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139 Oxfam Briefing Paper September 2010

Halving Hunger: Still Possible?


Building a rescue package to set the MDGs back on track
EMBARGOED UNTIL TUESDAY 14th SEPTEMBER 2010
(10:00 GMT)

Women wash their hands in an irrigation channel in the lands of Djoudé’s women cooperative,
Mauritania. © Tomás Abella/Intermón Oxfam

While time is running out, the global crises push the MDGs
desperately off course. The only chance of avoiding failure is a
rescue plan for all MDGs that includes the necessary measures,
both political and financial. Halving hunger is still possible if
developing countries take the lead with the right policies and
investments, donor countries increase dramatically their aid to
agriculture, food security and social protection under nationally
and regionally-driven plans, and the global issues affecting food
security are collectively addressed.

www.oxfam.org
Summary
Ten years after the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed by
world leaders became the greatest-ever commitment for a ‘more
peaceful, prosperous and just future’, progress is slow and many hard-
won achievements have been undone after the global food, fuel and
economic crises. Unless an urgent rescue package is developed to
accelerate fulfillment of all the MDGs, we are likely to witness the
greatest collective failure in history.

Along with the goals on maternal health and water and sanitation,
MDG 1 – eradicate extreme poverty and hunger - is one of the most off-
track MDGs. The fact that these goals remain so far from success puts
the whole MDG initiative at risk. Halving hunger must be one of the
top priorities for urgent action at this year’s MDG Summit in
September.

In 2009, the number of people going to sleep hungry every day reached
an all-time high of more than 1 billion,-most of them children and
women- in a world with the capacity to produce enough food for
everyone. Decades of under-investment in agriculture and misguided
trade policies have undermined small farmers’ capacity to produce, and
have made poor people in developing countries extremely vulnerable
to food insecurity.

The August 2010 increase in food prices, due in part to export


restrictions in the Russian Federation, highlights the fragility of a world
food system subject to extremely volatile prices. Another food price
crisis may yet happen, as the structural causes are still latent: stimulus
to biofuels, speculation on commodities, a growing demand for meat
and energy in emerging countries, and stagnated agricultural
productivity, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Political insecurity in
many states jeopardizes development and is another driver of food
insecurity. Furthermore, climate change is rapidly pushing the world’s
poorest people – those least responsible for it and with least resources
to tackle it – to the limits of subsistence.

Around the world, millions of families cannot buy or produce enough


food, and many of them receive no help or protection from their
governments. A longer-term food crisis looms, with very serious
consequences for world stability. Each day of inaction brings us closer
to failure and has a tremendously high cost in human lives and
suffering.

If promises could feed people, there would not be one single hungry
person left on Earth. Political leaders are much more willing to
announce commitments than to fulfil them with concrete action – much
less to be held accountable for delivering their promises. A raft of
summits and declarations took place in 2008 in response to the food
crisis. But beyond the rhetoric of tackling hunger and despite more
resources having been made available, the actions have fallen far short
of what is needed – a coherent and co-ordinated global response.

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Not only is the quantity of aid insufficient, but the quality and
effectiveness of aid has not improved enough either. The Rome
Principles for Sustainable Global Food Security 1 (designed to ensure
national leadership, co-ordination and predictable funding) are far from
being implemented in the field, and aid agencies are still reluctant to
abandon the project approach.
Halving hunger is still possible. Some countries have achieved
tremendous advances in hunger reduction through a combination of
effective policies and investment. Malawi, for example, is no longer
dependent on food aid and has even become an exporter after it
facilitated access to subsidized seeds and fertilizers to small producers.
And Brazil has made the fight against hunger a state policy, combining
social protection programmes with support for family-based
agriculture.
Developing countries must lead a revitalized global effort to halve
hunger by adopting the right policies and plans and increasing their
own public investment in key sectors, including agriculture.
Governments have a legal obligation to guarantee their citizens the
right to food and sustainable livelihoods. But they cannot do it alone.

Based on data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the


United Nations (FAO), Oxfam estimates that an annual increase of
$75bn is needed to invest in agriculture and rural development, food
security, social protection, nutrition programmes and food assistance to
achieve the MDG target on hunger. Donors should provide half of this
amount as ODA, with developing countries contributing the other half
from national budgets. This should be part of a global rescue package
for all the MDGs.
To achieve the target of halving hunger by 2015, Oxfam recommends
that all governments, North and South, and international agencies:
• Co-ordinate action under a twin-track approach:
- in the short term, provide assistance to people who suffer from
hunger through nutrition programmes, food assistance and safety
nets;
- in the long term, strengthen people’s resilience and capacity to
produce food, improve the functioning of the market and establish
social protection programmes.
• Support the reformed Committee on World Food Security (CFS) as
the key forum for policy guidance and co-ordination of global action
to address global food governance and the root causes of hunger
and malnutrition;
• Establish a co-ordination and accountability mechanism for global
financing, guided by the CFS;
• Recognize and strengthen the fundamental role of women in food
security and nutrition;
• Regulate food commodity markets, to reduce speculation and price
volatility;
• Prioritize actions based on existing structures, avoiding the creation
of new mechanisms that fragment efforts to reduce hunger.

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Developed country governments have a key role to play. They should:
• Dramatically increase Official Development Assistance (ODA) for
agriculture and rural development, food assistance, nutrition and
social protection by at least $37.5bn a year, without taking resources
away from other sectors that are key to achieving the MDGs;
• Align with national and regional priorities, improve co-ordination
and support capacity building to ensure efficient delivery of aid,
channeling through budgetary support wherever possible;
• Contribute individually to this collective effort based on each
country’s own financial capability;
• Leverage additional financing now to boost MDG 1, and other off-
track MDGs, through innovative sources such as a tax on
international financial transactions. For MDG 1 also create funding
by phasing out the most trade-distorting types of agricultural
subsidies in rich countries, and ending subsidies and tax exemptions
for biofuels;
• Foster coherence by undertaking reforms in agricultural, trade,
energy and investment policies, both domestically and
internationally;
• Make immediately available the funds needed for adapting to
climate change in developing countries, over and above existing
ODA commitments.

In addition, Oxfam recommends that developing country governments:


• Increase public spending on agriculture and rural development,
food security, nutrition and social protection, targeting women,
smallholders and the most vulnerable consumers;
• Develop (or enhance) national and regional action plans describing
(1) specific actions to reduce hunger and malnutrition, (2) how these
will be financed by domestic resources, and (3) what financial and
technical assistance is required internationally;
• Fully include the voice and participation of civil society stakeholders
– in particular, women, smallholders, agricultural workers and the
poorest groups in decision-making;
• Adopt policies on food and agriculture, social protection, trade and
investment that respect the right to food and are coherent with
hunger reduction objectives.

Time is running out. The forthcoming United Nations (UN) Review


Summit on the MDGs is an opportunity that cannot be allowed to slip
through our fingers. It is time to put a series of concrete and bold
measures on the table that will halve hunger, and speed up the
fulfilment of all the MDGs.

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1 Introduction
‘We will spare no effort to Ten years have passed since world leaders made the greatest-ever
free our fellow men, women collective commitment to a ‘more peaceful, prosperous and just future’
and children from the abject – the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). 2 In an increasingly
and dehumanizing interdependent world, they recognized that there is a common
conditions of extreme responsibility to the whole of humanity, especially the most vulnerable
poverty, to which more than people.
a billion of them are Today, there are many places where fewer people live in poverty and
currently subjected. We are go hungry, where more boys and girls attend school, and more families
committed to making the have access to clean water and better health care. Globally, we have
right to development a sufficient resources and knowledge to ensure that the MDGs are
reality for everyone and to reached in every country. However, progress is too slow, and if things
freeing the entire human
are not put back on course urgently, failure to achieve the MDGs will
race from want.’
become the greatest collective failure in history.
‘UN Millennium Declaration’,
September 2000.
In the last three years, food and fuel price rises and the global recession
have meant that many hard-won achievements in relation to MDG 1 –
ending poverty and hunger – have been reversed. Excluding China, the
number of people living in extreme poverty has increased. MDGs 4 and
5, on child health and maternal health, are way off track. And in 2009,
hunger affected more than a billion people, the highest number in
history. Most of them are women and girls. Although FAO projection
for 2010 shows a reduction in this figure, MDG 1 on hunger is still
dramatically off track.

This report focuses on hunger, and sets out what needs to be done to
build a rescue package to get MDG 1 – specifically the third target of
halving hunger – back on track. As one of the most off-track MDGs –
along with maternal health and water and sanitation goals - this must
be one of the top priorities for investment and urgent action this year.
This is crucial to get all of the MDGs back on track.

The report begins by examining the reasons why the hunger reduction
goal is so off course. It surveys the series of summits and declarations
that have dealt with food security and charted the global course of
action to date. It also presents examples of success stories, showing that
even some of the poorest countries have drastically reduced hunger
through introducing effective policies backed up with political
commitment and adequate funding. It concludes with a series of
recommendations for all governments, North and South, and
international agencies, to ensure that the MDG target on hunger is
achieved within the remaining five years.

This is a critical year; the United Nations (UN) Review Summit in


September 2010 is an opportunity for the MDG signatory countries to
redouble their efforts to deliver the commitments they made.
Developing countries and emerging nations must lead by adopting the
right policies and turning them into actions. They must increase their
own public investment in agriculture, food security and social
protection. But they cannot do it alone.

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International co-operation is more necessary than ever. Global efforts
need to be matched by actions at national, regional and local levels.
Based on the recognition of the Right to Food, global policies have to
address the root causes of hunger, such as climate change, unfair trade
rules, competition for land and water, price speculation and volatility,
and the concentration of power in the hands of transnational
companies.

Development aid has to increase dramatically, with donor countries


fulfilling their long-overdue commitments and creating innovative
sources of funding for development. Oxfam estimates that an annual
increase of $75bn is needed to invest in agriculture and rural
development, food security, social protection, nutrition programmes
and food assistance to achieve the MDG target on hunger.

Halving hunger is still possible. But the ultimate goal is not just to halve
but to eradicate poverty and hunger. So the effort must go on beyond
2015. The challenge seems enormous, but history shows us what can be
achieved if the commitment exists. The 21st century has to be
remembered as the time when rich and poor countries worked together
to end hunger.

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2 The hunger landscape
‘We need to address the In a world that produces enough food to feed everyone, an
question of global hunger unacceptable proportion of the people go to sleep hungry every day.
not as one of production 2009 was the year of a shameful record: one billion hungry people. This
only, but also as one of global figure is projected to decline in 2010, but it is still dangerously
marginalization, deepening high — more than the population of the European Union (EU), Canada
inequalities, and social and the United States of America (USA) combined. 3
injustice. We live in a world
in which we produce more With only five years to go, it looks more difficult than ever to achieve
food than ever before, and in MDG 1: to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. The rise in food
which the hungry have prices during 2008–09, followed by the global economic crisis, has
never been as many.’ reversed much of the progress made between 1990 and 2005. Today, it
Olivier de Schutter, Special
Rapporteur on the Right to Food at
is estimated that up to 90 million more people live in extreme poverty
the FAO Conference, November due to the global economic collapse, for which they are not
2009.
responsible. 4

Why is MDG 1 off course?


Even before the energy, food and economic crises of the last three years,
the third target of MDG 1 – to halve the proportion of people suffering
from hunger – was not on course in relation to either of its indicators. 5
Between 1990–92 and 2004–06, the proportion of hungry people in the
world had only been reduced from 16 per cent to 14 per cent. In
absolute terms, this actually represents an increase from 845 million to
873 million people. 6

Figure 1. Number and proportion of hungry people in the world since


1970

Sources: FAO Hunger Statistics (from 1969 to 2006); UN (2009) The Millennium Development
Goals Report 2009; FAO (2009) The State of Food Insecurity in the World: Economic Crises –
Impacts and Lessons Learned. FAO projections for 2010

In 2008 and 2009, for the first time the proportion of hungry people
increased up to 15 per cent, 7 while the absolute figure reached a historic
high of more than one billion people. FAO projects a reduction to 925

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million in 2010, probably explained by a good global food supply, and
lower prices. This still represents 13.5 per cent of the global population,
dangerously off-track to reach the target by 2015.

