STWR - Share The World's Resources

At the height of the food crisis in April 2008 a report by GRAIN showed agribusinesses announcing record profits. A year later the financial results reveal that nothing has changed - the global food system still leaves many hungry whilst making a few very rich. By GRAIN.

The number of chronically hungry in the world's low-income countries has passed the one billion mark for the first time - with high food prices leaving the poor most vulnerable to a worsening financial crisis. 

Only by switching to more sustainable farming methods will the world’s farmers be able to grow enough food to meet the demands of a growing population, respond to climate change and alleviate poverty, says a leading expert of the FAO.

While African governments proclaim their commitments to food self-sufficiency, behind the backs of their people they are signing an alarming number of deals with foreign investors that give these investors control over their countries’ most important agricultural lands, says GRAIN.

The final declaration of farmers and civil society organisations at the High Level Meeting on Food Security, 27 January 2009. "We see the proposed Global Partnership as just another move to give the big corporations and their foundations a formal place at the table," say La Via Campesina.

In the light of the global food crisis, a number of international governments including those of Russia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Morocco are using a system of barter to exchange and share basic commodities, says Javier Blas.

In the midst of the present financial crisis when banks continue to go bankrupt, it is absurd to ask banks and financial institutions to solve the food crisis. The real solution is food sovereignty, says a civil society declaration prior to the High Level Meeting on Food Security to be held in Madrid.