04 December 2002

World Food Program Says African Food Crisis Threatens 38 Million, December 3, 2002

(Biotech food concerns hindering aid, U.S. says)

By Judy Aita Washington File Staff Writer

United Nations -- Africa is facing an unprecedented hunger crisis, the magnitude of which has not yet been fully grasped by the international community, the head of the World Food Program (WFP) said December 3.

James T. Morris, WFP executive director, told the Security Council that the famine and mass starvation facing Africa "is an unprecedented crisis which calls for an unprecedented response. An exceptional effort is urgently needed if a major catastrophe is to be averted. Business as usual will not do."

Addressing a meeting of the Security Council focusing on the crisis, Morris said that some 38 million Africans are at risk, with drought only one factor in the emergencies. Collapsing economic systems, especially in Zimbabwe; political and ethnic violence in Sudan, Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and the HIV/AIDS epidemic are all contributing to the multiple crises, he said.

"The severity of the current food crises is certainly on a scale that threatens political stability and security," Morris said. "In southern Africa -- Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique -- over 14 million people need food aid with the most critical period beginning now through March 2003."

The "greatest sense of alarm," the WFP executive director said, is in Zimbabwe -- traditionally a strong food exporter -- where more than half of its 12 million people are facing the threat of starvation.

In the 1980s WFP had purchased up to half million tons of food a year from Zimbabwe for emergencies elsewhere in Africa. "But politics, bureaucracy, and bad economics have conspired to damage food output and, worse yet, slow down the aid response," he said.

Morris called Zimbabwe's land distribution and ownership scheme "damaging," saying that thousands of productive farms are not operating and that restrictions on private sector food marketing and a monopoly on food imports by the government's Grain Marketing Board "are turning a drought that might have been managed into a humanitarian nightmare."

Commodity shortages, high market prices and accelerating inflation, he said, "are a formula for disaster" in Zimbabwe.

U.S. Ambassador Richard Williamson was also critical of Zimbabwe's land use and economic policies as well as reports that the government is using food as a political tool, suspending food aid in opposition areas.

The government's "violent and chaotic seizure of land from commercial farmers has decimated the most productive component of Zimbabwe's agricultural sectors, reducing agricultural production by nearly 70% in the last two years, crippling its ability to feed not only its own population but neighboring countries," said Williamson, the U.S. alternative representative to the U.N.

"The threat of calamitous famine is in large part a consequence of misguided government policies," he said. "Price controls inhibit production and trade of food staples. The continuing monopoly of the Government of Zimbabwe's Grain Marketing Board on commercial imports of grain combined with the foreign exchange restrictions make agricultural inputs such as tractors and fertilizer unavailable or prohibitively expensive."

WFP is trying to provide one-third of the food aid while the Zimbabwe Government and private traders provide the rest, Morris said, but WFP fell short of its goal of reaching 3 million people in November and expects to fall even further below its December goal of feeding 6 million people.

In Ethiopia and Eritrea donors will need to reach at least 10 million people, perhaps as many as 15 million, he said. However, with the end of hostilities and the increasing ability to cope with emergencies, relief efforts are expected to be more effective than in the past. Nonetheless, political disputes and violence leave both countries chronically dependent on food aid.

In the Sahel many of the countries are making the right political choices: putting resources into building national food security stocks and early warning systems. Well- targeted aid can mitigate the food crisis in which an additional 2 million people will need help this year, Morris said.

AIDS, too, is taking a huge toll on populations and food production. In sub-Saharan Africa the number of AIDS orphans is over 11 million and rising, Morris said, and since 1985 more than 7 million agricultural workers have died in 25 African countries. "In some rural towns, an entire generation has gone missing. Worse yet, what we see today is only the tip of the iceberg. The longer-term impact will have a staggering effect on everything from food security to overall political and social stability."

In the short term, the WFP chief said, a major infusion of funds for humanitarian relief and better cooperation from recipient governments is needed and there must be a shift from reliance on the United States for food aid. In the long term, African nations must reform their governance and economic policies.

The prospect for help is "not good," Morris also said. WFP has appealed for $511 million in food aid but has confirmed pledges to cover only 56% of the appeal. Only 23% of non-food needs such as seeds for next year's crop and health and sanitation supplies have been met.

Morris said that voluntary contributions have been dropping and WFP is far too dependent on one major donor -- the United States, which provided 62% of all food aid worldwide. He urged other donor nations to make a political commitment to increase contributions and work to improve the food aid system.

The United States has pledged $266 million worth of food to southern Africa this year as well as more than $10 million worth of non-food aid needed for regional management and logistics, agriculture, therapeutic feeding, emergency health needs and cholera response and prevention.

Another problem has been the requirement by some southern African governments that genetically modified maize from the U.S. be milled. That has created "a logistical nightmare" forcing aid organizations to scramble to raise more cash from other donors, Morris said.

U.S. Ambassador Williamson said that the United States is deeply concerned that its efforts to provide assistance could be delayed, if not derailed, by the confusion that prevails over biotechnology food issues and urged African nations to reconsider their restrictions on genetically modified U.S. maze.

The U.S. is firmly committed to aiding the African nations in need and is working with the countries to help them better understand the facts and science of biotech food, the ambassador said. "At the same time the U.S. Government is concerned that food aid and the crisis in southern Africa is being used to inflame the debate about biotechnology."

"We do not believe there are food safety problems with biotech food," the ambassador said. "The whole kernel maize being provided by the United States Government as part of our relief assistance is the same that is being eaten by millions of Americans daily. It is safe, wholesome, and can make the difference between life and death for millions of southern Africans."

"We also believe potential environmental problems such as cross-pollination with local varieties are not significant," the ambassador said. "A number of countries have approved biotech maize varieties including South Africa, Argentina and several European states following economic, environment and health safety reviews."

"The U.S. government has a seven-year track record of consuming biotech commodities that speaks to their food safety and environmental benefits for producers and consumers. Biotech food is safe, wholesome and nutritious," Williamson said.

Much of nearly 150,000 metric tons of donated food is currently being stored in the region due to delays caused by Zimbabwe's insistence that all biotech corn be milled prior to importation, the U.S. ambassador noted. "This requirement substantially raises costs, hastens storage losses, and reduces the amount of food available for emergency relief."

WFP chief Morris said that African nations must invest more in agriculture "including embracing the promise inherent in biotechnology and changes to international trade regimes so Africa's farmers are not driven from the marketplace by subsidized exports from the developed world."

Countries also must ease restrictions on private enterprise in agriculture and a new global trade environment is needed, he said.

"We need a trading system that encourages African and other developing country farmers to produce and export," Morris said. "They simply cannot compete with developed country subsidies that now amount to ($1,000 million) a day and allow food to flow into poorer countries, making investments in agriculture unprofitable."

Morris said that in the last ten years the number of food emergencies has skyrocketed from 18 emergencies a year to 33 a year. This increased need has transformed WFP into the largest humanitarian aid agency in the world and the logistics arm of the U.N., providing air service and communications links for other agencies and nongovernmental organizations.

Although the WFP's annual budget is larger than that of U.N. headquarters with over $1,900 million in funding, it continues to fall short of need. "Today, WFP has few resources to spare for nutrition and school feeding to help bring the number of chronically hungry people down from 800 million," Morris said. "We are barely funding our emergency operations and, I'm afraid, the worst is yet to come."