In a recent meeting in Paris with experts from all over the world (among them several farmer leaders), FAO and OECD discussed the roadmap towards a Green Economy with Agriculture. It was widely agreed that the lack of sustainability of current food and agriculture systems makes change inevitable. Food security, resilience to shocks and equity within society and across regions need to be the guiding principles for change. More regionalised (or even localised) and diverse food systems are emerging all over the world: they provide a useful answer to these challenges and a way to respect and support family farmers.

They are local responses that can help inform the global debate. Consumer choice is playing a leading role in greening the economy, especially schemes that strengthen the links between consumers and producers of food. Sustainable diets based primarily on local products are healthier and can be an important lever for greener, more localised food systems. Diverse cropping (growing a large number of products in relatively small quantities) can better be commercialised through local markets and enhances smallholders’ resilience against market or climatic shocks.

There is mounting evidence that “ecological intensification” can significantly increase the amount of food produced, the incomes of farmers and could generate up to 200 million full time jobs by 2050. But the economic framework in which producers and consumers operate continues to encourage unsustainable practices. Producers are deterred from shifting to greener alternatives because of upfront transition costs, perceived risks, and misinformation. Many ideas for a greener food and agriculture sector are not new. What has changed is the recognition of the urgency of making fundamental changes to our global food system.

Among the experts gathered at the FAO-OECD meeting there was a consensus that the transition to greener and more localised food systems will require a cultural change, one that reasserts the centrality of the right to food, that embraces and reflects human dignity and guarantees decent livelihoods for all. It is up to us, as farmers, consumers, traders, policymakers or politicians to make right choices and be part of the change. (see www.fao.org/rio20 and www.timetoactrio20.org)

Text: Edith van Walsum, director ILEIA

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These opening words, and the complete poem written in 1942 by Carlos Drummond de Andrade, could well have been written after the recent election of José Graziano da Silva as FAO’s Director-General. Drummond’s hero José felt weak and powerless in a particularly hostile situation. Sixty years later, an even more difficult context makes us also think of another Brazilian, who held the same position at FAO between 1952 and 1956: Josué de Castro. The author of “The geography of hunger” artfully described, back in 1946, the direct relationship between large-scale industries, an economic model designed for exporting raw materials, and the hunger and hopelessness shown by Drummond de Andrade.

A new version of Josué de Castro’s work would surely come in handy to FAO’s new José. More than ever, food is the object of greed of a few. While millions face hunger, food has become a market good (seen as a set of commodities), and “citizens” have become “consumers”. Profits determine the production and distribution of food and ethical concerns are left behind. The world’s hunger crisis is exacerbated by persistent increases in food prices, something that FAO itself expects to continue. And as if this is not enough, different forces stimulate the production of non-food crops, driving farming ever-further into an industrial process maintained artificially, and in an unsustainable way, by agrochemicals and public subsidies.

Since FAO’s mandate is “to achieve food security for all and ensure that people have regular access to good quality food”, we hope that José Graziano’s leadership will lead to a change in the dominant agricultural models. This is surely the greatest challenge facing our José. We therefore hope he has read the reports of his future colleague at the UN, Olivier De Schutter, who recommends a profound shift in agricultural policies in order to ensure food security worldwide, and of the IAASTD (the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development), in which hundreds of scientists recommend major changes in order to stop the degradation of the environment and to produce more (and more healthy) food.

José Graziano da Silva’s job will not be easy. Still, we have hope. Graziano da Silva inspired a whole generation with his sharp criticism of the “painful modernisation” process, so we hope his work will support the structural changes needed to acknowledge the current and potential role of smallscale farmers and to reduce hunger in the world. We only recommend him to invite all civil society organisations to join him, especially those representing and working with family farmers, and jointly build a robust transition programme. This will ensure a democratic path towards social and environment sustainability, and towards a reduction in hunger.

Text: Francisco Roberto Caporal

Francisco Roberto Caporal, lectures at the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Brazil. He is also President of the Brazilian Association of Agroecology.

