Rises in food prices will affect poor children and families the most

The food prices issue has not gone away and aid agencies claim there is a real risk a looming ‘food crunch’ will hit the poor hardest.

It comes as the United Nation's high level task force on global food security crisis began a two-day meeting in Madrid today. “There is a real risk of a 'food crunch' at some point in the future, which would fall particularly hard on import-dependent countries and on poor people everywhere," said a study from London think tank Chatham House, reported in The Guardian.

Climate change, water scarcity and competition for land would make it hard to meet an expected 50 % rise in demand for food by 2030. The study called for more investment in agriculture and more help for small farms.
In spite of a slight drop in prices, the food crisis is still affecting millions of people globally. Poor countries, especially in Africa, did not have matching drops in their food prices and the international community needs to boost aid to help them feed themselves, the World Bank said.

"Food prices are now volatile and that, combined with the impact of the financial crisis, only serves to heighten the challenges confronting the developing world," said the Bank's managing director, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who is leading a delegation to the meeting. We expect high price volatility to continue and it will hit the poorest the most, as they spend half their income on food,” she said. “More needs to be done as we must ensure those who are vulnerable get the assistance they need."

United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation chief Jacques Diouf told the meeting that although world cereal production in 2008 was a record 2.245 billion tonnes and could easily meet estimated stocks were relatively low. Cereal stocks of 431 million tonnes were enough to cover just 19.6 % of demand, the lowest level in 30 years.

Almost one billion people suffer from malnutrition, the UN estimates a number which rose by 40 million in 2008. Because of the increase, Mr Diouf said a UN goal to halve those going hungry by 2015 would not be achieved until 2150.

SOS Children has plans in place world wide to deal with the food crisis. The organisation plans to establish programmes to focus on long-term solutions for children.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children

Read more about how SOS Children's is dealing with the Global Food Crisis