Food pledge leaves questions

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The number was a biggie. Canada and the other wealthy countries attending the Group of Eight summit in Italy pledged to spend at least $15-billion (U.S.) on agricultural development over the next three years as more evidence emerges that the food crisis, allegedly cured late last year, is on the verge of a comeback.

It was one of the few tangible spending commitments made at the three-day event, which winds down Friday.

Closer inspection of the announcement, however, left more questions than answers. Robert Fox, the executive director of the aid and development charity Oxfam Canada, calculated that the spending commitment seems to represent a downgrade from previous commitments. "It may be new money, but it is not additional money," he said.

The G8's own documents on global food security report that the G8 countries spent $13.4-billion (U.S.) on food security between January, 2008, and this month. That works out to almost $9-billion (U.S.) a year. The new commitment of $15-billion (U.S.) over the next three years, if all spent, works out to $5-billion (U.S.) a year.

The good news is that Canada was able to use the summit to build on its reputation as a reliable, and ever increasing, spender on food security.

It did so by announcing it will boost food funding by $600-million (Canadian) over three years, taking it to almost $1.2-billion.

The pledge was made Thursday by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. "Whether we are talking about famines, price spikes or lack of sustainable agricultural development, there are many clear and compelling humanitarian, economic and security reasons to address this mounting global challenge today," he said.

In the 2008-09 fiscal year, Canada's overall food spending was $580-million, up 40 per cent from the previous year. The figures include both investment in food productivity and emergency aid, which can vary considerably year by year, depending on the number of life-threatening food shortages.

The Canadian government did not say specifically where the extra food money would be spent, beyond "bilateral programming and multilateral initiatives." Generally speaking, the wealthy countries are trying to shift their food spending from short-term food aid to long-term food development. The goal is boost poor countries' ability to grow their own food so they are less reliant on handouts.

Canada wins high marks among food aid groups and the United Nations food agencies. Josette Sheeran, the executive director of the UN's World Food Program, has praised Canada for providing long-term WFP funding and untying its food-aid budget. That means the WFP is under no obligation to spend Canada's food contribution on Canadian grain.

Instead, it is free to spend the money on food production and procurement close to the afflicted areas.

Some aid and development groups are reserving judgment on the $15-billion (U.S.) food-spending pledge made by the G8 until they learn more details Friday. They don't know, for example, whether the amount is composed of both government and private donations or how much of it comes from existing budgets.

"They always include existing spending in the 'new' figure and add everything into it to make it the biggest figure possible," said Dennis Howlett, the co-ordinator of the Canadian arm of Make Poverty History, the global anti-poverty campaigners.

Kumi Naidoo, the co-chairman of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, said that food spending has generally been a disappointment. "There is a very big discrepancy between what they say they'll do and what they actually do," he said, noting that almost none of the many billions in food aid pledged at the UN's food summit in Rome last year has been spent.

Canada's relatively spotless record on food spending is not based purely on altruism. The food assistance was untied only last year, well after most European countries. Until then, the bulk of the Canadian food destined for emergency relief had to be bought in Canada. More food aid benefited Prairie farmers while raising Canada's international profile.

The Harper government seems willing to boost food spending because of its international public relations value. The spending delivers results that can be measured quickly - fewer people starving or going hungry.

According to the UN, the food crisis of 2007 and 2008 never really disappeared. Last month, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) calculated that slightly more than one billion people - the highest in history - are malnourished. That's up 100 million in the last year, largely due to the global economic crisis, which has reduced poor people's ability to buy food, and rapid population growth in the developing world. While prices are somewhat lower than last year's peak, they are still high by historic standards.

The UN food agencies and food-relief groups say the planet actually has enough food to feed everyone. The problem is lack of income to buy food, lack of infrastructure to deliver it to consumers, trade barriers, the rise of biofuels that turn food into fuel and any country's desire to export high-value crops.