The post Opinion: And now, José? appeared first on Ileia.

Bioversity International – logoTogether with FAO and other partners, Bioversity International has been focusing on the importance of “sustainable diets” through the conservation and sustainable use of agricultural biodiversity and promoting its role in our diets. Interspecies and intraspecies variations of plants and trees, animals, and marine life represent a considerable wealth of biodiversity and have the potential to contribute to improved nutrition. Many of these species have multiple uses, are highly nutritious, and are strongly linked to the cultural heritage of their places of origin.

During last year’s World Food Week celebrations, experts gathered in a symposium in Rome to present and share evidence and further define what a sustainable diet should entail. The meeting positioned sustainable diets, nutrition and biodiversity as central aspects of sustainable development. The sustainable use of food was highlighted as fundamental to the achievement of broader goal of sustainable development, as it connects the nutritional well-being of individuals and communities to the need to sustainably feed the planet.

We all agreed that sustainable diets are “those diets with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to a healthy life for present and future generations. Sustainable diets are protective and respectful of biodiversity and ecosystems, culturally acceptable, accessible, economically fair and affordable; nutritionally adequate, safe and healthy; while optimising natural and human resources.”

Moving forward

As an outcome of the symposium, the Cross-cutting Initiative on Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was identified as the framework through which to promote further the sustainable diets’ concept in order to counteract biodiversity loss. The participants also called upon the FAO, Bioversity International and the CBD Secretariat (in collaboration with other relevant organisations and institutions) to establish a Task Force to promote and advance the concept of sustainable diets and the role of biodiversity within them, as contributions to the achievement of the MDGs and beyond.

The development of sustainable diets models will foster a broader consensus for action and will serve to raise awareness about the sustainability of our food systems. By building on the potential for integrating production, marketing, consumption and the health of both rural and urban people, we aim to secure the world’s food and nutrition security.

Text: Jessica Fanzo

Jessica Fanzo works as a senior scientist in nutrition and biodiversity at the Diversity for Livelihoods Programme, Bioversity International.

For more information visit the following sites: www.bioversityinternational.org and www.fao.org/ag/humannutrition/biodiversity/meetings/en

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Billions of dollars are spent every year fighting them. Insect populations are affected, sometimes seriously, by many different factors. The decline in bee populations and in pollination, for example, is increasingly attracting media coverage, and is coming to be recognised as a serious problem. It is thought that about one third of all the food we eat is dependent on bee pollination. The use of pesticides, a loss of habitats, light and air pollution, the use of mobile phones, the cultivation of invasive exogenous species, the spread of disease; all provide potential threats for insect populations. What are the implications of this for family farmers? Can they contribute to efforts to restore insect populations?

As Miguel Altieri wrote in our magazine back in 2006, “the successful integration of plants and animals can strengthen positive interactions and optimise the functions and processes in the ecosystem.” How do insects contribute to strengthening the functions, processes and resilience of ecosystems? How can farmers support their “successful integration”?

Our March 2012 issue will look at these issues, focusing on the many ways in which small-scale farmers benefit from insects, and on the steps they take in order to increase these benefits.

Please send us your articles! We also welcome your suggestions about people or organisations with expertise in this area. Contact Jorge Chavez-Tafur, editor, before January 15th, 2012.
E-mail: j.chavez-tafur@ileia.org

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Onerous non-tariff barriers significantly hamper intraregional trade in Africa and other continents. Transaction costs – in terms of the time and expense of getting to market – can be crippling. Checkpoints, controls, poor road conditions and old vehicles all serve to significantly increase the amount of time in transit.

Coupled with heat and humidity, it is hardly surprising that perishable products like fruit and vegetables are not in a saleable state upon arrival at their destination, or that the animals transported are in bad health, if they have survived at all. The net result is poor trade efficiency. The trader delivers goods to market that are not good quality and are in a significantly poorer state than at the start of the journey. This compromises food security and pushes up the price of the limited food that is available.

