Millionaire Profits Could Solve East Africa’s Hunger Crisis

Two weeks of food millionaire profits would be enough to respond to a “hunger crisis” in the East African region, Oxfam said in a statement released Monday.

The non-governmental organization reports that the food crisis in East Africa, where millions of people face a “worrisome” situation of hunger, has intensified significantly in regions such as Ethiopia.

In an African country, the hunger situation is five times higher than the world average in terms of food risk.

“An estimated one in 48 people die in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, where the drought situation is worsening due to the effects of the war in Ukraine, which has led to a sharp increase in food prices,” warns Oxfam.

Oxfam’s Profit from Pain report, covering the period March 2020 to March 2022, says that “millionaires” in the food sector have increased profits by $382 billion (nearly €370 billion).

Thus, notes Oxfam, “In less than two weeks, profits will be more than enough to fund the entire UN fundraising program that seeks $6.2 billion for East Africa.

So far, the United Nations has been able to raise only 16% of the amount requested.

Hanna Saarinen, head of food policy at Oxfam, said “monstrous wealth is accumulating at the top of global food distribution chains (companies)” as rising food prices leave millions without food.

Saarien called for a new system to “end hunger” and urged governments to mobilize resources to “prevent human suffering”.

In that sense, he added, “a good option would be to tax the ‘super rich’ whose wealth has grown to unprecedented levels in the last two years.”

East Africans spend 60% of their wages on food, according to Oxfam, and the region is overly dependent on imported staple foods.

Food and drink in Ethiopia accounts for 54% of the CPI (consumer price index).

In the United Kingdom, the value of the same index is 11.6%.

The NGO laments that “while many people in wealthy countries are fighting inflation, in East Africa they are directly facing hunger and poverty.”

The Intergovernmental Organization for Development (IGAD), a bloc of eight countries in the east of the African continent, warned last May that the number of people suffering from hunger in the region was increasing due to drought and now stands at 40. million inhabitants.