The Fight Against Hunger:
Report from the Millennium Project Task Force on Hunger
Friday, October 17, 2003
Speaker:  Dr M. S. Swaminathan

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Introduction:  Al Clausi

            Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Let’s gather for the second day of our symposium. I’m Al Clausi, a member of the Council of Advisors, and I’m delighted to open the second day of our symposium. I think yesterday was a landmark day in our experience. We had excellent speakers. The content was very valuable to all of us, and it was all capped by a magnificent and touching awards ceremony and dinner at the State Capitol last night. And I think we’ve all enjoyed it so much that I would like us all to give a round of applause for yesterday. Now, if you think that was something, as they say in my native Brooklyn – “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

             It’s my pleasure to introduce the moderator of this morning’s panel, a gentleman that I’ve come to know endearingly as “Swami.” I remember very well in 1987, as the founding chairman of the Prize, having the pleasure of announcing to him that he was selected as the first winner of the World Food Prize, and how gracious and humble he was in accepting it. Of course, after he determined – “Who is this guy I’ve never met before? What is this prize I never heard of before?” – after that, of course, history has followed.

             In fact, I also remember his acceptance address at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, before about a thousand people, where in the days, by the way, of aides – not AIDS as the disease – but aides to countries and starving people, he said the way to establish a permanent development and a secure food supply is to focus on the poor with education that leads to job employment and particularly on the women. And this was in 1987.

             And then, of course, being an individual who acts on his beliefs, he then took the Prize money and used it to start the development of the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation. And I want to read the major aim of that foundation: “The major aim is to organize, research and training designed to promote a job-led economic growth strategy in rural areas, based on pro-nature, pro-poor, and pro-women orientation, through technology development and dissemination.”

            Now, here’s a man who practices what he preaches and also is an observer of a statement attributed to Mahatma Gandhi – “Become the change you want to cause.” I’d like to introduce the moderator, my dear friend, Dr. M. S. Swaminathan.

 Session Chair:
DR. M. S. SWAMINATHAN
1987 World Food Prize Laureate
Co-Chair, UN Hunger Task Force
Chairman, UNESCO Cousteau Chair in Ecotechnology
Chairman, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation

Overview of Task Force Work

            I think to save time, may I request the panelists to come up here, because we’re already behind time, and I find some people are coming in, please.

            Ladies and gentlemen, I first of all thank Al Clausi for his very generous words. I know what he means because he, along with Norman Borlaug, are the founders of the original World Food Prize and, through the generosity of the Ruan family, made it much more sustainable over a long period of time, this prize. So we are grateful to Al Clausi for what he has done, his own vision, along with Norman Borlaug, for establishing this prize.

            Today our session now is “The Fight Against Hunger: Report from the Millennium Project Task Force on Hunger,” which Pedro Sanchez and I co-chair. And yesterday Jeffrey Sachs gave a very fine introduction to the whole millennium development goals, their implications, their importance, and also the Task Force which has been established to convert the goals into actual accomplishments.

            I think we had a very good start this morning with His Excellency Wilberforce Kisamba-Mugerwa, the minister from Uganda, who gave a complete portrayal, within about 15-20 minutes, of the problems of prospects. He mentioned several important things. I think one of the most important, what he said was – there must be a match between demand and supply. The supply side alone if you are attacked; the demand, if the home consumption or external opportunities do not improve. Then the prices crash, the farmers slough off producing more. I think this has happened again and again, particularly in the last ten years all over the world. I think his message of, have a strategy which can improve supply and also improve consumption and demand.

            The last few days in the discussions, several other important points have come, for example, many of us think that famines or big calamities are responsible for hunger. The data show 92% of the hungry are not victims of extreme events like either natural or human-made. Only 8% of the hunger comes from the extreme. Natural calamities, also ethnic conflicts are very important to the numbers.

            Also, 95% of the hungry live in the tropics, large predominance of hungry; and also a majority of the hungry live in rural areas. Among them, women are more affected. These are well known, and most of the agriculturists and the people who are hungry have no assets. They may have no land, no livestock and so on, living a very precarious existence of daily life.

            So unless they become skilled, unless there are greater opportunities for nonfarm employment, they get stuck up in the primary sector. In fact, yesterday I think Secretary Veneman said that hunger is higher in countries or places where the larger proportion of people depend for their livelihood on the primary sector, that is, purely agricultural sector. And when you have a diversification of the economy, removing people from the primary to the secondary... sectors, then the income improves.

            In our Task Force, which Dr. Pedro Sanchez will introduce, hunger hot spots and also what we call food security bright spots. We should not only talk about hot spots, we should talk about bright spots. From that we can learn the last two days  China has been mentioned, Thailand has been mentioned, the attempt of Brazil now, the Brazil hunger project. I think we must give a message of hope.

            I would like to say a few words about each one of the panelists. I am not going to introduce them individually, just to save time. And also, they were also present because of the unified picture. Then we’ll hope we’ll have at least 40 minutes or so for discussion.

            Pedro Sanchez has been referred to in the last two days frequently because he was last year’s World Food Prize Laureate, and more recent the MacArthur Foundation Fellow, what is called a Genius Award – only 24 in the United States are given; he was one of the 24 this year, the Genius Award. And yesterday Jeffrey Sachs himself mentioned the foremost soil scientist of the world. So we are very happy that he has enormous experience, he is the former Director General of the International Council for Research in Agro Forestry in the World Agro Forestry Center in Nairobi. We have his leadership for the Task Force.

            Our next speaker will be Sara Scherr, who is also well known to you. She is currently the Agricultural and Natural Resources Economist and Director of Ecosystems Service, Forest Trends Ecosystems Service.  Forest Trends is an NGO which promotes forest conservation to improve markets and forest products and ecosystem services. She is also a trustee of the World Agro Forestry Center, of which Pedro was former Director General. She has had varied experience, and her Ph.D. is in International Economics and Development from Cornell.

            Our third speaker is Christopher Dowswell. He is working with the Sasakawa Africa Association headed by Norman Borlaug. For the last 25 years he has been in Mexico. His graduate work was at the University of Colorado in the field of Economics. He is a highly dedicated person and has been trying his very best to do what he can to ensure productivity, sustainability of African agricultural.

            Our fourth speaker is Dr. Kevin Cleaver from the World Bank. He now manages the World Bank’s Agriculture and Rural Development. His responsibilities in the World Bank include managing the Bank’s Agriculture and Rural Development Board and a wide variety of other responsibilities. Earlier he was Director of Environment, Rural Development and Social Development in Europe and Central Asia Region of the World Bank. His Ph.D. is in Development, International Economics from Tufts University, and he has published many books including Dealing with Africa’s Agricultural Policy, Environment and Fisheries.

            Our last speaker is Mr. Richard Beahrs. Many of you know him. He served as Chief Operating Officer of Court TV and President and Chief Operating Officer of the Crime and Justice Team Cable Network since 1999. He holds the MBA degree, extension program at Adelphi University and also a degree in history from the University of California at Berkeley. He and his wife gave a very generous gift to the College of Natural Resources at the University of Berkeley in August 2000 for establishing the Carolyn and Richard Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program.

            So, ladies and gentlemen, you could not have asked for a better group of five persons with complementary expertise and experience. And we hope after this discussion of the five, each one of them will take – Pedro will take about 15 minutes, the other, 10 to 12 minutes – we will have some time for discussion, because your guidance is very important at this stage in the development of the work of this task force.

            Thank you very much.