Can global food security be privatized?

A Twitter conversation between the United Nations World Food Programme’s (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley and one of the world’s richest people, Elon Musk, grew very interesting this past week. Beasley invited Musk to give 2% of his wealth to help his organization save 42 million people from almost certain starvation and death in the next year. The Tesla magnate replied by stating he’s willing to sell off $6b worth of Telsa shares if a comprehensive plan is provided to “solve world hunger”. Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder, also chimed in with a $2b proposition.

Beasley replied by stating that world hunger can never be “solved”, but it can be controlled by the much needed support of others to help as many people as possible, especially in times of crisis. There is obviously some truth to Beasley’s remarks. Famines are almost always generated by climate change and/or geopolitical unrest. To think that one or both will end would be nothing short of a fantasy, especially now. Hunger and famine will never really disappear, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be doing anything about it. Global coordination to execute and deliver programs to help is almost always required. 

Over the years, the WFP of the United Nations has done wonders to alleviate world hunger. In fact, last year it won the Nobel Peace prize for its work. As the world’s largest humanitarian organization, it has done wonders around the world to save lives and build a more egalitarian society. Created in 1961, it is one of the most respected charities in the world.

Last year alone, the WFP received almost $10 billion in funding, allowing it to help about 116 million people in more than 80 countries. This year, given the pandemic, it is trying to raise at least $18b in funding. COVID-19 has undoubtedly complicated our world food surety landscape in more ways than one. According to the UN organization, the number of people worldwide facing famine increased by 56% from 27 million in 2019. It was also stated that 40 million people were forced to flee their homes in 2020 due to extreme weather patterns or socio-political conflicts.

But the WFP has received its fare share of criticism over the years by skeptics who wonder if the work can be done more efficiently.

One key criticism the WFP has faced is related to food aid dependence and capacity building. By providing food aid coming from abroad, prices of local commodities produced by impoverished farmers are depressed and will undercut their income. Local production will often be discouraged. The WFP has made some inroads in enticing local farmers to grow more food domestically but with limited success, according to some analysts. Food aid programs will often disproportionally hurt rural communities and create problems including corruption, reliance, and limitations on exports. Many have argued that rebuilding an economy becomes more challenging when knowing food aid is available.

Musk’s message to the WFP clearly had an undertone of both doubt and suspicion. Without saying it, Musk himself likely believes the WFP’s design and approach has reached a critical point and is limited by virtue of its imposing bureaucracy. His message is likely less about how we can support the WFP in its quest to alleviate world hunger, but perhaps more about how we look at new models supported by a different way of thinking.

If you can believe it, before the pandemic, we had fewer people suffering from hunger now than just 10 years ago. But with the pandemic, coupled with the outstanding effect of climate change, we are expecting numbers to go up significantly. Musk, Bezos and others would likely focus on economic development and capacity building domestically to make sure hunger-stricken regions see the end of their starvation cycles. Building infrastructure while fostering research for new technologies will be key. In turn, of course, more wealth in certain challenged regions will developed markets. This is very much what Musk did with the electric car, a technology most gave no hope to less than a decade ago. And think of Amazon’s distribution genius – one of our Canadian North’s best food suppliers right now is indeed Amazon. 

For those who don’t believe global food security can be privatized, here is one daring example. For many years, many believed space exploration and travel required the involvement of nations and government. Science-intensive projects like aeronautics warrants a sober scheme, free of profits and risk-taking gambles. But with the Apollos’, Challenger and Columbia disasters, public authorities started to pay more attention to private enterprises. And now, here we are. We just beamed Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, Canadian actor William Shatner, into orbit. Space travel is being privatized right under our own noses, and our mark towards a more democratic path to the unknown is led by a group of billionaires.

Privatizing global food security is likely achievable, and it can happen within a decade. But food aid needs to be seen as a business and an opportunity which shouldn’t be left to charities exclusively. Same for space travel with governments. Quite the paradigm shift. Whether you agree with it or not, what is becoming quite clear with the WFP and other charities is they need all the help they can get. And since over 700 million around the world suffer from hunger, it’s worth a try.