In a timely publication released last week, “Growing a Better Future,” Oxfam reported that the rapid increase in the price of staples like corn has led 44 million more people to hunger in the last year and these food costs are expected to only rise, doubling by 2020, if drastic measures are not taken to address the issues of increasing demand for food and decreasing capacity to produce it.

As Former President Lula of Brazil noted in an Oxfam press release,  “There are no excuses. We have the capacity to feed everyone on the planet now and in the future. If the political will is there no one will be denied their fundamental human right to be free from hunger.”

However, the issue is complex and far-reaching. For example, one of the leading contributors to deforestation is clear-cutting for agricultural purposes. This may create more planting and grazing lands thus addressing the food supply problem, but it robs the planet of many more important resources and has devastating impacts on the climate which ultimately affects agriculture.

In addition to their Growing a Better Future report, Oxfam has also introduced a 5-point plan of urgent actions to address the food crises: investing in small-scale food producers; ending excessive speculation in agricultural commodities; modernizing food aid; stopping giveaways to the corn-ethanol industry; and regulating land and water grabs. These are sound ideas and should be discussed at length by the G20 ministers as plausible courses of action.

That’s over 166 million undernourished people who live in countries experiencing protracted crises, almost triple the number in other developing countries.

The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2010 hunger report suggests that chronic hunger and food insecurity are two of the most common characteristics of a protracted crisis.

Protracted crises, which go on for years, need long term solutions. Improving agricultural methods to increase the amount of available food is a cornerstone of what’s needed. Currently agriculture receives just 3 to 4 percent of development and humanitarian assistance funds even though it provides the main source of food and income for almost two thirds of the countries’ people.

Also providing social protection and livelihood support is important. School meals, cash and food-for-work activities and vouchers can make a vital difference in the long term, the report suggests.

The Committee on World Food Security will be meeting in Rome from October 11-16 to discuss this report and potential solutions.

International agricultural research is designed to benefit the farmers, environment, and economies of developing countries, suggests the Crawford Fund.  It’s an effective way to help people living in less developed countries, the majority of whom are living in rural areas and are dependent on the land for employment and their food security.

The Crawford Fund is an Australian NGO focused on raising awareness of the benefits of international agricultural research to developing countries.  The Fund’s annual conference is billed as one of the very few international events that focuses on food security related to biodiversity, and sees value in both feeding and greening our world.  The impact of climate change on both conservation and biodiversity will be addressed in the Fund’s 2010 event “Biodiversity and World Food Security: Nourishing the Planet and its People”, to be held in Canberra, August 30 to September 1. 

The Crawford Fund conference’s definition of biodiversity includes “the plants that feed, clothe, house, and heal people; crops, aquatic and livestock species that feed us; insects that pollinate fields; the forests that are the lungs of the planet; and microorganisms that regenerate the soils that grow our food”.  The concept includes finding solutions to climate change, species invasions, ignorance and neglect.

Conference speakers include the 14th Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Professor Steve Hopper), and the Director of the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution (Dr. Cristian Samper).

Margie Fleming Glennon, Communications Director of Share Our Strength, kindly gave me some insights into the aid effort as well as about her organization.  Share Our Strength has given $145,000 to five organizations with the capacity and expertise to respond to such a huge crisis.  The funding ranges from $67,500 for Partners in Health, to $25,000 for each of CHF International and the United Nations Foundation, $22,500 for CARE, and $5,000 for the International Organization for Migration.

Haiti’s immediate needs must be addressed first, as aid is struggling to get in and issues around starvation and security loom.  VoicesForOurPlanet.com joins our readers in wishing the aid organizations and the people in Haiti all the very best and pray for them daily.

Once the current crisis settles down, there will be a need for long-term assistance, and that’s where Share Our Strength will continue to help.  The organization specializes in feeding the hungry.  Hunger has been a long-standing issue in Haiti, one which is expected to be even more urgent going forward.

Share Our Strength is in the planning stages with chefs across the United States, many of whom they have long-established relationships with.  And history.  Following Hurricane Katrina, the organization managed the Restaurants for Relief program, which helped raise money to rebuild New Orleans.  Now they will step forward to do the same for Haiti.

So what does Share Our Strength do between major crises, and where does their money come from?  The organization’s mission is to end hunger in the United States.  Having been founded 25 years ago to help provide aid to the Ethiopian famine, Share Our Strength today continues to provide some international support, although it’s a small part of their budget.  They have been addressing the ongoing problem of hunger in Haiti for around 20 years, which takes the largest portion of their international aid budget.  Now, obviously, they are giving Haiti a much greater focus.

The organization is likely familiar to many of you, through some of their well-known events.  The flagship event is Taste of the Nation(R), which started in 1988 and today is America’s largest culinary event.  Presented by American Express, popular restaurants in 55 US cities offer food and beverage tastings, involving over 10,000 chefs.  The events are entirely managed by volunteers, and raise millions of dollars each year that Share Our Strength uses to support over 1,000 hunger organizations as well as its own food programs.

Margie also mentioned several other major programs that her organization manages, including the Great American Bake Sale and the Great American Dine Out events.  Their Operation Frontline program helps teach low-income families to shop and cook on a budget.  They are also starting a new program focused on people with diabetes in 20 communities across the US.

As well, in the summer of 2009, Share Our Strength surveyed American teachers about child hunger in the classroom.  Responses came from 700 teachers in 47 states and a wide range of schools.  Sixty-two percent of teachers reported seeing children who come to school hungry each week because they are not getting enough to eat at home.  Sixty-three percent of teachers mentioned that they use their own money to help feed children in their school.  They likely understand the negative cycle to which hunger can lead.  If you’ve ever been hungry, you may remember how distracting it can be.  Distracted children, unfortunately, are often labeled as misbehaving, a label which can stick and lead to medical and societal problems when the children are a little older.

From feeding hungry children in the United States to the massive rebuilding that needs to be done in Haiti, Share Our Strength is committed to working with other organizations to make a positive impact.  For more information about Share Our Strength and to find out how you can help, visit their website.