Africa to Afghanistan: Ambassador Kip Tom’s Lessons from the Global Food Crisis

Kip Tom has traveled the globe as an advocate for agriculture, a warrior against hunger and a political appointee trapped in the bureaucracy of promises and cultural divergence. 
Kip Tom has traveled the globe as an advocate for agriculture, a warrior against hunger and a political appointee trapped in the bureaucracy of promises and cultural divergence. 
(Howard G. Buffett, Kip Tom, WFP)

The cool mountain air nipped at Kip Tom’s hands as he grasped the single lever of a crudely made plow tucked behind two oxen. His instructor smiled, motioning him to push down as the animals walked. Tom shoved the point into the rocky soil and saw it start to turn the earth. 

As the soil and bits of trash rolled over, his mind flashed back to his farm in Indiana where his grandfather had spent countless hours behind a similar team. Generations of hard work along with the development of mechanization and modern farming practices helped Tom to eventually grow his farm into a leading-edge operation. 

Back in Afghanistan, Tom heaved all he had into the beam of the plow, but the hard earth and untrained hands saw his furrow drift off line. His Afghani teacher smiled as if to acknowledge the task’s difficulty. With a nod and several unrecognizable words, he took the implement back in hand. 

Tom grinned as he surveyed his few hundred feet of work, rubbing his hands and nodding his own look of respect for the skill required to perform the rudimentary work.

Kip Tom in Afghanistan
Kip Tom takes a turn on the plow during a trip to Afghanistan in 2011.

A GLOBAL COURSE

That exchange, just one moment during a trip to Afghanistan and Iraq in 2011 with Farm Journal’s Farmers Feeding the World initiative, helped mark a course for Tom’s future — a path that would take him across the globe as an advocate for agriculture, a warrior against hunger and a political appointee trapped in the bureaucracy of promises and cultural divergence. 

“In Afghanistan, Kip engaged immediately, trying to get an understanding about what agricultural development meant as a solution to lift people out of dire circumstances,” recalls Andy Weber, Farm Journal CEO and travel companion. “Kip is a person driven to expand his knowledge base, and I am positive that trip 10 years ago inspired him to get more deeply involved.”

AN AMBASSADOR FOR FOOD

From 2019 to January of 2021, Tom served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations’ Rome-based agencies primarily focused on global food security. He had a front-row seat to some of the biggest hunger issues in the world. Now absent the polished stone halls of his Italian post, Tom has time to reflect on the experience, including the current turmoil in Afghanistan.

“There was a sense you got once you were boots on the ground inside Afghanistan, seeing the looks on people’s faces and that desperation of wanting to be food secure,” Tom says.  “They would rather do it themselves than to be constantly living under humanitarian aid from organizations.”

Decatur, Ill., farmer and philanthropist Howard G. Buffett was on the 2011 trip as well, investigating ways his foundation could continue supporting, what was at the time, a rebirth of an ancient nation.

“I drove around for years with a sticker on the back of my pickup truck that said, “American farmers, we feed the world,” Buffett says. “The reality is we may be one of the single most important contributions to world food security, but we cannot replace local production in many parts of the world.”

Kip Tom quote

PROGRESS SACRIFICED 

This past August, the food security situation shifted following the collapse of the Afghan National Army, the return of the Taliban and the pullout of U.S. troops by the Biden administration, . The World Food Program (WFP) says half, or nearly 23 million people, are now food insecure, with 8.7 million of those on the cusp of starvation. That’s up 40% since April.

“Afghanistan was actually making some pretty good roads over the past 10 years to improve their food security,” Tom says. “The lack of respect in human rights for young people and women has changed dramatically since we were there, and it bothers me to see the state we’re in today.”

Buffett echoes those sentiments: “The projects we invested in, especially those empowering women, will be dismantled. The U.S.’s ability to help lower food insecurity in Afghanistan will be greatly reduced.”’

The WFP says it needs $220 million a month just to feed those who are hungry a 75% ration.  

