|
World, international institutions have to throw all resources against hunger
2006-04-19 12:19:18
By
When the Government of Tanzania announced that people in drought hit areas had no food and unable to support on their own, it met that some help was needed from all cycles. The government was the first to send some help to families affected.
Hunger endangers the life of mankind from a quick look, but observations have shown that even the livestock in those areas are also at danger.
In Arusha, carcasses of dead animals were at eyesight to whoever visited the place.
At the time of hunger livestock is used as lifesaver when there is still plenty of water and dry grass to feed on, but when drought persists, killing livestock becomes a second thought; because even the animals begin to die and become a funeral time.
It should therefore be part of the exercise that when fighting hunger that is caused by drought, people should also think of how they could also save the livestock.
Hay and other livestock feeds should be provided along with human food to keep life going for the farmers after hunger is pushed away.
Do we need an Alliance in fighting hunger? The answer is obvious, yes.
In many cases hunger has been a problem or a threat to the rural people who produce the food we all eat.
These people cultivate for food and business. They sell part of their produce to the urban people; and big traders haul all the food to their stores in the urban where there is a ready market.
Besides the government taking care of the hungry in the rural areas, the traders in farm produce should move along with the government, because the producers of their business are hungry. Hungry stomachs won’t go to farm.
The call by the government for people to give their support has been well responded and pledges are reported to be rising day after day.
The World Bank has waved away its debts to Tanzania hoping that some of the money saved will be channeled into supporting rural development.
The move by indigenous Tanzanians to raise funds to fight hunger has been another lesson for neighbours to follow.
In Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea and many other parts of the sub-Sahara countries have the same problem for many years now but such efforts have not been made.
However, what Tanzania is doing is not new.
Three of the major United Nations organizations – the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have formed what is now an International Alliance Against Hunger (IAAH).
The alliance which was officially launched on the World Food Day 2003, is now reported to rapidly becoming an influential global partnership determined to fight against hunger and poverty more effective.
The idea of forming the alliance came from a suggestion by the Germany President, Johannes Rau, at the 1996 World Food Summit.
Leaders attending the 2001 World Food Summit, five years later, sought ways to accelerate progress towards the goal of reducing by half the number of hungry people in the world. Hunger in Tanzania has been caused by a long drought.
By supporting both the people and their livestock, we would be fighting both hunger and poverty. The saved livestock would be sold out to buy other family requirements.
Tanzania can learn much from IAAH. The organisation boasts, among its members, international NGOs representing some 35 million people, including Action Aid International and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) and religious and social movements such as Caritas Internationalis.
Private companies are also not left out and entrepreneurs work to spearhead national alliance coordinating the campaign to eradicate hunger at all levels.
Tanzania, though still too early to see the results, has used the same principle to eradicate hunger in the 2005/2006 period. Private companies, NGOs, international donors and governments have joined the fight.
What we need now is to form an alliance that will work year after year to evaluate achievements and failures during the fight.
In time of plenty, the alliance should work to support the government to store as much food as the stores could hold.
|
