Climate change, hunger and poverty must be addressed together

 

Photo credit: FAO

A farmer in Tanzania in a rice paddy which uses a climate-smart system to intensify production.

World Food Day highlights that climate is changing and that food and agriculture must too

Italian Prime Minister Renzi, Pope Francis and Princess Lalla Hasnaa of Morocco urge collective action

The resounding message from this year’s World Food Day celebrations in Rome and in many countries is that climate change, hunger and poverty must be addressed together in order to achieve the sustainable development goals set by the international community.

“Higher temperatures and erratic weather patterns are already undermining the health of soils, forests and oceans on which agricultural sectors and food security depend,” FAO Director-General José Graziano said at the global World Food Dayceremony here today.

Droughts and floods are more frequent and intense as are climate-related outbreaks of diseases and pests, he added, citing the terrible impact of El Nino in parts of Africa, Asia and Central American and more recently, Hurricane Matthew in Haiti.

“As usual the poorest and the hungry suffer the most and the vast majority of them are small family farmers that live in rural areas of developing countries,” the FAO Director-General said, noting how adaptation and mitigation to climate change is fundamental, and that this requires “much better access to appropriate technologies, knowledge, markets, information and investments.”

Recent international commitments for action, including the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, recognize the fundamental role of sustainable agriculture in addressing climate change, hunger and poverty.

The World Food Day 2016 slogan: Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must too underscores the fact that to feed a global population expected to reach more than 9 billion by 2050, humanity needs to produce more food, but in ways that use up less natural resources and that drastically reduce loss and waste.

Political will

In his address, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi stressed that the fight against hunger is essentially a political issue. “Italy maintains that the fight for food security is, at this point in history, a question of politics with a capital ‘P’,” he added.

Prime Minister Renzi said that the international community needs to urgently address the problems of inequality and injustice. Italy would strive to ensure that these themes are at the top of the international agenda, including at two important events in March next year: the G7 summit, which Italy will host and preside and a meeting of European Union leaders.

Read the full article: FAO

Time to teach them how to grow their own fresh food instead of keeping them dependent on food aid.

 

COMMENTS OF Prof. Dr. Willem VAN COTTHEM (Ghent University-Belgium) ON

Nearly 385 million children live in extreme poverty – UNICEF

http://citifmonline.com/2016/10/08/nearly-385-million-children-live-in-extreme-poverty-unicef/

Today I read this interesting article on UNICEF’s alarming message about child poverty, in which I find :

“The report dubbed: “Ending Extreme Poverty: A Focus on Children revealed that in 2013, 19.5 per cent of children in developing countries were living in households that survived on an average of $1.90 a day or less per person, compared to just 9.2 per cent of adults.

It said globally, almost 385 million children are living in extreme poverty.

According to the report, children are disproportionately affected, as they make up around a third of the population studied.

…………………….

UNICEF and the World Bank Group are calling on governments to routinely measure child poverty at the national and sub-national levels and focus on children in national poverty reduction plans as part of efforts to end extreme poverty by 2030.”

–

Source: GNA”.

Children are more than twice as likely as adults to live in extreme poverty, according to a new analysis from the World Bank Group and the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF). – http://citifmonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/download19.jpg

As a header of this remarkable text we find this scaring picture above, showing anxious children keeping up an empty plate: NOTHING TO EAT AND QUEUING FOR SOME FOOD.

Once again it shows that there is an urgent need to teach all schoolchildren in developing countries how to grow fresh food at home and at school (e.g. in a schoolgarden).

Of course, a lot of them need an urgent supply of nutritive meals.  That means that emergency programs are acceptable and very useful.

But it is not by sending loads of nutritive cookies (or other healthy meals) that one will change a single thing at this disastrous situation.  Yes, we will save starving children, but the 350 million children living in extreme poverty need more than a food aid meal a day.

We urgently have to change our food aid strategies to make them sustainable (see the new goals):

(1) Keep on going with emergency actions where needed;

(2) Set up educative programs to teach the children successful methods and simple techniques to grow their own daily rations of vitamins, micronutrients and mineral elements (fresh edible crops).

Impossible to believe that people concerned would not know a thing about the existence of these essential methods and techniques.  Since years they are fully described and illustrated.  It suffices to check some data (photos, texts, videos) on the internet, e.g. https://www.facebook.com/groups/221343224576801/.

