Food & Nutrition Security in East Africa

...Every second person in the world dies from malnutrition. In order to fight the so-called hidden hunger — a chronic lack of vitamins and minerals — biofortification aims to increase nutrition and yields simultaneously.

...Rwanda has ventured into a new agricultural era as it boosts its food production and enhances the nutrition level of the crops grown here.

In this Central African nation where 44 percent of the country’s 12 million people suffer from malnutrition and micronutrient deficiency, biofortified foods, like beans, are seen as a solution to reducing “hidden hunger” — a chronic lack of vitamins and minerals.

One in every three Rwandans is anaemic, and this percentage is higher in women and children. An estimated 38 percent of children under five and 17 percent of women suffer from iron deficiency here. This, according to Lister Tiwirai Katsvairo, the HarvestPlus country manager for the biofortification project, is high compared to other countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Biofortified beans have high nutritional levels and provide up to 45 percent of daily iron needs, which is 14 percent more than commonly-grown bean varieties.

They also have an extra advantage as they have proved to produce high yields, are resistant to viruses, and are heat and drought tolerant.

Now, one third of Rwanda’s 1.9 million households grow and consume nutritious crops thanks to an initiative promoted by HarvestPlus in collaboration with the Rwandan government...

The rainy season in South Sudan prevents aid from moving by road. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and other aid groups rush to place supplies into position before the rains come. However, the UN reported yesterday, "Lack of funding and pipeline pre-positioning have delayed implementation of some activities, including livelihoods support."...

...The outbreak of fighting between the government and opposition forces last year displaced hundreds of thousands. The UN and other aid groups have been trying to meet emergency needs. WFP, for instance, has been airlifting food to displaced populations in remote areas.

Also, WFP is concerned about 220,000 displaced persons who have fled to neighboring countries. The UN food agency needs funding to prevent malnutrition emerging in this population.

Valerie Guarnieri, WFP Regional Director for East & Central Africa, says, “We are concerned about reports of alarmingly high rates of malnutrition among children arriving at refugee camps in neighbouring countries, particularly Ethiopia. While we are working with partners to provide specialized nutritious foods for refugee children, the high levels of malnutrition are a sign that the humanitarian situation in inaccessible regions of South Sudan may be rapidly deteriorating.”

As the United Nations' specialised agency for rural development, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) continuously faces the question of how best to "map" rural poverty and measure the impact of our work. To get a clearer picture, IFAD has developed the Multidimensional Poverty Assessment Tool (MPAT).

This tool is designed to help development practitioners understand some of the primary dimensions of rural poverty, which otherwise can be difficult to assess and measure. To do so, it uses a collection of 10 composite indices, each of which aggregates data from diverse indicators.

In more basic terms, MPAT takes a snapshot of rural poverty – at a specific place and point in time – by collecting people's perceptions and opinions about core issues, such as housing, food security and empowerment. The information is then summarised, using the MPAT indices, to produce a picture of the situation in a given household, village or project. This snapshot can then guide MPAT users in determining where to direct additional support...

...By pointing to areas where support is most needed, and by measuring the impact of initiatives undertaken to improve rural lives and livelihoods, MPAT can enhance development interventions. Its crosscutting methodology creates a sort of “rural poverty dashboard” covering food and nutrition security, domestic water supply, health and health care, sanitation and hygiene, housing, clothing and energy, education, farm assets and non-farm assets, exposure and resilience to shocks, and gender and social equality.

MPAT is based on a bottom-up, participatory approach reflecting the voices and perspectives of rural people themselves. The tool uses household and village-level surveys to collect data, averaging and organising the results in a clear, standardised fashion. In the process, it not only measures the various dimensions of rural poverty but also offers insight into its underlying causes....

Land rights are widely agreed to be essential in motivating farmers to make short and long-term fixed investments in their farms – investments that will increase agricultural productivity, raise rural household incomes, and move the needle on the goal of alleviating global poverty.

The good news is that a recent systematic review – funded by the U.K. Department for International Development (DfID) – of quantitative literature on the effects of tenure formalisation in developing countries confirmed that formal registration of individual land rights increases investment, productivity, and household consumption.

The bad news? Productivity did not rise as much in Africa as in Asia and Latin America. Differences in short-term gains were considerable: 5-10% average gains in Africa, compared to 25-35% gains in Latin America and Asia.

The more modest response to tenure recognition in Africa raises new questions on the role of tenure reform and rights registration in boosting agricultural productivity and investment...

...Other research suggests that the greater vulnerability of rights under customary systems might be explained by the fear of arbitrary transfer of rights by state agencies to public use or to outside investors. This has given rise to efforts to extend statutory recognition to customary tenure arrangements, accompanied in some cases by cost-effective programmes for verifying and recording customary rights using technologies that reduce the per-parcel costs of rights registration.

Enthusiasm for titling has also been dampened by the poor access that agricultural households in sub-Saharan Africa have to credit. Without access to credit, households receiving title aren't truly able to capitalise on their land assets, in which case benefits may fail to match the costs of titling...

...Future research should examine whether the observable implications of these theories are evident in cases of reform in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, keeping in mind broader welfare considerations. Modest gains in following rights recognition does not in itself mean that there might not be positive effects associated with formal registration of land rights....

Climate change has already cut into the global food supply and is fuelling wars and natural disasters, but governments are unprepared to protect those most at risk, according to a report from the UN's climate science panel.

The report is the first update in seven years from the UN's international panel of experts, which is charged with producing the definitive account of climate change.

In that time, climate change has ceased to be a distant threat and made an impact much closer to home, the report's authors say. "It's about people now," said Virginia Burkett, the chief scientist for global change at the US geological survey and one of the report's authors. "It's more relevant to the man on the street. It's more relevant to communities because the impacts are directly affecting people – not just butterflies and sea ice."

The scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found evidence of climate change far beyond thawing Arctic permafrost and crumbling coral reefs – "on all continents and across the  oceans".

But it was the finding that climate change could threaten global food security that caught the attention of government officials from 115 countries who reviewed the report. "All aspects of food security are potentially affected by climate change," the report said...

..."The main way that most people will experience climate change is through the impact on food: the food they eat, the price they pay for it, and the availability and choice that they have," said Tim Gore, head of food policy and climate change for Oxfam...

Millions of people will go hungry due to climate change cutting food production worldwide by 2 per cent per decade even as the demand for food to supply a growing population is rising by 14 per cent per decade, according to the latest scientific report.

In the second instalment of its Fifth Assessment Report released this morning in Yokohama, Japan, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) also warns that “human security will be progressively threatened” by global warming.

The report – which deals with climate risks, vulnerabilities and adaptation – says it will become harder for people to make a living and this will lead to mass migrations from poorer countries of “climate refugees” seeking a better life elsewhere.

The report, which contains 30 chapters, was compiled by 310 authors from 73 countries and draws on a growing volume of scientific research on climate change. Every line of its 29-page summary for policymakers had to be agreed by delegates in Yokohama...

‘High-risk impacts’

It spells out the likely impacts of different levels of warming in different parts of the world. Adaptation is a key element of the report, with tables showing that what are now classed as “high-risk impacts” could be reduced to low risk, if appropriate steps are taken.

But even with adaptation, it warns that global agricultural productivity could decline in all regions, with developing countries hit the hardest.

A net decline in ocean productivity due to warming and acidification will exacerbate this challenge, it says....even a 2-degree increase in average global surface temperatures would have a negative impact on crop yields...