FIRST STEP TOWARD PEACE IS ERADICATING HUNGER
By Jimmy Carter
WASHINGTON -When the Cold War ended 10 years ago, we expected an era
of peace. What we got instead was decade of war.
The conflict in Kosovo is only the latest to embroil the international
community. Conflicts have raged in Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia in
the 1990s, often involving the entire international community in costly
relief operations and peacekeeping missions, frequently under hostile
conditions. These conflicts -- mostly civil wars -- have been
extraordinarily brutal, with most victims being children, women and the
elderly.
Why has peace been so elusive? A recent report sponsored by Future Harvest
and generated by the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo examines
conflicts around the world and finds that -- unlike that in Kosovo -- most
of today's wars are fueled by poverty, not by ideology.
The devastation occurs primarily in countries whose economies depend on
agriculture but lack the means to make their farmland productive. These are
developing countries such as Sudan, Congo, Colombia, Liberia, Peru, Sierra
Leone and Sri Lanka -- places with poor rural areas where malnutrition and
hunger are widespread. The report found that poorly functioning agriculture
in these countries heightens poverty, which in turn sparks conflict.
This suggests an obvious but often overlooked path to peace: Raise the
standard of living of the millions of rural people who live in poverty by
increasing agricultural productivity. Not only does agriculture put food on
the table, but it also provides jobs, both on and off the farm, that raise
incomes. Thriving agriculture is the engine that fuels broader economic
growth and development, thus paving the way for prosperity and peace.
The economies of Europe, the United States, Canada and Japan were built on
strong agriculture. But many developing countries have shifted their
priorities away from farming in favor of urbanization, or they have reduced
investments in agriculture because of budget shortages. At the same time,
industrialized countries continue to cut their foreign-aid budgets, which
fund vital scientific research and extension work to improve farming in
developing countries.
Unfortunately, much of the farming technology developed in industrialized
nations does not transfer to the climates and soils of developing nations.
It is not a priority for agricultural giants in affluent nations to focus on
the poor regions of the world or to share basic research advances with
scientists from poor nations.
This neglect should end. Leaders of developing nations must make food
security a priority. In the name of peace, it is critical that both
developed and developing countries support agricultural research and
improved farming practices, particularly in nations often hit with drought
and famine.
For example, the report finds that India, one of the world's largest and
poorest nations, has managed to escape widespread violence in large measure
because the Indian government made food security a priority.
Beginning in the 1960s, farmers in India were given the means to increase
their agricultural output with technology packages that included improved
seeds, fertilizers, irrigation and training. Today India no longer
experiences famines as it did in the first half of this century. India's
food security contributes to its relative political stability.
While food is taken for granted in industrialized countries, many parts of
the world -- sub-Saharan Africa and large parts of Asia, for example --
suffer serious food shortages. Today, per capita food production in sub-Saharan
Africa is less than it was at the end of the 1950s. The report concludes
that new wars will erupt if the underlying conditions that cause them are
not improved.
The message is clear: There can be no peace until people have enough to eat.
Hungry people are not peaceful people. Future Harvest report is a reminder
that investments in agricultural research today can cultivate peace tomorrow.
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Former President Carter is chairman of the nonprofit Carter Center, which
seeks to advance peace and health around the world. He contributed this
comment to the International Herald Tribune
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