Poor infrastructure and the persistence of red tape and abnormal practices such as extortion, blackmail and harassment, can seriously impair the development of agricultural trade between countries, rendering intra regional trade uncompetitive and unattractive. This is a tremendous economic waste for the countries and represents an impediment to food and nutrition security.

Despite these non-tariff barriers being a daily reality for traders in many regions, legislation does exist to counteract them. For example the Economic Community of West African Countries (ECOWAS) has a legal framework to address this issue, which seeks to liberalise trade across its member states. Yet this framework has to be properly implemented. Many would argue that nothing can be done to improve the situation. It is simply too great an issue with too many obstacles involved. However, one group of determined media professionals in West Africa have taken on the non-tariff barriers and won.

Witnesses and reporters

In 2008, CTA, along with the Conference of Western and Central African Ministers of Agriculture (CMAAOC), the West and Central African Observatory of the Cattle-Beef Commodity Chain and the Network of West African Agricultural Journalists, organised a study visit for 16 journalists. With representatives from television, radio and press from six countries, they journeyed with animal traders along the Bamako- Dakar corridor (the 1,325 km route that links the Sahel with the port of Dakar, along which cattle and both local and imported goods are transported in both directions). Their objective was to experience the realities for themselves. They witnessed severely delayed journey times caused by several, often unofficial, checkpoints. Not only did the traders have to spend an unreasonable amount of time waiting to pass through these checkpoints, they also were expected to pay tolls. The journalists saw how these caused problems for traders, who had to cope with the health and stress levels of their animals over the longer than necessary journey, often placing the welfare and the lives of the animals at risk.

Armed with their experiences, interviews and footage, the journalists set about denouncing the illegal practices, putting pressure on officials and taking politicians to task. In a series of articles and news stories in the press, television, radio and online, they drew public attention to the issues. They also contacted government officials, chambers of agriculture and regional organisations such as the Regional Agriculture Chamber Network (RECAO), demanding change. Three years on, their campaign has yielded significant success:

• Malian and Senegalese authorities have committed themselves to reducing the number of official check points as well as the duration of controls. In Mali the official checkpoints have fallen from 19 to eight and in Senegal from 27 to three;
• Senegal has reduced VAT on cattle from Mali from 6,900 CFA francs per head to 4,500 (or from 10.5 to 6.8 euros);
• There has been a reduction in the cattle tax levied on the Mali – Cote d’Ivoire border from 1,500,000 to 350,000 francs per cattle truck;
• Cattle export permits in Mali, which used to cost 15,000 CFA francs (22.8 euros) are now issued for free;
• In Mali, the taxes per truck have been reduced from 150,000 to 25,000 CFA francs;
• Today, the journey along the Bamako-Dakar corridor, which three years ago took five days, now takes just three.

More trade, more food

The impact of this lobbying can also be seen in the growth of intraregional trade. The number of cattle trucks travelling every day on the Bamako-Dakar route has more than doubled since 2008, and now averages 15 trucks per day. Prior to the study visit some 200 head of cattle and 600 sheep crossed into Senegal every day. This figure now stands at 350 and 1190 respectively. This has resulted in more money for the transporters through increased business, and more work for the truck drivers.

Although it is difficult to say that the volume of food is substantially greater at this stage, these positive trends are only expected to increase. Animal welfare has also improved with herders travelling with the trucks to ensure the cattle and sheep are cared for. Fewer deaths in transit have been registered. Before there were on average two to three animal deaths per truck journey. Today, there is only one death for every 50 journeys (with an average of 35 cattle or 170 sheep on board).

Animal traders have not been the only group to benefit from these improvements. There is evidence to show that fruit and vegetable traders within West Africa are also enjoying faster transit times with fewer tolls. This is increasing the quality, volume and flow of these fresh products within the region. Not alone does this make for a more dynamic, competitive market environment, but also offers greater choice and better prices for consumers.

The achievement of the journalists on the study visit and others inspired by them has been significant. However, the story does not, and should not, stop there. Much work remains to be done if intra-regional trade is to thrive and grow. Key areas to be addressed at a legal, regulatory and policy level have already been identified.

