"President Bush's veto of the Farm Bill today should get Congress started on a better bill for America's farmers, taxpayers and trade interests. Unfortunately, we know that Congress passed on every single opportunity to make necessary reforms and shift funds from wasteful agricultural subsidies for large scale farms to food aid to meet the needs of the poor.
?Although important gains have been made in nutrition and equity programs, the Farm Bill continues billions of dollars in subsidies to large industrial sized farms, doing little for family farms and rural America, while hurting poor farmers abroad.
?Oxfam calls on all members of Congress to sustain the administration's veto and improve the farm bill by cutting payments to rich farmers, reforming trade distorting subsidies, doing away with the inefficiencies of the food aid programs and retaining gains made on the nutrition and equity fronts. Even in this eleventh hour, it is not too late for Congress to deliver the Farm Bill that America?and indeed the world?deserves."
]]>"President Bush's call on Congress to provide nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars in additional food aid, on top of $240 million he committed recently, is an extremely important move to avert a potential humanitarian disaster,? said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. "We especially applaud the President's call for reform of the food aid system to allow for more flexibility and resources when addressing food crises. If aid agencies are allowed to purchase food regionally rather than having it shipped in from halfway around the world, more food can get to more people faster, while encouraging local food production to avert future disasters.?
While America provides half of the world's food aid, this generosity is undermined by legal restrictions and bureaucracy, as food aid must be purchased in the US and transported on US-flagged ships, according to Oxfam. As a result, food aid takes months to deliver and costs twice as much. But Congress has so far refused to seriously consider much needed reforms of our food aid policies as part of the on going consideration of the new Farm Bill.
?Given the current crisis, Congress should support President Bush's proposal to fund additional food aid and to shift some food aid resources into cash for local purchase, making food aid delivery faster and more efficient and more flexible,? said Offenheiser.
"We also applaud the President's call for the successful completion of the Doha Round of international trade negotiations and the end of trade distorting subsidies as a means of achieving this goal,? said Offenheiser. ?In this regard, more reform of US farm subsidy programs is required and should be achieved before a final farm bill is sent to the President. The current bill being debated by farm bill conferees falls far short of what is needed to provide real reform.?
]]>Oxfam made the call on the heels of President Bush’s move last week to release $200 million in emergency aid to help nations where surging food prices have increased hunger. Congress is continuing this week to negotiate the 2008 Farm Bill, which mandates the food aid program only to buy US grown commodities for those facing starvation overseas.
“Rising food prices threaten to reverse the long-term trend of reducing the number of chronically hungry people around the world, last estimated at around 850 million,” said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president Oxfam America. “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 hungry people.”
Prices for staples such as rice, corn, and wheat have all reached record highs in the last few months, triggering alarms of food insecurity. Many of the poorest people in developing countries spend between 50-80% of their income on food meaning that any increase in food prices will reduce food consumption and increase hunger, especially for those already living on the edge. This could also lead to social instability, already demonstrated by food riots in Mexico, Egypt, Tanzania, Yemen, Morocco, Senegal, and Burkina Faso. The World Bank estimates that 33 countries face potential social unrest because of the acute hike in food and energy prices.
“Across Africa, hard won gains in development are being put at risks by higher food prices,” said Offenheiser. “We’re now seeing families lowering the quantity and quality of their meals, children getting pulled out from school, and increased tensions between different groups over natural resources land and water, sparking fears of instability if something is not done immediately to curb unaffordable food prices.”
Price rises have been driven by a number of factors including increased demand from India and China and other advanced developing countries, population growth, increased demand for biofuels, and high oil and input prices leading to increasing input costs for producers and traders. Increasingly erratic weather, due in part to climate change, has had a negative impact on food supplies – with crop failures in some key grain producing countries.
“The problem has several causes, and requires several responses. We need to support safety nets in poor countries to help people in desperate poverty. We need to invest in small-scale agriculture to help spur food production in poor countries. We need to revisit mandates for the production of corn-based ethanol to determine how they contribute to the problem. But the simplest and most effective thing we can do immediately is to permit US food aid programs to purchase locally-grown food to avert starvation,” said Offenheiser.
