Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization states
Now is the time for action. The food crisis has taught us that to defeat hunger, we have to deal with its root cause and not continue coping with the consequences of past mistakes.
As of recently, 31 countries – 20 in Africa, 9 in Asia, and 2 in Central America and the Caribbean are facing a food crisis and need emergency help. Therefore, I stumbled across an interesting website about the G-20 Group. They are a group of twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors established in 1999 to bring together systemically important industrialized and developing economies to discuss key issues in the global economy. Recently, however, they have come together to acknowledge the combined effects of the current global financial crisis with the global food crisis creating a devastating impact on farmers in developing countries. In their G-20 Summit Meeting in London, they stated that these financial and food crises have opened up a doorway of opportunity for world leaders to develop a fresh approach to the global trading system and build new trade relationships fit to deal with the current financial and global crises. They state that,
a new approach to global trade must put poor people and the planet first, strengthening local and regional supply chains, and ensuring cooperation in fairer global trade at an international level.
I would like to extend this idea into my novel solution to solve the global food crisis by creating a non-profit social investment fund that supports agricultural businesses in the developing world. This fund will offer advanced farming tools and the necessary education poor farmers need to know to harvest their own crops with organic farming. Moreover, possessing the farmers in developing nations with the skills to be environmentally aware in farming will create their resources to last much longer. I think that developed nations should utilize their funds more effectively to fund local and regional procurement, which can provide food more cheaply and faster, while having significant benefits to the economies of developing countries by injecting funds into farming communities.
Moreover, on a micro level I think that individuals who are not social entrepreneurs or activists can lend a hand in the fight against hunger as well. I came across a website called “Globalgiving”, which showcases different projects and community groups that are currently in developing nations helping those suffering from the global food crisis, a lack of education and survivors of natural disasters. Project leaders post their causes and details about what they need on Globalgiving.com, giving us an inside look at the projects unique needs and work being done. From there, we can help by donating to the charity project of our choice and then receive up-to-date news on where our donations went to. As a result, with the social investment fund as my novel solution I also would want to encourage the help from individuals in developed nations to lend a hand in the fight against hunger. Our donations will go to helping farmers learn the necessary tools for organic farming. This way, we will fight the global food crisis on a global level.
I welcome any comments or questions on my posts!
References:
http://www.globalgiving.com/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/02/g20-economy