Let us never forget that UNICEF itself has set up in 2005 a very successful program, called “Family Gardens for the Saharawis refugees in the S.W. of Algeria“, that unfortunately was stopped at the end of 2007 after showing that even in the Sahara desert families were (still are !) able to grow vegetables and herbs in their own garden.  The French would say: “Il faut le faire !”.

We keep looking forward for the global application of such a fresh food production program, using these basic, simple ways of growing food at home and at school.  That would be the real, sustainable food aid. “Il faut le vouloir !“.

The role of trade in ensuring global food security and adaptation to climate change

 

Photo credit: FAO

A market in Boulder, Colorado, USA.

People need affordable food, but prices must provide decent livelihoods for small-scale family farmers

Declining prices could thwart international efforts to eradicate hunger and extreme poverty unless steps are taken to guarantee decent incomes and livelihoods for small-scale producers, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said today.

Globally, food prices are believed to be back to their long-term downward trend in real terms, as supply growth outpaces demand.

This follows the price surges experienced during the 2008-12 period and a prolonged period of volatility in food markets, Graziano da Silva told Agriculture and Trade Ministers and other government officials and experts, attending a high-level meeting on agricultural commodity prices at FAO’s headquarters in Rome.

“As policy makers, you are confronted by the challenge of keeping nutritious food affordable for the poor, while ensuring good incentives for producers, including family farmers,” he added.

“Low food prices reduce the incomes of farmers, especially poor family farmers who produce staple food in the developing countries. This cut in the flow of cash into rural communities also reduces the incentives for new investments in production, infrastructure and services,” the FAO Director-General said.

He underscored the need to consider the current decline in agricultural commodity prices in the context of the international community’s efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Make trade work for all

In a video address to the meeting, World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevêdo said that “under the right circumstances” trade provides people with opportunities to join global markets and helps to create incentives for producers to invest and innovate.

The “historic decision” struck in Nairobi in December 2015 by WTO members to eliminate agricultural export subsidies, according to Azevêdo will “help level the playing field in agriculture markets, to the benefit of farmers and exporters in developing and least-developed countries.”

Read the full article: FAO

 

Access to farm machinery is key for agricultural productivity

 

Photo credit: FAO

A worker adjusts a plough attachment in Djibo, Burkina Faso. Spare parts must be available for tractors to be useful.

Sustainable mechanization has much to offer in sub-Saharan Africa

Feeding the burgeoning world population will require significant improvements in agricultural productivity, above all in Africa, and mechanization and appropriate mechanization strategies have a large role to play, according to a new report from FAO.

The opportunity must be guided in a way that meets smallholder farmers’ needs and that does not require a Green-Revolution type of approach with high levels of agrochemical inputs and destructive ploughing operations that threaten soil health and fertility, according to FAO’s new report.

(see also: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i6167e.pdf)

Agricultural mechanization: A key input for sub-Saharan African smallholders underlines that agricultural mechanization in the twenty-first century should be environmentally compatible, economically viable, affordable, adapted to local conditions and, in view of current developments in weather patterns, climate-smart.

Mechanization covers all levels of farming and processing technologies, from simple and basic hand tools to more sophisticated and motorized equipment.

It extends far beyond ploughing and can contribute to productivity gains and new jobs in the post-harvest, processing and marketing stages of local and global food systems.

As things stand, two-thirds of the power used to prepare sub-Saharan African land for farming is provided by human muscle. Comparable rates are 30 percent for South Asia and even lower for Latin America.

Read the full article: FAO

To achieve food and nutrition security for all and to help address global challenges.

 

Photo credit: FAO

Farmers harvesting rice fields, Laos.

Transforming agriculture to address climate change and other global challenges

FAO’s Committee on Agriculture focuses on innovation to achieve food security and sustainable development

The agricultural sector must transform itself not only to achieve food and nutrition security for all, but also to help address global challenges such as climate change and antimicrobial resistance, FAO Director- General José Graziano da Silva said today.

In a speech to ministers, government, private sector and civil society representatives attending the biannual meeting of FAO’s Committee on Agriculture (COAG, 26-30 September), the Director-General noted how “agriculture is at the very heart” of a recent series of ground-breaking international agreements, including the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

“Sustainable agriculture is paramount to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, to sustain natural resources, to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change, to achieve healthier food systems and to build resilience against crises and natural disasters,” Graziano da Silva said.

But he noted that while past developments in agriculture have led to major improvements in productivity, “progress has been uneven” and that “greater emphasis must be placed on the social and environmental dimensions of sustainability”.

