Hunger in Africa:
One Small NGO Making a Big Impact Part I
29 October, 2010 | By Kenda Swartz Pepper
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
human relationships in a global community and economy are all
directly connected to our fundamental attitudes about ourselves and
how we fit in the natural world. Given my admiration for Dr. Roba
and all the effort and passion he puts into his organization, I am
showcasing his interview in a two-part article.
For much of the past four years, Dr. Roba has been IFA, as in he is
not only the leader of IFA, he has been the one operating it, running
programs, and its main donor. With the help of his cousin acting as
VP, a skilled and dedicated marketing volunteer and now one
additional volunteer who is bringing her international policy expertise
to the table, IFA is picking up some momentum. As of recently,
three people are working for IFA in Ethiopia as well. For 2011,
IFA is focused on getting grants and opening an office in
Washington. IFA has big goals and they intend to expand their
reach.
The many causes of hunger in Ethiopia according to Dr. Roba:
Swartz Pepper: Please tell me more about specific unfair
national or international policies being imposed on Africa.
Dr. Roba: There is a contradiction of policy behaviors that
duplicate the problem. This is result of the US and EU doing two
things:
To further explain, Dr. Roba told me the two main bodies that have
hurt Africa are the World Bank and the IMF . US and EU
agricultural policies affect Africa. With the World Band and IMF,
the real problem is with a particular privatizing plan called structural
adjustment. Free trade is not free. The Europeans and Americans
have subsidized their farmers and through World Bank and IMF
force African countries to not subsidize their farmers. They force
African countries to reduce import tariffs while other countries
maintain high tariffs.
The IMF encourages African farmers to switch from growing food
for domestic markets to growing cash crops for export. So
traditional African crops like sorghum and cassava, yam and millet
are staples these people have relied on for centuries and removing
these foods contributes to hunger. If they had these foods, they
wouldn’t go hungry, but the World Bank and IMF forces these
African countries to switch to cash crops like coffee, tea and cotton
for exports. They sell these commodity markets for low prices and
use that money to buy cheap food imports from the US and
European countries.
One specific example is teff, a traditional staple in Ethiopia. It’s a
flour used to make the bread that most Ethiopians eat. It originates
from Ethiopia and is the traditional way of making food in Ethiopia.
It’s been around for thousands of years. A company from the
Netherlands patented a method of processing teff flour, because teff
after it is processed becomes gluten free and many people
worldwide who are dealing with Celiac Disease need gluten free
flour. The Ethiopian process itself is what takes the gluten out of the
flour. This Netherlands company can make money on this process
even though it’s originally an Ethiopian product and process. Now
this company has the infrastructure set up to deal with the intellectual
property issues while Ethiopia doesn’t have that structure.
Ethiopian farmers are being screwed out of the profits and are
locked out of this process.
Another example is agribusiness. Corporations like Monsanto are
selling GM (genetically modified) seed. They take a seed that is
indigenous to Africa and patent it by altering it genetically and then
selling it back to the farmers. Not only are farmers unable to use
the original unaltered seed, they are expected to buy the new
modified seed at 3-4 times the normal cost. Farmers cannot
compete.
Swartz Pepper: Describe what’s happening with intensive
food production in Africa
Dr. Roba: There are many types of Intensive Food Production in
Africa:
This is under the premise that it [intensive food production] will help
Africans feed themselves, yet the intent of intensive food production
offers no benefits to Africans and is more likely to increase the
problem.
Swartz Pepper: Describe the specific issues with factory
farming in Africa.
Dr. Roba: Besides factory farming being unethical and a problem
that will grow if we don’t take care of it now, there are multiple
issues regarding factory farming. These include but are not limited to:
The process of factory farming necessitates large amounts of water
and causes water shortages. It’s presumed the next wars will be
fought over water. When I left my country many years ago, it was
lush and fertile. When I returned, I would have to go to miles down
south to see fertile land. The Sahara is progressing about ten miles
a year and it’s going to be an issue in another 20-40 years in which
Ethiopia will be short of water.
When you alter the ecosystem, it cannot sustain biodiversity.
Biodiversity changes and dies. Factory farming alters the ecosystem
completely which leads to loss of biodiversity. My grandfather used
to tell me when he was growing up that 50-60 kilometers outside of
the capital city, you can hear lions and see giraffes. Now you have
to go 800 kilometers to see any animal. They are basically
disappearing.
When factory farming comes into a country in Africa, the intensive
animal agriculture farming process displaces small and medium sized
farms. These farmers are forced to migrate to cities where they
become unemployed, hungry, criminals and problems for the
government.
