More food or better distribution? Reviewing food policy options in developing countries (original) (raw)
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REPORT REVIEW: Solutions for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems
By: Aynalem Tadesse Dada Agriculture, whether it is commercialized or self-sufficient, matters not. Worldwide, it solely and indispensably produces the most critical, irreplaceable and unobsoletable resource, food. With the advent of the Holocene-the last 10,000 years, agriculture played a tantamount role that cannot be exaggerated to meaningfully perpetuate and progress the species, Homo sapience. An understanding of the future fate that agriculture in general and that of smallholders is of a 'dire urgency' to the design of policies to achieve the international development goals and targets, given the fact that smallholders account for more than 75% of the feeders of the so-called developing world. The majority of the world's extremely poor live in rural areas and have livelihoods which are bound closely to smallholder agriculture as farmers, laborer, transporters, marketers, and processors of products and as suppliers of non-agricultural services to households whose income is principally agriculture-deriven. Smallholder agriculture is presently a key sustainer and a redeemer of the majority of the world's poorest people, so the dynamics of smallholder agriculture ought to be a central question for research and debates about development. The transformational vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls on all countries and stakeholders to work together to 'end hunger in all its forms' and prevent all forms of malnutrition by 2030. This fondly ambition can only be fulfilled if agriculture and food systems become sustainable, so that food supplies are stable and all people at all times have access to adequate, nutritious, stable and food to lead healthy and happy life. The present report, I review is full of substantially objective and scientific recommendations and comments-a comprehensive direction for the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. The report begins by narrating arrays of analytical, provocative and though questions that necessitate urgency in clearing the fuzzy and settling the turbulence of competing interests and, of course, blurred future of our time. The thought-provoking questions ranging from: …How to leapfrog from the dwindling and vicious to sustaining, virtuous and perhaps thriving agriculture, a quest to change the production and consumption behaviors of the evolving giants like China and India, … to administrative and legal requirements to monitor and make best use of the frontier technologies and biotechnology, challenging food baskets and consumer behavior, etc.' Acknowledging the range of challenges (population growth, change in consumption pattern-driven by rising incomes, land degradation, climate change, volatile/ever skyrocketing food prices, etc.) that agriculture food systems face, the report calls for most comprehensive and complex approaches geared towards addressing complex problems, that will bring change in the current agriculture to meet the rising demand, to contribute more effectively to the reduction of poverty and malnutrition, and to become more ecologically sustainable. For doing so, the report mainly capitalizes in introducing, instilling and inculcating the newer concept, Sustainable Agricultural Intensification (SAI)-the approach believed to contribute to the efforts of eradicating hunger and malnutrition, improving the environmental performance of agriculture. This new concept, indeed, needs interventions that are transformative and simultaneous along the whole chain of agricultural production and marketing-from farm to fork.
2019
Os efeitos do crescimento populacional, das mudancas climaticas, da rapida urbanizacao e do aumento na demanda por recursos energeticos, alimentares e hidricos, contribuiram para a consolidacao de um cenario global complexo e interdependente. Tal complexidade resulta em desafios e riscos globais que nao respeitam fronteiras geopoliticas e economicas, impactando sem precedentes, todo o planeta. Entre os inumeros obstaculos enfrentados pela humanidade, destaca-se a busca pela seguranca alimentar. Neste estudo, defendo a ideia de que tres pilares devam ser colocados como prioridade nas agendas regionais e internacionais para que se possa diminuir a inseguranca alimentar. Estes tres pilares concentram-se no incentivo a agricultura familiar; na boa governanca; e no desenvolvimento tecnologico. Ao final deste estudo, concluiu-se que sera necessaria uma melhor gestao por parte dos tomadores de decisao e do poder publico, garantindo que, atraves de politicas publicas, da conscientizacao dos...
SUSTAINABLE FOOD PRODUCTION : NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LINKAGES
The desire to satisfy food needs has left its mark on the environment. Hunger leads to desperate strategies for survival and attempts to meet the basic needs take precedence in the short term over longer term sustainability. There is a concern in the declining area under foodgrains, simultaneously, the excessive use of land for cultivation has lead to land degradation and depletion of ground water resources.
Practical Approach to Sustainable Food Security in Lower Income Group Countries
Over the years, steady progress have been made in the fight to end global hunger and food insecurity, however, the number of undernourished people in the world is still unacceptably high, particularly in countries with low economies. The challenging global environment- rising commodity and food prices, increased unemployment rates and most importantly the global economic recession - has taken its toll on the considerable progress that could have been made in the food security campaign. In addition, frequent natural disasters with consequent loss of human lives and economic damage, and increased political instability leading to displacement of persons have also contributed to the food insecurity menace. In the light of the above, more work needs to be done to ensure everyone, everywhere has access to adequate food to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle. In pursuance of this however, food production process must not deplete natural resources or hinder the agricultural system such that provision of food for future generation will be difficult. Thus, interventions towards ensuring food security must consider sustainability. This paper discusses such sustainable drivers of food security, particularly in lower income group countries where the burden of hunger and undernourishment are particularly high.