More to do

Following their study tour, research was conducted and a workshop held as part of the CTA/CMA-AOC collaboration, to examine legal and regulatory issues affecting agricultural trade in West Africa. A number of issues were identified and it was recognised that several regional rules were not being applied. In addition, there were problems related to harmonisation between regional rules (those from the Economic Community of West African States and the Union Economique et Monétaire de l’Ouest Africain), and also between these and national rules, making them less effective and sometimes unworkable. Many of the laws within the frameworks are obsolete and need to be re-examined and updated.

The next stage in the process involves advocacy and lobbying to encourage countries in West Africa and beyond to promote and harmonise legal and regulatory standards to create a more effective and transparent system. All the stakeholders in intra-regional trade need to become familiar with these legal and regulatory frameworks. They need to have access to these regulations so that they can police the system and highlight bad practices. Farmers’ organisations have a particularly influential role to play. The Central African Observatory of the Cattle-Beef Commodity Chain is a group of farmers, traders and transporters who, are campaigning (alongside others) for better trade in agricultural produce. Their aim is to put these issues on the policy agenda.

Finally, media professionals need to continue to be vigilant for any practices that inhibit the development of trade and speak out against them. They should continue to put pressure on policy makers and other actors to make improvements and keep this topic in the public eye.

A unique role

It is remarkable what one small group of journalists has achieved – and this is now being replicated by others who want to contribute to agricultural and rural development. Media professionals have a unique role to play in furthering agricultural development. The successes of the Bamako-Dakar corridor can be a replicated on other trade corridors across Africa boosting intra-regional trade, creating new job opportunities, wealthier producers and happier consumers.

Text: José Filipe Fonseca and Thérèse Burke

José Filipe Fonseca is Senior Programme Coordinator and Thérèse Burke is Marketing Officer at CTA, the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation.

More information:
CTA, the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, is an international non-profit organisation established under a joint agreement between the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries and the European Union. CTA’s mission is to advance food security, increase prosperity and encourage sound natural resource management by facilitating access to information and knowledge, policy dialogue and capacity strengthening of agricultural and rural institutions and communities in ACP countries. CTA offers access to a wide range of products and services in numerous areas including youth in agriculture (www.cta.int).

The post Breaking down barriers to intra-regional trade appeared first on Ileia.

Even though ISEC also organises workshops and conferences, its main activity is that of producing educational material that supports teachers, lecturers and activists, and provides a source of information for individuals in general. Through its books, articles, reports, films, factsheets and web-based materials, ISEC highlights the necessity of revitalising cultural and biological diversity.

As Mr Gorelick says, “We believe that the solution to most of the crises we face today – social, ecological, economic, and even spiritual – lies in shifting away from the globalising direction we have been taken by our political leaders, towards economies that are more localised, smaller in scale, place-based, diverse, and ecological.”

“Food”, he points out, “is perhaps the most important of our needs to localise, since it is something everyone, everywhere, needs every day”. Hence, many of ISEC’s projects and programmes emphasise the localisation of food production.

ISEC does not try to tell people what their local food system should look like, as “the details of what any local food system will look like – the foods grown or the methods employed – will vary widely from place to place”. ISEC tries instead to focus on those forces that impede peoples’ ability to be self-reliant in food; forces that are largely the same everywhere.

“There’s a need”, Mr Gorelick says , “for widespread educational campaigns that spell out how ‘free’ trade treaties free up big agribusinesses to invade local markets everywhere; or how subsidies make food from the other side of the world cheaper than food grown next door”.

The International Society for Ecology and Culture is a non-profit organisation operating since the late 1970s. Information about the programmes it offers can be found on its website (www.localfutures.org) or requested via e-mail: infousa@isec.org.uk.

ISEC presents specific examples and individual experiences from all around the planet to show the catastrophic outcomes of globalisation, the necessity of a paradigm shift, and proof that such a shift is possible and desirable.