Factory farmed animals are pumped with chemicals such as growth
hormones and this creates a situation in which the health of the
animal is in question but also the health of the ecosystem supporting
that animal is in question. To maintain and expand factory farming,
these farms have to grow or get high quality grains. Developing
African countries will have to import grains to feed these animals.
Imagine a country living in hunger trying to import grains for animals
while their people are dying of hunger. Part of the unsustainability is
due to the decreased efficiency of factory farming; less food is
produced per acre and it reduces jobs.
This is a recent phenomenon as of the last five years or so.
Basically some call it ‘land grab’ some call it ‘neo-colonialism’. But
this time it’s not the British, it’s not the Dutch, it’s not the traditional
colonial powers; it’s companies from the Middle East and Asia who
are buying huge plots of land to produce very few crops that they
then ship back to their countries. Imagine Africans who are hungry
seeing food produced on their land being shipped out of their
country. They get nothing. The claim is that the host nation benefits
from this because their farming is upgraded from subsistence farming
to commercial farming. The governments that are leasing the lands
promise to pay the host government good money and promise to
improve the infrastructure.
Critics point out that actually none of these promises to the
host nation come to fruition and many problems arise as a
result of the land grabs. These problems include:
Swartz Pepper: Given all the problems with factory farming,
how is it that Ethiopia is allowing for it?
Dr. Roba: The government is open to various kinds of farming.
They don’t have any particular bias; they just want Ethiopia to get
out of its current status of poverty and hunger. Factory farming is
being sold as a way out of this issue. If the government is shown in
the long term that it hurts the economy and the ecosystem, they will
likely not be a proponent of it. At this point, they don’t have the
knowledge base to make the decision and are most interested in
taking care of their immediate needs. Factory farming has been sold
as the silver bullet and only recently are we seeing the negative
effects of it.
Swartz Pepper: What actions are being taken by IFA to
combat factory farming?
Dr. Roba: We are working to start the process of helping others
move away from the thinking that animal based foods are the way to
go and to encourage plant based farming and encourage people to
get involved in businesses that are eco-friendly. It will take time.
Factory farming is just beginning, so we have an opportunity to stop
it before it takes off.
IFA along with the local NGO’s are working to teach people in
rural parts of the country about the environmental consequences of
meat and dairy production and consumption. They are teaching
plant-based farming.
There was a town hall meeting in a small village in Ethiopia. We
were talking with rural people about a plant-based diet, global
warming and how overgrazing is causing problems in the
environment. These villagers, some not even wearing shoes, were
very interested and curious. Given how they are experiencing first-
hand the impact of global climate change, they got it. I live in
Houston where so many don’t believe in global warming, and here
was a group in a small village in Ethiopia who gets it.
IFA is working with local NGO’s to educate the government and
civil society to understand the negative effects of factory farming.
We believe that African solutions reside within Africa. African
farmers have a wealth of expertise, but they need help; help that is
sustainable and that respects the ecosystems within their boundaries.
In collaboration with donors and civil societies, African farmers can
produce foods that are ecologically sustainable. Dr. Roba shared
some examples of what can help African farmers:
If you would like to learn more about some of the farming and land
issues facing Ethiopia and other developing countries, the following
resources may be of service:
Brighter Green has a short, interesting, articulate and well-made
video focusing on Ethiopia and its multi-faceted and challenging
relationship with livestock in the context of food security, climate
change, development deficits, and ecological stress.
If you would like to learn more about corporate and foreign
government land grabs in poor countries, check out this link to
Democracy Now!
Tomorrow’s article will focus on Dr. Roba as an activist in Ethiopia
along with his views on activism.
My World Hunger Diet Experience
The only benefit I can remotely find – at least for today – for being
on the world hunger diet is that I am not spending much time in the
kitchen. The sad irony, however, is that the time I save in the
kitchen is lost in my brain. The result of my trying to function while
hungry surely adds up to lost productivity. I am making more
mistakes and find myself dazing off into space. Is ‘dazing’ even a
word? See what I mean? I’m out of it.
I awoke this morning feeling better than yesterday yet with a sinking
sense of sadness knowing I had more than ten hours to wait before
eating. By mid afternoon I had to continually tell myself, ‘No, you
cannot just go into the pantry and grab a handful of nuts, make a
peanut butter sandwich or eat a cookie.’ I had an incessant internal
battle going on in my mind, and it contributed to some irritability.
