Sorting the basics

By Samir Sobhi

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I know everyone is worried about the world economic crisis these days. But this is the tip of the iceberg. A worse problem has been taking its toll on our lives for years now: hunger. According to UN figures, there is nearly one billion who are either hungry or suffering from malnutrition on this planet. The number was supposed to be halved between 1996 and 2015, or at least that's what a world food summit promised us, but this is not happening.

Actually, the current international crisis has made things worse, even for rich nations. And even before that, the rush to produce bio-fuels sent the price of food soaring all over the world.

In ancient times, Egypt was the breadbasket of Rome. We produced so much food we could help other countries, as biblical tradition says. Now we've become net importers of food. When the price of wheat goes up we get a lot of angry people in this country, and at least as many hungry ones. This cannot go on forever.

Under the sands of the Western Desert lie expanses of arable land, as Farouk El-Baz told us years ago. It is time to brush aside the sand and see if we can get enough water to irrigate that area. I don't care how long it takes. It may take us 10 years, perhaps 20, but we should start now.

As Imam Ali once said, "If poverty were a man I would have killed him." We can kill poverty in this country. Our men and women will find a way of making this country once again an exporter rather than importer of foodstuffs. So let's all get together and think of what to do next.

This week's Soapbox speaker is a veteran journalist at Al-Ahram .