Transcript Food Security and the Environment

Food Security and the Environment –
African Perspective
S. W. Omamo
Food Security and Environment Meeting
Stanford University CESP
October 27, 2005
Food and Nutrition Security
Availability
Access
Utilization
How, given recent trends and current facts?
Availability
• How to achieve badly needed yield take-offs given:
– Ubiquity and resilience of low-input, low-output,
diversified, subsistence-oriented smallholder farming?
– Extreme biophysical and institutional heterogeneity?
– Low private rates of return to agricultural investment?
– Crises in national governance => public goods deficits?
• Rural infrastructure, including irrigation?
– Growing stresses on natural resources under population
pressure and climate change?
• Soil degradation, rainfall scarcity and variability, …?
– Globalization and market liberalization under inadequate
institutions?
Availability (cont.)
• How to achieve badly needed yield take-offs given:
– Cross-border and internal conflicts?
• Large-scale migration/displacement?
– Gender-based inequities in access to productive resources?
• Land, water, energy, …?
– Misalignment among policies, institutions, and
microconditions in agricultural science and technology
systems?
• Research, extension, education, technology acquisition and
exchange?
– Limited role of science/evidence in policy processes?
– …
Access
• How to overcome the “food price dilemma” given:
– Widespread poverty and economic vulnerability?
– Crises in national governance => public goods deficits?
• Fiscal mismanagement => inability to provide social safety nets?
– Globalization and market liberalization under inadequate
institutions?
– Cross-border and internal conflicts?
• Large-scale migration/displacement?
– Gender-based inequities in access to productive resources?
• Land, water, energy, …?
– Limited role of science/evidence in policy processes?
– …
Utilization
• How to overcome malnutrition given:
– Crises in national governance => public goods deficits?
• Unhygienic environments and poor access to health services?
– Malaria, HIV/AIDS, sleeping sickness, …
• Poor access to clean water?
• Low levels of education (of parents, especially mothers)?
– Burgeoning populations of impoverished people, especially
in urbanizing areas?
– Cross-border and internal conflicts?
• Large-scale migration/displacement?
– Gender-based inequities in access to productive resources?
• Information/education?
– Limited role of science/evidence in policy processes?
– …
What to do?
Where are the gaps?
Crosscutting (“Triangular”) Issues
• Population-environment-economy
interactions
–
–
–
–
Urbanization
Cross-border and internal conflicts
Climate change
...
Water…?
• National governance, security, and public
goods provision
– Globalization
• Gender-based inequities
– Land, water, energy, …
– Information/education
• Science/evidence in policy processes
How?
Paint big pictures… with details…
“Big Picture” - 1
Global
Regional
Sub-regional
National
Sub-national
Community
Household
“Big Picture” - 2
Policy environment
Institutional arrangements
Micro behavior
“Best practices”
Best Practice…
Policy
Research
Practice
“Big Picture” - 3
Horizontality
Education
Food and
agriculture
Health
Private
Public
Civil society
“Big Picture” - 4
Availability
Tradeoffs?
Sequencing?
Access
Utilization
Trends on which to build?
• Regional political and economic initiatives
– NEPAD
• CAADP
• FARA (ASARECA, CORAF, SADC-FANR)
– IGAD
– EAC
• University initiatives in food, agricultural, and environmental policy
analysis
– Eastern and Southern Africa Collaborative MSc in Ag Econ
– Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy in Africa – University of
Pretoria
– African Center for Food Security – University of Kwazulu Natal
• Donor initiatives
– MDGs… science and technology making a comeback…
– Increasing demand for strategic perspective – getting ahead of the game…
• Food and nutrition security increasingly accepted as integral to overall
economic development
• …