Global Food Crisis
Food prices have risen 83 per cent since 2005, and the world's poorest people are struggling to cope. In East Africa, millions are in urgent need of emergency food supplies. You can help:
Rising food prices
Food prices have reached record levels, and we're all feeling the pinch. It’s exacerbated an already desperate situation: the number of hungry people has risen from 850 million to nearly 1 billion. This is a serious crisis.
- Wheat prices are up 120 per cent and rice prices have risen by 75 per cent
- Around 2.7 billion people live on less than £1 a day
- Up to 80 per cent of this income goes on food
Food riots
Food riots are happening across the world, and the spectre of widespread hunger exists in Ethiopia, Somalia, and northern Kenya, with worsening problems elsewhere. Women in developing countries are particularly vulnerable, as they are responsible for 80 per cent of agricultural production, and almost entirely responsible for providing their families with food. As families cut back on meals, it is women who deprive themselves to ensure that men and children are fed first.
Why is it happening?
The causes of the food crisis are complex and interlocking, but biofuel policies, high fuel prices, growing global demand (particularly from large, emerging economies of China and India), unfair world trade rules, and climate change are all playing a part.
Biofuels
The global push for biofuel crops, which then take food crops out of production, is playing a big role in raising prices. On top of this, high oil prices have led to increases in the cost of fertilisers and other farm expenses, which in turn impact heavily on food prices.
Global supply and demand
Growing global demand for products like meat and grain, and a corresponding lack of supply, has made this situation worse. Years of under-investment in agriculture in poorer countries, and unfair trade rules and farming policies which benefit rich countries, are also having a huge impact.
Climate change
And finally, increasingly unpredictable weather patterns mean that poor farmers are unable to grow as much, and elsewhere have affected the large scale production of crops such as wheat from Australia.
Related links
How Oxfam is responding
Oxfam is helping to tackle the Global Food Crisis by working directly with poor people affected, and using our influence to campaign for vital policy changes both within poor countries, and internationally.
Working directly with poor people
Our response to the emergency has been rapid. Projects adapted to local conditions are already taking place, and include the distribution of meals through community kitchens and school canteens, for example.
We are also working to protect people's livelihoods and ensure they have enough food to feed their families. This means projects like cash-for-work schemes, free seeds or fertilisers for farmers, and reduced VAT on staple foods. And governments in poor countries need support to set up these schemes, rather than just providing one-off food distributions and temporary relief.
Lobbying leaders and decision makers
We are piling pressure on governments and the international community to respond quickly. We're demanding that they:
- invest more in agriculture and rural development
increase humanitarian aid to those most at risk; - freeze all new biofuels targets and get rid of subsidies that divert food production into fuel;
- do fair trade deals that end the dumping of food surpluses;
- ensure poor countries are able to promote the rights of their poorest farmers.
We also need to work on the causes of rising food prices around the globe. This means supporting small farmers in poor countries to increase productivity and gain access to markets, so that they are in a better position to benefit from higher prices.