The other indicator is also dramatically off course: the prevalence of


underweight children has only been reduced from 31 per cent in 1990 to
26 per cent in 2007. 8 This figure masks the poor health of mothers, both
before and after giving birth.

In 2009, almost two-thirds of the world’s undernourished people (642


million) lived in Asia and the Pacific, and a quarter (265 million) lived
in sub-Saharan Africa. Just seven countries – India, China, the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan
and Ethiopia – accounted for more than half the total of hungry
people. 9 In relative terms, however, sub-Saharan Africa is the worst
affected region, with one in three people suffering from hunger. In 2009
five countries had the highest rates of hunger: the DRC (75 per cent),
Eritrea (66 per cent), Burundi (63 per cent), Sierra Leone (46 per cent)
and Zambia (45 per cent). 10 Low government effectiveness, conflicts,
political instability and high rates of HIV and AIDS are the main
drivers for these dramatic rates. 11

Figure 2. Prevalence of undernourishment in total population, 2004–06

Source: FAO

National figures can hide large differences among ethnic and social
groups. In Guatemala, for example, the proportion of undernourished
people in 2006 was 16 per cent nationwide. However, in some districts,
where the majority of people are indigenous, and where chronic and
acute undernutrition persist, the figure reached 70 per cent. 12 Hunger
also affects men and women differently. The Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that 60 per cent of
people suffering from hunger are women. This is despite the fact that
women are generally responsible for growing, buying and preparing
food for the family. 13 Gender inequality is a root cause of hunger.

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Understanding the causes
Hunger and malnutrition are not the result of scarcity of food but of
poverty and inequality, particularly in rural areas, where three out of
four poor people live.

Between 1970 and 1980, significant investment in research, irrigation


and rural roads reduced the proportion of undernourished people from
24 per cent to 19 per cent, in spite of rapid population growth. Many
developing countries had major national production stimulus
programmes, and development assistance for agriculture was around
18 per cent of total ODA. 14 As cereal yields increased, prices dropped
and basic foodstuffs became more accessible. However, yield increases
rarely reached the rural poor. 15

Neglect of the agricultural sector


From the 1980s, the agricultural sector in developing countries began to
be abandoned by national governments. The structural adjustment
policies imposed by international financial institutions and
liberalization of agricultural markets led to neglect of local food
production. There were drastic cuts in public spending, leading to the
dismantling of national agricultural research and extension systems
and marketing boards. 16 Donors began to withdraw at the same pace,
leaving productive sectors in the hands of the market. They directed aid
to emergency relief – often as food aid – and social sectors, namely
health and education.

The result was that agricultural productivity stagnated. From 1990 to


2000, world grain yields rose by just 1.2 per cent annually, compared
with 2.1 per cent between 1960 and 1990. 17 Sub-Saharan Africa, two-
thirds of whose lands are in remote or unfertile areas, is the region that
really felt this decline. A hectare of cereal produces one-fifth of the yield
that the same area produces in a rich country. 18

Unfair trade
‘We made a devil’s bargain.
It may have been good for The unfair rules of international trade did the rest. While aid for
some of my farmers in agriculture in developing countries was reduced, industrialized
Arkansas, but it has not countries increased support for their farmers and protected them from
worked. It was a mistake imports using tariff and technical barriers. 19 Meanwhile, in developing
that I was a party to. I have countries unequal competition with imported food that was cheaper
to live every day with the because it was subsidized pushed many producers to abandon their
consequences of the lost activity. Therefore, dependence on imports grew spectacularly in the
capacity to produce a rice least developed countries and made them more vulnerable to price
crop in Haiti to feed those volatility. 20
people, because of what I
did.’ Haiti is a good example. In the 1980s, it produced 80 per cent of the rice
Bill Clinton’s speech at the Senate its population consumed and was even a net exporter. But, advised by
Foreign Relations Committee, 10
March 2010, referring to his the financial institutions it depended on, it liberalized its agricultural
decision in the 1990s to push Haiti market at a forced pace. Haitian farmers, unable to compete with the
to open its market to US rice
imports. subsidized rice coming from the US, abandoned their fields and

9
migrated to the capital. Today, Haiti imports 80 per cent of the rice it
consumes, and belongs to the group of Low-Income Food-Deficit
Countries (LIFDC), which are the first in line to receive food aid. 21

When prices skyrocketed in 2007 and 2008, food became a luxury


beyond the reach of most people worldwide. While an increase in food
prices should have benefited smallholders, in the absence of suitable
agriculture and trade policies, they were unable to take advantage of it.
As most of them were net buyers of food, they suffered the
consequences of soaring prices. 22 With no social protection for the most
vulnerable, the real crisis occurred. Those who spend most of their
income on food – women-headed households, the rural landless and
the poorest urban families – were hardest hit. And Port-au-Prince was
one of the cities where riots broke out as people became desperate for
food.

Figure 3. World Food Price Index for 2006–2010 (2002–2004=100)

220
2008

200
Indice de Precios de los Alimentos

2007
180

2010
160

2009
140

2006
120

100
J F M A M J J A S O N D

Source: FAO Food Price Index Data. Available at www.fao.org

As shown in Figure 3, international food prices remain higher than


before the crisis. They have fallen slightly, because of the drop in
import demand due to the global recession and a decline in biofuel
feedstock demand associated with lower energy prices. 23 The supply
response in 2008, and lower prices for transport and fertilizers (due to
lower oil prices), contributed as well. However, restrictions to wheat
exports by Russia, along with other factors, drove food prices up again
and brought the Food Price Index to the highest level since September
2008. 24

With no time to recover, the poorest households must now cope with
the consequences of a recession for which they are not responsible.
With higher food prices and lower incomes, they have only two options
left: reduce what they spend on food—eating less often and eating less
nutritious food—or cut other expenses.

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An uncertain future
‘This has been a really In the medium term, food prices are likely to remain high and volatile.
difficult year. We are But critically, prices may rise again at any time, as demonstrates by the
growing some maize now; recent escalate that followed droughts and export restrictions in the
and the only thing we can Russian Federation. The factors that drove the previous price hikes are
do is to pray for rains. Our still there: the stimulus of biofuels, above-average energy prices, 25
maize is now at knee height; speculation on commodity markets, the growing demand for meat and
but I’m worried that the energy in emerging countries, and a stagnant agricultural sector,
crops will fail, like they did
especially in sub-Saharan Africa. A new climb in prices would have
last year when the rains just
devastating effects on families who have seen their income diminish as
stopped. And then what?’
a result of the recession.
Esnath Tongoona, woman farmer in
Chirumanzu district, Zimbabwe.
Over half of Zimbabwe’s population In their Agricultural Outlook for 2010-2019, the FAO and the
are dependent on food aid.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
February 2009
predict that the next decade will bring increases in food prices in real
terms (adjusted for inflation), compared to the period from 1997 to
2006: 15–40 per cent for coarse grains, more than 40 per cent for oil, and
16–45 per cent for dairy products. 26

As if this were not enough, climate change is rapidly pushing the


poorest people – who are least responsible for causing it and have the
least resources to cope with it – to the limits of subsistence. Higher
temperatures, droughts and floods are ruining harvests, spreading
pests and diseases and killing livestock. Weather-related disasters are
predicted to become more frequent and intense; the average number of
people affected by climate-related disasters has doubled since the
1980s. 27 According to the most recent analyses of the impact of global
warming on hunger, 24 million more children will suffer from
malnutrition, and an additional 20 per cent of people will be at risk
from hunger in 2050. 28 The regions likely to be worst affected are those
where food is already scarcest today: South-East Asia, sub-Saharan
Africa and Central America. 29

A third factor is the food consumption pattern in developed countries


and its extension to middle income countries. Today, half of the cereals
grown worldwide are used for animal feedstock and non-food
purposes – above all, biofuels. 30 The continually rising demand for meat
and the squandering of energy sources has put world food security at
even greater risk.

With the erosion of trust in international markets after the food crisis,
some food importing countries are trying to secure their food supplies
by taking control of land and water in poor countries, transforming
food into a geo-strategic issue. Powerful investors, attracted by the
expectation of high commodity prices and biofuels expansion, are also
seeking ‘available’ fertile land to invest in. Although the scale of this
global ‘land grabbing’ is not yet fully known, since mid-2008 it has
drawn widespread criticism from non-government organizations
(NGOs), UN agencies and some governments, as it is undermining the
food security and livelihoods of some of the world’s most vulnerable
people. 31

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As things stand, the future is filled with uncertainty, and food markets
are more and more volatile. 32 The millions of families who cannot
produce enough food and do not have enough income to buy it face
even greater food insecurity. Many of these people receive no form of
help or protection from their governments.

Unless we take urgent, co-ordinated action now, to introduce effective


policies to fight hunger and protect the most vulnerable people, we
may be looking at a long-term food crisis that will have very serious
consequences for world stability. Each day of inaction brings us closer
to failure, and has a tremendously high cost in terms of human lives
and suffering. It is time to act, because promises do not feed people.

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3 Inedible promises
‘We pledge our political will If promises could feed people, there would not be one single hungry
and our common and person left on Earth. Political leaders seem to be much more willing to
national commitment to announce commitments than to fulfill them, much less to be held
achieving food security for accountable for delivering what they have promised.
all and to an ongoing effort
to eradicate hunger in all After a long history of broken promises, the credibility of donor
countries, with an countries is very weak. The greatest financial commitment was made in
immediate view to reducing 1970, when world leaders agreed a UN resolution to commit 0.7 per
the number of cent of their wealth to development aid. 33 Forty years later, only
undernourished people to Sweden, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands have
half their present level no fulfilled this commitment.
later than 2015.
At times of crisis, the last thing people need is more empty promises.
‘We consider it intolerable
that more than 800 million
people throughout the
world, and particularly in A raft of summits and declarations
developing countries, do not
have enough food to meet In 1996, four years before the MDGs were agreed, world leaders
their basic nutritional needs. assumed responsibility for eradicating world hunger, with an
This situation is intermediate goal of reducing the number of hungry people by half – to
unacceptable.’ 420 million – between 1990 and 2015. 34 MDG 1’s third target is to halve
Rome Declaration on World Food the proportion of people suffering from hunger in the same period. This
Security, November 1996.
is actually a step backwards, because if this target is achieved, there will
still be 585 million people who are undernourished. 35 This one word
makes a huge difference for 165 million people.

Two years after the Millennium Summit, the UN warned that resources
dedicated to agriculture were decreasing, and that if this situation
continued, the MDG on hunger would not be reached until 2050. In its
final declaration, the 2002 World Food Summit called for an
International Alliance Against Hunger and defined action priorities for
the Anti-Hunger Programme. It estimated that $24bn would be needed
each year to stimulate agricultural development. 36

But the ambition of this programme has not been fully realized. And
concern over the slow progress in reducing hunger seems to have
vanished – that is, until the 2008 food price crisis set alarm bells ringing.
It drove the UN Secretary-General to set up the High-Level Task Force
on the Global Food Security Crisis (HLTF) which proposed a
Comprehensive Framework for Action (CFA) to overcome the food
crisis.

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Box 1. The Comprehensive Framework for Action: moving
beyond the framework to the action

The Comprehensive Framework for Action (CFA) is based on a twin-track


approach: in the short and long term. It sets out priority areas and reveals
the enormous financial gap that has to be bridged. It does not recommend
specific policies or actions, but rather offers a variety of options to choose
from, depending on what best suits a particular context. Its intention is to
catalyze actions by governments, international agencies, civil society and
the private sector. It acknowledges that without major investment, it will not
be possible to obtain the desired results. It proposes an increase of between
$25bn and $40bn annually for food aid, agricultural development and social
protection.
The CFA urges national governments to increase their public spending on
agriculture and social protection. It also urges donors to commit 10 per cent
of ODA to agriculture in the next five years, as well as extending food aid,
nutrition programmes and social protection networks.
Two years after its launch, it is time to ask what progress the CFA has made
beyond its paper promises. There is an urgent need for reinvigoration of
effort and a more specific action plan, with clear responsibilities regarding its
implementation and monitoring.