While America provides half of the world's food aid, this generosity is undermined by legal restrictions and bureaucracy, as food aid must be purchased in the US and transported on US-flagged ships. As a result, food aid takes months to deliver and costs twice as much. Higher food prices mean that food aid dollars will buy less food. With the number of hungry people set to rise and the supply of food aid is shrinking, we may not be able to afford this inefficiency in the future. Congress needs to urgently shift some food aid resources into cash for local purchase, making food aid delivery faster and more efficient and more flexible, according to Oxfam.
“On the verge of a massive worldwide crisis it is unconscionable to allow special interests and bureaucracy to deprive poor and vulnerable people food.” said Offenheiser. “If there ever was a time for reform of the US food aid system the time is now, there’s no time to spare.”
]]>?Food is a vital source of nourishment, but there are so many here in the United States and around the world who face enormous challenges in simply putting food on the table,? said De Laurentiis. ?To a billion people around the world surviving on just a dollar a day, the question ?what are we going to eat tonight? becomes more about life and death, than about recipes.?
Forty percent of the people on the planet live in poverty, many of them spending upwards of 70 percent of their meager income on food, according to Oxfam.
?We welcome Giada De Laurentiis to this vital work, someone who deeply understands the importance of food in our lives,? said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. ?Poor people in the US and in developing countries are finding basic goods out of reach. Now more than ever, it?s crucial to raise awareness about the hunger that exists all around us and to change the policies that keep people from lifting themselves out of poverty. Giada is a wonderful Ambassador of this message.?
?In every nation on earth, people go to sleep hungry even though there?s enough food on this planet to feed every woman, man, and child,? said De Laurentiis. ?The struggle of poor people around the world has weighed on me heavily, especially now that I am a mother. I have joined Oxfam because it is global organization that works to find long-lasting solutions to poverty around the world.?
De Laurentiis is an Emmy Award winning celebrity chef who has hosted several successful series on Food Network, most notably ?Everyday Italian.? She will debut her next series for Food Network, ?Giada at Home? on Saturday, October 18th. Additionally, De Laurentiis is a regular contributor as a co-host on the ?Today Show.? De Laurentiis is currently on book tour for the launch of her fourth cookbook entitled ?Giada?s Kitchen,? which already ranked on the top of New York Times bestseller list in the first week of release. While on her month long book tour around the United States, De Laurentiis included Oxfam inserts in each book sold, drawing attention to the growing problem of rising food costs and the hunger crisis worldwide.
]]>"Congress should take up this legislation urgently because hundreds of millions of poor people facing skyrocketing food costs need help," said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. "The critical short-term funding this legislation addresses is needed, but just as important are longer-term investments to reduce the vulnerability of poor people to the kinds of food price shocks we've seen this year."
The Lugar-Casey Global Food Security Act would create a new food security emergency fund for rapid response to urgent problems. In addition, the bill would authorize substantial new funding to assist developing countries in improving their agricultural infrastructure, thus averting future crises and helping farmers in developing countries—many of them among the poorest people in the world. The bill specifies new investments in research and would encourage new education partnerships to promote agriculture research and development. Perhaps most important, the bill would require a government-wide strategy by creating a new position in the White House to oversee and coordinate action, while emphasizing the central role of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in managing America?s strategy to address food insecurity.
"Congress is understandably concerned about the US financial crisis, but it cannot turn a blind eye to the millions of people who are at terrible risk of hunger and disease as a result of the food crisis," said Offenheiser. "Support to assist poor people is a bargain for the money. It provides taxpayers returns in the form of economic growth and political security."
The Lugar-Casey Global Food Security Act is an important step in the short-term and will help equip the US government to save lives and address the urgent global food crisis. But it cannot be a substitute for fundamental reform of American global development tools. The ultimate path to food security rests on effectively fighting global poverty and right now, the US foreign aid system is falling short on this fight. The next President and Congress must tackle fundamental reform of the law, strategy, structure and practice of US programs to fight global poverty.
