Discussion: training manuals on food security

Contribution by Brian Thompson, Irela Mazar, Juliet Aphane, Leslie Amoroso, Nomindelger Bayasgalanbat and Janice Meerman from FAO, Italy

Dear friends and colleagues

The primary focus of the High Level Forum on “How to Feed the World by 2050” will be on global challenges and solutions in agriculture and food security. These subjects are, of course, directly related to the more general issues of poverty reduction and human development. The contribution below- the second in a series posted by FAO’s Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods Group- articulates the links between nutrition, food security, and broader development goals, as described by the MDGs.
Nutrition makes an important direct contribution to all eight MDG goals, and is especially crucial to reducing hunger and poverty (MDG 1). Nutrition plays an important role in the monitoring and mapping of the hungry and poor, in food and nutrition security policy formulation and assistance, in guiding National Programmes for Food Security, and in emergency response.
Nutritional status is a key indicator of poverty and hunger, poor health, and inadequate education and social conditions. Improving nutrition is crucial to achievement of the health, education and economic goals of the MDGs. Poorly nourished children cannot grow and develop properly, are highly susceptible to infection and disease, and are often compromised in terms of cognitive function and educational achievement. Malnourished adults are less capable of working and are severely disadvantaged in terms of their social and economic security. In addition, good nutrition can greatly improve health outcomes for people living with HIV/AIDS and can mitigate the impact of the disease among all members of HIV/AIDS affected households.
Nutrition improvement programmes have a unique and essential role to play in efforts to reach the MDGs. Good nutrition makes an essential contribution to the fight against poverty. It protects and promotes health; reduces morbidity and mortality (especially among mothers and children); and encourages and enables children to attend and benefit from school. Furthermore, by indirectly strengthening communities and local economies, good nutrition contributes to the achievement of other development objectives which in turn impact the MDGs. For example, effective community nutrition programmes can empower women and other vulnerable groups to increase the volume and efficacy of their demands for improved social services and better use of existing resources.
Comprehensive, multi-sectoral intervention designs are needed to achieve the MDGs. Incorporation of nutrition goals, indicators, and participatory community nutrition initiatives will facilitate the development, implementation and monitoring of such interventions. Within the agricultural sector, incorporating nutrition objectives into policies and programmes for food security can lead to explicit improvements in people’s nutritional welfare, health, and productive potential. Each of these outcomes increases human capital and is thus integral to achievement of the MDGS and to feeding the World in 2050.
Best regards

Brian Thompson, Irela Mazar, Juliet Aphane, Leslie Amoroso, Nomindelger Bayasgalanbat and Janice Meerman of FAO’s Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods Group

Contribution by Lorenz Bachmann, Freelance Agronomist working in Africa and Asia

Dear Mr De Haen,
Feeding the world in 2050 will be a considerable challenge. Already today we are quite far from reaching that target. Recently I did very broad comparative studies with 700 farmers in Uganda comparing ordinary farmers with farmers working in sustainable organic agriculture. The results showed that the food security of the organic farmer was far better then the conventional farmer. The main factor can be seen in the focus of programs to diversify agricultural production away from a few crops to a diversity of crop and livestock activities. This also resulted in 50% higher income of farmers and a much better health status. In a similar study in the Philippines last year, the sample was even larger with 840 farmers. In that case we compared conventional farmers using the typical green revolution package with farmers that are in conversion to organic farming (reduced input use) and fully organic farmers.

The results for farmers that area about 5 years in the program are exceptionally good. Just to name a few impacts, 20% more income, 50% more different crops planted and used 88% have  better health. Strikingly the full organic managed to obtain the same rice yields compared to their conventional colleagues with out using chemical inputs.

The study is published as a book “Food security and farmer empowerment” and can be downloaded for free at www.Masipag.org
What were the reasons for these outstanding successes? The organisation “Masipag” has developed a trial farm approach were farmers learn how to compare rice varieties on their own farm, farmers learn how to select varieties, how to purify and maintain the quality of seed. On village level, farmers grow 60 varieties in their seed bank, and then select the best 4-5 for mass production on their own farm. This ensures a perfect adaptation process to local the soil and climate condition. Growing many varieties reduces pest infestation and makes them less vulnerable to climatic changes. Furthermore the varieties are bred by the farmers themselves, this is probably the most outstanding innovation, after 20 years of work the Masipag network has 235 farmer breeders, all over the country that have conserved more than 1000 traditional old Philippino varieties and used them to bread another 1000 new Masipag lines! Member farmers can access these new varieties free of costs. This makes it possible for all farmers to have a free access to high quality seed. As all member farmers are trained in seed purification, all members are able to grow new varieties by just supplying them little packages with just a few grams of seed! The yield data of the study showed that these adapted varieties had the same performance compared to the high yielding varieties coming form IRRI and other commercial sources without any commercial fertilizer input! All fertilisation is organic: Green manure, agroforestry trees, farm manure, azolla, compost.

This approach and its results are really breathtaking and would merit the title “true green revolution”, much more than the old green revolution with all its many flaws!

Another important aspect of the success of the program is the “farmer-led approach in management and diffusion. All programme activities are directed by real farmers, farmers hold the majority of the 9 positions in the board. But the Network also involves scientists and other NGOs for frequent knowledge exchange. The diffusion work of technologies is done by farmers themselves. Only farmers that have adopted the technology on their farm for a number of years are selected by the local farming groups to do extension for new groups. This ensures a very high quality of extension work. Since it beginning in 1985 the network has grown to 35,000 farmer members today.

This is certainly an approach to expand much further in particular towards feeding the world in 2050.

What are the key issues to promote further? The Masipag networks focuses on rice breeding and diversification into many different other crops for the reason of better diets, food security, lower marketing risk, and better incomes. Farmers are free to choose how fast they reduce their inputs and when they reach the status “full organic”. This would be also the way to go for the world as large. Considering climate change and the heavy negative CO₂ print of N-fertilizers in their production, but also the losses into as N₂O back into the air, clearly ask for a strong reduction in the future.

However, at present they are still indispensable to maintain production levels. However, with a view to 2050, fertilizer subsidies should be slowly reduced and eventually even a N-fertilizer tax should be introduced gradually (rising slowly each year) so that farmers can adopt. At the same time new clean subsidies should be introduced for sustainable land use (using green manure, planting agroforestry trees, etc.). We need truly green clever subsidies in the future and a phasing out of all the old wrong incentives worldwide. Future funds becoming available under the new international CO₂ reduction programs should include sustainable agriculture as one viable way of reducing emissions.

Farmer-led breeding should be used on a wider scale. With this adapted system of breeding, it may be possible to obtain the yields needed on farmers level by 2050. The system also ensures the distribution of seed that today is by far not reached properly in particular in Africa. Regarding agricultural research we do not need more, but simply a stronger focus on participatory work with farmers. And of course we need a much more efficient extension system. The Masipag example also gives hints here, farmers should be given a much more important role, farmers can be perfect breeders and extensionists! Farmers have been treated by researchers and extensionists as “traditional” for too many years. It is about time that farmers are taken serious. What we need is a paradigm shift in thinking of researchers and extension workers. With some empowering training, farmers can quickly become very efficient breeders and extensionists by themselves.

Many comments given by other contributors here in the forum (K. Gallagher; A. Widana) equally point in the same direction. Fighting hunger is very complex, many more factors than what I mention are important too. However, regarding agricultural production, reducing input use, orientation towards sustainable agriculture and true empowerment of farmers are the most important changes needed for the future.

Dr. Lorenz Bachmann, Freelance Agronomist working in Africa and Asia