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	Hunger stalks World’s Wealthiest Country by Abid Aslam Inter Press Service USA   November 16, 2007   More than one in 10 people in the United States go hungry, according to new official figures that suggest government food programmes are falling short in the world’s wealthiest country.   More than 35 million people in a country of some 294 million went hungry last year, 390,000 more than in 2005, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest Household Food Security report.   Of the total, 12.63 million were children. Put another way, nearly one in five U.S. children either went without enough food during the course of the year or had food but could never take future meals for granted.   The report, released Wednesday, comes as Congress debates the 2007 Farm Bill, a five-year piece of legislation affecting everything from agricultural subsidies to nutritional programmes for the poor.   Anti-hunger activists lamented the findings. “The U.S. is the only industrialised nation that still allows hunger within its borders,” said David Beckmann, president of the advocacy group Bread for the World.   Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Centre, warned the situation likely has worsened since the agriculture department surveyed the populace in December 2006.   “As costs for food, energy, and housing continue to rise and wages stagnate or decline, households are finding themselves increasingly strapped,” Weill said. “This may mean even worse numbers in 2007. We need to do more to make sure that households have access to healthy food by improving and expanding proven programmes that help.”   The advocates highlighted the federal government’s Food Stamp Programme, which Beckmann called “the flagship nutrition safety net for Americans”, as needed an upgrade. The programme provides food stamps to more than 26 million people every month, enabling them to use the tokens in place of cash to purchase specified foodstuffs. According to Beckmann and Weill, the relief is insufficient.   “The average benefit of one dollar per meal per person is just not enough to buy adequate, nutritious food,” said Beckmann, whose group plans to launch its own hunger report Nov. 19.   Added Weill: “Congress is considering the farm bill, which includes the food stamp programme. They have the chance to make it easier for households to access the programme, keep benefits growing with the cost of living rather than losing ground to inflation, and raise the allowable asset and minimum benefit levels for the first time in decades.”   According to the food security report, the latest in a series begun in 1995, 10.4 percent of all U.S. adults and 17.2 percent of all children suffered food insecurity in 2006.   Of the 35.52 million food insecure U.S. residents, 11.1 million lived in households marked by “very low food security,” a new term for what the government used to call “food insecurity with hunger”. The figure rose from 10.8 million in 2005, consistent with other surveys showing worsening conditions among the poorest.   Black and Hispanic households suffered the most, with food insecurity rates of 21.8 percent and 19.5 percent respectively.   In the countryside, poverty had stagnated at 15.2 percent, three percentage points above the national average. In all, nearly 7.2 million inhabitants of rural areas fell below the poverty line last year.   Overall, some 36.5 million people were deemed poor in 2006, about as many as in 2005.
	Triple threat looms over Africa’s rural poor, warns UN agency chief by Josette Sheeran United Nations World Food Programme   15 November 2007   Africa’s rural poor are facing a “perfect storm” of rising food prices, climate change and population growth, the head of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today, urging the international community to take more concerted action to help the continent’s most vulnerable people.   Wrapping up a four-day visit to Senegal and Mali, WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran told reporters in Dakar that time was running out to build resilience among the millions of rural Africans who often have to go hungry.   WFP operations in West Africa planned from last month to June next year remain under-funded by as much as $168 million overall.   “I have seen in West Africa what havoc could be caused by the triple threat of climate change, rising food prices and population growth,” she said.   “But I have also seen that there are solutions to help people adapt before it is too late. We must help people to protect themselves and their families. It’s a large order, but with the help of the international community we can do it – we must do it.”   The WFP chief said West Africa faces a particularly difficult challenge against the elements as the Sahara Desert creeps further and further south each year, consuming what was once arable land or pastures.   Global commodity prices are also soaring, driven in part by the rising cost of fuels, which means the prices of food staples have surged in poor African countries this year, placing them out of reach of many consumers.   In one example, Mauritania, Ms. Sheeran said the impact of the higher international prices has led to tensions this month and could turn into a food crisis next year unless more funds are pledged by donors.   “High world prices for grains have made our operations more challenging than ever. The overall cost of WFP reaching a hungry person has gone up by 50 per cent in the last five years.”   An estimated 1.5 million children under the age of five in the Sahel region are now classified as acutely malnourished, the highest proportion of any region worldwide. This ‘silent emergency’ kills more than 300,000 children every year and stunts the growth of those who survive.   Ms. Sheeran noted that WFP is working with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to help local communities adapt to climate change, such as by constructing small dams, completing irrigation projects and contribution to schemes that reduce soil erosion or promote reforestation.   But she also observed that continued population growth, combined with low school enrolment rates, is adding to the squeeze on the rural poor across Africa.
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