Number of people needing humanitarian assistance on the rise

 

Photo credit: FAO

A livestock owner in Kenya with his remaining cattle after drought killed two-thirds of his herd.

FAO issues alert over third consecutive failed rainy season, worsening hunger in East Africa

14 July 2017, Rome – Poor rains across East Africa have worsened hunger and left crops scorched, pastures dry and thousands of livestock dead – according to an alert released today by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The most affected areas, which received less than half of their normal seasonal rainfall, are central and southern Somalia, southeastern Ethiopia, northern and eastern Kenya, northern Tanzania and northeastern and southwestern Uganda.

Poor rains across East Africa have worsened hunger and left crops scorched, pastures dry and thousands of livestock dead – according to an alert released today by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The most affected areas, which received less than half of their normal seasonal rainfall, are central and southern Somalia, southeastern Ethiopia, northern and eastern Kenya, northern Tanzania and northeastern and southwestern Uganda.

The alert issued by FAO’s Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) warns that the third consecutive failed rainy season has seriously eroded families’ resilience, and urgent and effective livelihood support is required.

“This is the third season in a row that families have had to endure failed rains – they are simply running out of ways to cope,” said FAO’s Director of Emergencies Dominique Burgeon. “Support is needed now before the situation rapidly deteriorates further.” 

Increasing humanitarian need

The number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in the five aforementioned countries, currently estimated at about 16 million, has increased by about 30 percent since late 2016. In Somalia, almost half of the total population is food insecure.  Timely humanitarian assistance has averted famine so far but must be sustained. Conditions across the region are expected to further deteriorate in the coming months with the onset of the dry season and an anticipated early start of the lean season.

Read the full article: FAO

More investments in sustainable rural development required

 

Photo credit: FAO

Turning political will on ending hunger into action requires strong focus on national strategies, including to those on nutrition, health and education policies.

Achieving Zero Hunger by 2030 requires turning political will into concrete actions

Achieving the international community’s goal of eradicating hunger and malnutrition by 2030 is indeed possible, but this requires a scaling up of action, including greater investments in agriculture and sustainable rural development, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said.

Speaking at a side event on Zero Hunger at the FAO Conference, Graziano da Silva pointed to some stark facts and figures.

“Today more than 800 million people are still chronically undernourished … and unfortunately the number has started to grow again,” the FAO Director-General said.

Around 155 million children under five are stunted – close to a quarter of the total while 1.9 billion people are overweight, of which at least 500 million are obese and 2 billion suffer from micronutrient deficiency, he added.

While progress in combating the related scourges of poverty and hunger has been made in recent decades, these achievements are at risk of being reversed as conflict, population growth, climate change and changing dietary patterns, all pose new challenges, Graziano da Silva said.

He noted that the world is facing “one of the largest humanitarian crises ever” with more than 20 million people at risk of famine in four countries: North Eastern Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.

An enabling policy and institutional environment

Graziano da Silva noted that the 2030 Agenda calls for strong commitment to national decision-making and greater self-reliance by Member States, underscoring how “we are seeing this happen with regional initiatives and organizations playing a substantial role.”

He cited the Malabo Declaration adopted by African Union leaders to end hunger in Africa by 2025 and also referred to the strong commitment to food security made by countries in the Asia and Pacific region and in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Turning political will into action requires a stronger focus on national strategies, including to those relating to nutrition, health and education policies. The FAO Director-General called for enhancing governance and coordination mechanisms to facilitate dialogue and create incentives for different sectors and stakeholders to work together and to sharpen the focus of Zero Hunger initiatives. “For that, decision-makers need solid and relevant evidence, including statistics and monitoring data,” he added.

“And last but not least, we have to significantly increase investments,” Graziano da Silva said. 

Read the full article: FAO

Some of the causes, especially conflicts, are man-made.

 

Photo credit: SABC

As we respond to the famine and starvation crisis, it is imperative that we fast-track efforts aimed at investing in longer-term solutions, if we are to break the endless cycle of food insecurity.(SABC)

 

The problem isn’t hunger

OPINION: Dr Fatoumata Nafo-Traoré

Famine and starvation are threatening the lives of tens of millions of people in Africa today.

In Ethiopia alone, over 7 million people need emergency food aid. What is troubling is the fact that food aid will run out soon in the country. This is extremely unsettling and begs the question: Will this cycle of hunger ever end?

