Seminar I The Dynamics of Food Security

1. Seminar IThe Dynamics of Food Security Concepts, Policies & Threats W5

2. ‘The existence of massive hunger is even more of a tragedy because it has been largely accepted as being essentially unpreventable’ Amartya Sen

3. Food Insecurity It is recognized that poverty is ‘a major cause of food insecurity and [that] sustainable progress in poverty eradication is critical to improving access to food’ but that ‘conflict, terrorism, corruption and environmental degradation also contribute significantly to food insecurity’. Rome Declaration,1996

4. Why Do We Need Food Security?FAMINE • Famine Trajectories: • Natural Disasters (severe droughts & floods mainly in Africa) • Malevolent Exercise of State Power (Soviet Union & China) • Conflict (esp. SSA since 1960s)

5. Famine in 20th Century Period I • 1900 –1920: Mortality very low and confined to Africa Period II • 1920 – 1970: 85 % of famine deaths, predominantly China and Soviet Union Period III • 1970 – 2000: 12% of famine deaths, all in Africa and South/Southeast Asia

6. Famine in 20th Century • 20th century was worst ever for famine mortality • Drought famines in Nigeria (1927, 1942/43), Ethiopia (1980s) • War famines in Angola (1974/5, 1993/4, 2001/2), Zaire (1977/8, 1997), Liberia (1992/3), Sierra Leone (1995/8) • Many famines have no mortality estimates available, approx. 70 million to 80 million deaths in 20th century • Technical capacity to eradicate famine was first achieved • 21st century famines still persist • Mass mortality famines: N. Korea, Ethiopia and Sudan

7. 21st Century Deaths related to Famines • 2000 Ethiopia, tens of thousands of deaths (drought) • 2000 – ongoing, Uganda, unknown (conflict) • 2001 – 2003 Horn & Southern Africa, tens of thousands of deaths (drought) • 2002 Angola, thousands of deaths (conflict)

8. Case: Asia • 1940s Bengal famine resulted with Indian gov’t being made accountable for famine prevention • Apparent eradication of famine in India by the early 1970s • Microeconomic vulnerability to famine persisted  minor floods and major market failure led to catastrophic famine in Bangladesh 1974. • Improvements in infrastructures and political accountability have contributed to prevention

9. Case: Africa • 1920s – 1950 period of low famine incidence • Military dictatorships replaced colonial administrations, led toera of ‘War-Triggered Famines’ • 1980s and 90s: • ‘Conflict-triggered’ famines in countries not famine-prone • ‘Drought-triggered’ famine nations experienced complex-emergencies • Contributing factors: poor infrastructure, microeconomic vulnerability, political instability • 1980s, information systems & international response capacity greatly improved • Increasingly complex negative synergies between natural triggers, economic vulnerability & political culpability have contributed to higher frequency

10. Hunger Map of Africa:Drought Affected Countries

11. Dought Affected Africa • People at risk?More than 38 million people are victims of a vast hunger crisis in Africa. • Countries affected?Severe food shortages exist in several large regions of the continent: southern Africa, the Horn of Africa, the region of Western Sahel and West Africa's Mano River countries. • Southern Africa Horn of AfricaLesotho -- 650,000 Uganda -- 500,000 Malawi -- 3.3 million Sudan -- 2.9 million Mozambique -- 590,000 Eritrea -- 3.3 million Zambia -- 2.9 million Ethiopia -- 11 million Swaziland -- 270,000 Zimbabwe -- 6.7 million Zambia -- 2.9 million Angola -- 1.9 million

12. Zambia: Drought-Related Famine • 60% of population in the Southern province needs immediate food aid • Severe flooding - the maize crop was almost a total failure, previous year's production fell by a quarter - most farmers have little in reserve to cope with the current crisis. • Many Zambians collect, sell and eat wild food just to get by, or have resorted to crop-stealing and poaching. • Even when the hungry can afford food, Zambia's low population density means that an exhausting journey on foot is required to reach the marketplace. • Hunger is forcing children to drop out of school. • The 20 percent rate of HIV/AIDS infection prevents thousands of young people from working in the fields.