Read the full article: FAO

IN MY DESERTIFICATION LIBRARY: BOOK NR. 36

 

Agriculture, food and nutrition for Africa (FAO 1997)

Posted by Prof. Dr. Willem VAN COTTHEM

Ghent University – Belgium

Having participated in all the meetings of the INCD (1992-1994) and all the meetings of the UNCCD-COP, the CST and the CRIC in 1994-2006, I had an opportunity to collect a lot of interesting books and publications on drought and desertification published in that period.

Book Nr. 36

Please click: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k9HOxwdFv-awCjpq1_QTGskYLYWV8V0NY5623Ob4G1g/edit?usp=sharing

or see agriculture-food-and-nutrition-for-africa-fao-1997

IN MY DESERTIFICATION LIBRARY: BOOK NR. 30

 

The State of Food and Agriculture – (FAO 2002)

Posted by Prof. Dr. Willem VAN COTTHEM

Ghent University – Belgium

Having participated in all the meetings of the INCD (1992-1994) and all the meetings of the UNCCD-COP, the CST and the CRIC in 1994-2006, I had an opportunity to collect a lot of interesting books and publications on drought and desertification published in that period.

Book Nr. 30

Please click: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KJO-TIPHJghD-i8WFELJiH9tlS7hMRyFdPE6C5PLTYI/edit?usp=sharing

or see The State of Food and Agriculture 2002

How to halt land degradation and desertification

Photo credit: FAO

Everyday life scenes of a pastoralist family – women collect water in Tera, Bajirga, Niger.

 

Partnership makes strides in promoting sustainable land management in Africa

Improved land management strategies and technologies being used across sub-Saharan Africa are helping protect the environment, boost agricultural productivity, strengthen livelihoods and enhance food security, according to a new study.

The document – published by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and its TerrAfrica partners, including FAO, takes stock of lessons learned during the five-year TerrAfrica Strategic Investment Program (SIP) for sustainable land management.

TerrAfrica is an African-driven global partnership program to scale up sustainable land and water management across sub-Saharan Africa. Its SIP initiative – which ran from 2010 through 2015 – provided $150 million of land degradation funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and attracted co-financing of $800 million to support 36 projects in 26 countries. Working across a diverse range of farming systems, SIP support focused on scaling-up proven practices, strengthening advisory services, and improving policy frameworks and knowledge management. It resulted in sustainable land management practices being implemented on 2.7 million hectares, benefitting some 4.8 million people.

Implementing agencies included the African Development Bank, FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Bank, in close coordination with NEPAD and regional economic commissions. Projects were executed in partnership with governments and in collaboration with many development partners including civil society organizations.

The report aims to highlight key issues and provide guidance for future programmes and investments in sustainable land and ecosystem management on the continent.

Those lessons are already encouraging governments, partner agencies, NEPAD, the Africa Union and the donor community to scale-up sustainable land management practices across wider landscapes in view of the many productivity, livelihood and environmental benefits.

Read the full article: FAO

Locust outbreak a potential threat

 

 

Photo credit: FAO

Juvenile desert locust hoppers.

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Desert Locust outbreak in Yemen leaves surrounding countries potentially at risk

Strict vigilance is also required in northwest Africa

The presence of recently discovered Desert Locust infestations in Yemen, where conflict is severely hampering control operations, poses a potential threat to crops in the region, FAO warned today. FAO urged neighbouring countries, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Iran, to mobilize survey and control teams and to take all necessary measures to prevent the destructive insects from reaching breeding areas situated in their respective territories.

Strict vigilance is also required in Morocco and Algeria, especially in areas south of the Atlas Mountains, which could become possible breeding grounds for Desert Locust that have gathered in parts of the Western Sahara, Morocco and Mauritania, FAO added.

Cyclones help trigger locust presence

Groups of juvenile wingless hoppers and adults as well as hopper bands and at least one swarm formed on the southern coast of Yemen in March where heavy rains associated with tropical cyclones Chapala and Megh fell in November 2015.

“The extent of current Desert Locust breeding in Yemen is not well known  since survey teams are unable to access most areas. However, as vegetation dries out along the coast more groups, bands and small swarms are likely to form,” said Keith Cressman, FAO Senior Locust Forecasting Officer.

He noted that a moderate risk exists that Desert Locusts will move into the interior of southern Yemen, perhaps reaching spring breeding areas in the interior of central Saudi Arabia and northern Oman.

There is a possibility that this movement could continue to the United Arab Emirates where a few small swarms may appear and transit through the country before arriving in areas of recent rainfall in southeast Iran.

