Is Fight Against Hunger A Matter Of Security?

From The Christian Science Monitor:

Hunger and food insecurity can destabilize whole regions. That dimension is raising new interest in tackling the issue, says Kanayo Nwanze, the new head of the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Washington - Which is more likely to grab and hold attention: third-world hunger or global food security?

Kanayo Nwanze bets the answer is the latter. The Kenyan who recently became president of the United Nations' International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) says globalization has made the hunger and rural poverty that always pulled on the heartstrings an international security issue.

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My Comment: The fight against hunger is also a matter of politics. Governments have always used food as a tool to implement policies, institute controls, and insure that their power continues. Much of the world's hunger has nothing to do with climate .... and more with politics and the wars and conflicts that they produced. Will this change .... I doubt it. Food and security (or lack of) has been a part of the human condition for as long as man has been around and I expect this to continue.

The World Is Going To Get Hungrier Soon

"The global financial crisis should not make us forget the food crisis," Food and Agriculture Organization head says. Photo Credit: By Lai Seng Sin -- Associated Press

Financial Meltdown Worsens Food Crisis -- Washington Post

As Global Prices Soar, More People Go Hungry

SHANGHAI -- As shock waves from the credit crisis began to spread around the world last month, China scrambled to protect itself. Among the most extreme measures it took was to impose new export taxes to keep critical supplies such as grains and fertilizer from leaving the country.

About 5,700 miles away, in Nairobi, farmer Stephen Muchiri is suffering the consequences.

It's planting season now, but he can afford to sow amaranthus and haricot beans on only half of the 10 acres he owns because the cost of the fertilizer he needs has shot up nearly $50 a bag in a matter of weeks. Muchiri said nearly everyone he knows is cutting back on planting, which means even less food for a continent where the supply has already been weakened by drought, political unrest and rising prices.

While the world's attention has been focused on rescuing investment banks and stock markets from collapse, the global food crisis has worsened, a casualty of the growing financial tumult.

Oxfam, the Britain-based aid group, estimates that economic chaos this year has pulled the incomes of an additional 119 million people below the poverty line. Richer countries from the United States to the Persian Gulf are busy helping themselves and have been slow to lend a hand.

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My Comment: Money has always ruled the world .... and it always will. What we see now are how different government's are reacting to this crisis. The Continent that will be affected the most will be Africa. With policies like Zimbabwe's being the rule rather than the exception on the continent ..... hunger and the possibility of famine will be rearing its ugly head in the months to come.

The instability and crisis environment will be the result .... a perfect storm that will only help to spread conflict, mass refugees, and war.

Malthus Redux -- The Global Food Crisis

Another must read post from Abu Muqawama:

The global food crisis is perhaps the least reported big event of the year. It stands to kill far more people than the cyclone in Myanmar or the earthquake in China. First it will kill through starvation, and then through the conflict over resources that it spawns. At a conference of experts that Kip observed on Afghanistan several weeks ago, all agreed that rising food prices were the single thing capable of throwing the country into utter and perhaps unrecoverable chaos. The same might be true of nuclear-armed Pakistan as well, not to mention several dozen other weak or failing states.

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My Comment: His analysis on the impact that rising food prices have in fermenting conflicts and eventually wars is on the mark. Hunger rarely starts wars right away, instead it just prepares the groundwork for turmoil and conflicts to arise.

Previous Post: The Price Of Food, The Cost Of Despair

IMF Head: Food Shortages Can Spark War

From CBS News:

(CBS/AP) The head of the International Monetary Fund warned Friday that soaring world food prices can have dire consequences, such as toppling governments and even triggering wars.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn told France's Europe-1 radio that the price rises that set off rioting in Haiti, Egypt and elsewhere were an "extremely serious" problem.

"The planet must tackle it," he said.

The IMF chief said the problem could also threaten democracies, even in countries where governments have done all they could to help the local population. Asked whether the crisis could lead to wars, Strauss-Kahn responded that it was possible.

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My Comment: Hunger and conflict have always walked hand in hand.