Source: Oxfam analysis

The CFA was presented at the High-Level Conference on World Food


Security in June 2008, when prices were at their peak. This was a de facto
summit, since over 40 heads of state attended. It closed with the
corresponding Declaration on World Food Security, which once again
included good intentions but no figures. 37 Although the FAO called for
$30bn a year from donors to boost agriculture, 38 the commitments made
individually by some countries barely reached $6bn.

One month later, the G8 met in Hokkaido Toyako, Japan. They


announced a total annual commitment of $10bn for the countries
affected by the crisis. 39 And for the first time, accountability was
included in the agenda, naming a group of experts to report on donors’
fulfillment.

The High-Level Meeting on Food Security for All in Madrid in January


2009 was intended to accelerate progress in the fight against hunger
and start up a Global Partnership for Agriculture, Food Security and
Nutrition. 40 However, no new concrete financial commitments were
made, except by Spain, the host. 41

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At the following G8 meeting, in L’Aquila (Italy) in July 2009, pressure
‘The shortfalls in progress from the USA to come up with a concrete agreement gave rise to the
towards the MDGs are not L’Aquila Food Security Initiative (AFSI). 43 Aside from reiterating the
because they are messages of previous summits, it specifies a financial commitment –
unreachable, or because the
more than $20bn over three years for agricultural development and
time is too short, but rather
food security. It also laid down the five principles that will guide its
because of unmet
fulfillment: 1) invest in national plans, 2) improve co-ordination, 3) a
commitments, inadequate
resources and lack of focus twin-track approach towards food security, 4) reinforce multilateralism,
and accountability.’ and 5) allocate predictable funding through multi-year plans.
UN Secretary-General (2010)
Keeping the Promise.
42 The year 2009 ended with a lacklustre World Summit on Food
Security– with the absence of G8 heads of state, except Italy – that
ended up with a final declaration that contained nothing new, apart
from ratifying the Rome Principles laid out in L’Aquila. As a positive
step towards global food security governance, it agreed to reform the
Committee on World Food Security (CFS). But it was a missed
opportunity to set out a real rescue package for MDG 1, with specific
plans, resources and well-defined responsibilities.

One year on, L’Aquila under


scrutiny
In July 2009, 13 donors—the G8 plus the European Commission (EU),
Spain, Australia, the Netherlands and Sweden—agreed the L’Aquila
Food Security Initiative to ‘mobilize more than $20bn over three years
through this coordinated, comprehensive strategy focused on
sustainable agriculture development, while keeping a strong
commitment to ensure adequate emergency food aid assistance’. 44 The
amount pledged was, in fact, $22bn.
To ensure that this time they would be held accountable, a monitoring
group was commissioned to present a report on the fulfillment of
individual commitments at the next G8 summit to be held in Canada in
June 2010. Each country had to supply information on their spending
deadlines, the sectors they had agreed to finance, and whether these
were ‘additional’ resources.

Table 1. L’Aquila unpacked


Pledge Additional
Country Pros Cons
($m) ($m)
Australia 360 360 Mostly for Includes money spent in
productive 2009 and probably
sectors. All double counted aid for
additional. trade.
Canada 1,034 526 Transparency on Includes money spent in
whether funds 2008/09.
are additional.
Most resources
for agriculture.
EC 3,800 742 Transparency on -
additional
money. Starts in
2010.

15
France 2,161 365 Mostly to 2009 money included.
agriculture. Low use of multilateral
channels. No new
money according to
Oxfam data.
Germany 3,000 1,000 Starts in 2010. Less than half to
agriculture. High
proportion to ‘other’,
including landmines
clearance. Lack of
transparency on
multilateral pledges.
Italy 428 -234* Commitments Additionality negative
will probably be according to Oxfam
respected. data. Almost all spent
before July 2009, only
$100 m a year in 2010
and 2011. Mostly not for
agriculture.
Japan 3,000 Starts in 2010. More funds for transport
Focused on than agriculture. Not
productive clear if also loans are
sectors and included. No multilateral.
transport.
Netherlands 2,000 139 Credible figures Not focused. Pledges
indicate funds start in 2009.
are additional.
Russia 191 64 Almost half Starts in 2009. Most for
through nutrition.
multilateral.
Spain 696 696 Only includes Pledge starts in 2009.
pledge made in Not clear funds are
L’Aquila. additional.
Sweden 522 14 Pledge starts in Not clear funds are
2010. Does Not additional.
include money
through the EU.
UK 1,718 -52* Transparency on Additionality negative
whether funds according to Oxfam
are additional. data. Pledge starts in
Nutrition and 2009.
forestry
excluded.
US 3,500 1,751 Pledges for Not clear funds are
agricultural additional. Double
development. counting funds to climate
Nutrition, food change adaptation.
aid and aid to
‘special’
countries
excluded. Starts
in 2010.
TOTAL 22,410 4,006
45
Source: G8 Canada (2010) ‘Muskoka Accountability Report:’
*
Additional funds according to Oxfam calculations.

16
New funds or recycled?
A large proportion of the funds announced with much fanfare at
L’Aquila have turned out to be nothing more than recycled promises.
There were even cases of countries whose funding announcements
actually represented a reduction in aid.

Italy, for example, included in its pledge $228m that had already been
spent in 2009 before the G8 Summit. It also promised to spend $100m in
2010 and $100m in 2011 on agriculture, nutrition, development food
aid/food security assistance and rural development. Therefore, in
reality, fulfilling its promise would mean cutting back on aid by as
much as 56 per cent. 46

It is important for donors to adopt a common definition of ‘additional’


funds and to be transparent about their commitments, stating how
much is additional funding and how much is carried over from
previous commitments. According to Oxfam analysis, based on
available information and data, the actual amount of new funds
committed at L’Aquila is $4bn, far below the $6bn reported by donors
to the OECD.

Double counting
When reporting on its L’Aquila commitments, the US has included
funds pledged for adaptation to climate change in developing countries
as AFSI funds. 47

This double counting is not acceptable, because finance committed to


tackle climate change is essentially different in nature from
development aid, and should be additional to ODA commitments and
targets. 48 ODA disbursements for the forestry sector, for example, also
run the risk of being counted within the framework of the programme
on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in
Developing Countries (REDD).

Also the context is crucial here, as overall aid promises are simply not
being met. This year the G8’s $50bn target and the EU’s collective target
to reach 0.56% of GNI have both been missed. The fact that this overall
aid pie is not growing fast enough makes it more important than ever
that new money pledged really is new, as otherwise it can mean simply
re-announcing existing spending with no real additional benefit for
poor people, or worse, taking more away from other crucial areas like
education, health and water and sanitation. It’s hard to imagine having
to choose between food and medicines, and leaders must not force poor
people to make this choice.

A comprehensive strategy?
The G8’s Muskoka Accountability Report (2010) shows that, while the
decline in investment is reversing, the international donor community
is far from a coordinated strategy as was proposed in the AFSI. Each

17
donor country continues to establish its own priorities for allocating
funds and reporting individually. For instance, nutrition and safety nets
– two critical aspects – are only supported by a few countries.

A comprehensive and coordinated response to the challenge of


eradicating hunger is crucial to address its transnational causes and
build global action. One year on, the L’Aquila Initiative is far from
being a truly collective effort.

Much more than money


Increasing ODA to fight hunger and promote agriculture and rural
development is essential, but not enough. The G8 leaders, aware of this,
made a raft of further commitments as part of AFSI, including the
following: improve the global governance of the food system; monitor
the factors that influence market volatility, including speculation;
support national strategies for adaptation to climate change; prioritize
local food purchases when food aid is delivery in kind; and ensure
coherence between biofuel policies and food security.

All of these changes are vital steps to tackle the structural problems that
might lead to future crises. True accountability should also include
information on the extent to which rich countries are delivering on
these promises.

18
4 More aid, but more effective
aid too
Governments have a legal obligation to guarantee their citizens the
right to food and sustainable livelihoods. 49 With appropriate policies,
they must tackle structural issues such as unequal access to resources or
the poor functioning of food markets. Redefining public spending
priorities could also lead to more investment in sectors that are key for
food security.

Section 5 will show how impressive advances can be made in the


reduction of hunger and poverty where the political will exists and
public investment is sufficient and well directed. When aid is well
delivered, it can also transform people lives. This section reviews some
elements that define quality and effectiveness.

Not the time to turn our backs


With the global economic crisis, exports and foreign investment have
fallen and access to credit is now much more restricted. To avoid
millions more people falling into poverty and a reversal of the
achievements that took so many years, international co-operation is
needed now more than ever. 50 There could be no worse moment to turn
our backs on the poorest people.

However, in 2009, donors reduced total aid in real terms by $3.5bn, and
more than half of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee
(DAC) countries cut their aid budgets. 51 The International Monetary
Fund (IMF) estimates that the 71 poorest countries in the world
received around 25 per cent less ODA in 2009 than the year before. 52
Donors such as Italy, Ireland, Spain and Germany have already slashed
their aid budgets. 53

Aid is vital right now, and it is not just a question of solidarity. Rich
countries bear direct responsibility for the food insecurity that poor
countries are experiencing. They have imposed structural adjustment
policies, they have imposed unjust international trade rules, they have
promoted the production and use of biofuels without weighing up their
impact, and they do not sufficiently regulate the practices of
transnational companies on land investment, employment and trade –
all of which contribute to poverty and food insecurity.

Fortunately, in response to the food crisis and after an unprecedented


number of world summits, co-operation funds for agricultural
development, food security and nutrition have again begun to flow. But
this in itself is not enough. It is urgent to invest more, but it is also
urgent to invest more effectively, as proposed below.

19
A twin-track approach
Today, there exists a broad consensus – reflected in the CFA – that to
eradicate hunger, a twin-track approach is needed, specifically:
1. Responding to the immediate needs of the vulnerable population
in the short term with emergency food assistance, nutrition
treatments and safety nets, as well as providing access to seeds
and fertilizers.
2. Developing agricultural production and increasing its resilience
in the long term, supporting small-scale agriculture,
improvements in market functioning, and social protection
systems.

Food aid that strengthens local livelihoods


Emergency food aid save many lives every year by reaching those
people who suffer most critically from hunger. It may be the only
access to food in certain situations of conflict or natural disaster. Even
though the trend toward lower global volumes of food aid has been
reversed after the food crisis, the increase in 2008 was only 5 per cent –
totally inadequate to satisfy current needs. 54

A considerable part of food aid continues to be given in kind, and more


than half of the food distributed is produced in rich countries, who
often use this as a way to get rid of their agricultural surpluses. 55
Purchasing food aid in donor countries adds to costs and delays,
particularly in the case of the United States, which requires it be
transported in US-flagged vessels. Furthermore, by flooding local
markets, aid delivered in this way can undermine local livelihoods,
deepening poverty and dependence on aid. 56 There are other, more
flexible and efficient forms of aid, such as sourcing in-country or
regionally or transferring cash, which strengthen rather than
undermine local livelihoods. 57

Investing in social protection


Protecting the most vulnerable sections of the population from hunger
also means improving social protection networks and programmes.
Learning from past experience, these initiatives must be scalable in
order to respond appropriately when shocks occur. But they must also
be affordable, and sustainable over time.

