According to the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation FAO, the number of hungry people in the world is exceeding one billion for the first time this year.
However, support for domestic food production in poor countries has taken a back seat to direct food aid in famine situations.
“We are in a crisis, so in the short term, emergency aid is needed. But we also need measures for the medium and long term. We need to invest in the productivity of agriculture, and in agricultural research,” says Riitta Oksanen, head of the General Development Policy unit of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Sharp Increase in Support
Oksanen says that Finland will invest 11 percent of its development aid in projects linked with food security next year. The increase is significant; last year the figure was just seven percent.
The policy appears to have public support as well. Respondents in the Foreign Ministry’s annual questionnaire see the elimination of extreme poverty and hunger to be the most important goals for the UN. Oksanen says that the low level of support for the agricultural sector stems from the emphasis placed on the social sector, including education.