13. Uganda: Conflict-Related Famine

14. Uganda: Conflict-Related Famine • Last 18 years, people in northern Uganda have endured brutal conflict • 1.6 million people have been displaced and now live in squalid conditions • Civilians have been attacked and killed by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in their villages, as well as in the camps • LRA has abducted tens of thousands of children, forcing them into combat and sexual slavery • Ugandan army has moved hundreds of thousands of civilians against their will into “protected villages” that offer little security and hardly any assistance, and has victimized ordinary people with brutal raids against suspected LRA militants. • Death toll from direct violence is tens of thousands, chronic food and water shortages in the 200 makeshift settlements throughout the north have also exacted a heavy price. • Many are dying from preventable diseases like malaria, respiratory disease, and diarrhea

15. The Persistence of Famine? • Recent successes in averting famine in Bangladesh, Bosnia & Mongolia… • Recent food crises in Ethiopia, Iraq, Madagascar, Malawi & Sudan • Recent drop in number of mortalities due to famine • Since 1980s, famines have resided in the Horn of Africa • Shift in famines from Europe &Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa is associated with drop in famine mortality

16. What is Food Security? • ‘Food security as the availability at all times of adequate world supplies of basic foodstuffs..to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption ..and to offset fluctuations in production and prices’. Rome Declaration 1975

17. Types of Food Security Household Food Security – assuring or enhancing access to food for the poorest, most food-insecure households and groups National Food Security – ensuring availability, adequacy and stability of supplies of food at the global and national level Acute Food Insecurity – severe short-term problem, a crisis associated with an environmental or economic shock or a continuing emergency Chronic Food Insecurity – long-term problem, lack of access of vulnerable households to adequate levels of food for normal human development – fundamentally intertwined with problems of poverty and inadequate livelihoods

18. Evolution of Thinking About Food Security Three fundamental shifts in food security thinking since the 1970s: • Level of analysis: from global and national to the household and individual • Scope of analysis: from a narrow ‘food first’ perspective to a broader livelihood perspective (sustainable) • Assessment of food (in)security: from objective indicators to subjective perceptions

19. Who are the Key Actors? • Donors: • Bilateral – Governments • Multilateral – United Nations • Non-Governmental Organisations • Farmers, Public • Private Corporations – Agri & Biotech Industry • Recipient Nations

20. Donors: Bilateral - Government • Bilateral flows generally are budgeted in monetary rather than volume terms • Traditionally, donors’/suppliers’ interest havebeen in expanding export markets and reducing surplus stocks • US is the worlds primary bilateral donor, accounting for more than half of all donor food aid commitments worldwide

21. Donors: Multilateral – UN/WFP • Multilateral donors are dependent on bilateral donors for their resources or private donations • Focus on recipient needs or obliged to supplier interests? • Growing rapidly in the past quarter century, tracking the hyper-expansion of emergency food aid • World Food Programme (WFP), est. by UN FAO and General Assembly in 1961, • Responsible for 90% of multilateral food aid & 30% of all food aid worldwide • Main channel for emergency food aid • Develop ways to use food in food-for-work projects • Raise share of resources through consolidated appeals to donor gov’t for supplemental aid • Triangular Transactions and local purchases

22. Donors – Private Sector • Multinational Corporations, involved in Agriculture & Biotech • Provision of agricultural inputs: seeds, herbicides, fertilizers • Provide financial resources - ‘donations’ • Donating technologies – genetic markers, gene promoters, insect protection technology • Transfer of information • Provide training session to adopt improved practices

23. Donors: Non-Governmental Orgs • Since 1980s, a sharp increase in the role of NGOs as channel for food aid • Provide greater degree of direct accountability to donor gov’ts, esp. where donor distrust of recipient gov’t is high • Provide a way of quietly circumventing traditional reluctance to violate sovereignty of a nation • Perceived as more neutral in conflict situations • Have staff in areas where donors and multilateral agencies may not have, so can provide independent, on-site assessments of rapidly changing situations

24. NGOs.. • Often the only viable orgs remaining/functioning on the ground in emergency situations • Since mid-1990s, NGOs accounted for 20% of global food aid transfers, a larger share of emergency resources are now directed through NGOs • UN agencies have established more formal contractual relations with NGOs, (WFP in ’95) • NGOs receive surplus crops from some Northern-based farmers • NGOs receive private donations from the public

