• News
    • Latest news
    • News search
    • Health
    • Finance
    • Food
    • Career news
    • Content series
    • Try Devex Pro
  • Jobs
    • Job search
    • Post a job
    • Employer search
    • CV Writing
    • Upcoming career events
    • Try Career Account
  • Funding
    • Funding search
    • Funding news
  • Talent
    • Candidate search
    • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Events
    • Upcoming and past events
    • Partner on an event
  • Post a job
  • About
      • About us
      • Membership
      • Newsletters
      • Advertising partnerships
      • Devex Talent Solutions
      • Contact us
Join DevexSign in
Join DevexSign in

News

  • Latest news
  • News search
  • Health
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Career news
  • Content series
  • Try Devex Pro

Jobs

  • Job search
  • Post a job
  • Employer search
  • CV Writing
  • Upcoming career events
  • Try Career Account

Funding

  • Funding search
  • Funding news

Talent

  • Candidate search
  • Devex Talent Solutions

Events

  • Upcoming and past events
  • Partner on an event
Post a job

About

  • About us
  • Membership
  • Newsletters
  • Advertising partnerships
  • Devex Talent Solutions
  • Contact us
  • My Devex
  • Update my profile % complete
  • Account & privacy settings
  • My saved jobs
  • Manage newsletters
  • Support
  • Sign out
Latest newsNews searchHealthFinanceFoodCareer newsContent seriesTry Devex Pro
    Sponsored Content
    ODI Global
    • News

    Avoid the Blame Game on World Food Day

    On World Food Day, the focus should be on the 925 million undernourished people around the globe, according to Steve Wiggins.

    By Devex Editor // 17 October 2010

    EDITOR’S NOTE: On World Food Day, global attention should be on the 925 million people suffering undernourishment, a third of whom are children aged under 5, says Steve Wiggins, research fellow at the Overseas Development Institute. The real challenge is not curtailing speculation in the international grains markets but ensuring agriculture can fulfill its development mission of contributing to poverty and hunger reduction and feeding a growing world population while decreasing emissions and saving water, he adds.

    With World Food Day being marked this weekend, sensitivities to the price of food have rarely been higher. Summer saw the futures price of wheat skyrocket by almost $100 a tonne, leading observers to voice fears of another food price spike on the scale seen in 2007/08. Such a seismic shift in prices now looks unlikely; although poor harvests in Canada, Kazakhstan, Russia and the Ukraine have pushed up cereals prices, the cumulative effect is nothing like that of two summers past.

    ‘United Against Hunger’ is the theme chosen by the United Nations to mark the annual focus on food markets. Such a message is important in generating attention, but away from the fanfare many still see volatility in international grain markets as their number one priority. It shouldn’t be. Curtailing speculation on grain futures is a red herring. Despite what some claim, there is little evidence that this was a major factor in the 2007/08 price spike. Supply, including stocks, had slipped behind demand so that rising prices reflected real tensions in the market, not some speculative bubble. Training our sights on speculators is to miss the real target.

    That is not to say grain markets cannot be improved. They can: above all by publishing more information on stocks; and by ensuring options are available for diverting resources from livestock and industry when price spikes threaten.

    The real priority on World Food Day should remain the estimated 925 million people who are undernourished; the 31% of children under five years in the developing world who are underweight and whose potential physical and mental development is undermined. These numbers are unacceptably high, leaving the world well behind the progress needed to reach Millennium Development Goal 1 on hunger by 2015.

    Delivery requires a three-part agenda. One, make sure that production of cereals and other staples, grows just a little bit faster than population. Growth of less than 2% a year would suffice. With public investment in agricultural research, rural roads and policies that encourage farmers, this is not a difficult target. Two, reduce poverty: in rural areas, agricultural development is often one of the best ways to do this. Three, complement these with improved health, child care and hygiene through primary health, clean water, and education of mothers.

    This isn’t impossible. Over the last 25 years, Ghana ranks among the five top performers in the world in agricultural growth. Cocoa production has boomed, and staple foods production has risen by 80% in a generation. This has contributed to an increase in rural living standards that has seen 1 in 4 people lifted out of poverty by 2006 and almost halved child malnutrition since the end of the ’80s. New analysis from ODI shows Ghana will soon achieve the MDG1 of halving 1990 levels of poverty and hunger by 2015.

    Population growth remains a real challenge for food and agricultural production. There will very probably be another 2.2 billion people living on the planet by 2050. They will have to be fed and, whilst the production increases needed over this period are modest, these will have to be achieved using existing resources if key tropical forests and wetlands are to be conserved.

    The UK Government’s chief scientist, Professor Sir John Beddington, has warned that business as usual will lead to nightmare scarcities of food, fuel and water by 2030. If we are to avoid this, then farming will need to produce more food while economising on water use, and reduce net emissions of greenhouse gases— currently almost 30% of the global total.

    The real challenge for World Food Day is to consider how agriculture can deliver on its development trinity: contribute to reducing poverty and hunger; raise production to feed a growing world population; and to do both these things while reducing net emissions and saving water. Technically the solutions are possible, but the political will for exploring the economic and social options required is imperative.

    Re-published with permission by the Overseas Development Institute. Visit the original article.

    • Agriculture & Rural Development
    • Global Health
    • Environment & Natural Resources
    Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).

    About the author

    • Devex Editor

      Devex Editor

      Thanks a lot for your interest in Devex News. To share news and views, story ideas and press releases, please email editor@devex.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

    Search for articles

    Related Jobs

    • Nigeria based Climate Change Technical Specialist
      Alinea International Ltd.
      Nigeria | West Africa
    • Manager, Regenerative Agriculture
      The Rockefeller Foundation
      New York City, New York, United States | New York, United States | United States | North America
    • Environmental Safeguards Specialist
      Bissau, Guinea-Bissau | Guinea-Bissau | West Africa
    • See more

    Most Read

    • 1
      Opinion: Mobile credit, savings, and insurance can drive financial health
    • 2
      FCDO's top development contractors in 2024/25
    • 3
      Strengthening health systems by measuring what really matters
    • 4
      How AI-powered citizen science can be a catalyst for the SDGs
    • 5
      Opinion: India’s bold leadership in turning the tide for TB

    Trending

    Financing for Development Conference

    The Trump Effect

    Newsletters

    Related Stories

    Food SystemsNew ways of fortifying staple foods could save lives. Here’s how

    New ways of fortifying staple foods could save lives. Here’s how

    Devex Book ClubHungry farmers: Roger Thurow on the great food paradox of our time

    Hungry farmers: Roger Thurow on the great food paradox of our time

    Food SystemsOpinion: Food aid is in crisis. So let’s stop funding agrochemicals

    Opinion: Food aid is in crisis. So let’s stop funding agrochemicals

    Food systems150 Nobel and World Food Prize winners call for food security ‘moonshot’

    150 Nobel and World Food Prize winners call for food security ‘moonshot’

    • News
    • Jobs
    • Funding
    • Talent
    • Events

    Devex is the media platform for the global development community.

    A social enterprise, we connect and inform over 1.3 million development, health, humanitarian, and sustainability professionals through news, business intelligence, and funding & career opportunities so you can do more good for more people. We invite you to join us.

    • About us
    • Membership
    • Newsletters
    • Advertising partnerships
    • Devex Talent Solutions
    • Post a job
    • Careers at Devex
    • Contact us
    © Copyright 2000 - 2025 Devex|User Agreement|Privacy Statement