Given that hunger is mainly a problem of access to food, it can only be


fought effectively if smallholder production is increased and people’s
resilience to climate change is strengthened. 58 Doing this achieves two
goals simultaneously: more food is available on local markets, and rural
livelihoods are strengthened, reducing poverty. However, two-thirds of
the developing world’s farmers live in remote or low productive areas
and have not benefited from the advances made in the last century in
research and development. 59

20
Fighting gender inequality is fighting hunger
Around the world, women are usually responsible for providing food
for the family. They cultivate, fish, collect, store, process and cook,
breastfeed and teach habits on nutrition and hygiene. But women are
also the first to eat less when food is scarce. 60

It is estimated that women produce 60–80 per cent of the food


consumed in developing countries, and as such, they are the key to
food security. 61 However, they are systematically excluded from
decision-making and have less access to land and water, new
technologies, agricultural extension, credit, markets and social capital. 62
Despite international law recognizing women’s equal rights, the
persistence of discriminatory laws, policies, patriarchal traditions and
attitudes still prevents women from enjoying their rights. In India,
Thailand and Nepal, for example, less than 10 per cent of women
farmers own land. 63 And in some countries, a married woman is not
allowed to register land in her name. 64

Without land as collateral, women are often cut off from access to
credit, despite evidence that women are more reliable in meeting loan
repayments. An analysis in Kenya, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Zambia and
Zimbabwe found that women received less than 10 per cent of available
credit to smallholders, and just 1 per cent of the total credit available to
agriculture. 65

Because women’s role in food production is often overlooked, training


services rarely meet their needs. A 1989 FAO survey on extension
services in 115 countries showed that women received only 2–10 per
cent of extension services, and only 5 per cent worldwide. 66
Development aid is not well balanced either; women receive just 7 per
cent of total aid to agriculture, forestry and fishing. 67

Reducing gender inequality is paramount to fighting hunger, and


gender differences cannot be ignored. Women must participate at all
levels of programme and policy decision-making. As the primary
producers at the household level, they need greater access to and
control over productive resources and services that respond to their
particular needs, as well as opportunities to participate equally in
markets. Moreover, investment in nutrition, education and health
programmes directed at women will bring enormous returns in terms
of family well-being. Without specific attention to these issues, gender-
blind interventions are likely to reinforce and even increase inequalities
between men and women.

21
An effective response?
‘Our action will be In spite of the formation of the HLTF, co-ordination in the field among
characterized by a UN agencies, the World Bank and other donors in response to the food
comprehensive approach to crisis is a long way from becoming a reality. As part of the AFSI, the
food security, effective five Rome Principles were defined to guide the use of funds in order to
coordination, support for ensure national leadership, effective co-ordination, an integral focus, an
country-owned processes important role for the multilateral system, and stable, predictable
and plans as well as by the funding. 68 These principles are similar to those already proposed by the
use of multilateral
Global Donor Platform for Rural Development in 2008, which adapted
institutions whenever
the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness to agriculture and rural
appropriate. Delivering on
development. 69
our commitments in a
timely and reliable manner,
However, although there is little disagreement among donors in theory,
mutual accountability and a
these principles are rarely adopted in practice. Field studies carried out
sound policy environment
by Oxfam on the international response to the food crisis in three West
are key to this effort.’
African countries (Niger, Burkina Faso and Ghana), and on co-
L’Aquila Joint Statement on Global
Food Security, L’Aquila Food operation in the fight against hunger in Guatemala, found that donors
Security Initiative, July 2009. have hardly changed the way they work. 70 Co-operation agencies resist
joining national and regional plans and strategies, and continue to
apply a programme or – even worse – a project logic.

Box 2. More aid but not better aid for Niger, Ghana and
Burkina Faso

International aid has long represented the bulk of agricultural sector


financing in many West African countries. In 2008, it accounted for 75 per
cent of the domestic agriculture budget of Niger, over 60 per cent in Ghana
and 80 per cent in Burkina Faso. In 2008, at least 67 projects were
implemented in Niger, 63 in Ghana and 130 in Burkina Faso, without
counting those implemented by NGOs.
The short-term response to the recent global food crisis concentrated on
food aid, distribution of seeds and fertilizers, and social protection
programmes. Most donors prefer working through the specialized UN
agencies and NGOs due to their supposed logistical and human capacities.
The amount of resources promised by donors between 2008 and 2009 and
the urgency of delivery complicated co-ordination efforts in the field among
agencies and national governments. This cornucopia of projects contributes
very little to strengthening local capabilities and further undermines people’s
capacity to deal with the next crisis. Furthermore, most of these emergency
interventions remained temporary, and most of the mid-term projects were
financed with a reallocation of funding that had initially been intended for
other development sectors.
National agriculture co-ordination bodies do exist in these countries, but they
serve more to exchange information than to actually co-ordinate
interventions on the ground, let alone to implement joint reviews and
programmes. One exception is the Niger National Body for the Prevention
and Management of Food Crises (DNPGCA),* in which government and
donors finance joint actions through a common fund. Even in Niger though,
in 2010, some donors decided to use funds of the UN contingency plan
instead of this national mechanism.
Aid delivery on the ground has barely changed, questioning the ability of

22
national governments and aid agencies to join forces to reach long-term
development goals. Recent donor interest in supporting the Comprehensive
Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) offers the opportunity
for this necessary change. In West Africa, national governments are starting
up agricultural investment plans that make donors’ efforts converge to one
common programme. But to ensure the success of these processes, donors
have to progressively move away from projects towards national policies
and programmes through capacity building and budgetary aid.
* Dispositif National de Prévention et de Gestion des Crises Alimentaires

Based on the Oxfam International Research Report (2009) ‘Aid for Agriculture: Turning Promises
into Reality on the Ground. Co-ordinating Donor Interventions in Three West African Countries’.

23
5 It can be done
‘In fact, famines are so easy There are no excuses. Even the countries with least resources have
to avoid that it is incredible shown that it is possible to drastically reduce hunger when the right
that they are allowed to measures are backed up with political commitment and adequate
occur.’ funding. There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution that can be applied to
Amartya Sen (1999) Development every case – pathways to success are as diverse as the contexts where
as Freedom, Oxford: Oxford
University Press. they occur. The experience of countries as different as Viet Nam,
Ghana, Malawi or Brazil shows the importance of setting the right
political course in order to translate the right to food into concrete
actions.

Between 1990 and 2005, the number of hungry people decreased in 31


of the 71 countries monitored by the FAO. 71 There are already 12
countries that have reached the MDG 1 hunger target, and others such
as China and Brazil are well on their way. For some of them, this has
required a tremendous effort, because they started out with extremely
high rates of hunger – Nicaragua, for example, with 52 per cent in 1990.
Their stories show that even the poorest countries can make impressive
progress in reducing hunger.

Figure 4. Countries that have halved the number of people going


hungry 72

Source: FAO (2009) The State of Food Insecurity in the World

Although every case is different, all of the countries that have achieved
progress have made hunger reduction a fundamental element of their
poverty reduction strategies, and have recognized agriculture as a
development driver. The policies and measures they have adopted
correspond to the twin-track approach proposed in 2002at the World
Food Summit and reintroduced in the CFA: promoting small-scale food
production, on the one hand, and ensuring social support and
protection for the most vulnerable, on the other.

24
For countries such as Mozambique, Malawi and Nicaragua,
international aid has been very important for success, while in others
like Viet Nam, export revenues and foreign investment have been more
important than ODA in reducing poverty and hunger rates.

Enabling farmers to grow more


Given that 80 per cent of hungry people live in rural areas and half of
them are small farmers, 73 stimulating family production can bring
important benefits in terms of access to food and poverty reduction.
The success stories show that when decision makers listen and respond
to people’s needs, policies are more effective.

In Malawi, a large part of the success in hunger reduction came about


as a result of a subsidy programme launched in 2005 that has improved
poor farmers’ access to fertilizer and seeds. Maize production doubled
in just two years, surpassing domestic demand in 2008 for the fourth
consecutive year. As a result, Malawi is no longer a food aid recipient
and is now an exporter, 74 even providing food aid to Haiti. However,
there are still food security challenges 75

Despite the success of these measures, environmental risks and the


limited availability of supplies for certain fertilizers demand a stronger
effort in developing technologies that require low external input.

Other sub-Saharan African countries, such as Tanzania and Kenya,


have initiated similar input subsidy programmes – in Kenya’s case,
mainly with domestic resources. Nigeria – one of only two African
countries to have reached the MDG 1 target of halving hunger (the
other being Ghana) – has put investment in small-scale agriculture at
the centre of its food security strategy. During the food price crisis, the
Nigerian government distributed fertilizer to increase domestic
production, and also turned to national reserves. 76

The positive correlation between investment in agriculture and food


security becomes evident when comparing national statistics of
developing countries. In countries where more than 35 per cent of the
population suffer from hunger, public spending per farmer averages
$14 a year, compared with $880 in countries with hunger rates of less
than 2.5 per cent. 77

Box 3. Viet Nam: the benefits of supporting small-scale


agriculture

Five years ahead of the 2015 target, Viet Nam has halved hunger and
reduced poverty from about 58 per cent of the population in 1993 to 18 per
cent in 2006. Not surprisingly, it has attracted a great deal of attention for its
unprecedented economic and social growth. The take-off started
with agricultural land reform, followed by labour-intensive manufacturing
development and, more recently, promotion of electronics and high-tech
sectors in the hope of becoming an industrialized country by 2020.
Integration into the global market facilitated the increases in exports and

25
foreign investment.
Once a rice importer, Viet Nam is now the second biggest exporter in the
world. How has this been achieved? Public support to smallholder
agriculture was an important factor. The de-collectivization of property and
the opening up to fertilizer imports (use of which tripled due to lower prices)
allowed food production to increase exponentially. Equitable land distribution
and investment in irrigation, agricultural technology and extension systems
were key to a growth in agriculture that made a substantial contribution to
poverty reduction.
Price stability has been a priority for the government. It protected both
producers and consumers against sharp price fluctuations and maintained
restrictions on rice exports until 2001, when the quota system was
abolished. Rice exports have been increasing ever since.
Food security has been a central element of domestic policies. In 1998, the
Hunger Eradication and Poverty Reduction Programme was launched with
the goal of eliminating chronic hunger and narrowing the income gap
between social groups and geographical areas. Despite having a budget of
only $600m between 2001 and 2005 (0.8 per cent of GDP), this programme
had a remarkable impact on livelihoods, access to education and health
services.
Viet Nam’s government has demonstrated leadership and ownership of the
country’s development. With the support of the international donor
community and NGOs, the government developed a national strategy for
poverty reduction and a national plan to reach the MDG. International
commitments are reflected in five-year plans for social and economic
development, and Viet Nam is one of the few countries committed to the
20/20 plan (20 per cent of ODA and 20 per cent of public spending for social
services). The majority of international aid is very well aligned with national
priorities as it is channeled in the form of budget support or executed
through the government’s structures.

Based on Quang (2006) ‘What has made Viet Nam a poverty reduction success story?’ Case study
in contribution to Oxfam (2008) From Poverty to Power. Oxfam International.

Enabling people to buy more food


As 20 per cent of people who suffer from hunger live in cities and with
22 per cent of people landless, 78 increasing production alone is not
sufficient to improve people’s access to food. Moreover, most small-
scale producers are net food buyers. 79 Aside from maintaining prices
within acceptable limits, people’s purchasing power must be increased
to enable them to buy enough food to meet their needs. In Guatemala,
for example, the minimum salary does not even cover the cost of a basic
food basket. 80

Guaranteeing that the minimum salary covers basic expenses for a


family is an essential step. But for people without regular work,
temporary work programmes or cash transfers are effective ways of
facilitating access to food.

Families in a situation of greater vulnerability need support in the form


of social protection systems. These might include food aid or cash
grants (that may or may not be conditional upon children attending

26
school or receiving vaccinations), as well as other help with health and
nutrition or credit and insurance services. Food distribution
programmes using local supplies, such as in the case of Brazil, have
been most successful due to the dual benefit of improved food security
and higher incomes for small-scale producers.

Box 4. Brazil: a state policy of wiping out hunger

Between 1990–92 and 2004–06, Brazil reduced the proportion of people


going hungry from 10 per cent (15.8 million people) to 6 per cent (11.9
million), while malnutrition was reduced by 73 per cent. The proportion of
underweight children has already been halved. All of this puts the country
well on its way to fulfilling MDG 1.
Food security has been one of Brazil’s political objectives since the 1980s,
but the fight against hunger intensified in 2002. Under President Lula, the
government intends to surpass the MDG and completely eradicate hunger
before the end of its mandate. To achieve this, it started the ambitious Zero
Hunger programme, which already covers a third of the population.
The first cornerstone of this programme is the Bolsa Familia (family fund).
Mothers of families below the poverty line receive up to $80 per month on
the condition that their children are vaccinated and attend school regularly.
With a budget of over $6bn in 2008 (2 per cent of the national budget), it
reached over 50 million people – more than a quarter of the population –
and is the largest conditional transfer programme in the world. Other
important programmes that form part of the national nutrition and food
security strategy are the National School Meals Programme and the
Workers’ Meal Programme.
The second cornerstone is strengthening smallholder agriculture, which
produces 70 per cent of domestic food consumption. In spite of using only a
quarter of the country’s cultivated land, the sector supplies 38 per cent of the
agricultural GNI, guarantees national food security and employs three out of
every four workers in rural areas. A smallholder credit programme facilitates
access to investment capital, and the food acquisition programme ensures
state purchases for public institutions (hospitals, schools and prisons) or for
the creation of national reserves.
Together with agricultural reform programmes, access to financial services,
insurance and technical assistance has made Brazil much less vulnerable in
the face of the food price crisis and the global economic crisis.

