Tweet

EMAIL

PRINT

Comments (0)

Related articles and links |  1 of 1

What's the biggest change needed in how charities and federal agencies deliver aid to developing nations? Brian Fikkert, co-author of When Helping Hurts, David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, and Dale Hanson Bourke, author of The Skeptic's Guide to Global Poverty, suggest the best way to help.

The united states is generous in giving people emergency food aid, but stingy when it comes to supporting people in poor countries to grow their own food. Only three cents out of every aid dollar are aimed at developing agriculture and helping poor farmers around the world.We should increase our support for farmers in the developing world.

When Christians pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," we aren't just asking God for a free meal. We are also praying for the dignity of being able to earn a living and the security of feeding ourselves and our families.

The opportunity to earn a livelihood gives people a future—and a hope. Just ask Ventorina Odun, a Ugandan farmer. A partnership between Uganda's government and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, which the U.S. supports, enabled her to earn more money by growing sunflower and palm seeds to produce cooking oil.

In addition to agriculture training, the project provided Odun with credit so she could invest in tools. It built a road to her remote community so that her cooking oil could be shipped to market. With hard work, Odun used the profits from a single year's sunflower seed crop to diversify her farm's products, and saved enough money to send her children to school. That is the kind of success that support for farmers can bring.

This year, the ministers of agriculture from the world's eight richest countries convened for the first time ever. To avert a permanent food shortage, they said, worldwide agricultural production must double by 2050. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization recently reported that currently, more than 1 billion people are chronically hungry.

The world has the knowledge and the resources to increase food production. But who produces food, and where, is as important as how much. Farms and farmers feed the world. But too often, it's farmers who have the most trouble feeding themselves and their families. Of the world's people who are chronically hungry, 75 percent live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Increasing food production in the regions of greatest need, particularly Africa and Asia, can generate income to stimulate local economies.

The tide is turning. This summer G8 leaders agreed to contribute $20 billion over three years to combat global hunger. President Obama requested $1.4 billion in next year's budget to boost agriculture in developing countries. Congress should approve the funding request and work to modernize the overall system of foreign assistance so that effective help gets to the people who need it most.

Donating emergency food aid may help a starving family survive for a day. But helping small farmers in poor countries produce more food can enable entire villages to thrive and give millions the dignity of earning their daily bread.

Copyright © 2009 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Related Elsewhere:

Dale Hanson Bourke, author of The Skeptic's Guide to Global Poverty, is president of the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia. Brian Fikkert and David Beckmann also suggested the best way to help.

Previous Village Green sections have discussed technology and abortion.

 1 of 1

December 2009, Vol. 53, No. 12