This is seen in the story of an Australian farmers shared by Helena Norberg-Hodge, ISEC’s director. Having worked for many years as a grower for the industrial food system, this farmer told her he had felt like a serf, with little control over his own life. Everything changed when two years ago he decided to sell locally. “Rather than shipping his products to a faceless corporation, he now meets his customers face-to-face. Rather than the two or three foods he produced for the global market, he now grows close to 20 different products, and his land is healthier for it. Overall, he is much, much, happier now that he has ‘gone local’”.

Text: Nicola Piras

The post Learning about … Going Local appeared first on Ileia.

A.H.J. Helmsing and S. Vellema (eds.), 2011.
Routledge. 294 pages.

Growing a better future: Food justice in a resource-constrained world
R. Bailey, 2011.
Oxfam, London. 73 pages.

Agriculture and food in crisis: Conflict, resistance, and renewal
F. Magdoff and B. Tokar (eds.), 2010.
Monthly Review Press, New York. 334 pages.

Participatory research and on-farm management of agricultural biodiversity in Europe
M. Pimbert, 2011.
IIED, London. 80 pages.

A solution for food security and sovereignty: Urban agriculture around the world
Gladys Speckman, 2011.
Webster’s Digital Services. 118 pages.

Save and grow: A new paradigm of agriculture
L. Collette, T. Hodgkin, A. Kassam, P. Kenmore, L. Lipper, C. Nolte, K. Stamoulis, P. Steduto, 2011.
FAO, Rome. 112 pages.

More on: Regional food system

Regional food systemThe opportunities and challenges of regional food systems have been explored in a number of reports and articles. These include “Local and regional food systems for rural futures” (Jennifer Jensen, 2009) and “Are local food and the local food movement taking us where we want to go?” (L.B. DeLind, 2011). Articles such as “The big issue is ultra-processing” by Carlos Monteiro, and Peter Dizikes’ “Good food nation” argue that regional food systems can help overcome contemporary health problems such as obesity, while IDRC’s recent “The future control of food” (edited by Geoff Tansey and Tasmin Rajotte, 2008) look at the international negotiations related to food security and the organisations behind them.

Empirical examples of regional food systems are examined in “The gardens of biodiversity: The conservation of genetic resources and their use in traditional food production systems by small farmers of the Southern Caucasus” (FAO 2010), “The state of the world 2011: Innovations that nourish the planet” (World Watch Institute 2011) and in Practical Action’s “Food chain: An international journal of small scale food processing and food supply management”.

The websites of the Transition Network and of Slow Food contain discussions, publications and events about regional food systems and links to local initiatives. The “Making local food work” initiative’s website provides ample information to (aspiring) community based food enterprises.

The post Mind! New in print / More on regional food systems appeared first on Ileia.

Brazil: Planning at the micro level

Many farmers who live in coastal areas are also involved in fishing. They provide a large proportion of the fish consumed inside their region and export quite some to other parts of the country, yet they are rarely seen as part of a food system (or as part of a value chain). Together with other organisations, the federal Ministry for Fish and Aquaculture (or MPA) has been working in Baixo Sul, in the state of Bahia, to explore how these activities can be strengthened, to the benefit of the local population and of the region’s food system as a whole.

MPA’s research has shown the importance of social networks: some of these are absent and others need to be strengthened. One of the recommendations of their investigation was to run micro-level participatory planning exercises, aiming at developing strong “micro-systems” in which fisherfolk are proud and active members.

More information?
Contact Tatiana Walter at the University of Rio de Janeiro.
Email: tatianawalter@gmail.com

Nepal: Trade and micro-enterprises

Humla, a district at the northwest edge of Nepal, has no motorable road connecting it to the rest of the country. Farmers grow maize, barley, potatoes, beans and several types of dry rice, but their total outputs are not enough to cover the needs of the population. Every year, for several months, most families depend on government subsidised rice. Yet there is clear potential to produce other crops which could help in the fight against malnutrition, or help farmers to increase their incomes.

