Bob Geldof on World Food Security Summit in Rome –
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
3 June 2008
Bob Geldof has issued the following statement as leaders of developed and developing nations meet at the World Food Security Summit in Rome.
“The poor have always been hungry. For the past 25 years of subsidized agricultural surplus we have asked that the rich world help the poorest feed themselves - to finally feed the world. It is tragic that only now, while our food prices inflate, as the previously poor demand a better diet and as our oil-dependent economies stutter do we finally attempt to put in place that which was forewarned all those years ago.
“A resolution to this current crisis is of course available given that there is more than enough land and farmers to feed the world if we act coherently and cooperatively. And none of this should be done by in any way cutting or impinging upon already critically low aid budgets.
“The responsibility of power demands the care of the weak, hungry and ill. The first obligation of leadership is to lead. This is the task today in Rome. The failure of the last years must not be compounded by the indecision of now. For the lucky world food inflation is a problem of diet. For the poor it is starvation as usual. It is time that this is finally stopped.”
DATA’s Executive Director Jamie Drummond said:
“To help the poorest feed themselves requires creativity and urgency from the G8. This predictable tragedy could yet be turned into an opportunity. Leadership on this is precisely what Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda must offer for the Japan G8 and which President Nicolas Sarkozy must offer for the French Presidency of the EU. But in neither case can it be an excuse for old subsidy regimes, or abused as a means to distract attention from inadequate underlying aid levels.”
- DATA has urged the G8 host, Japan, to rally the rest of the G8 for increased emergency resources such as flexible food aid and inputs such as fertilisers, seeds and long term investments that will boost agricultural productivity, especially in Africa. We are also urging France to lead with real solutions as EU President in the second half of 2008.
- Currently global ODA for African agriculture is a grossly inadequate $2bn a year.
- Most estimates of what is needed to pursue an agricultural transformation in Africa suggest an additional annual investment of $9-12 billion over the next 15-20 years.
- Through the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), African governments have committed to spending 10% of their national budgets on agriculture which could yield an additional $5 billion to this effort.
- The UN has recently estimated that $8 billion is necessary from external financing alone by 2010. Thus the total financing gap is between $4-8 billion per year.
- Increased funding should also flow more efficiently. The new World Bank facility announced last week in Japan is an important way forward. New approaches must work in more effective coordination with the Alliance for a Green Revolution for Africa (AGRA) and with existing financing mechanisms for agricultural development, so the whole is more than the sum of its parts.
- No transparent and truly country-owned plan to scale up agricultural development, created in consultation with African smallholder farmers, should lack the necessary resources.
Notes for editors:
1. Due to a prior engagement, Bob Geldof is not available for interview.
2. Bob Geldof has been an advocate for African development and the fight against poverty for more than two decades. He works closely with DATA – an Africa advocacy group co-founded by U2 singer Bono - which raises awareness and promotes action to fight poverty and AIDS in Africa.
For more information please go to www.data.org <http://www.data.org/>