25. When did the notion of Food Security come about? 1950s • Food aid programs took present form in the early 1950s • USPublic Law 480 (PL480), the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954, a legal framework for US food aid • 1950s and 1960s, food aid was a surplus disposal mechanism for dealing with the growing grain surpluses in North America

26. 1960s • Allocations on a bilateral basis, to politically friendly allies • 1961, World Food Programme (WFP) • Insignificant role in international food aid, 4% of total food aid transfers • Two fundamental norms of food aid: • Reflect the political and economic goals of the donors foreign policy • Transfers were allocated in order to not undermine commercial food exports, to protect commercial trade

27. 1970s • Transformation of foreign aid policy – emergence of development-oriented food aid regime • World food crisis 1972-74, severe food shortages • World Food Conference in Rome, 1974 • New consensus that food aid was to be conceptualized as a development resource • New principles: • Improvement in agricultural production • Multi-year programming of food aid • Triangular food aid transactions • Increased use of multilateral channels • More criteria for bilateral allocations • More emphasis on evaluations for programming of additional quantities

28. 1980s • Food aid integrated into development projects • Reform of WFP into full-fledged “development agency”: • Responsible for coordination of large-scale international emergency operations • Transport and logistics for bilateral programmes & NGOs • New relations with leading international agencies • Increase in channelling allocations for donors, 25% of all shipments

29. 1990s • Sharp distinction between emergency food aid and longer term development aid • Emergency food aid increasingly seen as residual component of food aid • Notion that food security is best achieved by ensuring food aid contributes to long-term agricultural development of recipient countries • Trend: Donors differ in their approach to food aid

30. Food Security Evolution of ThinkingConceptually and Chronologically • Three Fundamental Shifts in Food Security Thinking Since the 1970s • Six Phases of Food Security Policy and Practice

31. Three Paradigm Shifts of Food Security • Level of Analysis: from the Global and the National to the Household and the Individual • Scope of Analysis: from a Food First Perspective to a Livelihood Perspective 3. Assessment of Food (In)Security: from Objective Indicators to Subjective Perception

32. From the Global & National....to Household/Individual ‘Food security as the availability at all times of adequate world supplies of basic food-stuffs..to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption ..and to offset fluctuations in production and prices. (UN 1975) • Focus on supply, national self-sufficiency and proposals for world food stocks • **However, widespread hunger could/did co-exist with adequate food supply at national and international levels • Amartya Sen (1981) initiated the shift away from national to the issue of access of the individual to food

33. 2. From a Food First Perspective....to a Livelihood Perspective • Began 1985 - stimulated by observation of the African famine in 1984 • Conventional view of food security - food as a primary need: ‘Food security stands as a fundamental need, basic to all human needs and the organisation of social life. Access to necessary nutrients is fundamental, not only to life per se, but also to stable and enduring social order’ (Hopkins, 1986) • Shift - short-term nutritional intake is only one of the objectives people pursue.

34. Central Findings of the Period • Livelihood: objectives other than nutritional adequacy were pursued • Time preference: people going hungry now, in order to avoid going (more) hungry later

35. 3. From Objective Indicators.. ..to Subjective Perception • Conventional approaches relied on objective measurements: • Target levels of consumption • Timely, reliable and nutritionally adequate supply of food

36. Problems Related to an Objective Approach Quantitative measure without qualitative aspects is problematic because.. • A function of age, health, size, workload, environment and behaviour. • Calorie requirements for average adults and children with average activity patterns in average years are subject to constant revision. • Nutritional requirements have to be treated as value judgements. • technical food quality • consistency with local food habits • cultural acceptability • human dignity

37. Considering the subjective dimension, a further definition arose: • ‘A country & people are food secure when their food system operates in such a way as to remove the fear that there will not be enough to eat. In particular, food security will be achieved when the poor and vulnerable, particularly women and children and those living in marginal areas, have secure access to the food they want’(1988).

38. History of Food Security • 1974-80: Global Food Security • 1981-90: Food Entitlement & Structural Adjustment • 1991-00: Poverty, Not Food Security • 2001..: Where Next?

39. 1974-80: Global Food Security • World food crisis, famine in parts of the Africa, esp. the Sahel and Horn • Doubling of grain prices, caused by harvest failure in, and grain imports by, the Soviet Union. ‘ ..from 1945 until the early 1970s, US food surpluses had, in effect, been the guarantor of world food security. The massive food aid to India during its drought crisis of 1965-66 is a good example. The US abdicated this solo role by its prioritization of commercial sales to the then USSR and its explicit use of food as a political weapon. By 1974..there was a considerable institutional gap to be filled.’