Sources: National Council on Food and Nutrition Security (2009) ‘Construction of the System and
the Policy of Food and Nutritional Security: the Brazilian Experience’; Oxfam (2008) ‘Double-Edged
Prices: Lessons from the Food Price Crisis – 10 Actions Developing Countries Should Take’,
Briefing Paper 121, OxfordFAO (2009) The State of Food Insecurity in the World.

Treating and preventing


malnutrition
Ideally, malnutrition should be prevented, but when there is a high
incidence, it is necessary to treat it in order to save lives. In Peru, the
percentage of underweight children under five years of age has been
maintained at below 5 per cent thanks to a series of interventions in

27
nutrition, hygiene and health. Cambodia and Bangladesh also have
major national children’s nutrition programmes. Malawi, Ethiopia and
Niger have also started national programmes with successful results. 81

Box 5. Ghana: the need to consolidate achievements

Ghana is one of only two African countries to have already achieved the
goal of halving hunger (Nigeria is the other). Ghana has reduced the number
of hungry people from 5.4 million in 1990–92 (34 per cent of the population)
to 1.7 million in 2004–2006 (8 per cent). It has also succeeded in reducing
the poverty rate to a greater extent than any other African country in the last
15 years. However, there is still a large disparity between the south, which is
more favourable for agriculture, and the north, which is arid and much
poorer.
In 2003, Ghana adopted its first national Poverty Reduction Strategy as the
political framework for driving efforts to achieve the MDG. Its economic
growth is based on agricultural development – mainly cocoa – and public
spending on agriculture increased until it surpassed 10 per cent of the
national budget in 2006. Food security has always been a priority for the
state.
The central instrument of social protection policies is the Livelihood
Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme. This provides monthly
cash transfers for mothers of extremely poor families (20 per cent of the
population) on the condition that their children attend school and receive
vaccination.
Unfortunately, a large part of the success achieved up until now is
threatened by the economic crisis. Within the framework of ECOWAS
(Economic Community of West African States) agriculture policy, the
government of Ghana has signed an agreement with development partners
to support the implementation of the food and agriculture sector policy.
Donor support will be crucial in helping Ghana to consolidate its successes
and advance more firmly towards achievement of all the MDG targets.

Based on Ghana Millennium Development Goals 2006. IFAD Rural Poverty Portal: ‘Rural poverty in
Ghana’ http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/web/guest/country/home/tags/ghana (last accessed July
2010); J. Fanzo and P. Pronyk (2010) ‘An Evaluation of Progress toward the Millennium
Development Goal One Hunger Target: A Country-Level, Food and Nutrition Security Perspective’,
Center for Global Health and Economic Development The Earth Institute of Columbia University;
Government of Ghana Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (2009) Ghana Aid Policy 2010–
2015.

28
6 A rescue package for the
MDGs must halve hunger
‘Collectively, the
Millennium Declaration To get back on track to meet the MDG target on hunger by 2015, the
represents the most root causes of hunger must be urgently addressed. Without
important promise ever comprehensive reforms of national and global policies on food,
made to the world’s most agriculture, trade and climate change, no plan to fight hunger –
vulnerable people. This however ambitious – will succeed. But in addition to political changes,
promise is not based on the financial gap must be bridged, with more and better investment.
pity or charity, but on
solidarity, justice and the After reviewing development aid budgets for 2010, the OECD
recognition that we are concluded that many donor countries will fall more than $20bn short of
increasingly dependent on what they pledged five years ago at the Gleneagles Summit. 82 This has
one another for our shared been confirmed with the G8 Muskoka Accountability Report presented
prosperity and security.’ at the Toronto Summit in June 2010. 83 The economic crisis cannot serve
UN Secretary-General (2010) as an excuse for rich countries to delay their commitments to the
Keeping the Promise.
MDGs.

Time is running out. The September 2010 summit, where progress on


the MDGs will be reviewed, must establish a rescue package to avoid
enormous failure to achieve the MDGs. To give an idea of the size of
the effort needed, Oxfam has calculated the approximate global
investment that would be required to meet the MDG target of halving
hunger in the next five years.

Although the 2008 Comprehensive Framework for Action (CFA) does


not offer detailed estimates of financial needs, it suggests increasing
annual investment in food assistance, agricultural development and
social protection by between $25bn and $40bn through the combined
efforts of national governments, the private sector, civil society and the
international community. This estimate, however, should be reviewed
in light of the most recent figures on hunger, and should be based on
national needs.

How much would it cost?


In 2003, the FAO calculated that $24bn in additional public funding –
including national budgets of developing countries and ODA – would
be needed to reach the goal of halving hunger, invested in a series of
twin-track interventions in line with those proposed by the CFA. 84 In
this way, the number of hungry people could be reduced by 420 million
by the year 2015.

This figure has been used as a starting point for calculating the current
financial gap, taking into account that there are just five years left and
the most recent projection by FAO is 925 million people hungry in 2010.
Today, the increase in investment needed to reach the goal of halving
hunger is $75bn per year (see Annex 2 for details of the calculation).

29
This figure needs to be updated when more precise country specific
estimations will be available. Depending on the evolution of the
number of hungry people and on the level of ambition of the actions
undertaken by all governments, in the next years this figure may either
decrease or increase. Following the CFA’s recommendations, half of
these new resources should be channeled into agriculture and rural
development, and the other half to food assistance, social protection
and nutrition programmes. 85

Applying a principle of shared responsibility, half of these resources


should come from international aid and the other half from developing
countries, who must increase their public spending on agriculture. 86
African countries have already committed to a target of at least 10 per
cent of national budgets. 87

For their part, developed countries would have to increase their ODA
by at least $37.5bn a year to provide the necessary support to national
and regional plans on agriculture and rural development, food
assistance, social protection and nutrition. In 2008, the total ODA
committed to these sectors was $15.8bn. 88 This means that a total of at
least $53.3bn a year in ODA is needed to save the MDG on hunger from
failure. This equates to close to $150 a year for rescuing a person from
hunger. 89

In 2008, donors delivered only a third of what was needed for


comprehensive action. And for agriculture and rural development,
ODA in 2008 was only one-fourth of what is required.

Table 2. Financial needs for rescuing the MDG on hunger


Additional funds needed
ODA Total
($bn)
committed ODA
Developing in 2008 needed
Total ODA
countries ($bn) ($bn)
gap gap
gap
Agriculture and
rural 37.50 18.75 18.75 6.65 25.40
development
Food
assistance,
37.50 18.75 18.75 9.15 27.90
social protection
and nutrition
TOTAL 75.00 37.50 37.50 15.80 53.30

Rescuing a person from However, increasing ODA to renew the effort to fight hunger should
hunger requires a donor not be made at the expense of cutbacks in other sectors like health and
effort around $150 per year. education that are also essential for reaching the MDGs. The goals are a
package, not a list of options, and success in one area is reliant on the
others. The volume of aid should increase until it finally reaches the
long-delayed commitment of 0.7 per cent of national income. This is
one crucial step to meeting the MDG on hunger, as well as the other
goals to halve extreme poverty that governments promised to the
world’s poorest people.

30
Keeping climate change funds separate
These figures do not include the significant investments that
developing countries will have to make to deal with the impact of
climate change on food security and to strengthen the resilience of
women producers and other vulnerable sectors. Oxfam estimates that
at least $50bn a year is currently needed to adapt to climate change,
increasing to $100bn a year by 2020. A key target for these funds will be
the agricultural sector, where small farmers’ vulnerability to climate
shocks is particularly severe. This money must be disbursed urgently,
and must be in addition to ODA commitments. 90

Of the ‘fast start’ commitments made in Copenhagen in 2009 – $30bn


for 2010–2012, balanced between mitigation and adaptation – only a
small fraction has been disbursed so far. There is little transparency
about the recipients of these funds, including the channels through
which they are being delivered, whether they are loans or grants, and
the baseline against which additionality is measurable.

The funds promised at the L’Aquila Initiative, while representing a first


step in the right direction, are completely insufficient given the
magnitude of the need. Even if rich countries fulfill their commitments
and spend $22bn over three years on agriculture and food security, and
even if $6bn were new funds, this would only represent a small fraction
of what is needed.

Finding innovative sources of funds


Now that many developed countries are facing huge constraints on
public budgets, innovative mechanisms must be found to help raise
additional funds for the MDGs that are most off course.

A tax on international financial transactions such as stocks, bonds,


commodities and currency transfers could raise $400bn annually. 91 Half
of these funds could be devoted to development and adaptation to
climate change in the poorest countries. This would not replace ODA,
but would instead provide the investment needed right now to
accelerate progress on the most off-track MDGs without moving money
from one important sector to another. Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not
an answer to the current levels of finance to meet development and
environment goals, but a Financial Transaction Tax could be.

Funds for fighting hunger could also be raised by phasing out the most
trade-distorting types of agricultural subsidies in rich countries or
dismantling subsidies and tax exemptions for biofuels, with the added
benefit of reducing externalities that affect the price of food.

Sharing the cost


The total effort that donor countries must make in order to get the
hunger reduction goal back on track must be assumed collectively and
specified in individual commitments. In order to suggest what might be

31
a fair sharing of the effort, Oxfam proposes that each country
contributes proportionally to its capacity: a combination of wealth –
taking gross national income (GNI) as an indicator – and the gap
between current spending on ODA and the 0.7 per cent target agreed 40
years ago. 92 (For details, see Annex 3).

Oxfam believes it is fair to demand greater effort from those countries


that are still a long way from achieving that goal. ODA disbursed in
2008 to agriculture, rural development, food security, nutrition, social
protection and emergency food aid would have to increase threefold to
achieve what is needed. According these capacity criteria, the US
would have to provide almost half of the total funds needed each year,
and the EU almost 30 per cent.

The amount required from the EU would be around $15bn, far less than
the $65bn it spent in 2008 on the most trade-distorting types of
subsidies to agriculture production. 93 For the US, the $26.4bn required
is less than the $36.5bn spent in 2008 on supporting their own farmers
and subsidizing biofuels. 94

Table 3. Selected DAC donors’ share of the necessary ODA to rescue


MDG 1 on hunger
ODA
Capacity ODA required1
Country disbursed in
(%) ($m)
2008 ($m)
United States 49.62 26,446 4,461
European Union 28.05 14,950 1,924
Germany 7.02 3,740 580
Italy 6.32 3,366 162
France 4.24 2,261 613
Spain 3.29 1,755 575
United Kingdom 2.61 1,390 554
The Netherlands 0.57 306 204
Ireland 0.28 147 128
Japan 15.32 8,168 1,422
Canada 3.85 2,050 507
Australia 2.25 1,198 285
2
TOTAL DAC 100.00 53,300 10,667
Source for 2008 ODA (bilateral disbursement on agriculture, rural development, food security,
nutrition, social protection and emergency food aid) Creditor Reporting System of the DAC-OECD.
1
ODA that would need to be provided annually by donor to halve hunger.
2
ODA by all countries belonging to the DAC-OECD. Above just a selection of some donor
countries.

32
Putting the Rome Principles into
practice
Developing countries should take responsibility for leading the design
and start-up of costed National Plans of Action which specify the
actions that the government and its partners will take to implement the
FAO Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of
the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security. 95
All countries that were represented at the World Summit on Food
Security in Rome in November 2009 agreed on the following principles:

1. To invest in nationally led plans.

2. To improve national, regional and global co-ordination,


avoiding duplication of effort and identifying gaps.

