The great fame

War and hunger, a frightening combination that the West has dramatically rediscovered after the Russian invasion last year.
But also hunger and war, as limits to development, elements of instability that so much humanity has been suffering for a long time.
Can we get out? We reflect on it together with Maurizio Martina, deputy director of FAO (the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), Rosita Di Peri, university researcher and expert on Lebanon and the Middle East, Paolo Lambruschi, correspondent for Avvenire and expert on Africa.

Photography is relentless. Numbers that say more than many words: 828 million people suffering from hunger, 46 more than in 2020, 150 compared to 2019. The result of these roller coaster years: first the covid, now the economic imbalances linked to the war in Ukraine and climate change.
And the future is all uphill. Maurizio Martina, former Minister of Agriculture and now Deputy Secretary General of FAO, the United Nations organization that has the task of combating hunger in the world, says it clearly.
"If in 2015 we had the ambition of ending hunger within 15 years - he explains - today we have the same numbers as then".

First the covid, now the war: the food crisis and its challenges. Maurizio Martina, deputy secretary general of FAO, speaks

To what extent is this war affecting the situation?
The peculiarity is linked to the fact that Russia and Ukraine are two large producing and exporting countries of basic foodstuffs. Before the conflict, at least fifty developing countries relied on the grains produced in this area. The effect was very heavy both direct and indirect because the war created a climate of enormous uncertainty even on the markets for agricultural goods with a dramatic increase in prices.

The war in Ukraine has once again reminded us that we are all interconnected. A limitation or an opportunity?
True, the interconnection is profound. Globalization is not just about technology, goods or finance, but also about agricultural systems. I believe that the uncertainties of this time have brought out the great need for new rules, especially on the agricultural and food front because the dynamics are even more divergent. Let's think of the energy emergency generated by the covid tail with increases that immediately impacted the prices of basic agricultural goods. Wheat has been the epicenter of this movement with a paradox, that expected market prices determine real prices and not the other way around.

How?
In global markets without rules, the expectation of the price weighs more than the actual price and this generates a crazy dynamic. Let's think of financial instruments such as futures in agricultural food markets. They were born to stabilize prices, to lend a hand to producers, today they are actually a finance tool for the real economy. This is why I say that new rules are needed without giving up good interconnection. Let's not forget, in recent decades millions of people have emerged from hunger thanks to globalisation. It's not all to throw away, but we need to see the distortions clearly.

According to Sipri, in 2022 military spending in the world reached 2,100 billion dollars. It's an incredible figure. Much less would be needed to defeat hunger and promote development. Should we resign ourselves to this state of affairs?
No, but we must understand that the world has entered a new historical phase and has polarized even more. Even before the war in Ukraine multilateralism was not good, today it is even worse. The international scaffolding generated by the rubble of the Second World War is unfortunately under discussion today. Does this mean giving up a prospect of peace? Absolutely not, but we must bear in mind that the challenge is more difficult and that there are very different points of view.

In what sense?
I am also realizing it in the current experience. For example, a war breaks out and you would expect a reaction from everyone, but it doesn't exist. Or you discuss development and sustainability and collide with walls. You might say that other peoples do not have our value coordinates. But let's be careful to think like this! Why then maybe a developing country says to you: sorry, let me understand, I should give up my development because you have to declare the achievement of sustainable development goals? You with a full belly and me with an empty belly? You've been defrauding my assets for decades and tell me I should give up something when you've never given up anything? This is the big issue before us. The reality is that the balance of power still exists. But that is where we must place our challenge.

How do you answer?
A new response is needed in the face of this landslide. Those who imagine and dream of a different world must come up with ideas new ideas, offering different perspectives, reasoning on the fact that for us democracy is an acquired fact, but not for many others. We must involve others not within a scheme that no longer exists, anti-historical whereby we explain to others what they must do, but within a different cooperative logic. We haven't found it yet, but we have to start from here.

Agricultural markets, not only in Italy, are often also marked by speculation. It is not always easy to give the right value to products and work. Are there tools to reverse the trend?
In Italy we start from a reality that has a thousand facets. It is clear that producers are the weakest link. And here we return to the theme of rules, of a fair economy. The question is simple: how to ensure that production costs are at least covered by revenues? However, if the logic is that of the lowest price, it is clear that there is a risk of a conflict between the consumer citizen and the working citizen. We have to build a new balance, even more globally.

What can individuals do? What are the good practices to fight against hunger?
Everyone can do their part. We know it, we're lucky because we live in a part of the world that allows itself the luxury of wasting a third of what it produces and that often throws it from the refrigerator to the trash without even thinking too much about it. First, it is important to raise awareness: waste less, consume better. Then, I strongly believe in projects that change people's lives from below. There are thousands of them in the world, despite many problems, primarily corruption. We must support these positive realities, broaden their scope, involve new actors: cooperation, organizations, associations. Things can really change.

In such a complex situation, what do you think is the greatest danger? What about hope?
The greatest danger is indifference. This is answered by being passionate and studying because the superficiality of some analyzes is often not enough to understand things. On hope, I am thinking of the European Union project. As much as we mistreat it, it is the greatest peace project ever implemented on this planet. The theme is not to rest on our laurels, but to renew that spirit born after the experience of the Second World War and the strength of democracy.
We must give it new content and never take it for granted. If we do this, we will understand that we can feel really good if others are well too. If others are not well, you feel like talking about peace. I think this is the real work we have to do.

By the editorial team
NP April 2023