[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 89 (Tuesday, June 22, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1349-E1350]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  HUNGER RELIEF IS CONFLICT PREVENTION

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. TONY P. HALL

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 22, 1999

  Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise to call my colleagues' 
attention to an OpEd by President Jimmy Carter (``First Step Toward 
Peace is Eradicating Hunger,'' International Herald Tribune, June 17, 
1999). I ask that the text of this article be entered into the Record, 
and I urge my colleagues to heed its wise message: that where there is 
mass hunger and poverty there is fertile ground for tyranny, civil 
strife, internal displacement, and social upheaval. Our own economic 
and security interests are threatened by the fact that one-fifth of the 
world's people lives in extreme poverty, struggling to survive on 
incomes equivalent to less than a dollar a day. And we know that an 
ounce of crisis prevention through well-spent poverty relief is worth 
of pound of cure, in the form of massive humanitarian operations, 
military intervention, and post-war reconstruction.

[[Page E1350]]

A study by the Congressional Budget Office itself found a ``striking 
correlation between economic malaise on the one hand, and domestic 
unrest on the other.''
  For impoverished countries that are serious about raising standards 
of living, there can be no substitute for good governance and sound 
economic policies. But even the best trade and investment-led 
strategies will fail if they leave the poor behind. And, as President 
Carter points out, agriculture is the economic backbone of most of the 
world's poorest countries, and the primary source of livelihoods for 
the poor, rural majority.
  The United States took a significant step in the right direction last 
year by passing and enacting into law the ``Africa Seeds of Hope Act,'' 
(H.R. 4283, now Public Law: 105-385). This measure was designed to 
better focus existing programs of assistance to Africa on the needs of 
rural producers who represent a majority of Africans, yet have the 
lowest incomes and suffer from the worst food shortages in the world. 
By focusing resources on farmers, the measure works to ensure the long-
term political stability and economic growth of the world's most 
famine-prone region. Congress should closely follow its implementation, 
but next steps must include payment of arrears to the United Nations, 
passage of debt relief legislation, and a reversal in the decline of 
our foreign aid budget. These are our cheapest and surest lines of 
defense against costly and destabilizing wars and crippling constraints 
to our own economic growth and expansion.

      [From the Paris International Herald Tribune, June 17, 1999]

             First Step Toward Peace is Eradicating Hunger

                           (By Jimmy Carter)

       Washington--When the Cold War ended 10 years ago, we 
     expected an era of peace. What we got instead was a decade of 
     war.
       The conflict in Kosovo is only the latest to embroil the 
     international community. Conflicts have raged in Latin 
     America, Europe, Africa and Asia in the 1990s, often 
     involving the entire international community in costly relief 
     operations and peacekeeping missions, frequently under 
     hostile conditions. These conflicts--mostly civil wars--have 
     been extraordinarily brutal, with most victims being 
     children, women and the elderly.
       Why has peace been so elusive? A recent report sponsored by 
     Future Harvest and generated by the International Peace 
     Research Institute in Oslo examines conflicts around the 
     world and finds that--unlike that in Kosovo--most of today's 
     wars are fueled by poverty, not by ideology.
       The devastation occurs primarily in countries whose 
     economies depend on agriculture but lack the means to make 
     their farmland productive. These are developing countries 
     such as Sudan, Congo, Colombia, Liberia, Peru, Sierra Leone 
     and Sri Lanka--places with poor rural areas where 
     mainutrition and hunger are widespread. The report found 
     that poorly functioning agriculture in these countries 
     heightens poverty, which in turn sparks conflict.
       This suggests an obvious but often overlooked path to 
     peace: Raise the standard of living of the millions of rural 
     people who live in poverty by increasing agricultural 
     productivity. Not only does agriculture put food on the 
     table, but it also provides jobs, both on and off the farm, 
     that raise incomes. Thriving agriculture is the engine that 
     fuels broader economic growth and development, thus paving 
     the way for prosperity and peace.
       The economies of Europe, the United States, Canada and 
     Japan were built on strong agriculture. But many developing 
     countries have shifted their priorities away from farming in 
     favor of urbanization, or they have reduced investments in 
     agriculture because of budget shortages. At the same time, 
     industrialized countries continue to cut their foreign aid 
     budgets, which fund vital scientific research and extension 
     work to improve farming in developing countries.
       Unfortunately, much of the farming technology developed in 
     industrialized nations does not transfer to the climates and 
     soils of developing nations. It is not a priority for 
     agricultural giants in affluent nations to focus on the poor 
     regions of the world or to share basic research advances with 
     scientists from poor nations.
       This neglect should end. Leaders of developing nations must 
     make food security a priority. In the name of peace, it is 
     critical that both developed and developing countries support 
     cultural research and improved farming practices, 
     particularly in nations often hit with drought and famine.
       For example, the report finds that India, one of the 
     world's largest and poorest nations, has managed to escape 
     widespread violence in large measure because the Indian 
     government made food security a priority.
       Beginning in the 1960s, farmers in India were given the 
     means to increase their agricultural output with technology 
     packages that included improved seeds, fertilizers, 
     irrigation and training. Today India no longer experiences 
     famines as it did in the first half of this century. India's 
     food security contributes to its relative political 
     stability.
       While food is taken for granted in industrialized 
     countries, many parts of the world--sub-Saharan Africa and 
     large parts of Asia, for example--suffer serious food 
     shortages. Today, per capita food production in sub-Saharan 
     Africa is less than it was at the end of the 1950s. The 
     report concludes that new wars will erupt if the underlying 
     conditions that cause them are not improved.
       The message is clear: There can be no peace until people 
     have enough to eat. Hungry people are not peaceful people. 
     The Future Harvest report is a reminder that investments in 
     agricultural research today can cultivate peace tomorrow.
       Former President Carter is chairman of the nonprofit Carter 
     Center, which seeks to advance peace and health around the 
     world. He contributed this comment to the International 
     Herald Tribune.

     

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