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Agency launches
Africa food crises appeal
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 ADDIS
ABEBA(August 7,2008) - International
development agency Christian Aid has launched an emergency appeal
to support the millions of people going hungry across Africa in the
face of escalating food prices.
In its scale and reach, this is a crisis of proportions unmatched
for decades. Most African countries are not self-sufficient in food
and are now being hit by massive price hikes so that once cheap imports
are unaffordable, the agency said.
In the first three months of this year (2008) all major foodstuffs
hit their highest prices in real terms for nearly 30 years, according
the World Food Programme (WFP).
Ethiopia is facing a potential catastrophe with 126,000 children in
immediate danger of death and a further six million at risk of malnutrition,
according to the UN.
Kenya has seen price hikes of 50 per cent in six months.
In Burkina Faso, almost a quarter of children under five are emaciated
and half a million people are dependent on WFP handouts. In the Democratic
Republic of Congo, families are forced to skip meals.
'Christian Aid is doing everything we can to help - but we want to
do more,' says Nick Guttmann, head of Christian Aid's humanitarian
division.
'We are urging people in Britain, the churches and religious groups
to help us increase our support to those most vulnerable to this crisis.
'With more cash, we can further develop work with our local African
partner agencies, distributing seeds and livestock and helping communities
improve their agricultural productivity to reduce their dependence
on highly priced imported foods.'
The crisis has been caused in part by ruinous trade liberalisation
policies forced on poor countries by donor nations and international
financial institutions.
In return for trade and aid, they have had to remove protective tariffs
from agricultural produce, leaving markets open to heavily subsidised
imports from richer nations, which have driven local producers out
of business. Global food price rises have then forced up the price
of imports.
In recent years, there has also been chronic under investment in food
production in poorer countries, and a greater emphasis on cash crops
such as flowers, tobacco and biofuels.
The situation has been further exacerbated by climate change and rising
fuel prices which has pushed up the cost of fertilised, seeds, pump
irrigation and other agricultural necessities.
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