Some villages, like Simikot, produce honey; others do well at growing apples, apricots and walnuts or naru (Strackeyi spp.), which is used to produce soap for which there is a large demand, inside and outside the district. Local development organisations are helping farmers set up small-scale industries so they can extract and market the kernel oils, and produce soaps. Equally important, they are also encouraging inter-village trade.

More information?
Contact Mukunda Bushal, in Chitwan, Nepal.
E-mail: omukunda@gmail.com

Malawi: New markets

Malawi has one of the lowest per capita consumption rates of milk and dairy products in Africa: just 5.5 litres of milk and dairy products per year (far less than the 200 litres/year recommended by international organisations). Yet different studies show that the traditional markets are saturated, and the local industries are imposing quotas on farmers so they limit their production levels.

The Shire Highland Milk Producers Association is developing an alternative approach to marketing which is helping farmers find new consumers in Blantyre, the capital of the Southern Region. Supa Cream Milk is a sales concept whereby young entrepreneurs can set up their own individual business unit as a “social franchise”. They rent the brand and equipment, and receive the necessary assistance to sell the association’s milk in the city’s informal markets. Having started with seven entrepreneurs, there are now more than 40 milk business-people involved, most of whom are women. These growth rates are showing that more and more milk is reaching the consumers.

More information?
Contact Wouter Verelst or Simeon Danger, marketing manager, at Supa Cream Milk.
E-mail: w_verelst@hotmail.com

Papua New Guinea: A stronger value chain

As in many other parts of the world, farmers in Papua New Guinea generally only develop “opportunistic relationships” with input suppliers, transporters, wholesalers and consumers, all of which are limited to a specific transaction or moment. As a result, they have little or no bargaining power, and no influence on the price they receive for their products.

One project aimed to increase vegetable production in the area around Port Moresby and to supply the markets in the country’s capital city. It started by getting stakeholders together and building linkages between them. This process, which aligned the expectations of consumers and suppliers, led to agreements about what crops to grow, the quantities to produce, and the frequency of supply.

Farmers in Rigo Koiari and Bautana, in the Central Province, are now growing these crops (which include tomatoes, capsicum, cabbages and many others). Greenfresh, the main commercial partner in the project, is helping these products reach the city by providing better transport and storage facilities.

The post Locally rooted: Ideas and initiatives from the field appeared first on Ileia.

Dawa Sherpa: “More than money”

Bhutan is a predominantly agricultural country, with up to 95 percent of the population involved in farming. But production is not consumer-driven. According to Dawa Sherpa, now working as a livestock research officer with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, it is the large wholesalers, retailers and traders who largely determine what is produced and the prices and quantities it is sold at.

“Their business policy is simple: they distribute the country’s foodstuffs, and we are told to buy it, or leave it”. Yet a positive trend has emerged in recent years, with more and more people becoming conscious about their diets and health. This leads them to choose specific products, which encourages local production systems and is slowly contributing to changes in production patterns. “We see that more people prefer domestic products over those grown in India with chemical fertilizers and pesticides, even though these are cheaper”. Naturally, “those with thicker wallets are better able to choose and get what they want”: economic factors still determine much of what is bought.

But money is not the only issue. As Dawa explains, the Bhutanese are willing to go to great lengths to get what they want: “we often identify contacts or friends who help us get the products that we are interested in. We are good at keeping track of these people and knowing where the good products are”. Although large consumer groups do not formally exist yet, these contacts and the strong relationships which are still found between urban and rural areas, can help consumers exert more pressure.

Patrick O. Aboagye: “Taste rules”

Because of Ghana’s open-market economy, consumers (especially in the urban areas) have a wide array of products from which to choose. As elsewhere, money plays a big role, but the selection of one product over another is also based on other criteria. When it comes to a product like meat (chicken, lamb, beef), both rural and urban consumers prefer local products, as these are known to be tastier and healthier, or at least to present less risks. But the opposite is true for one of the most important staple foods: rice. Consumers prefer imported rice, as it is perceived to have a higher quality (aroma and taste). Consumers say they’ll even pay a higher price for it, although it is not always necessary.