One side was telling me to stop being ridiculous and go eat
something besides no one will ever know, and the other side was
telling me to stop being ridiculous and ‘woman-up’. Then there was
one little part of me that held some compassion and told me
everything was going to be okay. I held onto that part all day, and I
got through it. One more large burrito for meal:30 but this time I
only ate about half the amount of vegan cheese I used yesterday.
Somehow it all works out, and looking back, the day went more
quickly than it seemed while I was in the mix of it.
If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature,
but by our institutions, great is our sin.
~ Charles Darwin
Courtesy
One Small NGO Making a Big Impact Part I
29 October, 2010 | By Kenda Swartz Pepper
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Hunger…and counting…according to the
empty pit in my stomach. Much like the
last series, I am trying to eat like (as in as
little as) the majority of the nearly one
billion people who are living with hunger.
I am reminded that I don’t like being
hungry.
- During my last world hunger series I
interviewed Dr. Anteneh Roba of the
International Fund for Africa (IFA), a
nonprofit that launched less than four
years ago. IFA believes our human
health, our treatment of each other and
non-human animals, our relationships to
Earth’s ecosystems and biosphere, our
human relationships in a global community and economy are all
directly connected to our fundamental attitudes about ourselves and
how we fit in the natural world. Given my admiration for Dr. Roba
and all the effort and passion he puts into his organization, I am
showcasing his interview in a two-part article.
For much of the past four years, Dr. Roba has been IFA, as in he is
not only the leader of IFA, he has been the one operating it, running
programs, and its main donor. With the help of his cousin acting as
VP, a skilled and dedicated marketing volunteer and now one
additional volunteer who is bringing her international policy expertise
to the table, IFA is picking up some momentum. As of recently,
three people are working for IFA in Ethiopia as well. For 2011,
IFA is focused on getting grants and opening an office in
Washington. IFA has big goals and they intend to expand their
reach.
The many causes of hunger in Ethiopia according to Dr. Roba:
- Wars within Africa and wars imposed on them by external
powers. - Unfair national and international agricultural policies.
- Social inequalities – in the same village, you can have both
wealthy and very poor. - Lack of justice – poor who don’t have the resources to fight
the system. - Unfair polices of the UN’s International Monetary Fund
(IMF) and the World Bank with their structural adjustment
policies that decimated a lot of African countries. - International commodity speculation on food that drives food
prices up and down on Wall Street and hurts African farmers. - Corporate control of food.
- Unequal distribution of foods. During the Ethiopian famine
20-30 years ago, the government at that time had food in
their warehouses that were never distributed to those who
needed it even though people were starving. - Intensive food production including factory farming.
Swartz Pepper: Please tell me more about specific unfair
national or international policies being imposed on Africa.
Dr. Roba: There is a contradiction of policy behaviors that
duplicate the problem. This is result of the US and EU doing two
things:
- They subsidize their farmers and keep tariffs high
- And through organizations they control (International
Monetary Fund and World Bank), they force African
countries to reduce their tariffs and force governments not to
subsidize their farmers.
To further explain, Dr. Roba told me the two main bodies that have
hurt Africa are the World Bank and the IMF . US and EU
agricultural policies affect Africa. With the World Band and IMF,
the real problem is with a particular privatizing plan called structural
adjustment. Free trade is not free. The Europeans and Americans
have subsidized their farmers and through World Bank and IMF
force African countries to not subsidize their farmers. They force
African countries to reduce import tariffs while other countries
maintain high tariffs.
The IMF encourages African farmers to switch from growing food
for domestic markets to growing cash crops for export. So
traditional African crops like sorghum and cassava, yam and millet
are staples these people have relied on for centuries and removing
these foods contributes to hunger. If they had these foods, they
wouldn’t go hungry, but the World Bank and IMF forces these
African countries to switch to cash crops like coffee, tea and cotton
for exports. They sell these commodity markets for low prices and
use that money to buy cheap food imports from the US and
European countries.
One specific example is teff, a traditional staple in Ethiopia. It’s a
flour used to make the bread that most Ethiopians eat. It originates
from Ethiopia and is the traditional way of making food in Ethiopia.
It’s been around for thousands of years. A company from the
Netherlands patented a method of processing teff flour, because teff
after it is processed becomes gluten free and many people
worldwide who are dealing with Celiac Disease need gluten free
flour. The Ethiopian process itself is what takes the gluten out of the
flour. This Netherlands company can make money on this process
even though it’s originally an Ethiopian product and process. Now
this company has the infrastructure set up to deal with the intellectual
property issues while Ethiopia doesn’t have that structure.
