Food prices soar - and death gorges itself

OXFAM Scotland today launches a fresh appeal to stop millions starving to death in east Africa.

Food prices have rocketed by 500 per cent in some regions in the past two years, pushing between nine and 13 million people in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya into destitution.

Pests and diseases have also blighted the area, with infestations of caterpillars damaging 70 per cent of crops in northern Kenya and a virus decimating goat and sheep populations.

Deepening the crisis are rising fuel costs, war and the second serious drought in three years.

Aid workers warn that, although the scale of the crisis has yet to reach levels that triggered Bob Geldof's Band Aid response in 1984, the situation could worsen if nothing is done.

Rob McNeil, an Oxfam spokesman who recently returned from Ethiopia, said: "This is a catastrophe in the making, but we have time to act before it becomes a reality.

"Some of the roads we travelled on were littered with dead livestock because there is little or no pasture or water.

"People are becoming increasingly desperate. I saw people in one village pounding food pellets intended for animals into porridge to feed their families."

Oxfam reports that a United Nations appeal for emergency aid for Somalia, one of the worst-hit countries, has received only 37 per cent of the funding it needs to meet the cost of imported rice, which has shot up by 350 per cent in the past 18 months. More than 30 per cent of the population are in dire need.

The Ethiopian government says it needs £215 million to provide emergency food assistance, with the number affected doubling from 2.2 million in January to 4.6 million. The price of wheat has also more than doubled in the past six months. A quarter of all children in Turkana, northern Kenya, are suffering from acute malnutrition.

Aberdeenshire singer Sandi Thom will today front Oxfam Scotland's appeal by helping to construct an 11,000-litre water tank in George Square, Glasgow, to illustrate the charity's response to people in need of humanitarian assistance.

Judith Robertson, head of Oxfam Scotland, said: "Governments must invest in concerted action to tackle the underlying causes of gross inequality of wealth. Without this, scenes of destitution will continue to haunt our shared conscience."

• Donations can be made online, by phone on 0300 200 1300, at any Oxfam shop or by post to Oxfam East Africa Appeal, 207 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 4HZ.

IN NUMBERS

5.8 million
people were dependent on relief food in 1986 after famine in Ethiopia.

One million
copies of the first Band Aid record, written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, were sold in the first week of sales.

35,000
children die of hunger-related causes, according to Actionaid.

10 million
people needed food in the 1984 famine.

23 million
Africans received emergency aid in 2005 and 2006.