Poverty and Hunger - How Long Will This Continue to Plague Our Continent? [column]

October 16 is World Food Day, proclaimed in 1979 by the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In 1980, the UN General Assembly endorsed the observance of the Day in consideration of the fact that food is core for humansurvival and well-being, and a fundamental human necessity.

On 17th October, 2009 the world will be commemorating the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. This marks exactly twenty-two (22) years when over a hundred thousand people gathered at the Trocadero in Paris to honour the victims of extreme poverty, violence and hunger. They proclaimed that poverty is a violation of human rights and affirmed the need to come together to ensure that these rights are respected. These convictions are inscribed in a commemorative stone unveiled on this day. Since then, people of all backgrounds, beliefs and social origins have gathered every year on October 17th to renew their commitment and show their solidarity with the poor.

I wonder what the world is saying or will be saying on these two days. Will it be the same rhetoric? Or would they be asking whether the world should be commemorating these two days when over 200 million people in Africa continue to go to bed hungry every day?

The tragedy in Africa is that we have talked a lot about poverty that it has lost its significance. It is a calamity that it would seem that the idea of malnourished children and of people dying of hunger does not scare us anymore! The urge to fight and end poverty is rapidly fading away and the sense of urgency completely lost among key role players. The dream to meet the MDGs by 2015 remains a pipe dream for many countries in Africa. In the 2008 UN MDGs Report, it is estimated that low pay jobs leave one in five developing country workers mired in poverty while the proportion of employed people living below the $1 a day between 1997 and 2007 has increased from 51.4% to55.5%. For millions in the world today, especially those in Africa, jobs provide some form of relief from poverty but jobs should also provide a certain degree of security for the poor.

Halving the population living in poverty and ending hunger by 2015, as enshrined in the MDGs, is such an important goal for our governments and without it the rest of the goals are unattainable.This then makes food the first and foremost issue that should be given top priority before any other goals begin to make sense. An example is that you cannot give a woman whose child is crying for food a mosquito net to combat malaria!

Governments and donors need to apply the same sense of urgency to people living in abject poverty as they have done in responding to calamities such as war, floods and other natural disasters.

Africa has been confronted with what some people have referred to as a "double" burden of obesity and hunger as millions take up increasingly sedentary lives in cities and the global financial crisis hits rural populations' food security.

Under-nutrition continues to plague sub-Saharan Africa, where 32 percent of the world's hungry people live. Yet according to the recent research by the International Congress of Nutrition (ICN) in Bangkok, those migrating from the countryside to cities are eating too much fatty food, leading to rising rates of obesity, diabetes, hypertension and high blood pressure.

In Madagascar, for example, about 1.6 percent of children were overweight in 1992s, while 35.5 percent were underweight and 60.9 percent suffered stunted growth. By 2004, 6.2 percent of children were overweight while 36.8 percent were underweight, and 52.8 percent were stunted. The rate of overweight and obese women also doubled between 1997 and 2004, to 8.1 percent overall. And in 1987, 5.5 percent of Moroccan children were overweight; by 2004, that figure had increased to 13.3 percent.

It is not only morally unacceptable but a crime against humanity to allow people to go to bed hungry everyday, particularly the case where there are people who are overweight who live side-by-side with people who are acutely malnourished and under-nourished.

We are also aware that extreme hunger and malnutrition have been brought about by neglect of Agriculture. As Africa we have committed, we have abundant land, some of which we are giving away and we have a lot of rhetoric and good policies on paper. But words, words and words will not feed the poor! We need action; implementation and political muscle and will to feed the hungry.

At least five countries in Africa are making strides in improving their governance and ensuring household food security - Malawi, Burkina Faso, Mali Senegal and Ethiopia while others like Mozambique and Zambia are also among those that are showing positive signs. However, I am aware that one of the major challenges arising from the poverty crises is the lack of African governments meeting their commitments on development delivery especially those related to key sectors like agriculture. The emerging trend is that even though people are growing plenty of food,much of it is exported to other countries while most families remain without food.

There are still more than 17 countries in Africa that spend less than 5% of their budgets on agriculture. There is no excuse for people to go hungry amidst abundant natural and human resources. Infact, if and when a government successfully feeds its nation, it should be regarded as one of the key indicators for good governance. We cannot afford to let millions of people go hungry every day. Where has the energy and sense of urgency that the faith community had during the Jubilee campaigns against debt gone to? How about another Jubilee to end poverty?

African Monitor calls upon the African governments to be more responsive to the needs of the poor especially in creating mechanisms or safety nets that protect the poor and most vulnerable from falling deeper into poverty. The commitments that the governments have made towards Agriculture are commendable, but they need to put their money where their mouth is. The billions of dollars sitting in Swiss Banks could be repatriated to Africa to feed the millions that go to bed hungry every night.

As we commemorate World Food Day and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, we reiterate that the right to food is a fundamental human right and it is hence incumbent upon all of us to end hunger now. And it can be done so as to uplift the dignity of the poor and safeguard their future and that of the next generation.

Archbishop Njongo Ndungane is the founder and president of African Monitor. He served as Archbishop of Cape Town from 1996 to 2007

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