As we respond to the current crisis, it is imperative that we fast-track efforts aimed at investing in longer-term solutions, if we are to break the endless cycle
of food insecurity.

In 1974 a global conference on food security resolved that “within a decade no child would go hungry.”

Ironically, exactly a decade later, almost one million Ethiopians died in one of the worst famines in recent history. This was not the last one. Famines have been recurring, and they will return, unless public authorities, the donor community, United Nations agencies, regional bodies and national institutions genuinely refocus their efforts on dealing with the underlying causes, some of which I highlight below.

Some of the causes, especially conflicts, are man-made.

Read the full article: SABC

Focus is on saving lives and livelihoods to sustain peace and tackle hunger

 

Photo credit: FAO

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, African Union Commission.

The African Union and FAO seek to boost joint efforts to end hunger in Africa

The African Union (AU) and FAO will seek to step up joint efforts to end hunger and sustain peace  in the continent say FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and AU Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko .

In a meeting on Tuesday, Graziano da Silva and Commissioner Sacko underscored conflicts as a common denominator in areas facing food crises in the continent. “Conflict exacerbates hunger and in many cases hunger and food insecurity to intensify strife and social unrest,” the FAO Director-General said.

Protracted conflict in particular in northeastern Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and in Yemen, which is also a experiencing a hunger crisis, has left 30 million people, mostly children, in the throes of severe food insecurity, with 20 million potentially facing starvation.

Commissioner Correia Sacko and the FAO Director-General stressed the need for the AU, FAO, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and the World Food Programme (WFP) to work closely together to strengthen the links between sustaining peace, livelihoods and sustainable development.

Read the full article: FAO

 

Alternative investments on poverty, hunger, and environment

 

 

Exploring the impacts of alternative investments on poverty, hunger, and environment

The recent report Quantitative Foresight Modeling to Inform the CGIAR Research Portfolio released by the Global Futures and Strategic Foresight (GFSF) team (part of PIM’s research flagship 1) seeks to help the CGIAR centers and research programs, as well as donors and other decision makers to assess the overall impact and benefits of investing in international and national agricultural research programs.

The report provides a quantitative assessment of the impacts of alternative investment options in agricultural research, resource management, and infrastructure on the CGIAR’s System Level Outcomes relating to poverty (SLO1), food and nutrition security (SLO2), and natural resources and ecosystem services (SLO3). Impacts to 2050 are analyzed in the context of changes in population, income, technology, and climate.

Key messages from the analysis:

1. Demographic change and economic growth in the group of developing countries will result in significant increases in the demand for food in the coming decades
2. Food and nutrition security are projected to improve over the 2010-2050 period
3. Climate change reduces food and nutrition security
4. Climate change impacts vary geographically, with agricultural trade as an important buffer
5. The CGIAR research portfolio can make important differences to sustainable agricultural production systems, food security and nutrition, enhanced by increased investments in NARs agricultural research, improved water management, and infrastructure
6. Alternative investment options involve different synergies and tradeoffs
7. Other complementary investments will also be needed.

Read the full article: CGIAR

To be compared with the proteins of pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan)

 

 

Dairy ‘excellent’ source of protein for children, new study deems

Date:

April 26, 2017

Source:

University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences

Summary:

Researchers are using pigs as a model to study the best way of evaluating protein quality in foods eaten by children.

Read the full article: Science Daily

Two decades ago we recommended container gardening as one of the best practices

 

Photo credit: FAO

The 156th session of the FAO Council runs from 24-28 April 2017.

Famine in the spotlight at FAO Council

Graziano da Silva: 20 million people could starve to death in next six months

Urgent action is needed to save the lives of people facing famine in northeastern Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, FAO Directory-General José Graziano da Silva said today at the opening of the UN agency’s Council.

“If nothing is done, some 20 million people could starve to death in the next six months,” the Director-General said in his opening address. “Famine does not just kill people, it contributes to social instability and also perpetuates a cycle of poverty and aid dependency that endures for decades.”

Council members will be briefed on the extent of the hunger crises, and the steps required to prevent catastrophe, during the week-long session.

Making funds go further

Council will also consider for approval FAO‘s Programme of Work and Budget 2018-2019. The budget prioritizes areas where FAO can deliver the greatest impact to Member countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, including climate change mitigation and adaptation, sustainable agriculture production, water scarcity management, and building the resilience of poor family farmers.

