FOOD SUPPLIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25853, 25 May 1945, Page 4

FOOD SUPPLIES

LIBERATED AREAS URGENCY OF PROBLEM MILLIONS SLOWLY STARVING (P.A.) WELLINGTON, May 24. In a statement to-day the Acting Prime Minister, Mr W. Nash, said the discussions which had been proceeding in Washington between representatives of the Government of the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada on the problem of world supplies and distribution had now concluded. This combined conference had thoroughly surveyed the food position throughout the world. Ip releasing for publication a statement issued following the conclusion of the conference, Mr Nash said it showed how serious the position was and how important it was that ail supplying countries should make every possible contribution to relieve the situation. Mr Nash added that the New Zealand Minister in Washington, Mr C. A. Berendsen, had been kept informed of developments at the conference and had given every assistance. Steps to Increase Production The statement says that the first task of the conference was to consider the supplies of foodstuffs available to the United Nations. Meat, oils, fats, wheat, sugar, certain dry products, and rice were examined in this survey. When the conference had thoroughly investigated all possible means of increasing supplies of these goods, which are short, it reviewed various claims to be met. In view of the increased war-time demands everything possible must be done to increase the production of'certain important foods in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other United Nations. All those steps by which the people add to their food supplies, such as victory gardens and home canning, must be continued at, or near, their peak. Commercially-canned foods .certainly would not be available in increased supply. The problem of food is one of the most urgent facing the United Nations. It is another commipn struggle which must be won. Either the United Nations must find answers to the food problem or millions of persons throughout the world will meet disillusionment and disappointment following the wake of victory. • The shortage of certain critical items is paralleled by frequent inability to transport in adequate quantities those foodstuffs of which adequate supplies are available. The world-wide stringency of the merchant shipping situation is made more serious, particularly in recently-liberated areas, by the disruption of internal transportation sabotaged by the enemy or destroyed by the ruthless hand of war. Requirements Outlined

The present shortage of certain foods is part of the price it has been necessary to pay for the victories of the Allied forces in Europe and the Far East. The problem grows greater—not less—with each victory. Briefly, the cases are as follows: (a) Military requirements for food have been growing. Not only are the armed forces of the United States and British Commonwealth now at full strength, but also they have taken over responsibility for helping to feed the expanded Allied armies; that is. the French, Belgians, and Greeks in the West, and Filipinos. Burmese and Chinese in the East. * .. (b) There are also hundreds of thousands of German prisoners being taken by the Allied armies in North-western Europe. Our armies are responsible for the subsistence of these prisoners. (c) France, Belgium, large parts of Holland, and vast territories in Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Far East have now been liberated. To the extent that their own production, which has suffered heavily during the occupation, falls short of the minimum requirements the Allies must strive to make up the deficiency. .... . (d) With the advance of the Allied armies large numbers of displaced persons—French, Belgian, Dutch, Poles, Russians, and others deported to Germany by the Nazis—are being freed and have to be fed until they can return to their homes. (e) The Nazis have ruthlessly plundered the food-producing areas of Europe which they previously occupied. Their retreating armies have m some cases taken livestock with them. The sowing of crops in many battlestricken areas is impossible this year and the food production of Europe will for some time be far below the prewar level.

Reduced Output

The report says that in the face of these increased and essential requirements the world output of many foodstuffs, notably meat, sugar, rice, and fats and oils, is lower this year than last. This reduced output is due to a variety of causes—the further withdrawals of manpower from farms into the armed forces, shortage of fertilisers in some areas, and natural forces over which we have no control, such as droughts, which have affected important food-producing areas, such as Australia, Argentina, South Africa, -and parts of the Caribbean area. The United Nations, therefore, are faced, in 1945, not only with larger requirements for food, but with supplies which in many important categories will be less than in 1944. The problem will extend not merely over the next few months, but into 1946. While conditions vary in different countries, and even in different parts of the same country, the hard fact is that in many parts of liberated Europe consumption levels are deplorably low. Particularly in the cities, the amount of food available provides considerably less than the 2000 calories daily which are normally regarded as the minimum. Conditions are worse in those countries which only now are being liberated. Indescribable Conditions

In Amsterdam and Rotterdam, for instance, conditions are almost indescribable, with large populations existing on one meal a day, mainly composed of sugar beets, and obtained at soup kitchens. These people are getting no more than 450 to 500 calories daily, which means slow death. In other countries which were liberated earlier, conditions have improved, but supplies are still inadequate. In Belgium and liberated Holland, for instance, the ration now gives 1700 to 1800 calories daily, while in Athens the target of 2000 calories is. however, no more than an emergency level, insufficient to maintain a working population. At such a level it is not possible for liberated people to engage upon the task of rebuilding their agricultural industry.

Experience in this war has proved that a much higher level of nutrition is required for civilian populations who have borne the brunt of the war production. In the United States, for instance. the average level of civil consumption in 1944 was 3367 calories daily: in Canada it was 3435; in Britain, 2923. The people engaged in heavy work in these countries consume in excess of 4000 calories daily. The United Nations are devoted to the task of tackling the food situation confronting the liberated areas in a realistic and practical manner. The task is to get food to the people who need it. and to supply them as quickly as possible with the transportation, equipment, fuel, fertilisers, feeding stuffs, and other things which they need in order to get their agriculture going again. The sooner this can be done, the sooner they will be able to return to healthful living and assume their normal place in the economic life of the world.

Many of the liberated countries, including France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, will pay for supplies which are made available to them; other countries must be financed by U.N.R.R.A. The problem, therefore, is not one of charity but of helping to create conditions in which a stable government and a sound economy can be re-established.

Meanwhile the need to supply sufficient food to tide over the immediate difficulties is urgent. Some supplies have been sent, the greater part consisting of wheat and (lour. The problem of these two commodities is not one of shortage—the job is not only to find the ships to take the wheat across the Atlantic, but to take the wheat to these parts and then help the

transport systems of the liberated areas with shipment and fuel so that they can get the wheat to the urban areas, where it is most needed. Some parts of the liberated areas’ requirements consist of commodities in particularly short supply, such as meat, fats and oils, and sugar. They represent the most difficult part of the problem which the conference has faced. Each of the three Governments concerned is now considering in the light of a detailed examination of the facts such measures as will enable it to make its appropriate contribution to the common problem which the conference considered. There is now an agreement on the facts, but much remains to be done. Full consultation with the other Governments of the United Nations as to their needs and resources will take place, so that all may co-operate in the restoration of sound and healthy life in the countries liberated from the enemy by the victorious advances of the Allied armies.