poor farmers to end world hunger

"Poor farmers are not a problem to be solved. They are the solution, the best answer for a world that is fighting hunger and poverty and trying to feed a growing population. If farmers can get what they need to feed their families and sell their surplus, hundreds of millions of the poorest people can build themselves a better life."

- Bill Gates, announcing $120 million for African Agriculture (15/10/2009)

Who's Really Fighting Hunger?

"Who's Really Fighting Hunger," a report by ActionAid, shows "that ability and commitment to fight hunger does not depend on wealth. Some relatively poor countries have made striking progress." Malawi ranks 5th in fighting hunger (2nd in Africa), despite being "one of the poorest countries in the world, and burdened with a devastating HIV epidemic to boot – has reaped rich results within three short years. Through a massive boost of investment to small scale farmers, it has trebled production to halt a famine that threatened to leave nearly a third of its population hungry."

SOWING MIRACLES
“People were so hungry they would do anything,” recollects village Chief Herbert Kamponda as he speaks about the 2005 drought when 30 people died of starvation in his village. Malawi was gripped by a horrific famine in 2005, when 5 million of the 12 million population were starving.

The landscape has changed in three short years. Tito Jestala, one of the village's farmers, proudly shows off his maize store, filled with corn cobs. One hectare, which produced 100 kg of maize three years ago, has tripled its yield.

A new government, led by President Bingu wa Mutharika, believed the problem was straightforward. Farmers were not getting enough support. The government took the brave step of defying the advice of the World Bank and international donors – not an easy risk for one of
the poorest countries in the world - and brought back the agricultural subsidies they had been forced to dismantle through liberalisation. And it paid off. Between 2005 and 2007, a miracle occurred: the country went from a food deficit of 43 percent to a food surplus of 57 percent as productivity increased two-fold. Maize production nearly trebled. Malawians had enough not only for themselves, but also for export.

The government doubled its expenditure on agriculture from 7.4 percent of its budget to 14 percent. It scaled up access and affordability of farm inputs and high-yield maize seeds and fertilisers. Though the scheme increased maize Production, hunger still isn't decreasing among the poorest and costs have shot up to around $180m a year for the subsidy programme - this is unsustainable. The Malawian government this year started scaling up a nationwide campaign to use cheaper – more sustainable – organic composts and manure as an alternative to synthetic fertilisers. Donors and other governments would do well to learn from this approach.

Over one billion people – a sixth of humanity - don’t have enough to eat. Almost a third of the world’s children are growing up malnourished. This is perhaps one of the most shameful achievements of recent history, since there is no good reason for anyone to go hungry in today’s world.

“Why should there be hunger and deprivation in any land, in any city, at any table, when man has the resources and the scientific know-how to provide all mankind with the basic necessities of life? There is no deficit in human resources. The deficit is in human will.”

- Martin Luther King, Jr

ActionAid's HungerFREE "Who's Really Fighting Hunger"
read the full report (PDF, 1.8MB, 92 pages)