A billion people go to bed with empty stomachs every night globally, Tanzania included, not because there isn’t enough food, but because of great imbalances in opportunities and control of resources.According to a report launched by Oxfam Tanzania, by 2050 Tanzania will have a population of 82 million, thus quick reforms are paramount in preventing hunger.
The report, whose theme is ‘GROW’, was presented in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday by the Oxfam Country Director, Ms Monica Gorman. She said hunger used to be an historical phenomenon caused by floods and other natural disasters, but that has since come to pass.
“The trend has taken a new twist today, becoming even more severe. Oxfam believes this can be prevented if we reform our food policies,” she told invitees to the occasion at the Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP) grounds.
Apart from reforming food policies, Ms Gorman emphasised on the need to follow good governance policies in the country. She criticised politicians and business elites who push for more industrial agriculture that is controlled by a few big corporations using many resources.”These are false solutions that benefit a few people. Worse still, when it comes to small producers and poor Tanzanians, the solutions only tackle symptoms but not the root causes,” she said.