Read the full story: FAO

Addressing El Niño impacts

 

Photo credit: FAO

In Ethiopia, owners bring their livestock to sell for destocking purposes. El Niño impacts have made it necessary to reduce herd sizes.

UN urges stronger, coordinated international response to address El Niño impacts

Climate event has affected 60 million people; impacts set to increase at least until end of 2016

The United Nations has called for a stronger response by governments, aid organizations and the private sector to address the devastating impact the El Niño climate event is having on the food security, livelihoods, nutrition and health of some 60 million people around the world.

The appeal came at a meeting organized in Rome by four UN agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Participants, including representatives from governments, non-governmental organizations and other UN agencies, took stock of the growing impacts of the current El Niño, which is considered as one of the strongest in history.

They noted that more than $2.4 billion are needed for current El Niño emergency and recovery-responses and currently there is a $1.5 billion gap in funding.

A global crisis

El Niño-related impacts have been felt across the globe since mid 2015. Among these are severe or record droughts in Central America, the Pacific region, East Timor, Vietnam, Ethiopia, and in Southern Africa. In addition, floods have affected certain parts of Somalia and the Tanzania, devastating forest fires have once again resurfaced in Indonesia  while some regions has witnessed storms, as in the case of Fiji with Tropical Cyclone Winston.

These disasters have resulted in a wide range of consequences, most importantly, severe increases in hunger, malnutrition, water- and vector-borne diseases and the prevalence of animal and plant pests and diseases. Increasingly, populations are on the move: families across the globe are being forced into distress migration, both within and across borders, as their sources of livelihood disappear.

Read the full article: FAO

Humanitarian needs triple during record El Niño

Photo credit: FAO

08 February 2016, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. FAO’s irrigation and income diversification projects have become instrumental in tackling the negative impacts of El Niño- induced drought for pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in Afar Region.

 

Ethiopian farmers need urgent assistance to feed country caught in major drought

Timely agricultural assistance for the upcoming rainy season is essential to help the drought-affected people of Ethiopia, as one of the strongest El Niño events on record continues to have devastating effects on the lives and livelihoods of farmers and herders.

Humanitarian needs in Ethiopia have tripled since the beginning of 2015 as the drought has led to successive crop failures and widespread livestock deaths.

As a result, food insecurity and malnutrition rates are alarming in the Horn of Africa country, with some 10.2 million people now food insecure. One-quarter of all districts in Ethiopia are officially classified as facing a food security and nutrition crisis.

With planting for the country’s first rainy season, the belg,already delayed and the meher season – Ethiopia’s main agricultural campaign – fast approaching, farmers need immediate support to help them produce food between now and September for millions facing hunger.

“FAO urgently needs $13 million by the end of March to support more than 600,000 of the worst affected people,” said FAO country representative Amadou Allahoury Diallo.

“We’re expecting that needs will be particularly high during the next few weeks,” he added, “so it’s critical that we’re able to respond quickly and robustly to reboot agriculture now before the drought further decimates the food security and livelihoods of millions.”

The meher produces up to 85 percent of the nation’s food supplies.

Read the full article: FAO

Poverty, agriculture and social protection

Photo credit: FAO

Photo credit: Milo Mitchell/IFPRI

Rob Vos, Director of Agricultural Development Economics (ESA), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Can linking social protection and agriculture end extreme poverty?

by PETER SHELTON

Social protection programs−broadly defined as initiatives offering cash or in-kind assistance to the poor−have expanded rapidly in recent decades, now covering an estimated two billion people living in developing countries. Such broad coverage, which accounts for roughly one-third of the total population living in these countries, has contributed to a dramatic decline in extreme poverty, with the proportion of extremely poor (those living on less than US$1.25 a day) dropping from 43 percent in 1990 to around 17 percent today. Yet research shows that simply scaling up existing social protection programs will not be enough to pull those who remain behind out of the vicious poverty trap.

Why is this? According to Rob Vos from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), social protection only offers a sustainable pathway out of poverty if there is inclusive growth in the economy. Presenting key findings from The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) 2015 report, Vos underscored the fact that extreme poverty remains highly concentrated in rural areas where smallholder subsistence farming is the main economic driver. The highest concentrations are found in South Asia and Africa south of the Sahara, where an estimated 80 percent of the rural population still has no access to any form of social protection. Thus, linking social protection to agricultural and rural development efforts has many practical advantages for pulling the greatest number of people out of extreme poverty.

Read the full story: IFPRI