Fight against world hunger is still a challenge

by S. C.

Increased funding for agriculture, better access to loans for small farmers and climate-friendly agricultural practices are the keys to helping the world's hungriest people, says the European Parliament, which believes the World Summit 2009 on Food Security held recently in Rome failed to tackle satisfactorily the problem of eradicating world hunger.

In a resolution adopted on Thursday the EP criticises the Rome summit, saying it "does neither sufficiently analyse the reasons for failure in eradicating hunger nor does it make concrete proposals on how to improve the fight against hunger".

The EU's response to the food crisis

Although the European Union is the world's biggest development aid donor, providing over 50% of aid worldwide, the share of official development aid from all countries devoted to agriculture has fallen steadily in the last 25 years, from 17% in 1980 to 3.8% in 2006.

This underinvestment has been exacerbated by food, financial and economic crises: hunger and poverty now affect over a billion people and cause 40 million deaths each year. An investment of €30 billion per year and an increase of 70% in agricultural output would be enough to guarantee the food security of a world population that will reach 9 billion by 2050, say MEPs.

MEPs see the EU Food Facility, which earmarks €1 billion from the EU budget for the period 2009-2011 to help respond to soaring food prices in developing countries, as a valuable first step. But they call for an audit of how the money is spent to ensure it is used where the need is greatest.

Climate change and farming, easier loans for small farmers

MEPs want the Copenhagen climate change summit to look at equitable financial mechanisms, burden-sharing and climate-friendly agricultural practices.

They also believe that loan guarantees from the European Investment Bank would help local food producers in developing countries gain access to credit and micro-credit for investment in seeds, fertilisers and irrigation mechanisms.

The resolution was adopted by 541 votes to 28, with 17 abstentions.