Food and agriculture are central to the sustainable development agenda, and FAO’s work is projected to contribute to the achievement of 40 targets across 15 of the 17 goals.

Voluntary contributions vital now more than ever

Council will also discuss a new scale of assessed contributions, which are the annual payments made by Member countries to FAO. Under the proposal, most countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will be required to pay less and other countries to pay more. The Director-General urged OECD countries to continue to contribute at the same level by making additional voluntary contributions.

If only they had some support for container gardening

 

Photo credit: FAO

Extreme hunger is hitting north-eastern Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.

UN food agencies warn against ignoring famine alarm

FAO and WFP urge swift action to prevent hunger deaths in four countries hit by conflict

The leaders of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have called on the international community to urgently step up action to prevent further hunger deaths in four countries stalked by famine: north-eastern Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.

“Many people have already died,” FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said at a briefing on the sidelines of FAO’s Council – the executive arm of FAO’s governing body.

“Peace is of course the key to ending these crises. But even in times of conflict, there is much we can do to fight hunger and avoid famine… I visited Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria and saw myself how powerful agricultural support can be in a humanitarian crisis,” he said.

A famine has been formally declared in parts of South Sudan, while north-eastern Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen are on the brink of famine. Combined, 30 million people are grappling with finding enough food each day.

“We need to reach hungry people to prevent them from dying,” said WFP’s new Executive Director David Beasley.

“We have the strength, logistical capacity and technology to get the job done. What we need is access to the people who are on the brink of famine and resources, now not later. Without this support, we will have to make life-challenging decisions over who will receive food and who will not.”

The heads of FAO and WFP stressed that both agencies’ famine response operations are severely underfunded, and there must be an immediate and substantial increase in resources to save lives and livelihoods.

Conflict is the common thread across the four affected countries. FAO and WFP are working quickly and closely in these emergency zones to prevent famine spreading further.

Read the full article: FAO

How to end chronic hunger cycle in Africa ?

 

Photo credit: SciDevNet

Copyright: Panos

Africa Analysis: Ending Africa’s chronic hunger cycle

Speed read

• Africa is home to three of four nations that could be hit by famine in 2017
• African governments must invest in sustainable water supply to boost farming
• Governments should learn from other nations such as China, India and Sri Lanka

For Africa to end chronic hunger, governments must invest in sustainable water supplies, writes Esther Ngumbi.

The fields are bare under the scorching sun and temperatures rise with every passing week. Any crops the extreme temperatures haven’t destroyed, the insect pests have, and for many farmers, there is nothing they can do. [1] Now, news about hunger across Africa makes mass media headlines daily. [2]

Globally, hunger levels are at their highest. [3] In fact, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, over 70 million people across 45 countries will require food emergency assistance in 2017, with Africa being home to three of the four countries deemed to face a critical risk of famine: Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen. [4]

“Many African smallholder farmers depend on rain-fed agriculture, and because last year’s rains were inadequate, many farmers never harvested any crops.”

Esther Ngumbi, Auburn University in Alabama. United States

African governments, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and humanitarian relief agencies, including the United Nations World Food Programme, continue to launch short-term solutions such as food relief supplies to avert the situation. Kenya, for example, is handing cash transfers and food relief to its affected citizens. The UN World Food Programme is also distributing food to drought-stricken Somalia. [5] And in Zambia, the government is employing every tool including its military to combat insect pest infestation. [6]

But why are we here? What happened? Why is there such a large drought?

Reasons for chronic hunger

Many African smallholder farmers depend on rain-fed agriculture, and because last year’s rains were inadequate, many farmers never harvested any crops. Indeed, failed rains across parts of the Horn of Africa have led to the current drought that is affecting Somalia, south-eastern Ethiopia and northern and eastern Kenya. [7]

Read the full article: SciDevNet

And yet they could apply container gardening

 

 

Nearly two billion people depend on imported food

Date:

April 13, 2017

Source:

Aalto University

Summary:

Researchers show empirically: when population pressure increases, food is imported. The big issue, say authors of a new report, is that people may not even be aware that they have chosen dependency on imports over further investment in local production or curbing demand.