3. To take a twin-track approach toward food security: direct


action to help the most vulnerable populations and mid- and
long-term programmes for the development of agriculture, food
security, nutrition and rural development.

4. To ensure that the multilateral system has an important role.

5. To contribute financial resources punctually, in a stable and


predictable manner, through multi-year plans and programmes.

Fulfilling these principles is fundamental. But the reality is a long way


from the rhetoric with regard to the quality and effectiveness of aid.
This will pose a major problem if the urgency of getting investment
flowing is not accompanied by a real effort to overcome historic
problems of lack of harmonization among donors and alignment with
national priorities and plans.

At national and regional levels, there are co-ordination mechanisms


that must be strengthened to be more effective. But on a global level,
there is a much greater challenge. The creation of a new World Bank
fund, the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme (GAFSP) –
although mobilizing important funding to fulfill L’Aquila
commitments – risks fuelling the current unco-ordinated approaches to
global hunger.

This new fund should not distract donor attention from the need to
dramatically improve co-ordination and coherence of their response to
the global food crisis. Accountability must be ensured, and financing
deficits in national and regional plans should be urgently identified.

33
Box 6: Improving global financial co-ordination, coherence
and accountability

A true global action to eliminate hunger and malnutrition needs to be based


upon trust, mutual responsibility and accountability. The Committee on
World Food Security (CFS) is the appropriate political forum to guarantee
the involvement of all states and the participation of civil society in meeting
this critical goal. 96
To avoid developing countries being bombarded with unco-ordinated
projects from multiple sources, Oxfam proposes a financial mechanism that
ensures co-ordination, coherence with global policy frameworks, and
alignment with national plans.
This mechanism should:
• Include equal number of representatives from donor and recipient
countries as well as the chairperson of the CFS;
• Base decisions on a global strategic framework, building on existing
frameworks such as the CFA, the CAADP and the FAO’s Voluntary
Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to
Adequate Food – developed by the CFS and in a bottom-up assessment
of needs and gaps, respecting the principle of subsidiarity;
• Develop a body of fair, simple, clear and objective rules that all national
or regional plans must meet in order to receive international financing;
• Establish a global five-year financing plan that guides the assignment of
resources by specific commitments to support national and regional
plans, recorded in an International Public Register of Commitments;
• Reduce the fragmentation of agricultural and food security aid
architecture by encouraging the channeling of all resources through
national and regional plans and funds, wherever possible as budget
support;
• Produce an annual accountability report on delivery of finance and
alignment with the Rome Principles.

34
7 Conclusions and
recommendations
2008 and 2009 witnessed the greatest reverse in the fight against
hunger. Although projections for 2010 show a decline in the global
figures, the proportion of people suffering from hunger remains
stagnated above 13 per cent. This is far from the MDG 1 target of 8 per
cent by 2015 and means almost no improvement since 2000. After
decades of unjust policies and neglect of family-based agriculture in the
developing world, the global energy, food and economic crises have left
an unacceptable balance of poverty and food insecurity.

The root causes of the food price crisis remain, which means it could be
repeated. The vulnerability of the global food system has become
evident once again during the August 2010 price increase associated to
draughts and cereal export restrictions in the Russian Federation. And
climate change is already wreaking havoc on people’s livelihoods all
over the developing world.

As things stand, MDG 1 on poverty and hunger – and the rest of the
MDGs along with it – is desperately off course. The only chance of
avoiding failure is if a rescue plan is developed that includes the
necessary measures (both political and financial) and is put into effect
immediately. It is still possible – rescuing a person from hunger
requires a donor effort around $150 a year, matched by a similar figure
from developing country governments.

Developing country governments must lead the effort and be the first
to invest more to free their people from hunger and malnutrition. But
given the scale of the task, they cannot do it alone. Food security is not a
question of borders but rather a global goal and a responsibility shared
by all countries, which are legally obliged to protect, respect and
enforce the right to food. All leaders will have to be accountable for this
to their citizens and to the global community.

The MDG 1 target of halving hunger is yet a modest target that would
still leave almost 600 million people undernourished. The ultimate goal
must be to eradicate hunger once and for all. Donors have to move
beyond their rhetoric and change the way they work, to deliver a more
co-ordinated, coherent and efficient aid response.

There is a need to increase both the quality and quantity of ODA,


supporting national and regional plans, and focusing on women as
agents of change. Aid must also promote and strengthen small-scale
food production through family-based agriculture, fishing or herding.
Given that three out of every four people living in poverty are in rural
areas, this is also the best way to combat poverty and contribute to
achieving the rest of the MDGs.

There is a moral obligation on the part of the industrialized countries to

35
act now. For years, they have applied unfair policies that have
undermined the livelihoods of poor people in developing countries and
their ability to feed themselves. Development aid can save many lives
and contribute to achieving a future without hunger and poverty.
Success in some of the poorest countries shows that it is possible to
drastically reduce hunger when the correct measures are backed up
with political commitment and adequate financing.

The global economic crisis must not be used an excuse for abandoning
women and the most vulnerable people in the fight against hunger.
Acknowledging that developed countries are forced to cut budgets to
cope with their structural deficits, they must increase ODA to avoid
failure in meeting MDG targets.
Time is running out. Global action is needed to create a rescue package
for all the MDGs. Focusing on the MDG on hunger, Oxfam
recommends that all governments, North and South, and international
agencies:
• Co-ordinate action under a twin-track approach:
- In the short term, caring for people who suffer from hunger
through nutrition programmes, food assistance and safety nets;
- In the long term, strengthening people’s resilience and capacity to
produce food, improving the functioning of the market and
establishing social protection programmes.
• Support the reformed CFS as the key forum for policy guidance and
co-ordination of global action to address global food governance and
the root causes of hunger and malnutrition;
• Establish a co-ordination and accountability mechanism for global
financing, guided by the CFS;
• Recognize and strengthen the fundamental role of women in food
security and nutrition;
• Regulate food commodity markets, to reduce speculation and price
volatility;
• Prioritize actions based on existing structures, avoiding the creation
of new mechanisms that fragment efforts to reduce hunger.

Developed country governments have a key role to play. They should:


• Dramatically increase ODA for agriculture and rural development,
food assistance, nutrition and social protection by at least $37.5bn a
year, without taking resources away from other sectors that are key
to achieving the MDGs;
• Align with national and regional priorities, improve co-ordination
and support capacity building to ensure efficient delivery of aid,
channeling through budgetary support wherever possible;
• Contribute individually to this collective effort based on each
country’s own financial capability;
• Leverage additional financing now to boost MDG 1, and other off-
track MDGs, through innovative sources such as a tax on
international financial transactions. For MDG 1 also create funding

36
by phasing out the most trade-distorting types of agricultural
subsidies in rich countries, and ending subsidies and tax exemptions
for biofuels;
• Foster coherence by undertaking reforms in agricultural, trade,
energy and investment policies, both national and international;
• Make immediately available the funds needed for adapting to
climate change in developing countries, over and above existing
ODA commitments.

In addition, Oxfam recommends that the governments of developing


countries:
• Increase public spending on agriculture and rural development,
food security, nutrition and social protection, targeting women,
smallholders and the most vulnerable consumers;
• Develop (or enhance) national and regional action plans describing
(1) specific actions to reduce hunger and malnutrition, (2) how these
will be financed by domestic resources, and (3) what financial and
technical assistance is required internationally;
• Fully include the voice and participation of civil society stakeholders
– in particular, women, smallholders, agricultural workers and the
poorest groups in decision-making;
• Adopt policies on food and agriculture, social protection, trade and
investment that respect the right to food and are coherent with
hunger reduction objectives.

37
Annex 1
Table A1.ODA bilateral disbursements in 2008 to sectors related to
hunger and malnutrition (constant 2008 $m)

Rural Food Social Emergency food TOTAL


Country Agriculture Development security Nutrition protection aid 2008
Australia 103 28 62 1 10 81 285
Canada 152 15 87 83 27 143 507
France 484 39 76 0 12 1 613
Germany 253 161 51 3 33 78 580
Italy 57 13 54 0 30 7 162
Japan 959 104 262 0 89 8 1,422
Netherlands 139 34 22 1 2 6 204
Spain 198 54 83 57 69 115 575
Sweden 97 45 15 1 9 30 197
UK 130 106 94 6 113 105 554
US 763 1 552 17 884 2,244 4,461
TOTAL
DAC
countries1 3,919 778 1,398 182 1,381 3,008 10,667
Source: DAC-OECD Statistics, Creditor Reporting System,
http://www.oecd.org/document/0/0,2340,en_2649_34447_37679488_1_1_1_1,00.html (last
accessed July 2010).
1
ODA by all countries belonging to the DAC-OECD. Above just a selection of some donor
countries.

38
Annex 2 How much will it cost to
halve hunger?
In 2003, the FAO estimated that in order to halve the number of
hungry people – which meant 420 million fewer hungry people– it
would be necessary to invest an additional $24bn (2002 dollars) in
public spending each year. 97 This calculation included public funding
in developing countries as well as ODA. To bring this figure up to
date, we have taken the following points into consideration:
1. Inflation. In order to compare the figure with the most recent
ODA data registered by the DAC-OECD, it has been updated to
2008 dollars. Using the deflator for DAC countries, this becomes
$35.7bn (2008 dollars). 98
2. Total investment until the goal is reached. The FAO’s estimate
was made in 2003, which means that it covered the 13 years until
2015 and amounts to a total investment of $463.7bn (2008 dollars)
for that period.
3. The number of hungry people has risen. In 2003, reducing the
number of hungry people by half between 1990 and 2015 meant a
decrease of 420 million people. Today, there are 925 million
hungry people, and projections indicate that in 2015 the
population will be 7.3 billion. 99 To meet the MDG 1 target, ‘only’ 8
per cent of the population should be hungry in 2015; in other
words, 584 million people. This means reducing the number of
hungry people by 341 million instead of 420 million. Taking this
into account, a total investment of $376.8bn would be needed up
until 2015.
4. A shorter timeframe. There are only five years left to reach the
MDG. Therefore, an investment of $75.3bn is needed each year.
This is an estimation that as soon as precise country assessments are
available should by updated. The estimation of financial needs may
change in the next years depending on:
- Evolutions of the number of hungry people that may depend,
notably, on national, regional or global policy changes.
- Donor success in taking adequate and ambitious actions. If
developing countries and donors will fail to deliver adequate
resources (and/or to make the necessary policy changes) they
will have to reduce the same number of hungry people in less
time. This will increase the cost of the rescue package.

39
Annex 3 Paying a fair share
In order to share the effort required from donors fairly, we have
developed a capacity index that combines a country’s gross national
income (GNI) with its position in regard to meeting the 0.7 per cent
commitment to development aid. The index gives more weight to the
latter (7/10) than to GNI (3/10).

Total GNI -and not GNI per capita- has been chosen, in line with ODA
commitment of spending 0.7% of total GNI.