FOOD, SECURITY AND AFRICA

While Afghanistan might be the spark that ignited Tom’s passion for feeding the hungry, Africa is an all-consuming fire. Africa is on pace to see its population double from 1950 to 2050. In just 30 years, Nigeria is forecast to be the world’s third most populous country. 

“It’s already a hotbed for terrorism, human trafficking, arms and illicit drug trade,” Tom says. “We’ve got to do something to stabilize this area.”

An ongoing civil war in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country, is the latest example of the region in crisis. Thousands have died in the fighting along the northern Tigray region, and 1.7 million people have fled. The United Nations says it’s the worst exodus of refugees from Ethiopia in 20 years, while WFP counts 5 million people in need of food assistance. However, even food aid is being stopped from entering the region. 

“If people aren’t allowed the ability to feed themselves, or they don’t have the nutrition they need, they become desperate,” Tom says. 

A BOMB IN BEIRUT

In early October 2020, Tom joined a gaggle of foreign journalists and WFP leadership on a tour of Lebanon. While making his way across a mangle of rebar, wire and concrete rubble Tom could smell the familiar odor of spoiled grain oozing through the air. 

As he stepped onto a pile, at the foot of a decimated concrete elevator, he noticed one small pink sandal poking through the mess. Tom picked up the shoe and, like any farmer would, grabbed a handful of the now useless grain. His mind wandered back to the moment that sandal was lost. 

Tom’s view was of one of the largest non-nuclear blasts known to mankind. An ammonium nitrate bomb created from old carelessly stored fertilizer killed hundreds of people on Aug. 4, 

2020. Around 7,000 people were wounded and 300,000 were displaced. The blast, based near the port of Beirut, also decimated import grain storage for the city. 

In his ambassador role, Tom helped bring U.S. resources to those in need. That included securing port space and making sure survivors had food during the cleanup. 

Kip Tom in Beruit
Grain storage at the Port of Beirut was decimated when fertilizer exploded at a nearby warehouse. Kip Tom holds a child’s shoe found in the rubble.

THE BATTLE TO DO MORE

From dragging bags of grains out of storage in Afghanistan to securing port space for Lebanon, Tom focuses on one job —  feeding people. He knows we need to measure success by results and not the billions of dollars donated to humanitarian needs. 

Tom worked with 194 ambassadors to influence global policy to support resilience and capacity building in food systems. Today he is working with the private sector to see economic opportunities become a reality to improve lives and livelihoods.

“I remember meeting two young ladies, probably in their 30s, who grew up in the largest bread manufacturer in Lebanon and had inherited it from their parents,” Tom says. “They shared their frustrations of just trying to get shiploads of wheat flour into their plants and bakeries mostly because of the negligence of the government.”

It’s a story Tom says is too common across the globe. He’s worried places such as Afghanistan will slip into another endless cycle of hunger. 

“None of these people want to live on our continuous handouts,” he says. 

Iraqi farmer in 2011
Millions of smallholder farms can't afford even basic machinery for their operations. This tractor was being used on a small grain farm in Iraq in 2011.

Tom knows how important the FAO and WFP are in keeping hungry people alive. But he and others who have seen hunger firsthand know funding and private sector investment must continue to help increase capacity and resilience of existing food systems.

“The U.S. can feed a lot of people, and our agriculture is critical to world food security,” Buffett says, “but it also comes down to logistics, local food preferences, affordability, security, transportation, timing and distribution. There are many parts of the world western agricultural production cannot reach.”

As an Indiana farmer and now ambassador, Tom has reached his hand out to countless others, a sign of goodwill, gratitude and assistance. The lessons he’s learned echo back to that single day while trying to wrangle oxen in Afghanistan. He might not understand it all, the results might not be perfect, but he’s willing to try. 

“It’s tragic for human beings to suffer through consequences, but we can remain hopeful. We’re at a point where we can’t give up. Just like our ancestors changed and fed our growing population in the United States and around the world, we need to make sure we help others in the world feed themselves as well. That’s where the opportunities lie.”  


Farm Journal Editor Clinton Griffiths is a TV newsman, turned magazine editor, with a passion for good stories. He believes the best life lessons can be found down a dirt road.

 

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