FOOD FOR HUNGRY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 10, 10 December 1936, Page 13

FOOD FOR HUNGRY

MEANS ADDITIONAL ACREAGE. LEAGUE CONSIDERS PROBLEM. Wanted —“new deal” for the world’s underfed and the world’s farmers! Today, a substantial part of mankind has not enough to eat. At the same time, there are gluts in the agricultural markets. The wheat farmers overseas, for instance, have large surpluses ot grain on their hands —unsold, writes a special correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor. In some cases Nature has come to the rescue and drought has wiped out these accumulations. Y’et at its last meeting in London in July the Wheat Advisory Committee, representing all the wheat interests in the world, noted that “at the present level of consumption the danger of a. re-accumu-lation of burdensome wheat surpluses has not yet been averted. It has merely been postponed.” In the Second Committee of the League Assembly at Geneva the problem of nutrition was discussed. MILLIONS UNDERFED. As to the extent of malnutrition in the world the Information Section oi the League Secretariat recently stated that there are “15,000.000 underfed in Britain and 25,000,000 to 30,000,000 in the United States.” It has also reported the results of an investigation carried out in the United Kingdom which showed that “in a group of poor families 47 per cent, of the children are undersized and underweight.” In the United States, the Secretary of Agriculture (Mr Wallace) has stated that 7,500.000 children are suffering from malnutrition.

Ever since the slump, some econo mists have been shouting “over-pro-

dilution” —when all the time there.has been serious under-consumption. The studies of Stiebling and Ward have shown that if the whole population of the United States were provided with an abundant dietary—according to the standards of the well-to-do families —an additional 40.000.000 acres would have to be brought under cultivation. NEW APPROACH. To-day a totally new approach to the problem ot helping the farmers and the wheat growers and thereby solving the continued world slump is under way. This approach takes the line that the only hope of progress is through increased consumption, that it is no good reducing acreage, but that consumption must be increased by getting the world to eat more of the better kinds of food. In the vanguard of this movement is Australia, whose first delegate at the League Assembly in 1935 proposed the “marrying of agriculture and health.” Representing Australia at the recent assembly on this question was Mr E. L. McDougall, wlto was also rapporteur on “nutrition” to the International Institute of Agriculture in Rome Australia is, of course, one of wheat’s “Big Four.” Like the other three members of the wheat quadrille, Australia, because of the glut, lias had large wheat surpluses on lier hands, her farmers are hardly getling remunerative prices for their wheat, they are much indebted to the State, and consequently cannot buy manufactured articles made overseas. It is this restricted purchasing power of the agricultural exporting countries. Mr McDougall recently told the Oxford Agricultural Economics Society that “is one of the major reasons for the continued depression of world trade.” It also happens that industrial Europe has raised high trade barriers to protect its agriculture. Some countries have done so for the sake

of self-sufficiency, or a sense of political insecurity, or again for conserving currency. TOO MUCH PROTECTION? At present high retail prices may he caused by extreme agrarian protcc tion. A recent International Oabom Office iteport showed for instance that the world price of butter in 1934- was 1.72 Swiss francs. In Italy, the price was 3.03, in France 3.55, in Germany 3.70, and in Switzerland 4.70 Swiss francs. Said the I. L. O. —flic difference between these national prices and the world price of 1.72 “must bo attributed to the effects of tariff's, quotas and other restrictions ’’ High retail prices may also be due lo an over-elaboration of distributive services, or through monopolies. Statistics released by the League show that during the years 1930 to 19:14, Finland beaded the list of milk consumption, including other dairy products in terms of milk, with 144 gallons per head per year. Italy was at the bottom of the list with 24. then France, followed by Germany, the United States 82 and the United Kingdom 88. PROTECTIVE FOODS. Eggs, also, are considered among the best “protective foods.” The nutrition experts recommend one egg per bead per day—or 360 eggs a year. About 4,500.000 people in Britain only cat 1.5 eggs a week. Canada seems to head the egg consumption figures with 282 per head per year, the United States is third with 199, Britain 153 and Denmark at the bottom with 90. In meat, too, industrial ■ Europe could do with increased rations. New Zealand herds the list with 236 pounds per head per year. Britain 143. United States 137, and Ttalr 36 poundsAs far as fruits are concerned, the citrus group is held to be the most valuable. Britain tops the annual con-

sumption with 28.8 pounds per head per year. The lowest is Poland with 1..1 pounds. To raise the consumption of Central and Western Europe to the United Kingdom level would require an increase in supplies by 120 per cent. All these tables illustrate the need for increased production if reasonable standards of nutrition are to be achieved.