Capacity indexA = 0.3*(GNIA/GNItotal)*100+0.7*(GAPA/GAPtotal)*100

Table A2. Capacity index


GNI, PPP ODA GAP to
CAPACITY
Country (2008, $m (projection 0.7%
INDEX (%)
int’l.) 2010, $m) ODA
United States 14,226,600 24,705 74,881 49.62
EU 13,403,322 63,878 33,102 28.05
France 2,135,800 10,130 4,821 4.24
Germany 2,951,820 11,691 8,972 7.02
UK 2,225,490 14,185 1,393 2.61
Italy 1,843,010 3,426 9,475 6.32
Spain 1,404,400 5,652 4,179 3.29
Netherlands 667,939 5,323 0 0.57
Belgium 378,856 2,706 0 0.33
Sweden 348,291 3,915 0 0.30
Greece 318,029 525 1,701 1.12
Austria 311,479 1,178 1,002 0.77
Portugal 237,204 608 1,052 0.73
Denmark 206,202 2,299 0 0.18
Finland 190,989 1,112 224 0.28
Ireland 158,028 824 282 0.28
Luxembourg 25,785 304 0 0.02
Japan 4,493,670 8,501 22,954 15.32
Canada 1,289,510 3,542 5,484 3.85
Australia 798,320 2,460 3,128 2.25
Switzerland 299,845 1,881 217 0.37
Norway 282,518 2,849 0 0.24
New Zealand 107,563 324 428 0.31
TOTAL 34,901,348 108,140 140,198 100.00
Sources: World Development Indicators, World Bank for the GNI and OECD Secretariat Projections
for the ODA 2010 OECD estimate

40
Notes
1
‘Rome Principles for Sustainable Global Food Security’, Declaration of the World Summit on Food Security,
16–18 November 2009, Rome, FAO,
http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/wsfs/Summit/Docs/Final_Declaration/WSFS09_Declaration.pdf (last
accessed July 2010).
2
‘UN Millennium Declaration’, Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, 8 September 2000.
3
1.02 billion hungry people is the highest level since 1970, which is the first date for which data of this type are
available. FAO (2009) ‘1.02 billion people hungry’, FAO Media Centre, 19 June 2009.
http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/20568/icode/ (last accessed July 2010).
4
United Nations (2009) The Millennium Development Goals Report 2009, New York: United Nations.

  
5
The first MDG – to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger – has three targets: 1) To halve the proportion of
people living on less than $1 a day; 2) to achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all; and
3) to halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. Progress on the third target, which is the focus of
this report, is measured by two indicators: a) prevalence of underweight children under five years of age (be-
ing underweight to be below 2 standard deviation (SD) of the National Center for Health Statistics
(NCHS)/World Health Organization (WHO) reference median); and b) the proportion of the population below
the minimum level of dietary energy consumption (the minimum standard is 2,100 calories per day). To sim-
plify, in the report, we refer to this second indicator as the proportion of hungry people. Source: ‘Revising Indi-
cators of Sustainable Development - Status and Options’, United Nations Division for Sustainable Develop-
ment Expert Group Meeting on Indicators of Sustainable Development, 3–4 October 2006, New York.
6
In the developing world, the change was from 20 per cent (826 million people) in 1990–92 to 16 per cent (858
million) in 2004–06. FAO (2003) The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2003: Monitoring Progress
Towards the World Food Summit and Millennium Development Goals, Rome: FAO; and Hunger Statistics at
http://www.fao.org/hunger
7
In 2008, both the proportion and the number of hungry people in the world rose, reaching 13.6 per cent and
915 million respectively, and in 2009, the proportion reached 15 per cent: 1.02 billion people. FAO (2009) The
State of Food Insecurity in the World: Economic Crises – Impacts and Lessons Learned, Rome: FAO.
8
Of 117 countries analysed by UNICEF, only 63 are on the road to fulfilling the goal of reducing the prevalence
of underweight children under five years of age. UNICEF (2009) Tracking Progress on Child and Maternal
Nutrition, New York: UNICEF.
9
FAO (2009) op. cit.
10
Ibid.
11
Von Grebmer et. al.(2009) 2009 Global Hunger Index. The Challenge of Hunger: Focus on Financial Crisis
and Gender Inequality. Bonn, Washington D.C., Dublin. Welt Hunger Hilfe, IFPRI, Concern Worldwide.
12
Guatemala ranks second in the world in terms of unequal land distribution. According to the 2003 census, 8
per cent of commercial farmers own around 80 per cent of cultivated land, while 92 per cent of subsistence
farmers use the remaining 20 per cent. Expansion of monocultures for export (sugar cane, banana and palm
oil) is dispossessing indigenous populations, whose rights are not legally protected. For more information, see
Intermón Oxfam (2010) ‘Combatir el hambre en Guatemala: un análisis de la eficacia de la ayuda española a
los sectores de agricultura, desarrollo rural y seguridad alimentaria’.
13
FAO (2009) op. cit.
14
FAO Investment Centre reports that ODA for agriculture dropped from 18 per cent of total ODA in 1979 to 3
per cent in 2004. FAO Investment Centre, ‘Increased Agricultural Investment is Critical to Fighting Hunger’,
http://www.fao.org/tc/tci/whyinvestinagricultureandru/en/ (last accessed July 2010). In spite of the recent
increase in response to the crisis, in 2008 it represented only 4.9 per cent of the total ODA (including
agricultural, forestry and fishing sectors) according to the Creditor Reporting System of the OECD–DAC.
15
For example, in this period, rice crop productivity increased by 32 per cent and wheat by 51 per cent. Oxfam
International (2009) ‘Investing in Poor Farmers Pays: Rethinking How to Invest in Agriculture’, Briefing Paper
129, Oxford: Oxfam International.
16
Today the states whose economies depend on agriculture dedicate only 4 per cent of their national budget to
it, while in industrialized economies the figure is close to 15 per cent. FAO (2009) op. cit. Computing both
public and private sources, developing countries invest only one-ninth of the amount that developed countries
spend on agricultural research and development, as a percentage of agricultural GNI. World Bank (2007)
2008 World Development Report: Agriculture for Development, Washington D.C.: World Bank.
17
L. Brown (2006) Plan B: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble, 2nd edn, New York and
London: W.W. Norton.
18
World Bank (2007) op. cit.
19
In 2008 alone, OECD countries supported their own producers with $265bn (statistics from OECD Producer
Support Estimates). For a comprehensive analysis, see also Oxfam (2002) Rigged Rules and Double
Standards: Trade, Globalisation and the Fight Against Poverty, Oxford. Oxfam International.
20
In 1970, the least advanced countries imported 8 per cent of the cereal they consumed, 18 per cent of the

41
sugar and 9 per cent of vegetable oil. In 2009, they imported 17 per cent of cereal, 45 per cent of sugar and
55 per cent of vegetable oil. FAO (2009) op. cit.
21
Oxfam (2010) ‘Haiti: A Once-in-a-Century Chance for Change’, Briefing Paper 136, Oxford: Oxfam
International.
22
Oxfam (2008) ‘Double-Edged Prices: Lessons from the Food Price Crisis – 10 Actions Developing Countries
Should Take’, Briefing Paper 121, Oxford: Oxfam International.
23
The fall in price of some food commodities has been widely attributed to faltering consumer/import demand
because of the global recession and limited availability of credit, as well as to lower biofuel feedstock demand
resulting from lower energy prices. It is still uncertain how these factors will evolve in the short term and affect
the future of agricultural markets. FAO (2009) The State of Food and Agriculture: Livestock in the Balance,
Rome: FAO.
24
FAO (2010) ‘Wheat sends food prices up. FAO Food Price Index climbs five per cent in August’ FAO Media
Centre. 1 September 2010. http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/45006/icode/ (last Accessed September
2010).
25
High energy prices are assumed to remain in the next decade. A further increase in oil prices could be
expected to increase input and production costs, having an impact on crop supplies, prices and trade flows,
and reinforce feedstock demand for biofuels. See OECD–FAO (2010) Agricultural Outlook 2010–2019,
France: OECD–FAO.
26
Ibid.
27
Oxfam (2010) ‘Climate Change Adaptation: Enabling People Living in Poverty to Adapt’, Research Report,
Oxford: Oxfam GB.
28
IFPRI (2009) Climate Change: Impact on Agriculture and Costs of Adaptation, Food Policy Report,
Washington D.C.: IFPRI.
29
World Food Programme (2009) Climate Change and Hunger: Responding to the Challenge, Geneva: WFP.
30
FAO (2009) ‘Hunger in the Face of Crisis’, Economic and Social Perspectives Policy Brief No. 6, September,
Rome: FAO.
31
For more information on the drivers, actors and implications of land grabbing, see GRAIN (2008) ‘Seized: The
2008 Land Grab for Food and Financial Security’, http://www.grain.org/briefings/?id=212 (last accessed July
2010); L. Cotula, S. Vermeulen, R. Leonard and J. Keeley (2009) Land Grab or Development Opportunity?
Agricultural Investment and International Land Deals in Africa, London/Rome: FAO, International Institute for
Environment and Development (IIED) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); FAO
(2009) ‘From Land Grab to Win-Win: Seizing the Opportunities of International Investments in Agriculture’
Economic and Social Perspectives Policy Brief 4, June; Dr. M. Görgen, Dr. B. Rudloff, Dr. J. Simons,
A. Üllenberg, S. Väth and L. Wimmer (2009) Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Land in Developing
Countries, Eschborn: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ); De Schutter (2009)
‘Large-Scale Land Acquisitions and Leases: A Set of Core Principles and Measures to Address the Human
Rights Challenge’, Special Rapporteur on the right to food; J. von Braun and R.S. Meinzen-Dick (2009) ‘”Land
Grabbing” by Foreign Investors in Developing Countries: Risks and Opportunities’, IFPRI Policy Brief;
V. Songwe and K. Deininger (2009) ‘Foreign Investment in Agricultural Production: Opportunities and
Challenges’, Agriculture & Rural Development Notes, Issue 45, January; S. Daniel and A. Mittal (2009) The
Great Land Grab: Rush for World’s Farmland Threatens Food Security for the Poor, California: The Oakland
Institute; S. Daniel and A. Mittal (2010) (Mis)Investment in Agriculture: The Role of International Finance
Corporation in Global Land Grab, California: The Oakland Institute.
32
Price volatility measures how much the price of a commodity fluctuates over a given time frame using the
standard deviation of prices. In the first four months of 2008 volatility in wheat and rice prices approached
record highs (twice the level of the previous year for wheat and five times for rice). High volatility attracts
speculative activities and was one of the factors prompting the past global food crisis. See FAO (2009) The
State of Agricultural Commodity Markets. High food prices and the food crises – experiences and lessons
learned.
33
This commitment was reaffirmed in 2002 with the Monterrey Consensus for Financing of Development, and in
the G8 meeting at Gleneagles in 2005, where the EU member countries set a roadmap to reach 0.7 per cent
by 2015.
34
‘Rome Declaration on World Food Security’, World Food Summit, Rome: 13–17 November 1996.
35
Demographic projections predict a world population of 7.3 billion people by 2015. Population Division of the
Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat (2009). World Population
Prospects: The 2008 Revision, New York: United Nations,
http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp2008/pdf/WPP2008_Selected_Tables_1.pdf (last accessed July 2010).
36
FAO (2003) Anti-Hunger Programme. A Twin-Track Approach to Hunger Reduction: Priorities for National
and International Action, Rome: FAO.
37
‘Declaration of the High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and
Bioenergy’. Rome: 5 June 2008.
38
Statement by Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the FAO, at the opening of the High-Level Conference on
World Food Security in Rome, June 2008.

