Discussion: training manuals on food security

Contribution by Patrick Chatenay from UK

Dear FSN forum

I was very interested by the contribution from Brian Thompson, Irela Mazar, Juliet Aphane, Leslie Amoroso, Nomindelger Bayasgalanbat and Janice Meerman of FAO’s Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods Group. I must admit not to have realized before the important distinction between food security and nutritional security they illustrate.

The “agriculture-based interventions to improve nutrition security” they suggest appear to the layman I am quite valid.

When they address what the FAO can do to assist, however, I feel too much weight is given to technical improvements: though it may not be its most striking traditional feature, the FAO must get involved in agricultural economic policy formulation. If food and nutritional security are to be attained world-wide, it will be because agriculture is profitable. Given the physical constraints of food production and their consequences on farm cash flow profiles over time when left to “market forces” only, regulations are needed to render farming attractive.

Good agricultural policies are absolutely key to solving “how to feed the world in 2050”.

Patrick Chatenay

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

Dear colleagues and friends,

Six Issues Briefs are posted as background documents for the High Level Forum on “How to Feed the World by 2050” (http://www.fao.org/wsfs/forum2050/wsfs-background-documents/hlef-issues-briefs/en/). This contribution - the third in a series posted by FAO’s Household Food Security, Nutrition and Livelihoods Group – addresses three of these briefs (Global Agriculture toward 2050, The Technology Challenge, and The Special Challenge for sub-Saharan Africa) from a nutrition perspective. Excerpts from the briefs are copied below to which we have included additional important information regarding food and nutrition security.
1. Global Agriculture towards 2050
This brief points out that "Projections show that feeding a world population of 9.1 billion people in 2050 would require raising overall food production by some 70 percent between 2005/07 and 2050. Production in the developing countries would need to almost double. This implies significant increases in the production of several key commodities." However, feeding the world population adequately also means producing the kinds of foods that are lacking to ensure nutrition security. In addition to cereals, diets should also include a diversity of fruits, vegetables, pulses, nuts, fats and animal source foods. In many developing countries, where over 60% of calories is typically cereal derived, dietary diversity is lacking and only a small amount of these other foods are consumed on a regular basis, thus leading to increased risk of malnutrition and associated ill-health effects.

Production increases alone will not be sufficient to ensure food security for everyone. Unless governments make sure access to food by the needy and vulnerable is significantly improved, and while the prevalence of chronic undernourishment in developing countries could fall from 16.3 percent (823 million) in 2003/05 to 4.8 percent in 2050, this still means that some 370 million persons would be undernourished in 2050. On these prospects, the World Food Summit target of halving the numbers of hungry people by 2015 (from the 813 million of 1990/92) may not be reached until well into the 2040s. These calculations underline the importance of putting in place effective poverty reduction strategies, safety nets and rural development programmes, including increased funding for nutrition education and extension programmes, as well as health and sanitation projects.

And to this brief’s Discussion Points, we would add:

•Should the focus of agricultural production continue to be dietary energy or should micronutrient content be considered equally important?

•How can the goal of increased global food production, including biofuels, be balanced against the need to protect biodiversity, ecosystems, traditional foods and traditional agricultural practices?
2. The Technology Challenge
Yield gaps exist mainly because known technologies that can be applied at a local experiment station are not applied in farmers’ fields having the same natural resource and ecological characteristics. In addition to yield gaps, “the nutrition gap” is wide in many poor countries and should be narrowed in conjunction with closing yield gaps. To do this, agricultural technology must increase availability and access to a diversity of nutrient-rich foods necessary for a healthy diet, and increase actual intake of those foods. Factors that contribute to the nutrition gap are similar to those that cause yield gaps. They include lack of institutional capacity, lack of access to nutrition information, lack of funding and personnel for extension services, and poor infrastructure. In addition, lack of nutrition awareness among policy makers, and lack of recognition regarding the need to encourage production of nutrient-rich foods for consumption widens the nutrition gap in many countries. At the policy level, solutions require incorporation of explicit food and nutrition security objectives into the design and implementation of agricultural development initiatives to ensure that potential opportunities to improve nutrition are identified and exploited, and to ensure that production-based policies are not detrimental to nutrition. For research and ground-level interventions, technology-based solutions include R&D to increase yields, nutrient content and resilience of staples appropriate for resource-poor smallholders, as well as innovations to reduce post-harvest losses. For example, solar dryers for mango, papaya, and other fruits could be improved in terms of efficiency. In areas where infrastructure is sufficient to support mechanization, simple automated fruit dehydration techniques to improve nutritional content, longevity and safety could be introduced. Finally, simple technology-based solutions such as SMS-based reporting systems can improve access to market price information for farmers and traders, and better nutrition indicator information for planners.

And to this brief’s Discussion Points, we would add:

•How do we ensure that agricultural development leads to improved nutrition rather than simply boosting agricultural production?

•How can R&D be mobilized to develop or refine rudimentary technologies in processing, food preservation and storage to be used at household level?

3. The Special Challenge for sub-Saharan Africa
For the continent as a whole, economic growth was well above 5 percent until 2008, and for sub-Saharan Africa, above 5.5 percent. Agricultural growth in sub-Saharan Africa has been more than 3.5 percent, well above the 2 percent rate of population growth. Nevertheless, 218 million people in Africa, some 30 percent of the total population, are estimated to be suffering from chronic hunger and malnutrition, 38 percent of Sub-Saharan African children under five years are stunted (low height-for-age, reflecting a sustained past episode or episodes of undernutrition). Furthermore, in the 29 African countries where trends in stunting prevalence over the last decade could be examined, only 12 improved, while 6 had no change and 11 saw prevalence rates increase.

The comparative advantage that African smallholders have in food production is under threat as larger commercial farms are better placed to handle the process of managing risks associated with adoption of new technologies and the diffusion of knowledge. The result may be over time an increase in the average farm size, land consolidation, increased commercialization of agriculture and possible migration out of the sector. In this process, small-scale farmers will be under increased pressure to adapt. Efforts should thus be made to facilitate positive spillover from commercialization into small-scale farming. In terms of food and nutrition security, possibilities include (1) improved availability, access and intake via improved quality and safety of local food supplies and (2) improved access via contract-farming opportunities and subsequently increased purchasing power. From a policy perspective, global, regional and national policies focused on market-seeking, rather than resource-seeking, commercial ventures will improve smallholders’ chances of benefiting from global integration of food systems, and decrease their vulnerability to food and nutrition insecurity.

The recent price spike highlighted the challenges farmers (especially small farmers) in developing countries face in trying to expand production in response to higher prices. Many smallholders and their families have coped with the challenges posed by the food and financial rises by reducing plantings, reducing the quality, variety and quantity of household food consumption, spending less on basic needs such as clean water and healthcare, and engaging in the fire sale of assets such as land or livestock. All of these responses have increased vulnerability to malnutrition and food insecurity.

And to this brief’s Discussion Points, we would add:

•Considering the high and pervasive rates of malnutrition in sub-Saharan Africa, how are we to ensure agricultural development in this region leads to improved nutrition rather than simply boosting agricultural production?

•How are we to protect smallholders’ livelihoods, nutrition and food security in response to rising price volatility, commercialization and transition in the agricultural sector?

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