West Africa may be
the worst hit in the imminent food crises as unfair product prices,
climate change and outmoded agricultural practices conspire to foretell
even more cases of hunger in the entire world. Dakar-Oxfam America, an
international organization that works with partners across the world to
find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice had in a press
statement warned that the food crisis will happen around the world with
West Africa being particularly vulnerable. The revelation of the crises
was expressed by Ray Offenheiser, the president of Oxfam America at the
end a week-long visit to the West African programs of the organization;
also in the team was Wendy Sherman, the organization’s board chairman.
“One of the things
we’ve been concerned about has been food security all over the world
and many countries of West Africa are vulnerable” said Offenheiser at a
press conference in Dakar on Monday.
According to him,
“there is potential for another food crisis similar to what we had in
2008 as we are beginning to see tensions around the world regarding
food security”. Severe food shortages hit the Sahel region of West
Africa last year with 7.1 million people affected in Niger alone.
Old fashioned
Far behind many
modern methods of agriculture, Mr. Offenheiser said that many West
Africa countries still practice rigid agricultural systems that are not
diversified. He however claimed that Oxfam America is working together
with local organizations in the region to develop solutions to these
problems, stating that “we are thinking of a program that will deal
with food price volatility and also strategic enough to address
perceived policy deficiencies and assist farmers.” Ms. Sherman on her
part said that “the need to help the people diversify their
agricultural practices to enhance their income streams and also
reinforce their resilience against the vagaries of climate change,” is
required to curtail the threat, and lament the fact that “West African
farmers deserve a strategic response as majority of the 300 million
population of the region are farmers but produce far less than 2% of
Americans of equal population who are their counterparts.” Mr.
Offenheiser lauded the regional body, the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS) for its response to the advocacy initiatives of
Oxfam and its local partners. He congratulated ECOWAS on the enactment
of the ‘Directive on the Harmonization of the Guiding Principles and
Policies in the Mining Sector’ by the 62nd ordinary session of the
Council of Ministers in Abuja in May, 2009. Said he; “It is a forward
looking initiative to regulate practices in the extractive industries
sector”.