Ethiopian farmers are being screwed out of the profits and are
locked out of this process.
Another example is agribusiness. Corporations like Monsanto are
selling GM (genetically modified) seed. They take a seed that is
indigenous to Africa and patent it by altering it genetically and then
selling it back to the farmers. Not only are farmers unable to use
the original unaltered seed, they are expected to buy the new
modified seed at 3-4 times the normal cost. Farmers cannot
compete.
Swartz Pepper: Describe what’s happening with intensive
food production in Africa
Dr. Roba: There are many types of Intensive Food Production in
Africa:
- Factory Farming
- Mono-crop production
- Use of GM seeds and animals
- Agribusinesses companies like Monsanto are coming into
Africa. EU countries have refused it, but now they’re coming
into Africa pushing it. - Use of chemical pesticides and petro-fertilizers
This is under the premise that it [intensive food production] will help
Africans feed themselves, yet the intent of intensive food production
offers no benefits to Africans and is more likely to increase the
problem.
Swartz Pepper: Describe the specific issues with factory
farming in Africa.
Dr. Roba: Besides factory farming being unethical and a problem
that will grow if we don’t take care of it now, there are multiple
issues regarding factory farming. These include but are not limited to:
- Water Shortages
The process of factory farming necessitates large amounts of water
and causes water shortages. It’s presumed the next wars will be
fought over water. When I left my country many years ago, it was
lush and fertile. When I returned, I would have to go to miles down
south to see fertile land. The Sahara is progressing about ten miles
a year and it’s going to be an issue in another 20-40 years in which
Ethiopia will be short of water.
- Biodiversity
When you alter the ecosystem, it cannot sustain biodiversity.
Biodiversity changes and dies. Factory farming alters the ecosystem
completely which leads to loss of biodiversity. My grandfather used
to tell me when he was growing up that 50-60 kilometers outside of
the capital city, you can hear lions and see giraffes. Now you have
to go 800 kilometers to see any animal. They are basically
disappearing.
- Social Strife
When factory farming comes into a country in Africa, the intensive
animal agriculture farming process displaces small and medium sized
farms. These farmers are forced to migrate to cities where they
become unemployed, hungry, criminals and problems for the
government.
- Unsustainability
Factory farmed animals are pumped with chemicals such as growth
hormones and this creates a situation in which the health of the
animal is in question but also the health of the ecosystem supporting
that animal is in question. To maintain and expand factory farming,
these farms have to grow or get high quality grains. Developing
African countries will have to import grains to feed these animals.
Imagine a country living in hunger trying to import grains for animals
while their people are dying of hunger. Part of the unsustainability is
due to the decreased efficiency of factory farming; less food is
produced per acre and it reduces jobs.
- Land Leasing
This is a recent phenomenon as of the last five years or so.
Basically some call it ‘land grab’ some call it ‘neo-colonialism’. But
this time it’s not the British, it’s not the Dutch, it’s not the traditional
colonial powers; it’s companies from the Middle East and Asia who
are buying huge plots of land to produce very few crops that they
then ship back to their countries. Imagine Africans who are hungry
seeing food produced on their land being shipped out of their
country. They get nothing. The claim is that the host nation benefits
from this because their farming is upgraded from subsistence farming
to commercial farming. The governments that are leasing the lands
promise to pay the host government good money and promise to
improve the infrastructure.
Critics point out that actually none of these promises to the
host nation come to fruition and many problems arise as a
result of the land grabs. These problems include:
- Local farmers are excluded and end up relocating to the cities
(called vertical integration) and become social misfits. - The governments are not paid what the land is worth, and
they basically give the land and what is produced without tax
or with minimal tax. - The foreign countries or companies don’t carry out their
promises on building the infrastructure. - The foreign countries or companies use large quantities of
pesticides damaging the long-turning sustainability of soils and
negatively impacting biodiversity.
Swartz Pepper: Given all the problems with factory farming,
how is it that Ethiopia is allowing for it?
Dr. Roba: The government is open to various kinds of farming.
They don’t have any particular bias; they just want Ethiopia to get
out of its current status of poverty and hunger. Factory farming is
being sold as a way out of this issue. If the government is shown in
the long term that it hurts the economy and the ecosystem, they will
likely not be a proponent of it. At this point, they don’t have the
knowledge base to make the decision and are most interested in
taking care of their immediate needs. Factory farming has been sold
as the silver bullet and only recently are we seeing the negative
effects of it.
Swartz Pepper: What actions are being taken by IFA to
combat factory farming?
