Commentary

My Op-Ed on reducing maternal mortality and achieving the heart of the MDGs is published today on RH Reality Check. Check it out here.

I spend a lot of time at the Union Square Farmer's Market, and I recently started serving on the advisory council of a group called Just Food that helps connect farmers with community supported agriculture programs, supplies farm-fresh produce to food banks, and advocates for better food policy. So I've definitely noticed that the global food crisis impacts the prices farmers have to charge for their bread; it hits them, too.

My paying an extra dollar for bread is a hassle but not a hardship. Most of the world lives on less than $2 a day. We all know this by now, right? So an increase in commodities hits them hard. Families have to decide between one meal or two, or maybe even who doesn't eat a meal altogether. And when someone has to go hungry, most often it is a woman or girl in the family.

The NYT piece on food security and overall security in Afghanistan got me worried today. Here is a nation that really doesn't need any more instability or another event to shake up an already fragile state. This is also the perfect environment for breeding warlordism: if the government shows it can not provide food, someone else will step in who can, even if they have to use force. Which is really how Afghanistan's warlord problem started in the first place.

It is hard to imagine a lasting stability in Afghanistan, or anywhere, if the country does not have the means to feed itself, whether growing its own crops or paying for food imports. Afghanistan relies heavily on international aid; the donor community needs to do better to address this pressing need.