Far away and close to home the growing world food crisis is taking a toll. While Americans are increasingly shocked at their rising grocery bills, hunger threatens lives and stability in several developing countries.
In response, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and international agencies called last week for a sharp and immediate increase in giving for food, along with longer-term policy changes aimed at alleviating poverty, boosting agricultural production, and improving the way aid is given.

Oxfam America is urging Congress to release $200 million in emergency aid to developing nations. "Congress should act now to make our food aid more efficient by allowing food to be purchased closer to where it is needed, reaching many more people," said Oxfam America president Raymond Offenheiser.

At present, U.S. food aid is limited to U.S.-made products shipped on U.S.-owned vessels, causing lengthy delays. "On the verge of a massive worldwide crisis it is unconscionable to allow special interests and bureaucracy to deprive poor and vulnerable people food," Offenheiser charged.

Mercy Corps and other U.S.-based NGOs are seeking individual donations to fight hunger in countries where families are now reduced to eating just one meal a day.

A Washington, DC-based think tank, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), offered an analysis of the factors fueling the crisis and three long-term policy prescriptions. IFPRI asserts that food prices are at their highest since the mid-1970s, mainly due to high energy prices and increased demand for biofuels.

"With oil prices at an all-time high...and the U.S. government subsidizing farmers to grow crops for energy, U.S. farmers have massively shifted their cultivation toward biofuel feedstocks, especially maize, often at the expense of soybean and wheat cultivation. About 30 percent of U.S. maize production will go into ethanol in 2008 rather than into world food and feed markets," according to IFPRI director general Joachim von Braun.

Quelle: oneworld.net