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Food for thought on World Food Day
Manila, Philippines — Thirty year old Edmundo Dolor, his wife and three children are homeless after rampaging floods washed away their shanty near an estuary in Bagong Silang, Quezon City. His family managed to survive on relief while on some days, they don’t even eat.
But skipping meals is nothing new to Edmundo who is a part time taxi driver. His family survives on about fifty pesos a day if he has work. On days without work, his children beg in the streets or they don’t eat.
Life may be hard in Metro Manila but taking his family to his hometown of Anilao, Iloilo is not even an option for Edmundo, who says life is not any better there. In the big city, Edmundo hopes they will survive if he perseveres.
Edmundo represents a multitude of the Filipino urban poor which the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP) pegged at 1.5 million families in its 2004 count. The country’s Rural Poor for the same period was estimated at 3.6 million families. The combined income of the members of these families still falls below the poverty line and having nothing to eat on certain days is a normal occurrence.
Involuntary hunger steadily rising in RP
Involuntary hunger has been more felt in the Philippines as prices of food have gone up disproportionately to wages and earning opportunity.
The Social Weather Stations in its September 2009 study says hunger has been constantly in the double digit range in the last 5 years. Hunger figures also rose in Metro Manila, from 22.3 percent in June 2009 to 24.7 percent in September.
Filipinos might think that economic crisis, corruption and the perceived inability of the government to ensure food supply are to blame for their hunger pangs.
That could be true.
Yet there are other reasons why hunger incidence is rising, especially in poor countries where food is scarce while population growth is unstoppable.
No Food in the world in 40 years
The United Nations has sounded the alarm bells for hunger citing the next 40 years as critical for the survival of populations.
By 2050, the world population would have swelled to over 9 billion. This will require 70 percent more food than the world is producing today. But instead of rising, food production is going in the opposite direction. The world’s food resources are not even enough to feed everyone alive today.
The United Nations has identified climate change, pollution, urban migration, industrialization, poverty in rural areas and lack of sound agriculture policies by nations as the biggest threats to food security.
Climate change a catalyst for world hunger
Projections by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN say climate change and extreme weather will reduce harvests by 30 percent in Africa and up to 21 percent in developing countries. Africa and other developing countries in Asia provide rich countries with food.
Climate change which unleashes extreme weather disturbances will affect world harvests. Floods and landslides in wet countries will destroy crops the same way as drought does in other arid nations.
Sea pollution and unlawful fishing practices also deplete marine food products, while animal and plant pests and diseases threaten livestock and produce.
This means less food available for the exponential growth in mouths to feed, due to climate change and environmental degradation alone.
Everyone’s hungry but no one’s cooking
The receding agriculture labor force is also stalling food production. Many people from rural areas move to cities for better paying jobs. This is already happening in the Philippines where the exodus of rural folk to the cities has been unprecedented, as they are lured by job prospects in cities or overseas, leaving their farms for even greener pastures.
Besides, with typhoons, pests and the absence of farming infrastructure or government support, agriculture has just become more risky much as it is unprofitable.
Oblivious to declining food production, highly developed countries also convert lands to cities and industrial zones with the enticement of profits heftier than what agriculture can offer. First world countries are confident that developing nations will continue to produce food for them.
They’re wrong.
Filling the global cupboard today and tomorrow
Agriculture authorities and food experts from 192 countries kicked off high level talks in Rome to secure the global food supply in 2050, and prepare for the World Summit on Food Security next month. Member nations will take steps to boost investments in agriculture, make more efficient use of energy and natural resources and encourage governments to address the problems of rural folk such as irrigation, lack of farm implements and technology.
The UN says feeding everyone 40 years from now will also require governments to reduce poverty at once. A poor citizenry will only add to food demands while they are unproductive and cannot be relied on for nation building.
That’s why world leaders face two major challenges where food supply is concerned. Countries, while in dire need of solutions to a future food crisis must also make sure that today’s generation is not left hungry.
This requires bolder policies to ease the existing hunger and malnutrition of about 1.02 billion people worldwide, while setting the table for the meals of the future generation.