]]>The agency called on all donors to respond generously to the worsening crisis as, according to the UN, the total aid effort is currently under-funded to the tune of $260m.
The revised numbers of those needing emergency assistance is likely to be a conservative estimate and does not include the 7.2 million Ethiopians so chronically poor that they receive cash or food aid from the government every year.
?Today?s figures, terrible as they are, show only half the picture. Over 13.5 million Ethiopians are in need of aid in order to survive. The number of those suffering severe hunger and destitution has spiralled. More can and must be done now to save lives and avert disaster,? said Oxfam?s country director, Waleed Rauf.
"Compared with the funds going to shore up the global financial system the aid needed to save lives in Ethiopia is a drop in the ocean. The events of recent weeks clearly demonstrate that ? with the right kind of political will and ambition - action is possible in the face of urgent needs. We need donors to demonstrate that same kind of urgency when responding to acute hunger and underlying vulnerabilities in places like Ethiopia," added Rauf.
Oxfam is particularly concerned about the situation for pastoralist communities in Afar and Somali regions. In northern areas the recent minor rains season was patchy and many people will remain dependent on aid until March next year when the next rains are expected. Further south, if the October/November rains are poor people there will have to hold out until next July.
Numbers in need of help in the Somali region has doubled to nearly two million people since June. Those in need also face huge problems due to loss of their livestock with an average loss of 60 percent of cattle, 50 percent of goats and 40 percent of camels.
In July the UN?s World Food Programme (WFP) had to reduce monthly cereal rations from 15kgs a person to 10kgs. WFP has only received one third of the funds it needs and has an immediate shortfall of 229,587 tonnes food for the next six months. The UN agency fears the impact of this will include increased malnutrition.
?A number of donor countries have already made substantial contributions to the humanitarian response in Ethiopia since the beginning of this year. This has helped to save people?s lives, but now that the needs are increasing all donors must provide additional money,? said Rauf.
]]>The report, Double Edged Prices, calls on all governments, donors, and agencies to learn lessons from the crisis, including the importance of investing in agriculture, reforming trade policy to help ensure greater food security, and designing social protection systems that protect the poorest.
?Declining investments in agriculture combined with a rush to liberalize agricultural markets in developing countries and continuation of trade-distorting agricultural policies in developed countries, have all contributed to today?s crisis,? said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. ?Alleviating the impact of current high prices involves addressing the chronic vulnerabilities that arise from decades of poorly designed trade, agriculture and social safety net policies. These are what lie at the root of the problem.?
Although prices may continue to fluctuate and fall somewhat, they will nevertheless remain high compared to recent trends, according to the report. The sharp rise in global food prices has pushed an estimated 119 million more people into hunger, bringing the global total of malnourished people close to a billion. Higher food prices mean people are eating less food or food of lower nutritional value. Children are being taken out of school and farmers, no longer able to afford to farm are being forced to migrate to cities to live in slums. Women are especially vulnerable because they rarely own land and have limited access to credit and other services, but bear much of the responsibility for feeding and caring for families.
?While many of us are directing our attention to the financial crisis, far less attention is being paid to the food price crisis, yet the two are inextricably linked,? said Offenheiser. ?More than $12 billion was pledged for the food crisis at an emergency meeting in Rome earlier this year, but little more than one billion dollars has been disbursed so far. As billions are being committed by governments around the world to deal with the financial crisis, commitments to address the food crisis must not be forgotten. We must not leave the poorest on the sidelines.?
Government policies, especially on agricultural investment, trade, the development of domestic markets and social safety nets for the poorest have affected the degree of vulnerability and associated impacts experienced in different countries. In Brazil, for example, well-targeted government agricultural policies have shielded small farmers and consumers from the harshest impacts. In Malawi, government subsidies have successfully boosted production levels in many areas, resulting in surpluses and a reversal of previous shortages.
?Countries that have invested in smallholder agriculture and social protection policies have proved to be more resilient to the crisis,? said Offenheiser. ?Conversely, countries that opened their markets too widely or too rapidly to food imports and failed to invest in their agricultural sectors have fared far worse.?
