Oxfam rejects hunger myths
By Ben Mensah
The Oxfam report has other instances of failure resulting from IMF sponsored programmes in the Third World, but perhaps it is its exposure of how the International Monetary Fund came to play such a crucial role in the economies of the Third World which underscores the futility of the struggle to feed the Third World.Ten years after the World Food Conference in Rome in 1974, the import of a statement by the then Secretary of State of the United States, Dr Henry Kissinger, comes under scrutiny in another discussion of the widespread hunger that afflicts the Third World.
He said, "the profound comment of our era is that for the first time we have the technical capacity to free mankind from the scourge of hunger. Therefore today we must proclaim a bold objective: that within a decade, no child will go to bed hungry, that no family will fear for its next day's bread and that no human being's future and capacity will be stunted by malnutrition".
Dr Kissinger's assertion over the technical capacity to produce enough to feed the entire population of the planet has been proved right, but his desire for a proclamation to free man- kind of the scourge of hunger has woefully failed to materialise. World food supplies are at record high levels but the excess food is now in the wrong place, and at a price the world's poor cannot afford.
An Oxfam publication, 'Cultivating Hunger' just released, notes that the number of hungry people has roughly doubled during the decade that Dr Kissinger referred to, and which has now passed. Over 500 million people - an eighth of humanity-suffer today from chronic malnutrition and the number of hungry people - women and children is increasing year by year, while over 15 million children a year die in infancy from hunger and related causes. Coinciding with the Oxfam publication is a release from United Nations officials in Africa on October 11 that up to 30,000 Chadian refugees had arrived in Sudan after fleeing drought and insecurity.
At first glance, this Oxfam report might easily be classified as one of the endless publications by such international organisations as World Bank and IMF which have vainly sought to find solutions to the economic problems of Third World countries.
A further look at it, however, reveals that the Oxfam publication is not a loyal adaptation of the other inter- national reports which also dwell on statistical issues such as Bolivia having 12 people per square mile, Holland having 1,117 and wondering why there is hunger in Bolivia but not Holland? Nor does it merely report factual situations like in Burkina where Oxfam field staff visited a leper hospital during the rainy season and found it empty with the severely disabled patients having discharged themselves to help in the fields where there are labour shortages. This is a report which strongly rejects the myth of blaming hunger in the Third World on over population and the vagaries of weather, the two main factors which form the basis of solutions and programmes that are usually imposed on Third World governments by the IMF.
This is a report which strongly rejects the myth of blaming hunger in the Third World on over population and the vagaries of weather, the two main factors which form the basis of solutions and programmes that are usually imposed on third world governments by the IMF.
A typical IMF adjustment pro- gramme introduced to a Third World country aims at reducing expenditure and at the same time to build up the productive base of the economy.
But this is what Oxfam's former Field Director for Coastal West Africa, Wyndham James, observed from an implementation of a similar programme in Guinea Bissau. He reported that Guinea Bissau, faced with falling prices and fluctuating markets, had no option but to ban the local sale of peanuts, its major crop so that the absolute maximum could be exported.
"But peanuts are a crucial protein locally at key times of year especially for children: their disappearance from the markets is likely to have a serious impact on nutrition. And what happens to Guinea Bissau peanuts? Most of them come to Europe to feed our pigs and cows," said Mr James.
His conclusion over the implementation of this IMF programme was that the poor in Guinea Bissau had be to fend for themselves and food production had been left to stagnate the national income from exports was not going to cover th of national debts and imports,
The Oxfam report has other instances of failure resulting from sponsored programmes in the Third World but perhaps it is its exposing how the International Monetary came to play such a crucial role in economies of the third world indicates the futility of the struggle to feed the Third World.
The report notes that a summit of the Western political leaders in Venice in 1979 fearing the collapse of international financial system, and unwilling to give or lend any more decided to remit the problem to h IMF.
To support its argument, the Oxfam report traces the traditional role of the IMF which is to help redress short-term balance of payments problems of the industrialised countries. "The IMF’ states, 'was not established a development agency, and its staff have consistently denied any responsibility for aiding development. Developing countries are not facing the kind short-term financial hiccup in which the IMF specialises, but a long-term structural problem.
It concludes, 'but the poor countries are not just worried about the appropriateness of the IMF's experience. They are equally concerned by the power balance within the structure.
All member countries of the IMF art allocated quotas, based on features such as the size of the economies and their participation in world trade. It is this quota which determines a country's voting strength in the Fund. Today 77% of IMF members are non-oil exporting developing countries but their voting strength is only 30%. This means that the policies of the IMF are effectively those of the governments of the rich.'
This being the case, what solutions are offered by Oxfam? Undoubtedly the report prepared by Nigel Twose concentrates on the need for change not only in the institutions controlled by the rich, it also calls on Third World governments to institute parallel changes in their agricultural policies.
