How to avoid future food riots in poor Countries

The challenge of avoiding food riots in developing countries is unquestionably one of the most burning issues facing humankind in the 21st century. With an projected 925 million people going hungry in 2010 and with global population estimated to augment by at least another 2.3 billion people in the next 40 years, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization has estimated that global food production will need to increase at least 70 percent by 2050. There is a well-known proverb that “give a hungry man fish to eat and you fed him/her for a day, but tutor a man how to fish and you feed him for a life time”. I believe that this is a very good proverb basing on the food insecurity in poor countries. The future food riots in developing countries may persist as long as nothing is done to avert this problem. According to Population Service International, tonight, there will be 219,000 additional mouths to feed at the dinner table, and many of them will be greeted with empty plates. Another 219,000 will join us tomorrow night. To begin with, Malawi a small number of years ago was held up a begging bowl to the world as its population went through one the most horrible famines in the country’s history. Today, following five years of implementing and improving on its initially vastly contentious Agricultural Input Subsidy Program, the country has managed to turn itself into a regional bread basket and a net exporter of maize. This shows that poor countries can deal with its population without relying profoundly on food imports. Can we stay away from future food riots in our countries by introducing green revolution? The reply is awesomely yes. We require focusing on dry lands and making seeds and fertilizers accessible to the small farm sector and at the same time improving market functioning. In addition, we have to trim down acute instability in agricultural markets and make possible open trade. This possibly will consist of intervention mechanisms that ought to be put in place as a risk mitigation instrument to lend a hand in order to keep away from price spikes in the future. This should be price spike intervention tool to avert the type of tremendous spikes that lead to hunger and harshly disrupts markets. To boost farming productivity, investments must be scaled up in the areas of agricultural science and technology, rural infrastructure, rural institutions and information monitoring and sharing.Poor countries require a great deal of bigger “power house” of knowledge to deal with the tentative food situations in the future. As the FAO has indicated, “ producing more food will mainly depend on increasing crop yields, not farming more land” sustainable intensification, particularly in the face of increasing climate volatility, requires “pushing the agricultural technology frontier outwards.” FAO has as well stressed that “to achieve sustainable advances and minimize negative side effects, a new green revolution must also invest in education, farm management information and training. Training in sustainable farming techniques- e.g., crop rotation, biomass recycling, agro ecology, regenerative organic farming-should receive serious funding as part of the long-term focus. In my childhood I was natured in countryside where the major goings-on were farming. I bear in mind departing out of bed at just about 5:30 a.m to plow land for crops such as banana, cassava to mention but a few with my parents. Towards the end of season, one could observe that even nevertheless the family was active cultivating we possibly harvested nothing towards the end of season, as the consequence of poor farming methods that based on subsistence agriculture. I am of the view that it’s better to educate a hungry man to fish than giving him fish to feed on. The schooling would focus on enlightening the farmers on producing enough food crops that is enough to sustain the households. Ends