Solving the problem of hunger: how business is part of the solution

February 22, 2013

Zahid Torres-Rahman, argues that the role of business is vital if we are to move to a situation where there is Enough Food for Everyone.

As a society, we should be ashamed of ourselves. More than two million children die from malnutrition every year and it is the underlying cause in a third of all child deaths. This is truly appalling.

Good news then that this year’s Enough Food for Everyone If … (#If) NGO campaign focuses on ending hunger, and even better that UK prime minister David Cameron will be taking this message to the G8 summit.

With a crisis of this scale, we have a responsibility to think about what actions will have the most impact. What are the drivers of hunger? What will unlock the opportunities for the world’s poor, which enables them not only to enjoy the most basic human dignities of food and shelter, but also to flourish and grow?

The #If campaign, supported by a coalition of more than 100 development organisations, has identified four priorities on aid, land, tax avoidance and market transparency.

Of course the issues are hugely important, but do they really get to the heart of the problem – and if solutions in these priority areas were implemented, would they solve the problem of hunger?

Below are three priority areas that are most obviously missing:

Business can make a positive contribution to ending world hunger

The #If campaign makes an explicit link between the behaviour of large corporates on the one hand, and children, women and men suffering from hunger, on the other.

This is out of step with current development thinking on the positive contribution that companies can make, both generally to development and specifically to tackling hunger.

The anti-business sentiment of the campaign could set us back years. Hunger is too large a problem for any one actor to solve alone; we need partnerships across government, civil society and business.

Effectively and dramatically improving the livelihoods of poor people

Poor people themselves, when asked, identify getting a job or growing a business as their best strategy for escaping poverty.

Helping businesses grow – especially small, locally-owned businesses – has proven to be the most powerful catalyst for change anywhere in the world.

It never fails to amaze me that despite hearing this time and time again when I travel in Africa, it doesn’t seem to translate into the headlines of anti-poverty campaigns in the northern hemisphere.

Transforming agriculture into a driver of growth and opportunity

Some 70% of the world’s poor rely on farming for their livelihoods. It is cruel irony that the majority of those going hungry are smallholder farmers.

Investing in small-scale farmers – particularly women, who constitute the majority – is probably one of the best ways we know of to reduce poverty.

This report looks at how we can work towards meeting the financing needs of the world’s 450m smallholder farmers.

Many more things could be added to my list.  The #If campaign is an opportunity to focus the world’s attention on a problem that should have been solved long before now. But if we really do want to solve it, we must think more deeply about the #How.

Zahid Torres-Rahman is founder of Business Fights Poverty. You can follow on Twitter @FightPoverty

A longer version of this article previously appeared in Guardian Sustainable business, please click here.

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