Food Vulnerabilities in the LDCs

This afternoon I attended a large thematic debate at the official LDC-IV conference titled: Reducing food vulnerabilities, responding to emerging challenges and enhancing food security in least developed countries. In simple terms it was a meeting that addressed why LDCs are at high risk for food vulnerability and what can be done to address these challenges.

The main themes of the event were climate changes effects on food security, importance of investing in small farmers, malnutrition and how farming and agriculture are the backbone of the LDCs.



Picture from the meeting today



Climate change and agriculture are obviously very interrelated, as weather patterns change so do crop yields. Dr. Louis Kasekende from Uganda explained that: “Climate change is close to wiping out any development the LDCs made over the past ten years.” Dr. Kasekende pointed to the case of South Asia whose crop yields over the past decade have decreased 30%-40% due to complexities of climate change.

Specifically one can look at the increase of droughts worldwide. Case studies of countries effected by droughts show how changing climate patterns systematically affects the entire social structure of countries. Prof. Anna Tibaijuka from Tanzania stressed that: “A huge vulnerability of  LDCs is drought (a majority of LDCs are in Africa) and how it disproportionally affects the poor. Drought has serious impacts on the economies of rural communities. Often it forces families to sell their assets in order to make up for agriculture losses. Assets usually consist of livestock, which has to be sold in a vey depressed market, resulting in even higher losses for families. Drought has serious implications on women’s livelihood. It can make women more vulnerable to malnutrition and increase in physical violence and abuse. This is in addition to an all ready stressed and unstable living environment.”

Many of the speakers stressed that there must be a safety net to enhance the resistance of people as they deal with the impacts of climate change. Mr. Amir Abdulla, Deputy Secretary Director of the World Food Program, explained that climate change will potentially increase the number of people dealing with food insecurity by 10-20%. Which means there will be 25 million more malnourished children in world, a direct consequence of climate change.

There has been a shift in aid/development from food distribution to impoverished countries to building infrastructures that support small farmers to be self-reliant and grow their own food. Gender plays an important role in this because women are usually the farmers. Dr. Babu Mathews, from the South Asia Alliance to Eradicate Poverty, addressed the question of food production and distribution when analyzing food vulnerabilities in the LDCs. “In order for there to be adequate food production it is tremendously importance that land is given to women with countries following the principle of eminent domain. On a community level it is important that group farming and communal granaries are supported. Only by really prioritizing subsistence farming can you have food security."

Food vulnerability is a struggle for millions of people around the world. The meeting did a good job at analyzing the issue and how international documents dealing with food vulnerability must be ratified because of climate change. But it is difficult for me to see how any of these changes will be actualized, particularly because of the lack of farmers from the LDcs present at the meetings and I assume in the document negotiation processes. One change that could be addressed as result of the meeting is organizations such the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food program altering their current aid distribution models. Sadly, it does not seem too hopeful that changes will be made by mega food aid organizations. The first thing the FAO representative discussed was how the organization is increasing chemical fertilizer distribution by millions of tons and increasing access to “scientifically enhanced seeds” (aka Monsanto GMO seeds) to farmers in the LDCs. From my very limited understanding I see the only way for their to be real food security is by small subsistence farmers organizing themselves, continuing traditional farming methods (with the addition of new farming techniques that encourage bio-diversity), ending a the force feeding of GMO seeds, lowering tariffs so goods can be exported at a just price and incorporating communal farming. Basically everything that the peasant organization La Via Campesina and the goddess of seed saving Vandana Shiva advocate.

I encourage you to read La Via Campesina's report on "How Small Farmers Can Feed the World": http://www.viacampesina.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=section&layout=blog&id=8&Itemid=30