Earth’s capacity to feed its growing population is limited — and unevenly distributed. An increase in cultivated land and the use of more efficient production technology are partly buffering the problem, but in many areas it is instead solved by increasing food imports. For the first time, researchers at Aalto University have been able to show a broad connection between resource scarcity, population pressure, and food imports, in a study published in Earth’s Future.

‘Although this has been a topic of global discussion for a long time, previous research has not been able to demonstrate a clear connection between resource scarcity and food imports. We performed a global analysis focusing on regions where water availability restricts production, and examined them from 1961 until 2009, evaluating the extent to which the growing population pressure was met by increasing food imports,’ explains Postdoctoral Researcher Miina Porkka.

Read the full article: Science Daily

Urban malnutrition has evaded policymakers and researchers for a long time since it is a unique continuous process

 

Photo credit: SciDevNet

Copyright: Panos

Undernutrition rampant in urban Sub-Saharan Africa

by Calvin Otieno

Speed read

• A programme is facilitating local assessment of undernutrition
• It provides a platform for key actors to identify and address undernutrition
• An expert cites limited funding as a challenge to tackling urban undernutrition

A programme is helping address undernutrition — insufficient quantity and quality of food intake by a person — in Sub-Saharan Africa through creation of a local platform to assess and discuss challenges.

According to UNICEF, about 28 percent of children in Sub-Saharan Africa are underweight. But experts say existing nutrition assessment such as household economy approach face challenges such as lack of in-depth assessments and situational analyses.

To help address these challenges, Action Against Hunger (AFC), a humanitarian non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in France has developed a programme called Link Nutrition Casual Analysis (Link NCA).

“Urban malnutrition has evaded policymakers and researchers for a long time since it is a unique continuous process.”

Esther Mogusu, Nairobi County

“Link NCA is a local process that tries to understand what’s happening across different regions by providing independent nutrition survey and analysis and providing multi-sectoral tailor-shaped nutrition security programmes to the communities and stakeholders,” said Blanche Mattern, AFC and Link NCA technical advisor, during the Link NCA Learning Event held in Kenya on 28 February.

Mattern explains that compared to other nutritional analysis programmes, Link NCA uses people-centred approach.

Read the full article: SciDevNet

Call for critical investments in agriculture and addressing climate change in Lake Chad Basin

 

Photo credit: FAO

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva last week visited some of the worst affected areas in Chad and northeastern Nigeria.

Lake Chad Basin: a crisis rooted in hunger, poverty and lack of rural development

The crisis afflicting the strife-torn Lake Chad Basin is rooted in decades of neglect, lack of rural development and the impact of climate change, and the only way to ensure a lasting solution is to address these including through investments in sustainable agriculture, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, said today.

“This is not only a humanitarian crisis, but it is also an ecological one,” Graziano da Silva said at a media briefing in Rome on his visit last week to some of the worst affected areas in Chad and northeastern Nigeria.

“This conflict cannot be solved only with arms. This is a war against hunger and poverty in the rural areas of the Lake Chad Basin,” the FAO Director-General stressed.

“Peace is a prerequisite” to resolve the crisis in the region, but this is not enough, the FAO Director-General said. “Agriculture including livestock and fisheries can no longer be an afterthought. It is what produces food and what sustains the livelihoods of about 90 percent of the region’s population.”

Some 7 million people risk suffering from severe hunger in the Lake Chad Basin, which incorporates parts of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and northeastern Nigeria.  In the latter, some 50,000 people are facing famine.

While fighting and violence have caused much of the suffering, the impact of environmental degradation and climate change including repeated droughts, are exacerbating the situation, the FAO Director-General said.

He noted how, since 1963, Lake Chad has lost some 90 percent of its water mass with devastating consequences on the food security and livelihoods of people depending on fishing and irrigation-based agricultural activities. And while Lake Chad has been shrinking, the population has been growing, including millions of displaced people from the worst conflict areas.

Food assistance and production support urgently needed

FAO together with its partners including other UN agencies is calling on the international community for urgent support – a combination of immediate food assistance and food production support is the only way to make dent in the scale of hunger in the region.

Graziano da Silva reiterated the call he made last week during his visit to Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria: if farmers miss the coming May/June planting season, they will see no substantial harvests until 2018. Failure to restore food production now will lead to the worsening of widespread and severe hunger and prolonged dependency on external assistance further into the future.