The world has enough resources to support all six billion inhabitants. The problem is that these resources remain unevenly distributed, reports Samia Nkrumah from the FAO convention in Rome The 32nd session of the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) convened in Rome this month, where agriculture ministers and officials from around the globe were presented with the latest figures on the state of hunger in the world today. According to estimates presented at the conference, the number of undernourished people in the world between 1999 and 2001 amounted to 840 million. The highest incidence of undernourishment is in sub-Saharan Africa, where 33 per cent of the population have insufficient food. On a positive note, however, 19 developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America have managed to reduce hunger. The FAO issued a warning that the world hunger goal set at the 1996 conference -- to halve the number of people suffering from hunger by 2015 -- is unlikely to be achieved, with the organisation itself being constrained due to insufficient resources. The FAO has suffered a fate similar to that of other UN agencies, namely coping with budget cuts over the past decade as a result of reduced contributions from member states. Ironically, while FAO membership has increased, its actual budget has shrunk. During the conference, which ended last week, member states agreed on a budget of $749 million for 2004-2005. While the budget has been increased by $100 million, FAO officials say this represents "a cut of $51 million in real terms due to inflation and changes in currency exchange rates". According to an FAO statement, the organisation would require a budget of "$800 million to maintain the same purchasing power" available at its previous budget level. The FAO has also come in for some sharp criticism in the past because of its bloated bureaucracy and over staffing. In response to these charges, the agency has been going through a period of restructuring and reform since 1994. The FAO has a smaller budget than many other UN agencies dealing with agricultural and food production. An obvious consequence of the budget cuts is that some projects must be terminated. Lennart Bage, the president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the world body bringing together farmers' organisations from all over the world under one umbrella, told the FAO conference in Rome that he regretted the FAO had been driven to dismantle its Cooperatives and Rural Organisation Group by the end of 2004. "Such budget cuts curtail the ability of FAO to provide technical support for cooperatives and rural organisations," he said. The search for alternate sources of funding, however, continues. Fund raising from private sources is on the increase, and collaboration with banks, corporations and other private entities, while not new, is becoming an obvious trend. As a case in point, earlier this month Germany agreed to donate 8.6 million euros to finance FAO development projects in Afghanistan, Malawi and Lesotho, while the FAO's Telefood programme -- which was initiated by the FAO in 1997 to raise awareness about world hunger and which relies on donations from people all over the world, and is also sponsored by private banks and corporations -- raised more than $12 million to finance 1,500 small agricultural projects, mostly in developing countries. The obvious drawback of private funding is that it may compromise the impartiality and neutrality associated with UN agencies. In appealing for a budget increase, FAO Director-General Diouf argued that his organisation serves the international community through policy analyses and research; by announcing urgent requirements and timely, impartial warnings of risks and emergencies in food and agriculture; and through the work of its technical and specialised staff on the ground. FAO specialists and workers were involved, for instance, in the Iraqi oil-for-food programme which began in 1997 and ended last June. FAO staff were responsible for overseeing the distribution of agricultural inputs in the country and offered technical assistance and training for irrigation, forestry and animal production projects. In his address to the conference, former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Bin Mohamed appealed to richer nations for "fair trade instead of free trade". At the same time, he urged fellow developing countries to come up with their own agenda that "would benefit not just us, but the rich as well". Mahathir re-opened the debate on a system of global taxation -- not a new idea, but one which has faced strong opposition in the past. Mahathir's suggestion is for multinational companies to pay a global tax to be used for financing infrastructure projects to develop agriculture in poorer nations. "In a virtual global nation, the corporations which benefit most from global trading and businesses must pay a global tax on their profits to the globalised world through a global agency," he said. The FAO's Africa Report warning of critical food shortages in 23 sub-Saharan countries was accompanied by a statement calling for increased trade between surplus areas and those with deficits. In the same vein, the organisation urged aid agencies "to rely on local purchases" when carrying out their activities. Professor Mohamed Said Harbi, Sudan's permanent representative to the FAO, IFAD and the World Food Programme, told Al-Ahram Weekly that, "we have said repeatedly that it is not more food, nor food aid that is required. What would make a difference is cooperation in agricultural development and investment." Agriculture, according to Harbi, remains the cornerstone of the economies of African countries. In Harbi's words, we are living today in a world of great wealth and plenty; the problem, however, is that "the wealth and plenty are not evenly distributed."