Patrick Aboagye, an agricultural engineer working with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, says that “some of the local rice on the market is more expensive than that brought from abroad, and sometimes it is more difficult to find it. Local rice has a bad image, so it is no wonder that people prefer not to buy it.” The government aims to “revitalise the rice industry” and cut down imports, and has started large projects to support and increase local production (involving the Ghana Rice Inter-Professional Body, the Inland Valley Rice Project and the NERICA Rice Project). There is little doubt, however, that these groups need to dedicate some of their efforts to building a consumption preference for local varieties.

Anna Madalinska: “We need information”

Consumers’ opinions and choices also play an important role in Poland: “We all have a preference for ‘swojskie’, a word that translates as ‘your own’, or ‘from your own farm’”.

According to Anna Madalinska, currently following an MSc programme at the University of Copenhagen, this preference is particularly evident in the summer, when fruits and vegetables are sold on street corners. People prefer to buy here than from a supermarket because they know that what they are buying is a local product, and expect it to be tasty.

However, there are limits to how much choice consumers really have over the goods they buy. As a result of a strong lobbying campaign in favour of GMO crops, more and more farmers are starting to cultivate genetically-modified maize. Reflecting negative public opinion, the President recently vetoed a bill which attempted to expand the list of GMO recipes available in the Polish market beyond those already allowed by the European Union. “Polish consumers tend not to like GMOs.

However, what we find on our shelves also depends on the choices of neighbouring states. Different restrictions in neighbouring countries mean that GMOs will inevitably remain in our products.” As in many other countries, consumers find that they do not have sufficient information about how to identify products containing GMOs, and therefore find it difficult to translate their reservations about GMOs into their purchasing practices. “Consumers need more information.”

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Images of famine in Somalia have recently drawn the world’s attention to the wider issue of food security in Africa. Unfortunately, the concept of “crisis” is still strongly associated with short, sharp, disasters such as drought and conflict. The unpalatable reality is that a largely silent, ongoing, structural food crisis exists in many parts of Africa.

In the Sahel, the poorest rural households now purchase roughly 60% of their food from the market. For example, household economy studies in Maradi, Niger, show that the poorest 30% of households produce only about 17% of their basic food needs. They must sell some of this food to repay debts and meet other obligations.

So even if improved agro-ecological farming methods enabled them to double, or triple their food production for their own consumption, they would still have to purchase at least 40% of their food from the market, from labour earnings. This leaves poor rural households highly exposed to volatile food prices. Even in good years, they need to purchase grain when prices rise in the lean season, but increasingly they cannot afford to buy enough. What we’ve seen in Niger is a startling correlation between increased millet prices and the number of hospital admissions of children with acute malnutrition. High food prices clearly reduce poor people’s access to food, contributing to malnutrition.

In the Sahel, increased food reserves and buffer stocks at the regional, national and local levels can be a valuable tool for improving access to food and for stabilising food prices. Purchasing locally produced foodstuffs when prices are low, and selling when prices are high, can keep prices in check, protect farmers’ incomes and mitigate the effect of steep price rises. They can also counter concentrated market power over grain sales and distribution, if complemented by improvements in the market information system, and by decentralised national support for village cereal banks. But because this type of price stabilisation storage involves price regulation, donors who support liberalisation find it politically less acceptable than other forms of support.

Several international conferences, however, have started to consider ways to overcome the many political, regulatory and financial challenges. The reason is compelling evidence that as long as no mechanism for market regulation and control of food price volatility is in place, the current national systems in the Sahel for mitigating chronic food and nutrition insecurity will remain undersized and ineffective. The poorest households will sink ever deeper into debt and poverty, and become more vulnerable to the slightest shocks. There has been a shift. The question now is no longer whether to support food reserves as a way of controlling food prices, but how.

Text: Peter Gubbels

Peter Gubbels works for Groundswell International as co-coordinator for West Africa. He has lived for 21 years in West Africa and recently completed a major study for the Sahel Working Group: “Escaping the hunger cycle in the Sahel: Pathways to resilience”.

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