Julian Borger, diplomatic editor
The Guardian,
Wednesday April 23 2008
The World Food Programme said yesterday that it has begun to cut the provision of school meals to some of the world's poorest children as the global crisis over food prices worsens.
Josette Sheeran, the WFP's executive director, said that the price of basic foods was rising so rapidly that a shortfall in financing for its food relief programmes had grown from $500m (about £250m) to $755m in less than two months.
About $300m has been pledged so far by donor countries to fill the WFP's financing gap, including $60m offered by Britain yesterday, to coincide with an experts' conference on the crisis at Downing Street, and €60m (about £48m) from the European commission.
However, the new money is too late to maintain all of the WFP's operations. A programme providing meals for 450,000 Cambodian children has already been suspended, and Sheeran said that a similar programme in Kenya, serving 1.2 million children, is facing cuts of nearly 50%.
Sheeran said the cutbacks reflected "heartbreaking decisions" forced on the WFP. "We need all the help we can get from the governments of the world who can afford to do so," she said.
Before the Downing Street meeting, Gordon Brown said rising food costs posed as serious a threat to world prosperity as the global credit crunch, and could reverse hard-won progress in the developing world. The prime minister said he would review British policy on biofuels. The government has set a target of replacing 5% of the nation's petrol and diesel with biofuels within two years. But the plant-derived fuels have come under scrutiny for diverting land away from food crops, fuelling inflation in the prices of staple foods.
The crisis is also being driven by rising demand from consumers in fast developing countries such as China and India, at a time when food production is being hit by climate change. Sheeran said the world had consumed more food than it produced for the past three years, but added that agricultural output was beginning to creep upwards in response to high prices.
Douglas Alexander, the international development secretary, who chaired the Downing Street meeting, announced a $910m aid package aimed at mitigating the immediate effects of the food price crisis, and addressing the long-term causes. In that package, $60m will go to the WFP to help fund its financing gap, $50m is to go to Ethiopia to boost the incomes of its poorest families, while $800m would be spent on agricultural research over five years.
Alexander said: "There is no simple answer to this global situation. As part of the UK's response, we will work with key international institutions, such as the World Bank, IMF and UN, to develop a comprehensive approach that will help put food on the table for nearly a billion people going hungry across the world."
Oxfam's director of policy, Phil Bloomer, who took part in the meeting, welcomed the government contribution, but said that not all the money was new. He also said that the total aid package amounted to less than the UK tax rebate on biofuels.
"The government should not only scrap its own mandatory targets but must show leadership in Europe and make sure no further targets are set there," he said.
The Guardian,
Wednesday April 23 2008
The World Food Programme said yesterday that it has begun to cut the provision of school meals to some of the world's poorest children as the global crisis over food prices worsens.
Josette Sheeran, the WFP's executive director, said that the price of basic foods was rising so rapidly that a shortfall in financing for its food relief programmes had grown from $500m (about £250m) to $755m in less than two months.
About $300m has been pledged so far by donor countries to fill the WFP's financing gap, including $60m offered by Britain yesterday, to coincide with an experts' conference on the crisis at Downing Street, and €60m (about £48m) from the European commission.
However, the new money is too late to maintain all of the WFP's operations. A programme providing meals for 450,000 Cambodian children has already been suspended, and Sheeran said that a similar programme in Kenya, serving 1.2 million children, is facing cuts of nearly 50%.
Sheeran said the cutbacks reflected "heartbreaking decisions" forced on the WFP. "We need all the help we can get from the governments of the world who can afford to do so," she said.
Before the Downing Street meeting, Gordon Brown said rising food costs posed as serious a threat to world prosperity as the global credit crunch, and could reverse hard-won progress in the developing world. The prime minister said he would review British policy on biofuels. The government has set a target of replacing 5% of the nation's petrol and diesel with biofuels within two years. But the plant-derived fuels have come under scrutiny for diverting land away from food crops, fuelling inflation in the prices of staple foods.
The crisis is also being driven by rising demand from consumers in fast developing countries such as China and India, at a time when food production is being hit by climate change. Sheeran said the world had consumed more food than it produced for the past three years, but added that agricultural output was beginning to creep upwards in response to high prices.
Douglas Alexander, the international development secretary, who chaired the Downing Street meeting, announced a $910m aid package aimed at mitigating the immediate effects of the food price crisis, and addressing the long-term causes. In that package, $60m will go to the WFP to help fund its financing gap, $50m is to go to Ethiopia to boost the incomes of its poorest families, while $800m would be spent on agricultural research over five years.
Alexander said: "There is no simple answer to this global situation. As part of the UK's response, we will work with key international institutions, such as the World Bank, IMF and UN, to develop a comprehensive approach that will help put food on the table for nearly a billion people going hungry across the world."
Oxfam's director of policy, Phil Bloomer, who took part in the meeting, welcomed the government contribution, but said that not all the money was new. He also said that the total aid package amounted to less than the UK tax rebate on biofuels.
"The government should not only scrap its own mandatory targets but must show leadership in Europe and make sure no further targets are set there," he said.
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