donor-driven agricultural aid policies have also helped to lay the foundation for today’s food crisis. Structures that provided access to credit, agricultural inputs and technical assistance have been dismantled.

At the same time, aid to developing country farmers has nearly halved since 1980 to US$ 3.9bn. This is only 3% of the total subsidies given to farmers in rich countries.

Aid has also been used to encourage governments to reorient their agricultural sectors towards production of export commodities such as fruit and vegetables, which rely on monocultures and high use of fertilisers. Poor farmers cannot compete and large landowners and giant agriculture and food companies have moved in.

The third nail in the developing world’s coffin is global warming. Studies indicate that agriculture at low latitudes is likely to be particularly affected by climate change, caused in the main by the “dirty” development of G8 countries.

In Africa, yields from rain-fed agriculture could drop by as much as 50% by 2020 because of rising temperatures, floods and droughts

ActionAid says the only way to make a difference for the millions of people in the developing world who can no longer afford to buy food is for G8 countries to:

– Remove all biofuels subsidies and targets, and support a five year moratorium on the diversion of arable land into biofuel mono-cropping.

– Increase aid to agriculture to enable developing countries to rebuild their agricultural sectors in favour of poor farmers.

– Provide generous and timely funding to developing countries to help them adapt to the new realities presented by climate change.

Tom Sharman concluded: “A hunger free world is only possible if rich governments help lay the foundations for developing countries to re-establish food security and guarantee the right to food for all.

“By taking action at Hokkaido to place a moratorium on biofuel production, address agricultural aid polices and tackle climate change, the G8 could help to pull 750 million people back from the edge of hunger.”

More info

www.actionaid.org.uk