World Food Day: Catholic development organisations call for ‘urgent solutions’ to world hunger

CAFOD partners assess a baby for malnourishment in Marsabit, Kenya [Laura Donkin/CAFOD]

In a statement released on 10 October, the international alliance of Catholic development agencies, CIDSE, demanded “urgent solutions to the structural problems of hunger”. The alliance stated “governments must guarantee the right to food for all human beings as a priority in national and international policies”.

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In advance of World Food Day on Sunday 16 October, Bernd Nilles, Secretary General of CIDSE said, “Our food system is a leaky bucket. It makes no sense to continue pouring water in it without plugging the holes first.”

A report published by CIDSE, finds that unstable food prices have affected the world’s poorest people – both consumers and producers.

Mr Nilles continued: “We must all eat. But millions of people around the world are unable to pay more for food as prices increase. For a poor family which spends most of its household budget on food, price volatility is a matter of life and death. To stabilise prices we need coherent trade and agriculture policies, tighter rules on food speculation and the establishment of food reserves to deal with emergencies and to stabilise markets”.

Further information

Find out more about how CAFOD and agencies like ours distribute food

Find out more about World Food Day

Read the CIDSE press release

Read the CIDSE report on unstable food prices

Learn more about CIDSE

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