One World: The Future of Food

Fergal Keane explores how closely subsistence farmers live to famine in Ethiopia. In a country of 80 million people, with over 80% of the population dependant on agriculture, famine has been an almost constant presence in the country.

But studies show that famine isn't just caused by simple crop failure. Other factors also need to be present. One of those is a failure in the market place, when famine often occurs immediately after years of plenty. The programme asks why this should be and what can be done about it.

Among the contributors are:

Roger Thurow, long time correspondent in Africa for the Wall Street Journal. Roger is the author of the book Enough, (Why the World's Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty. www.enoughthebook.com

Dr Eleni Gabre-Madhin, the founder of the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange www.ecx.com.et the country's new commodity exchange launched three years ago to ensure fair prices for farmers and a proper handling of surpluses.

Self Help Africa, www.selfhelpafrica.org the Irish development agency which works to help subsistence farmers help themselves.

Africa Juice, a European company which recently bought over a 5,000 acre state farm in the Ethiopian Highlands, invested $10 million and now exports fruit to Europe. www.africajuice.com

Producer: Fergal Keane

Produced in partnership with Irish Aid

First broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 on Tuesday September 13th., 2011

An Irish radio documentary from RTÉ Radio 1, Ireland - Documentary on One - the home of Irish radio documentaries.