Trade agreements, such as the Central American- Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) have forced developing countries to liberalize rapidly and extensively without providing adequate safeguard mechanisms to defend vulnerable sectors, leaving these countries extremely vulnerable to food price spikes. While US agricultural exports to these countries reached record levels, growth in the Central American agricultural sectors decelerated spelling increased poverty where agriculture accounts for as much as a quarter of GDP.
?The international community has failed to organize to respond effectively to this food crisis,? said Offenheiser. ?Developing countries are being bombarded with different initiatives and asked to produce multiple plans for different donors. We need to see one coordinated international response, led by the UN, which channels funds urgently to those in need and also sets the stage for longer-term reforms.?
]]>In a letter to Congressional leaders, Oxfam America president Raymond C. Offenheiser joined the leaders of humanitarian organizations Mercy Corps and the International Medical Corps to call for urgent action by the Congress to meet the historic challenge posed by skyrocketing food prices.
?Congress and the White House are negotiating a new Farm Bill that will spend as much as $300 billion over the next five years. The bill maintains significant farm subsidies which go overwhelmingly to the largest and wealthiest producers despite the fact that US farm income is at record levels,? said the letter signed by Offenheiser, Nancy Lindborg, president of Mercy Corps and Nancy Aossey, president of the International Medical Corps. ?Even a small redistribution of subsidies for wealthy US farmers could make a huge difference in reducing starvation in many parts of the world.?
Faced with a global hunger crisis, Congress has an important opportunity to provide desperately needed funding to help those facing starvation due to high food and energy prices and help head off a global humanitarian disaster, according to the organizations.
?We understand that this represents a major political challenge, but we believe that the dire circumstances warrant dramatic steps and demand leadership,? continued the letter. ?We also know that a humanitarian and development crisis may be averted if these urgent actions are taken.?
Late last week, President Bush called on Congress to provide an additional $770 million in assistance to help address the needs of millions of people in developing countries who face acute hunger and to help improve agriculture so they can feed themselves. But, at the same time, Congress was preparing to slash funding for the McGovern-Dole Program, which feeds school children in developing countries. Restoring funding for the McGovern-Dole Program and responding to the President?s request for added funding are essential. In addition, a simple change in our food aid policy to allow cash for local purchase of commodities also requested by the President would immediately increase the speed and efficiency of food aid programs, providing more food and assistance to people around the world.
?Almost half of all US food aid cost due to bureaucratic restrictions and high transportation costs?, says Offenheiser. ?In calling on the Congress to provide more assistance, the Bush administration has also asked the Congress to allow more flexibility in providing food resources to those in need when addressing food crises.?
If aid agencies were allowed to purchase food aid closer to where it is needed?rather than shipping it thousands of miles from the USA?food could get to more people faster according to Oxfam. This would also encourage local food production that can help avert future disasters.
?As we have witnessed in the past few weeks, high food prices are pushing many more people deeper into poverty. Hunger, poverty, and lack of economic opportunity in developing countries are a human tragedy, but they also have implications for America?s long-term security and prosperity,? said Offenheiser. ?Americans want to help people in need. Pandering to wealthy farmers and special interests at the expense of women and children who face malnutrition is not what Americans expect of their elected officials. There's still time for the Congress to demonstrate leadership in helping avert starvation and social unrest resulting from high food prices."
]]>?Faced with a mounting food crisis at home and abroad, Congress had the opportunity through the Farm Bill to shift funds from wasteful agricultural subsidies for large scale farms to food aid to meet the needs of the poor,? said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. ?But instead, Congressional leaders settled on a bill that will continue to be costly to taxpayers, undermine our rural economy, damage our trade relationships, and hurt the world?s poorest farmers.?
Even with record breaking prices for corn, soybean, and wheat, as well as record-setting agricultural exports, congressional Republicans and Democrats fought to the bone to prevent any meaningful reforms subsidies that are fiscally irresponsible and harm farmers in developing countries. Across the country, from the left and the right, from San Francisco to Des Moines, Americans have spoken out in favor of changing a system that rewards those who need help the least. Unfortunately, their voices were blatantly ignored by the leadership.
