The Race To Beat The West Africa Food Crisis

[polly7]

The Race To Beat The West Africa Food Crisis
By Jack Craze

Source: New InternationalistWednesday, April 04, 2012

http://www.zcommunications.org/the-race-to-beat-the-west-africa-food-crisis-by-jack-craze

..... The current food crisis is largely down to erratic rains and localized dry spells in 2011. As agronomist Oumar Niangado explains, agriculture in the Sahel has always been vulnerable to low rainfall. ‘In certain places there are good systems of agricultural collectives, plus strong NGOsupport,’ says Niangado, ‘but with our dependence on rain-fed crops and poor irrigation, one bad rainy season can ruin everything.’

This was the case in 2010, when drought triggered an acute wave of hunger that affected 10 million people in the region. The global food price spikes of 2008 were another shock that pushed the vulnerable into crisis once more. Meanwhile, Oxfam has warned that the world is entering an era of permanent food crisis, predicting that global warming and resource pressures may cause staple crop yields in developing countries to plummet dramatically over the next 20 years.

Oxfam has warned that the world is entering an era of permanent food crisis

Governments and NGOs are scrambling to prevent a repeat of the Horn of Africa famine, which is thought to have killed up to 100,000 people last year. Early warning alerts late last year prompted several Sahelian governments to set up food distribution programmes and issue calls for international assistance. In February, the European Union pledged €125 million ($166 million) in aid to the Sahel, while Britain has donated £3 million ($4.7 million) to the region. .....

[LiberalEsto]

1. These dreadful famines seem to happen every year or two

Is anybody doing anything on a long-term basis to prevent these situations from happening?

[polly7]

2. Global warming though imo is going to make them much worse and much more

often. I really don't know if there's anything we can do to prevent that ...... or even if we have the willpower to try. Yes. they're dreadful, I keep hearing there's really an abundance of food ......... so why can't we preserve it and send it to where it's needed with more efficiency and timeliness? I don't know ........... but it makes me really sad to think of children going hungry, and not just hungry, but starving.