40. Milestones (con’t) • 1974, World Food Conference recognized global problem, focused attention on global production, trade and stocks. • World Food Council was established, to monitor world food availability. • FAO set up a committee on World Food Security

41. 1981-5: Food Entitlement & Structural Adjustment • Academically, question of poverty and access began • Acceptance that food production on its own did not assure consumption - people needed access to food. • Amartya Sen’s Poverty and Famines (1981) codified the idea of ‘food entitlement’ • European Community launched its ‘Plan of Action to Combat Hunger in the World’ • FAO adopted a broader concept of food security, prominence on access, production & stability of food

42. 1986-90: The Golden Age • African famine renewed impetus to action on hunger & its causes • World attention drawn to social costs of structural adjustment, (UNICEF, Adjustment with a Human Face) • WB, FAO, EC continued to commission reseach on Food Strategies • Many African countries hosted food security studies by leading international organisations • Great deal of academic work on food security, Hunger and Public Action (Jean Dreze and Sen, 1989)

43. 1991-5: Poverty, Not Food Security • Donors dropped/downgraded food security studies & programmes in favour of poverty assessments and reduction programmes • Change in nature of famines – 80s associated with drought but 90s associated with war • Problems were with food supplies in complex emergencies

44. 1996 – 2000: All Talk, No Action • 1996, World Food Summit, more than 100 heads of states and governments met to address issue that 800 million women, men and children do not have access to sufficient food • Objective: to raise political will ‘..the World Food Summit, like other summits, was premised on the assumption that, by drawing national leaders together in a public forum to commit themselves collectively to tackle major issues to global concern in a concerted manner, it would reinforce their determination to bring about change and heighten their accountability’ (FAO, 2001).

45. WFS…Results? • A single commitment to reduce chronic under-nutrition in half by 2015 • Countries to prepare national action plans to be monitored by FAO committee • Main difficulty of the Summit - lack of firm commitment and actions by national governments

46. 2001… What Next? • Reviews +5 yrs showed that little action followed on the commitments made, implementation and follow-ups are off target • National governments are unable/unwilling to follow-up on commitments • 1 in 6 persons live in poverty and food insecurity, 842 million suffer from chronic hunger • Many nations cannot create conditions for ensuring food security for its entire people

47. Basics of Food Aid Key Distinctions/Definitions Food Assistance Programs (also “food-related transfers”): any intervention to address hunger and undernutrition (e.g., food stamps, WIC, food subsidies, food price stabilization, etc.). Food Aid: - international concessional flows in the form of food or of cash to purchase food in support of food assistance programs. Key distinction: international sourcing of concessional resources tied to the provision of food.

48. Basics of Food Aid A Quick History of Modern Food Aid: • 1954, Public Law 480 (PL480) in the U.S. The U.S. and Canada accounted for >90% of global flows through early 1970s, when the UN’s World Food Programme became a major player.  • Peaked at 22% of global aid flows in ’65, now <5% • Food Aid Convention agreed 1967, guides policies of 22 nations and EU, monitored through the Consultative Sub-Committee on Surplus Disposal. - Rise of WFP since mid-1970s, decline of US PL 480. Move to multilateralism. EU/Canada move to cut program food aid and to decouple from domestic farm programs. - Modest rise of triangular transactions/local purchases since 1984.

49. Basics of Food Aid Relative to international standards, ~30% of the world’s nations suffer macronutrient availability shortfalls relative to international standards (2350 Kcal/55 g protein/day per capita) … … concessional food flows have potential to fill the gap.

50. Basics of Food Aid 3 Types of Food Aid: Program : subsidized deliveries of food to a central government that subsequently sells the food and uses the proceeds for whatever purpose (not necessarily food assistance). Program food aid provides budgetary and balance of payments relief for recipient governments. Project : provides support to field-based projects in areas of chronic need through deliveries of food (usually free) to a government or NGO that either uses it directly (e.g., Food for Work, school feeding) or monetizes it, using the proceeds for project activities. Emergency/Humanitarian: deliveries of free food to GO/NGO agencies responding to crisis due to natural disaster or conflict.