?With the future of the world trading system at a critical juncture, an improved American Farm Bill would have helped facilitate a WTO agreement to reduce trade-distorting agricultural subsidies and end dumping,? said Offenheiser. ?But the pigs at the trough continued to promote generous handouts from taxpayers instead, even as agriculture markets are so strong and our economy so weak.?
Despite mustering the necessary increases for domestic nutrition programs, Congress failed to meaningfully address the crisis of rising food prices overseas and the need to increase the efficiencies of our food aid programs. Current law requires that food aid be purchased in the US and transported on US-flagged ships, meaning that food aid takes months to deliver and costs twice as much. Shifting a quarter of the food aid budget to cash for purchase from regional sources as proposed by President Bush would mean that even more people would be fed.
?Congress should modernize the US food aid program to permit at least one-quarter of US food aid contributions in the form of cash rather than commodities, as requested by the Administration and endorsed by international aid and humanitarian organizations. This reform will help aid agencies respond to emergencies,? said Offenheiser. ?While the Bush Administration proposal would have made approximately $300 million available for local purchase each year, the farm bill only includes $60 million for a small pilot project to be administered over several years.?
While accomplishing little reform, the final bill does make incremental improvements by increasing nutrition and conservation funding and providing a host of critical provisions beneficial to socially-disadvantaged producers here at home. Oxfam also welcomed the extension of US trade preference programs for developing countries, like Caribbean Basin Initiative, also included in the Farm Bill package.
?Some steps were taken to hold back the legacy of discrimination that has lingered on farm programs for decades and to extend duty-free programs for some of the poorest countries in our hemisphere,? said Offenheiser. ?But on the verge of a massive food crisis, Congressional action on the Farm Bill to allow special interests and bureaucracy to deprive poor and vulnerable people food is simply unconscionable.?
]]>Large parts of Afghanistan are facing crisis as a result of the cumulative effect of factors including the harsh winter, high food prices, drought, and increasing and spreading insecurity.
An Oxfam assessment in one of the worst affected provinces, Daikundi, shows that people may be facing the worst conditions in over 20 years—and similar conditions can be found in other provinces. As it is almost impossible to deliver aid to rural areas during the harsh Afghan winter, concerted action is needed now to avert the crisis.
?This is a race against time, the international community needs to respond quickly before winter when conditions deteriorate. The health of one million young children and half a million women is at serious risk due to malnutrition,? said Oxfam?s Head of Policy in Kabul, Matt Waldman.
"If the response is slow or insufficient, people could be forced to sell assets or leave their homes and villages, and there could be a further deterioration of stability. Infant, child and maternal mortality rates—already some of the world?s highest—could increase even further."
Oxfam calls on donor countries urgently to provide sufficient funding for the response, especially the emergency appeal for Afghanistan launched in July, and support measures to increase the humanitarian capacity of the UN in the country. Some countries such as the US, UK, and Canada, as well as the EC, have already committed funds, but many more have not.
In a letter to International Development ministers around the world Oxfam warns that this is a crucial time to support Afghanistan?s development and also calls for long-term measures to strengthen food security and reduce vulnerability to disasters; in particular:
Oxfam also believes that a range of measures are required to enhance aid effectiveness including full transparency, indicators and targets with monitoring of aid effectiveness, more effective coordination mechanisms, and greater equity in the distribution of aid.
In five provinces, including highly affected areas such as Badakhshan and Daikundi, Oxfam is assessing the impact of drought and price rises on people?s access to food and water and is planning an initial emergency response of USD 1.8 million. In Badakhshan, for example, Oxfam will assist with the rehabilitation of water supplies and provide cash to enable 17,500 people to improve their consumption of food and clean water.
Oxfam is also implementing longer-term rural programs, directly or through Afghan partners, in a total of 11 provinces. These aim to promote sustainable livelihoods including through the distribution of seeds and fertilizer, livestock, supporting grain banks and increasing people?s purchasing power through cash-for-work projects.
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