Australian farmers could be key to fighting global hunger and poverty, World Vision says.
Releasing its latest policy report in Perth on Monday, the international aid organisation called on leaders at this week’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to fight world hunger by working with small farmers.
It said $10 billion of a promised $20 billion in international food aid - pledged at the last G8 Summit in 2009 - had yet to be delivered, while the price of staples, such as wheat and rice, had skyrocketed.
World Vision said Australian farming technology could be the key to any Commonwealth response to the global food crisis that affects almost one billion people, including 200 million children under five.
“Our research shows there are 430 million small farms in the developing world,” World Vision chief executive Tim Costello said.
“Half of the world’s undernourished and 75 per cent of Africa’s malnourished children live on these farms.
“If leaders at CHOGM and at the G20 provided better support to these farmers as part of a wider global strategy, they could put our fight against hunger back on track.
“Australia, with its agriculture expertise, can play a leading role.”
Rev Costello said innovative technologies developed for Australian farmers working in arid areas could be modified for smaller farms overseas.
“These technologies included water-saving technologies, alternative energy farm technologies, and crop development for dry conditions,” he said.
Rev Costello said some high-producing fruit and nut tree varieties developed in Australia were already being used in drier parts of Asia and Africa.
The World Vision report found that since 2005, the average international price of rice had jumped 252 per cent, wheat had risen 186 per cent, sorghum 191 per cent and barley 174 per cent.
The price shocks had been caused by low global stocks, speculators, expanded biofuel production, export restrictions, higher oil prices and changes in climate, the report said.
