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Nutrition and health 

Nutrition and rising food costs

Nutrition: World Vision's response

A stalk of rice damaged by Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh. The entire crop, to feed a family of five, was destroyed.

Food Security Factsheets

As food availability plummets and world market prices increase, the world's poor are finding it harder to feed their children, spreading concerns about reversing the progress made in child health and development.

Extreme weather conditions have caused cycles of drought and flooding, destroying grain and cereal crops across the region. Last year, North Korea lost over 10% of its expected harvests to floods. Food prices have doubled since that time with widespread shortages anticipated.

Bangladesh lost many of its crops after Cyclone Sidr touched down at the end of last year, but its dependency on imported goods was already high. The country imports 2 million metric tones of grain per year, with half its population spending an estimated 70% of their income on staple food.

In countries across the region, food scarcity coupled with unequal food distribution is driving up the cost of basic family breadbaskets. Lack of profitability in the agricultural sector drives farmers to abandon their crops and livestock in search of more reliable and better paying work in cities. This urbanisation trend creates dependency on cash over produce to feed families, at a time when food has never been less affordable.

Food costs and children

Of particular concern is the effect of food scarcity on the children of Asia and the Pacific. Children leave school to supplement their family's meagre income. Lack of nutritious food has devastating long-term effects, from stunted development to susceptibility to disease. In a silent "famine", children in many countries throughout the region are already falling sick or dying from malnutrition.

With an increasing number of countries reporting food crises, urgent action is required to reverse the trend.

World Vision operates food programmes in 29 countries worldwide, handling over 450,000 metric tons and feeding millions of beneficiaries annually. We call for the following globally:

• An increase in global food aid.
• World Vision opposes a reduction in food aid by the international community unless accompanied by immediate and substantial additional resources in development assistance, debt cancellation and equitable trade practices.
• World Vision calls on wealthy nations to reduce agricultural subsidies and allow poor countries to access their markets without duties and quotas.
• Within the context of the Doha Development Round, World Vision calls upon wealthy nations to help build capacity and give developing countries the flexibility they need to achieve food security. World Vision calls on nations to recommit to the MDGs.