Cameron hunger event branded a ‘distraction’

09 August 2012

World’s largest grain trader announces $134 bn revenues

Campaigners today accused David Cameron of failing to address the root causes of the global food crisis by suggesting that record levels of hunger worldwide can be solved by handing out fortified foods to children.

The anti-poverty charity War on Want made the accusation as the UK prime minister prepared to host a two-hour hunger event in London to coincide with the closing of the 2012 Olympic Games.

War on Want blamed record levels of global hunger on a food system hijacked by agribusiness corporations such as Cargill, the world’s largest grain trader, which today announced $134 billion in consolidated revenues for the full fiscal year 2012.

The UK government has instead focused attention on food aid and nutritional interventions, which the charity claims will do nothing to address the root causes of global hunger.

Cargill’s announcement came on the same day as the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation reported a 17 per cent rise in its cereal price index from June to July.

War on Want executive director John Hilary said: “The world needs a massive shake-up of farming and food distribution if we are to end the global food crisis. Record numbers of people now live with hunger as an everyday reality, yet the big food companies continue to profit from their control over the system. David Cameron’s suggestion that the problem can be solved through handing out high-energy biscuits to children is a distraction from the seriousness of the issue.”

War on Want pointed to evidence from its recent Food Sovereignty report that sustainable farming under the alternative framework of agroecology has proved its worth in tackling both hunger and environmental degradation.

The model has also been backed by Olivier De Schutter, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, who has encouraged all governments to include agroecology in their plans to reduce poverty and mitigate the effects of climate change.

Yet the UK government has consistently opposed this approach, defending a global food system which has condemned one billion people to hunger and pressing for an ever greater role for the private sector.

Tags: food sovereignty | overseas work