Opinion

Haiti: The Urgency of Hunger
Jose Graziano da Silva (*)

There was a noteworthy absence at the 30th FAO Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean, held in Brasilia last month. Haiti, one of first to confirm its participation at the priority-defining regional summit, cancelled at the last minute. The reason: the fall of the government of then-Prime Minister Alexis in the face of protests against the price rises of food and fuel.

This evoked the words of the Brazilian sociologist Betinho: “The hungry are in a hurry.” So forget about talk.

Hunger is nothing new in Haiti. Nor is it an unfamiliar fact of life in most of the towns that appeared in the headlines in recent weeks. Data from FAO indicate that, in the period 2002-2004, 46 % of the Haitian population were already undernourished. The country lives in a state of severe economic, political and social instability; it has limited resources and is located in a region affected by climatic phenomena that make attention to basic rights, like the right to food, still more difficult.

We take Haiti as an example. But also it could be Africa, or parts of Asia. The Haitian drama in fact reflects challenges that are routine in many other places. Pushed by the rising price of food, those dramas, for the most part anonymous, have taken on a new sense of urgency.

In the case of Haiti, where the needs of the hungry cannot be met by food production – which is still insufficient - international solidarity is fundamental and has not been lacking. Recent examples come from Brazil, whose donation of 14 tons of food sent an alert to the international community that led to the collection of U.S. $ 5.7 million for Haiti. Other governments, under an initiative led by Venezuela, are planning a regional support fund to fight against hunger.

But that is not enough. At the conference in Brasilia, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean emphasized the need to prioritize structural development in Haiti and requested that FAO facilitate South-South cooperation. The Conference also emphasized that these efforts must include not only governments and international organizations, but also the private sector, agri-business and family farms. Recent history shows that neither the government nor the market alone will solve the problems of poverty, hunger and rural exclusion. On the contrary, despite various efforts, the rural areas of the region are characterized by the contrast of booming agricultural exports coexisting with high levels of poverty and malnutrition.

A combined effort is required to change that reality. Be facilitating access to natural resources like land and water, through programs of credit and training, or by guaranteeing markets for their products, investment in family agriculture is crucial to the social inclusion of millions of people: more than half of the 71 million indigent and destitute people of Latin America live in the countryside.

In the short term, incentives to family farms can guarantee self-sufficiency and improve incomes, in addition to adding to the local food supply. In the medium term, it can plant the seeds to overcome exclusion and food insecurity. Many governments are already working on this, in some cases with the support of FAO through the Special Program for Food Security (SPFS), which has been set up in 27 countries of the Region.

This support is even more important for the low-income and food deficit countries, especially at a time of price rises. According to FAO estimates, in 2007-2008, these countries will have to spend 56% more than in 2006-2007 to buy food. Haiti may be the most serious case in the Region, but it is not the only one.

FAO can and has helped several countries to face this situation through the introduction of sustainable agricultural models and the creation of public, institutional and political frameworks that promote food security. The objective of FAO’s Latin America and Caribbean Free of Hunger Initiative, for example, is to guarantee the right to food, which was confirmed as the high-priority axis of the work of FAO during the recent Regional Conference.

The case of Haiti brings to light another challenge: confronting the problem of trans-boundary animal diseases. Making a complicated food situation still more difficult, Haiti suspended imports of chickens and eggs from the Dominican Republic after cases of Low Pathogenic Bird Influenza were detected in the neighbouring country. To keep the region free of Highly Pathogenic Asian Bird Flu (H5N1) and to control and eradicate other trans-boundary diseases (such as foot and mouth disease) are some of the measures being taken to expand the supply of healthy foods. This is essential for food security and expanded markets for farm products in the region.

From food safety to rising prices, the 30th FAO Regional Conference contended with various important development issues affecting Latin America and the Caribbean. The debates did not focus on magical solutions, but rather sought to shine a spotlight on the horizon of challenges, thereby bringing a transparency that gives room for optimism. Along with the emergency measures, governments and international organizations must also support development initiatives that not only respond to the acute manifestations of crisis, but deal also with their historical origins.

In a region in which the supply of food energy to per capita is sufficient for all to have a healthy diet, the problem is clearly not production, but access to food – in other words, the money to buy food. Support to family farms confronts the chronic and acute problems of one of the most vulnerable layers of the population, guaranteeing food self-sufficiency and higher income through the sale of surpluses.

An historical leap might occur through the association of family farming and that most 21st Century agro-economic invention: bio-fuels. In Haiti, for example, the sugar industry which is now dedicated to rum production can be modernized and retooled to produce ethanol. FAO will help interested countries in the Region by mapping the potential for bio-energy production and supporting the development of programs that increase income to those in need without threatening the food security that all of society yearns for.

The challenges have never been as clear as they are today. We are now reaping the dreadful harvest sown by the mistakes of the past. But these mistakes have now shown us the way to the future.

* The author is the Regional Representative of FAO for Latin America and the Caribbean