42
39
‘G8 Leaders Statement on Global Food Security’, Toyako, 7–9 July 2009.
40
‘Statement of the Madrid High-Level Meeting on Food Security for All’, Madrid, 26–27 January 2009.
41
At the Madrid meeting, Spain announced that it would dedicate €1bn over the next five years for agricultural
and food security programmes.
42
United Nations Secretary-General (2010) Keeping the Promise: A Forward-Looking Review to Promote an
Agreed Action Agenda to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, Geneva: UN General
Assembly, A/64/665.
43
The L’Aquila Food Security Initiative (AFSI) was endorsed by the G8 and by Angola, Algeria, Australia, Brazil,
Denmark, Egypt, Spain, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Libya (Presidency of the African Union), Mexico, Nigeria,
the Netherlands, People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea, Senegal, South Africa, Turkey, the
Commission of the African Union, FAO, International Energy Agency (IEA), IFAD, the International Labour
Organization (ILO), IMF, OECD, the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Task Force on the World Food
Security Crisis, the WFP, the World Bank, the WTO, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), the
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the Global Donor Platform for Rural
Development and the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR).
44
‘L’Aquila Joint Statement on Global Food Security, L’Aquila Food Security Initiative’, 10 July 2009.
45
G8 Canada (2010) ‘Muskoka Accountability Report : Assessing Action and Results Against Development-
Related Commitments’.
46
Communication by Oxfam International and Ucodep Campaign Office (Italy)
47
Communication by Oxfam America.
48
The climate-related challenges faced by developing countries clearly impose an additional cost burden on
national budgets and on individuals and households. It follows, therefore, that the funding provided from the
global community should be additional. See Oxfam (2009) ‘Beyond Aid: Ensuring Adaptation to Climate
Change Works for the Poor’, Briefing Paper 132.
49
Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted in 1948) says that ‘Everyone has the right to
a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family [sic], including food,
clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of
unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond
his control.’ Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted in 1966
establishes that ‘The States Parties will recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for
himself and his family [sic], including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous
improvement of living conditions; take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to
this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on free consent, recognizing the
fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger.’
50
It is estimated that only a quarter of developing countries exposed to the crisis have enough fiscal capability
to cope with it and, of these, one-third depend on international aid. World Bank (2010) ‘The Global Economic
Crisis: Assessing Vulnerability with a Poverty Lens’, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM)
Network Policy Note, New York: World Bank.
51
Although total aid registered a small increase, from $122bn in 2008 to $123bn in 2009, the amount of aid fell
by $3.5bn when compared to 2009 prices. See Oxfam International (2010) ‘Rich country donors still well off-
track on their aid commitments’, Oxfam International, 14 April,
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/applications/blogs/pressoffice/?p=12119 (last accessed July 2010).
52
FAO (2009) TheState of Food Insecurity in the World, op. cit.
53
In 2009, ODA plummeted in Italy by 31 per cent, in Ireland by 19 per cent, and in Germany by 12 per cent.
Spain has announced a cut of €800m over the next two years, which will probably be more once cuts in
decentralized ODA are accounted for.
54
World Food Programme (2008) ‘Food Aid Flows 2008’, Rome: WFP.
55
Oxfam International (2009) ‘A Billion Hungry People: Governments and Aid Agencies Must Rise to the
Challenge’, Briefing Paper 127, Oxford: Oxfam International.
56
There are numerous examples of producers being displaced from the market by the flow of international
foodstuffs. For example, donor response to the food deficit in Malawi in 2002–03 made corn prices fall by
$150 per ton in the course of one year. Local corn, yucca and rice production fell sharply and losses to the
national economy were estimated at $15m. See F. Mousseau (2004) Southern African Regional Poverty
Network (SARPN) ‘Roles of and Alternatives to Food Aid in Southern Africa’.
57
The OECD calculated that the purchase of food from neighboring countries may be up to 33 per cent cheaper
than transport from the donor country. See E. Clay (2004) ‘The Development Effectiveness of Food Aid and
the Effects of its Tying Status’, OECD Development Assistance Committee (DCD/DAC/EFF(2004)9). See
also Oxfam (2009) ‘A Billion Hungry People’, op. cit.
58
The CFA and all other institutional proposals for challenging food and nutrition insecurity in the world put
small-scale agriculture at the centre of productive development. See the HLTF Comprehensive Framework
for Action, ‘L’Aquila Joint Statement on Global Food Security’.
59
Oxfam International (2009) ‘Investing in Poor Farmers Pays: Rethinking How to Invest in Agriculture’, Briefing

43
Paper 129, Oxford: Oxfam International.
60
According to WFP Hunger Stats, more than 60 per cent of hungry people are women,
http://www.wfp.org/hunger/stats
61
IFPRI (2000) ‘Women: The Key to Food Security’. Issue Brief No. 3, Washington D.C.: IFPRI. In many African
countries, women account for up to 80 per cent of food production, UN Department of Public Information,
‘Women Farmers: the “Invisible" Producers.’ Africa Recovery,
http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol11no2/women.htm (last accessed July 2010).
62
IFPRI (2008) ‘Promising Approaches to Address the Needs of Poor Female Farmers’, Discussion Paper,
Washington D.C.: IFPRI.
63
FAO ‘Women, agriculture and food security’ factsheet,
http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsummit/english/fsheets/women.pdf (last accessed July 2010).
64
M. Benschop (2004) ‘Women’s Rights to Land and Property’, Contribution from UN-HABITAT to the
Commission on Sustainable Development.
65
E. Northoff, ‘FOOD: Women farmers are invisible actors in hunger drama’, Inter Press Service,
http://www.ansa-africa.net/uploads/documents/publications/World_News_Women_farmers.pdf (last accessed
July 2010).
66
FAO (1997) ‘Higher Agricultural Education and Opportunities in Rural Development for Women: An Overview
and Summary of Five Case-Studies’, Rome: FAO.
67
OECD (2007) Aid in Support of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, OECD–DAC Secretariat.
68
These principles were ratified in the World Summit on Food Security in Rome, and became known as the
‘Rome Principles’. ‘Declaration of the World Summit on Food Security’, Rome, November 2009.
69
Global Donor Platform for Rural Development (2009) Joint Donor Principles for Agriculture and Rural
Development Programmes: Incentives for Change, Bonn: Global Donor Platform for Rural Development. The
principles are: ownership by partner countries; alignment with national development strategies, institutions
and procedures; harmonization among donors; managing for results; and mutual accountability.
70
Oxfam International Research Report (2009) ‘Aid for Agriculture: Turning Promises into Reality on the
Ground. Co-ordinating Donor Interventions in Three West African Countries’, Oxford: Oxfam International;
Intermón Oxfam Research Report (2010) ‘Combatir el hambre en Guatemala: un análisis de la eficacia de la
ayuda española a los sectores de agricultura, desarrollo rural y seguridad alimentaria’.
71
FAO (2009) Pathways to Success: Success Stories in Agricultural Production and Food Security, Rome:
FAO.
72
The most recent statistics on hunger are from 2004–06. When more recent data are published, we will know if
the trend of progress has continued after the impact of the increase in food prices and the economic crisis.
73
It is estimated that half of the hungry people in the world depend on small-scale farming; 20 per cent are
landless farmers and 10 per cent live from herding livestock, harvesting and fishing. UN Millennium Project
Task Force on Hunger (2005) Halving Hunger: It Can Be Done, New York: United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP).
74
J. Fanzo and P. Pronyk (2010) ‘An Evaluation of Progress toward the Millennium Development Goal One
Hunger Target: A Country-Level, Food and Nutrition Security Perspective’, Center for Global Health and
Economic Development The Earth Institute of Columbia University.
75
The World Food Programme advocates for food distribution in the country and their 'refugee' food programme
goes on till December 2012. See www.wfp.org/countries/malawi.
76
FAO (2009) Pathways to Success, op. cit.
77
FAO, IFAD, WFP (2002) Reducing Poverty and Hunger: The Critical Role of Financing for Food, Agriculture
and Rural Development, Paper Prepared for the International Conference on Financing for Development
Monterrey, Mexico, 18–22 March 2002, Rome: FAO Economic and Social Development Department.
78
UN Millennium Project (2005) op. cit.
79
FAO (2008) ‘Soaring Food Prices: Facts, Perspectives, Impacts and Actions Required’, HLC/08/INF/1.
80
In 2008, the minimum salary in Guatemala was less than 1,500 quetzales (about $150). That same year, the
basic food basket cost 1,900 quetzals (about $190). Intermón Oxfam (2010) op. cit.
81
Fanzo and Pronyk (2010) op. cit.
82
In 2005, all of the EU countries that are members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) pledged
to dedicate at least 0.51 per cent of their GNI to ODA by 2010. But the OECD calculates that DAC donors will
only spend $107bn (in 2004 dollars) in 2010 as opposed to the almost $130bn promised at the Gleneagles
Summit and the Millennium + 5 Summit. OECD (2010) ‘Donors’ mixed aid performance for 2010 sparks
concern’, http://www.oecd.org/document/20/0,3343,en_2649_34447_44617556_1_1_1_37413,00.html (last
accessed July 2010).
83
The G8 Muskoka Accountability Report shows clearly that the promise made at Gleneagles in 2005 to
increase aid will be broken, and there is no plan stating how to fill the $20bn shortfall over the next two years.

44
For Africa, figures are even worse; OECD estimates that the shortfall will be $14bn on a promise of $25bn.
The G8 have delivered less than half of the commitments they made.  
84
FAO (2003) Anti-Hunger Programme, op. cit.
85
For a definition of aid to ‘agriculture’, ‘rural development’, ‘nutrition’, etc, see OECD–DAC (2010) ‘Measuring
Aid to Agriculture’, http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/54/38/44116307.pdf (last accessed July 2010).
86
A study mentioned by FAO estimates that during the last decade, developing countries on average invested
$142bn in agriculture. FAO (2009) ‘Investment: The Challenge’, High-level Expert Forum on How to Feed the
World 2050, Rome, 12–13 October.
87
African countries committed themselves to this goal in 2003 by means of the Maputo Declaration, with the
aim of increasing agricultural productivity by at least 6 per cent by 2008. However, only 7 of the 53 African
countries have complied (Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Zimbabwe). In most of
them, the proportion of hungry people has been reduced See ActionAid (2009) ‘Five Out Of Ten? Assessing
Progress Towards the AU’s 10% Budget Target for Agriculture’, London: ActionAid.
88
Of this total, $6.65bn went to agriculture and rural development. Therefore, the ODA for these sectors should
reach a total of close to $31bn a year. The most recent data are from 2008, registered in the OECD–DAC’s
Creditor Reporting System, http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DatasetCode=CRSNEW (last accessed May
2010).
89
If the total ODA needed ($53.3bn annually) is divided by the number of people who would no longer be
hungry (341 million, see Annex 2), the result would be $156 per year for each person rescued from hunger.
90
Oxfam International (2009) ‘Beyond Aid: Ensuring Adaptation to climate change works for the poor’, Briefing
Paper 132, Oxford: Oxfam International.
91
A tax of just 0.05 per cent applied to financial transactions would raise $400bn annually, half to invest in
domestic issues and the other $200bn for issues in developing countries. Of this, $100bn should contribute to
ODA and $100bn to adaptation to climate change.
92
For current spending, the OECD forecasts for 2010 have been used.

93 The European Union (27) Producer Support Estimate in 2008 was $135.6bn, from which categories A (sup-
port based on commodity output) and B (payments based on input use) are considered the most distorting,
and accounted to $65.2bn. Producer and Consumer Support Estimates dabatase,
http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DatasetCode=CRSNEW (last accessed July 2010).

94 US Producer Support Estimate in 2008 was $27bn, according to the Producer and Consumer Support Esti-
mates dabatase,
http://www.oecd.org/document/59/0,3343,en_2649_33797_39551355_1_1_1_37401,00.html#country (last
accessed July 2010). Regarding US support to biofuels, recent research shows that the US spent over
$9.5bn in 2008 supporting its biofuels’ industry by means of tax credits and the Renewable Fuels Standard.
See: Earth Track and Friends of the Earth (2009): “A Boon to Bad Biofuels”.

95 FAO (2005) ‘Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in
the Context of National Food Security’, Rome: FAO,
www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/009/y9825e/y9825e00.HTM (last accessed July 2010).
96
The CFS must be the main international body for co-ordinating and following up actions for global food
security. For detailed analysis of the CFS and proposals, see Oxfam (2009) ‘Bridging the Divide: The Reform
of Global Food Security Governance’, Briefing Note, Oxford: Oxfam International.
97
FAO (2003) Anti-Hunger Programme, op. cit., p 34.
98
To consult DAC deflators, see www.oecd.org/dataoecd/43/43/34980655.xls
99
UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2009) op. cit.

45
© Oxfam International September 2010

This paper was written by Arantxa Guereña with contributions by Luca


Chinotti, Sonia Goicoechea, Jean-Denis Crola and Eric Hazard. The author
also acknowledges Javier Perez, Chris Leather, Rob Bailey, Thierry
Kesteloot, Teresa Cavero, José Antonio Hernández, Raquel Gomes,
Madelon Meijer, Duncan Green, Emma Seery, Nathalie Beghin, Colin Roche
and Saya Saulière, who provided valuable comments in its production. The
text may be used free of charge for the purposes of advocacy, campaigning,
education, and research, provided that the source is acknowledged in full.
The copyright holder requests that all such use be registered with them for
impact assessment purposes. For copying in any other circumstances, or for
re-use in other publications, or for translation or adaptation, permission must
be secured and a fee may be charged. E-mail publish@oxfam.org.uk.

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