growth v. starvation

Here's the conundrum. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to

• six of the top ten fastest growing economies
• 17 of the 20 nations suffering the worst food shortages

Plainly, the idea that the invisible hand of the market will solve everything--the myopic economic view of the world--is not working. Economic growth doesn't mean that fewer people are hungry or that more people have jobs.

Inter Press Service interviews José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN.

"Growth and increasing food production are not enough," he tells Inter Press. "In Africa we need to look particularly at access to food. Many undernourished farmers suffer from not having access to land, while others cannot buy the food they need because it is not cheap enough for farmers to buy according to their salary, while many of them are jobless and without income. The challenge is to approach all these things at the same time."

His agency wants a global commitment to zero hunger in Africa by 2025, or a dozen years from now.