Dr. Roba: We are working to start the process of helping others
move away from the thinking that animal based foods are the way to
go and to encourage plant based farming and encourage people to
get involved in businesses that are eco-friendly. It will take time.
Factory farming is just beginning, so we have an opportunity to stop
it before it takes off.
IFA along with the local NGO’s are working to teach people in
rural parts of the country about the environmental consequences of
meat and dairy production and consumption. They are teaching
plant-based farming.
There was a town hall meeting in a small village in Ethiopia. We
were talking with rural people about a plant-based diet, global
warming and how overgrazing is causing problems in the
environment. These villagers, some not even wearing shoes, were
very interested and curious. Given how they are experiencing first-
hand the impact of global climate change, they got it. I live in
Houston where so many don’t believe in global warming, and here
was a group in a small village in Ethiopia who gets it.
IFA is working with local NGO’s to educate the government and
civil society to understand the negative effects of factory farming.
We believe that African solutions reside within Africa. African
farmers have a wealth of expertise, but they need help; help that is
sustainable and that respects the ecosystems within their boundaries.
In collaboration with donors and civil societies, African farmers can
produce foods that are ecologically sustainable. Dr. Roba shared
some examples of what can help African farmers:
- Encourage domestic, organic, plant based farming.
- Discourage stocking of herd..
- Implement large ecosystem restoration projects.
- Reassess policies and practices that lead to land degradation,
desertification and deforestation. - Launch educational programs to raise awareness among
Africans of the effects of climate change on the continent. It
has to be done on a governmental level and on civil society
levels. We must help discourage big countries like the United
States from participating in a way that takes us in the wrong
direction of industrialization. - Avoid policies that promote exportation of food produced on
the continent or further industrialization of food production. - Ban the import of GMO’s.
- Create just and democratic systems that protect the African
people from unjust national and international laws. - We all must get involved in trying to change the politico-
economic paradigm that puts profit over people, over
animals, and over the planet.
If you would like to learn more about some of the farming and land
issues facing Ethiopia and other developing countries, the following
resources may be of service:
Brighter Green has a short, interesting, articulate and well-made
video focusing on Ethiopia and its multi-faceted and challenging
relationship with livestock in the context of food security, climate
change, development deficits, and ecological stress.
If you would like to learn more about corporate and foreign
government land grabs in poor countries, check out this link to
Democracy Now!
Tomorrow’s article will focus on Dr. Roba as an activist in Ethiopia
along with his views on activism.
My World Hunger Diet Experience
The only benefit I can remotely find – at least for today – for being
on the world hunger diet is that I am not spending much time in the
kitchen. The sad irony, however, is that the time I save in the
kitchen is lost in my brain. The result of my trying to function while
hungry surely adds up to lost productivity. I am making more
mistakes and find myself dazing off into space. Is ‘dazing’ even a
word? See what I mean? I’m out of it.
I awoke this morning feeling better than yesterday yet with a sinking
sense of sadness knowing I had more than ten hours to wait before
eating. By mid afternoon I had to continually tell myself, ‘No, you
cannot just go into the pantry and grab a handful of nuts, make a
peanut butter sandwich or eat a cookie.’ I had an incessant internal
battle going on in my mind, and it contributed to some irritability.
One side was telling me to stop being ridiculous and go eat
something besides no one will ever know, and the other side was
telling me to stop being ridiculous and ‘woman-up’. Then there was
one little part of me that held some compassion and told me
everything was going to be okay. I held onto that part all day, and I
got through it. One more large burrito for meal:30 but this time I
only ate about half the amount of vegan cheese I used yesterday.
Somehow it all works out, and looking back, the day went more
quickly than it seemed while I was in the mix of it.
If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature,
but by our institutions, great is our sin.
~ Charles Darwin
Courtesy
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| "In just the next four to five decades, we need to double food production on the same amount of land," Ejeta says.....More |
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| Adwa " After Adwa, Ethiopia became emblematic of African valour and resistance, the bastion of prestige and hope to thousands of Africans who were experiencing the full..." More |
| Previous Stories Ethiopia eyes end of food aid within five years-PM Barry Malone (Reuters) LiveAid - the kind of help that ultimately harms The Daily Maverick Ethiopia: How little changes Foreign aid, a hostage to fortune The Economist Should we be giving African dictators millions when so many need it at home? By Michael Brennan Sorry Bob, Band Aid millions DID pay for guns: Charity's man in Ethiopia tells his disturbing story By Zoe Brennan When feeding the hungry is political The Economist |
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