Global Policy Forum

The number of chronically hungry people in the world is on the rise again after decades of progress. The World Food Programme (WFP) says that developed countries continue to spend more money on subsidising farmers than they do to help starving children. On the occasion of World Hunger Day on October 16, the United Nations warned that over 6 million people have died from hunger so far this year, and the number of chronically hungry people is on the rise again after decades of progress. According to the latest figures, more than 850 million people around the world are living in hunger, against previous estimates of 842 million.

Despite the fact that chronic hunger and related illnesses continue to kill more people worldwide than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined, the problem receives less attention from both world governments, the media and aid agencies, says the World Food Programme (WFP). Speaking on the occasion, WFP director James Morris urged aid-givers not to forget the scale of the hunger problem: by the end of World Food Day 2005, 6,241,512 people will have already died from hunger and related diseases so far this year. Combined with poverty, chronic hunger kills a staggering 25,000 people each day, Morris added.

Malnutrition is a serious problem in many parts of the world including North Korea, Haiti and Afghanistan. However, sub-Saharan Africa remains the most seriously affected area where conflicts and the spread of AIDS have exacerbated the effects of hunger. Currently, the spotlight is on Malawi where millions of people are in the grip of a food crisis caused by the failure of seasonal rains and the collapse of food production as a direct result of HIV/AIDS.

Morris called on governments, aid organisations and the private sector to redouble their efforts on behalf of the hungry poor, with particular emphasis on children. Both the WFP head and the UN's special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, have criticised the approach of many nations to the problem of world hunger. Morris said developed countries spend more every week subsidising farmers than they do in a year on helping starving children.

"We believe that solving the problem of child hunger is the key to ending world hunger," Morris said. "If we can all work together to give today's children the chance to reach their full potential in adulthood and prepare them better as parents, we can actually break the inter-generational cycle of hunger and poverty."

Morris contrasted the situation in developed countries -- where the most vulnerable are protected by special provisions such as social services, unemployment benefits, child allowances and income support -- to that in the developing world where there are very few of these safety nets. He cited the current drought in Niger as an example. "With any luck, next year will be a good year for Niger. Maybe the rains will come on time, the locust swarms will be manageable and no other unexpected disaster will occur. If that happens -- and it's a bit of a long shot -- we expect only about 450 of Niger's children to die every day of hunger-related causes during the lean season. And some consider that good news."

Morris went on to say that of the total number of hungry children in the world, about 100 million were currently receiving no assistance at all. To provide them and the estimated 15 million undernourished expectant and nursing mothers who are also without support would cost about US$ 5 billion a year. Some US$ 2 billion could be provided by the developing countries, leaving US$ 3 billion for the developed world to provide. "A lot of money? Not when you consider that between them, the developed countries spend far more than that every week on agricultural subsidies," Morris argued. Ziegler complained that while the UN's member states spent more than a trillion dollars on arms in 2004, donations to the WFP had fallen by US$ 219 million in the same period. This had already led the WFP to reduce food rations for thousands of refugees in East and West Africa.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark World Food Day, Dr Jacques Diouf, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said that the world today had the resources and technology to produce sufficient quantities of food not only to meet the demands of a growing population but also to bring an end to hunger and poverty. "I dare to hope that wisdom will guide the politicians who decide the destiny of this global village, and that reason will prevail, allowing them to make decisions based on the social harmony of a world of solidarity and peace, not on short-term interests than can lead to injustice and social unrest."

The theme for this year's World Food Day (celebrated every year on October 16, the anniversary of the founding of the FAO in 1945) is ‘Agriculture and Intercultural dialogue: it's our common heritage', recalling the exchange of agricultural information on crops and farm animals over the centuries that has contributed to improved nutrition and reduced poverty.

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