Praying against famine

It bears thinking about that Britain is not self-sufficient in food production and yet we don't have famine. This issue should start to figure in our heads as we deepen our praying for east Africa.Abbey Nous: East African famine: preventable and prayable: "when we pray 'give us ...' we are praying inclusively in principle: if our food can come (as it does) from the furthest parts of the world from where we live, then we cannot shrug our shoulders and say that this is nothing to do with us. If our money can call forth food and drink from Australia and New Zealand (those of us in Western Europe, that would be, Perhaps South Africa or central Asia for those in America) then we realise that we are contemplating a problem with the way that food is produced and distributed. That is a political, economic and humanitarian matter."
So we pray, but if we are serious we pray for fairer economic conditions and systems, for greater justice, for the will on the part of (we who are among) those who have the means and the clout to change systems that overwhelmingly favour them/us. God normally supplies via the systems we co-create, God calls us to co-create with God and with the poor. I tend to think that God, when we pray for help to famine-struck areas might well be saying in response something like, "Yes, but organise it better for the long term; challenge greed and injustice; remember what you can do when you put your minds to it ..."

Prayer for Global food crisis

I suggest that we make this a matter of urgency in prayer.
Global food crisis forecast as prices reach record highs | Environment | The Guardian: "Rising food prices and shortages could cause instability in many countries as the cost of staple foods and vegetables reached their highest levels in two years, with scientists predicting further widespread droughts and floods."
It's not only a matter of immediate relief of want and suffering -though that is certainly part of the picture. It is also that there political ramifications are quite frightening: remember that historically hunger has driven the instability and even collapse of societies. It is also that we need, as an international community and global citizens to be addressing the means to deal with this as a long term strategy: this is the harbinger of the structural-political-economic problems that climate change brings. We are praying for the very survival of civilisation (and against the collapse of order, law, stability etc and for the saving of human welfare for billions) it's that important. Really. 'Global resiliance' is the shorthand way to sum up this prayer, I think.

Oh, and of course, the second thing is the question we should ask ourselves, what do I /we do to better co-operate with the answering of our prayers?

Global deep freeze threatens 2010 food supply

It's time to start thinking about simplifying our diets. Recall that a Christian response is called for ...Global deep freeze threatens 2010 food supply: "The global deep freeze now striking North America, Europe, China and other regions may lead to severe food shortages and price hikes throughout 2010. Right now, rare freezing temperatures are destroying root crops in their ground, wiping out citrus orchards and devastating food producers around the world. The upshot of it all? Expect food shortages and rising food prices throughout 2010."

Prince Charles is right

Regular readers will know I'm no royalist, and I aver that I'm no fan of the King in waiting. However, when I heard Charles Windsor commenting on the matter of farming and GM crops, I thought that he'd be slammed and that it would be a shame because, essentially, he has a point. Here's why,

Despite the clamour, however, he is,... essentially right. The widespread adoption of GM crops may well threaten the world's food supply. It will probably throw millions of small farmers off the land, and it will almost certainly produce shanty cities of the sort he calls 'unsustainable, unmanageable, degraded and dysfunctional conurbations of unimaginable awfulness'. While GM technology may not be the direct cause of such horrors, it will perpetuate the system of industrial agriculture that makes them inevitable. It's a threat acknowledged in a 2008 report from the World Bank and UN agencies. Based on the work of more than 400 scientists, it concludes that the present system of food production – and the way food is traded – have led to an unequal distribution of benefits and to serious ecological damage. It was also contributing, the report found, to climate change.

However, we should note this from the New Scientist.

The problem is that a dispassionate assessment of the green credentials of GM crops is almost impossible to come by at present, given the ideological baggage, mistrust and value-laden prejudice that have accompanied the technology throughout its tortured existence. It is clear that Prince Charles simply ignores or completely distrusts any data that challenges his own prejudices, or his contention that fiddling with nature is wrong.

He is to be congratulated for highlighting the importance of food security, even though the message is buried beneath a mountain of bile on the more peripheral question of whether GM crops are to blame for everything bad on this planet.

He should remember, however, that all farming – including organic farming – interferes with, and steals resources from, his beloved nature.

A key question is whether de-intensification of agriculture in rich countries simply transfers intensive production to other parts of the world, perhaps resulting in even worse environmental degradation overall. Whatever the answer, it would be interesting to know where Charles himself gets his data to support his assertions.

Graham Harvey: Prince Charles is right to attack intensive farming | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk:

World Leaders: stop the food crisis

World Leaders: stop the food crisis
Also check out:
BBC: "How to stop the global food crisis"

"The New Economics of Hunger", Washington Post, 27 April 2008

Chinese news citing World Bank figures

Reuters: "Rising food prices to top UN agenda"
Rising Food Prices" by Alex Evans (Chatham House report PDF)

UN scientific report on fixing the world food system:

food aid runs out of money

This is a first: Threat to millions as food aid scheme runs out of money - World Politics, World - Independent.co.uk:
The World Food Programme for the first time in its history is appealing for funds. "'This is the new face of hunger,' she [Josette Sheeran, the organisation's executive director] said. 'People are simply being priced out of food markets. It's the first time we have been hit by a dramatic market surprise. We have never before had a situation where aggressive rises in food prices keep pricing our operations out of our reach.'"
I think that this is partly down to oil price rises (which affects transporting food and the production of fertilisers and pesticides) and partly due to China's increasing demand for meat as their population becomes more prosperous (meat requires grain and a redeployment of land both of which take food away from human consumption) and also the effects of climate change. This is the shape of things to come (and I reiterate; one of the reasons Christians should cut back on meat consumption as an immediate personal mitigatory response as global citizens).
See also this article about one effect of the increase in prices: crops are being stolen in south east Asia -or at least that is the rumour. And as a counterweight, check out this article on how biodiversity is more productive according to research fully explained in the article; "This is the most comprehensive evidence that biodiverse ecosystems are more productive. As the observed productivity showed no sign of levelling at the highest species number"