[hepr-vn] Long-term solutions needed to feed the world's poor

[Vern Weitzel]

http://www.scidev.net/en/editorials/long-term-solutions-needed-to-feed-the-world-s-poo.html

Long-term solutions needed to feed the world's poor
David Dickson
17 April 2009 | EN | 中文

A farmer-centred approach to boosting food production is needed
CGIAR/CIMMYT
More agricultural research funding and a farmer-centred approach to boosting 
food production are needed to prevent future food emergencies.

One of the unfortunate side effects of the global economic crisis is that it has 
deflected attention from the food crisis that was grabbing headlines a year ago. 
Rapidly escalating food prices — spurred on by the price of oil and commodity 
speculation among other factors — have a disproportionate impact on the world's 
poor.

Now oil prices have fallen and the speculation frenzy has cooled off, food 
prices have also fallen by up to 50 per cent. But this does not mean the problem 
has gone away. For although the price of food has fallen, so too has the poor's 
ability to pay for it as a result of their reduced income. The World Food 
Programme estimates it will need 20 per cent more funding this year — on top of 
last year's record US$6 billion budget — to feed the world's poorest.

And even if last year's price increases have stopped, other drivers of food 
shortages — such as rapid population growth and climate change — remain as 
strong as ever.

A political issue

This is the background against which agricultural ministers of the G8 group of 
leading industrial nations will meet for the first time in Italy this weekend.

With political attention understandably focused on alleviating the immediate 
fall-outs from the economic crisis, the G8 ministers may be tempted to look to 
short-term measures — such as topping up the food programme — to ease the pain.

But that would be a mistake. Agricultural experts widely agree that the drop in 
food prices is only a temporary respite. Long-term solutions are urgently 
required to ensure that last year's food emergency does not become a permanent 
feature.

The social disruption such emergencies cause can be even more politically 
destabilising than those triggered by financial and economic problems — last 
year's price spike in wheat and rice, for example, led to riots in 30 countries.

Funding research

Two factors are essential for any long-term solution. First, there needs to be a 
significant increase in funding for agricultural research and development to 
boost agricultural productivity.

Many parts of the developing world are suffering from declines in agricultural 
research funding during the 1980s and 1990s when development agencies focused on 
structural adjustment policies and food aid.

A survey of 27 African countries by the International Food Policy Research 
Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, United States, found that about half 
experienced a fall in agricultural research and development spending during the 
1990s — mainly because a large number of World Bank projects came to an end (see 
Investing in Sub-Saharan African Agricultural Research: Recent Trends 
http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/ib/ib24.pdf [231kB]).

Recently there has been a welcome reversal of this trend. For example, donor 
government funding has increased for the research centres making up the 
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, while private 
foundations, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, have also entered 
the scene.

But more effort is needed. IFPRI's director, Joachim von Braun, recently called 
for international agricultural research funding to double over the next five 
years, arguing that such a move could lift more than 250 million people out of 
poverty by 2020 (see Agricultural R&D key to preventing food crises 
http://www.scidev.net/en/opinions/agricultural-r-d-key-to-preventing-food-crises.html 
).

Supporting farmers

Equally important are steps to put research into practice. In particular, this 
means improving the innovative capacity of farmers in developing countries.

These people are best placed to meet local demand for food, reducing the need 
for expensive — and often less nutritious — imports. They can also plough any 
economic surpluses they make back into the community.

But to be effective, farmers need protecting from the high market price of 
production inputs. A fertiliser subsidy scheme in Malawi, partly funded by the 
UK Department for International Development, has surprised critics by its 
success (see A record maize harvest in Malawi 
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/casestudies/files/africa%5Cmalawi-harvest.asp ).

Farmers also need access to new technology and protection from predatory pricing 
by companies patenting key agricultural inputs such as new crop varieties (see 
GM crops and the Gene Giants: Bad news for farmers 
http://www.scidev.net/en/opinions/gm-crops-and-the-gene-giants-bad-news-for-farmers.html 
).

The agenda facing the G8 agricultural ministers this weekend is just as broad 
and complex as that which faced the G20 meeting on the financial crisis last 
month. And its outcome is just as important.

But without a pledge to increase spending on agricultural research and support 
for farmers to put this research into practice in developing countries, any 
'solution' to the food crisis will be little more than a temporary sticking plaster.

David Dickson
Director, SciDev.Net