Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Head-to-head: Africa's food crisis

This article details the contributory factors influencing Africa’s food crisis, as well as advances potential solutions to this deepening crisis.
Article Excerpts:
What are the solutions?
Political will to carry out what we know can halve hunger by 2015 and eliminate hunger altogether, including:
~Investment in Africa's agriculture and rural sector
~Dismantling of trade barriers and investment in African expertise to take advantage of trade opportunities
~Reducing malnutrition among mothers and children so that the generational cycle of poor nutrition and poverty is broken
~Improving and expanding basic education; the adoption of governance approaches that ensure accountability to citizens, including the vulnerable among them and empowering the African ~Union and other regional bodies to take responsibility for peace and security on the continent

“People are hungry because they are powerless and powerless because they are hungry. It's a vicious cycle. Drought can and does happen in other places; wars do happen with equal ferocity in other places. What turns drought and other natural or unnatural disasters into famine, chronic hunger, mass death, etc is the power relation between the victims and those who control, govern, rule or misrule them.”

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Assalaamu Alaykum,

I realise that funding or aid is a very important issue in the fight against hunger and poverty in Africa. But, what can a person do educationally to insure that they can go to Africa and work on the ground to alievate the effects of poverty and hunger? I feel that giving money is wonderful, but awareness and education is the first step and genuine empathy for human life will allow people to lossen the purse to support the cause of humanity.Your site offers a great number of reasources that provide information to develop awareness and answers to the question of Africa's survival in this globalizing world. I would like to know how can I help with my hands, with my voice, with my heart. What organizations are looking for students to aid them in this work? I just want to be pointed in the right direction. I'll take my answer offline, Thank You.
----Sister Safa