Once a net exporter of grain products, Zimbabwe’s fortunes have reversed over the past decade, becoming a steady seeker of food aid and increasingly relying on international food aid. Approximately half of the nation’s 12 million people are in need of aid, as crop failures and barren fields resulted in the all-time high number being left hungry in 2008.

2009 was slightly better – more rainfall and the economic reforms installed by the unity government that took power last February have benefited the population. UN estimates state the number needing food aid this year to be 1.9 million.

The controversial land reforms - resettling predominantly white-owned farms with black farmers by Robert Mugabe’s government - has brought the question of ownership titles to the table. Under Mugabe’s forcible resettlements, farmers were not given property titles which results in the inability to gain commercial agricultural loans from banks.

The unity government plans to conduct a land audit this year to determine proper land ownership, and then issue deeds to re-start farm financing by banks.

Donors have given 74 million dollars in aid to Zimbabwe’s traditional farmers, a windfall for communities like Bindura, where fertilizer and seed crops are the only source of food and income.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that donor-funded projects could produce 450,000 tonnes of grain, about one-quarter of the nation’s needs.

Posted by Patricia Lee.

In 2009, the World Food Programme (WFP) shipped approximately enough food aid to feed 5.9 million people in Sudan. As food aid is shipped into the country, thousands of tons of wheat and rice are almost simultaneously exported to other nations. The paradox is that Sudan is unable to feed its domestic population, yet exports tons of food supplies to nations such as China, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia.  Why?

840,000 hectares of Sudanese land are set aside for countries such as these, who pay large sums of money to the Sudanese government to utilize plots of land in order to promote food security in their respective nations. This fairly recent phenomenon, which reached large scale degrees in 2007, was the rough result of the perceived inability of the international commodity markets to be adequately regulated and thus able to provide sustaining amounts of commodities to nations.

World Bank estimates total about 50 million hectares, mostly in developing African nations, to be leased to other countries. Sovereign wealth funds and government based corporations partake in long term leases, concessions, or outright purchases that range anywhere from 30 – 99 years. Sometimes the details of such acquisitions are undisclosed for records.

Nations participating in land purchases include China and the United Arab Emirates, who have secured deals with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Senegal.  Ethiopia is also an active participant, and disclosed that three million hectares were for lease as of September 2009.

Discontent regarding these deals is already rife, with local farmers protesting the poor work conditions and unequal distribution effects of such contracts.  Low pay, land displacement, and loss of access to pastoral lands have been consequences within countries such as Ethiopia.

UN Food and Agricultural Office (FAO) director general Jacques Diouf spoke of the necessity of private investment as a means of promoting economic development while balancing the fairness and sustenance for local populations.

Posted by Patricia Lee.

Irish Aid, the Government’s programme for oversees development managed by its Department of Foreign Affairs will expand funding to subsidize seeds, pesticides, and fertilizers and increase maize production for families at risk of hunger in Malawi.  The Belfast Telegraph states, “The cash will also improve infant and maternal nutrition by supporting research to provide high-quality, disease-free seeds for mothers and young children.”

Peter Power, Ireland’s Minister of State for Overseas Development, advocates “Since the national agricultural programme was introduced in 2006 in response to the food crisis in Malawi, the number of people needing food aid has fallen from more than five million to fewer than 150,000.” These measures have allowed Malawi to move from being a net importer of maize to a net exporter, a critical step taken towards goals of eventual economic self-sufficiency.

However, Malawi faces further challenges as more than 50% of the country remains below the poverty line.

Posted by Patricia Lee.

The BBC recently reported on the recent Eritrean government’s decision to reject international food aid in an effort to promote self-sustaining measures for domestic food growth and measures for prolonged self-sufficiency/sustainability. Eritrean ambassador to the EU, Girma Asmerom, stated quite matter-of-factly “Food aid demonizes the local population and makes them lazy.”

The current government strategies of confiscating and distributing food from areas that have had a bumper harvest have been met with mixed results.  Some Eritreans that have fled across the border to refugee camps in northern Ethiopia have attributed their government’s policies to causing widespread hunger.

Food aid officials, including U.N under secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief John Holmes have been skeptical of the Eritrean government’s approach, saying,  “When we ask the government if they need help they say ‘no’, but we remain concerned to track the situation.”

Posted by Patricia Lee

Overview
In the past year, global food security has been on the radar of world leaders, who often raised food security issues and brought needed attention to the continuing food crisis and long-term concerns.  Policy breakthroughs and substantial action, however, were limited.

The challenge was most starkly illustrated by a joint report released by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) during World Food Week (October 12-16) that said that over 1.02 billion in the world are hungry.  During a High-Level Expert Panel convened during the week, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf cited that a fast-growing global population would require 5 times the food production to meet needs by 2050.  At the UN’s World Food Summit in November, these challenges seemed to fall on deaf ears, as major global leaders did not attend the meeting and a proposal to direct global food security efforts away from aid toward an expanded local capability to grow food, was rejected.

Another major focus of the blog was food safety in the United States.  After several high profile cases of contamination of peanuts and pistachios (by salmonella) and even Nestlé’s Toll House cookie dough, which had batches contaminated by E. Coli, the Obama administration took several steps to address the food safety.  The appointment of a new Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, the convening of a Food Safety Working Group and a new clearinghouse for information, www.foodsafety.gov are positive steps, whose true results will take time to measure.

Person of the Year
The Global Food Security blog covered many events and people involved in food security that to highlight any one individual would be a big challenge.  Instead, we will choose someone who is often behind the scenes, the food aid workers who each year work to deliver food aid to some of those most in need.  They see the faces of the hungry at their most desperate and often operate in remote areas or conflict zones, placing themselves in peril in order to help others.

Most Unexpected Event

Since the global food crisis was first acknowledged roughly two years ago, public awareness about the ongoing supply issue and its effects has been on the steady incline.  In recent months, global food security has assumed center stage at a number of U.S. and international government meetings.  In March, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on the food crisis after a bill co-sponsored by Senators Bob Casey, Jr. (PA) and Richard Lugar (IN) was introduced before Congress; in April, President Obama announced a food crisis initiative to include another $1 billion for the development of long-term food security strategy during the annual G-20 summit; and the UN hosted a food crisis summit in Copenhagen in November.  Discussing the challenges involved in combating food insecurity is important, and building frameworks for solutions is needed, but this specialized attention to the issue came as a pleasant surprise in the last year.

What to Expect

It is difficult to predict what the coming year will mean for the food crisis, but indicators suggest that the issue will continue to be problematic.

As this blog has often cited, the production of grain for consumption and for the procurement of meat from animals that eat it requires the use of fossil fuels.  When oil prices rise, the ability to produce foodstuffs declines, and the food that is produced is sold at higher cost.   The International Energy Agency announced on 11 December that the demand for oil in 2010 will be slightly greater than the increase they had already projected, which may make for a bad year in food growth and pricing.

Growth is also thwarted by weather events like droughts or intense storms, such as monsoons.  2010 is projected to be warmer than average - the weather system El Niño is expected to last until May, bringing with it warmer air and water temperatures.  Irregular and/or protracted weather patterns may make for inhospitable environments for food growth.

Innovations in food technologies and international efforts to combat insecurity and inaccessibility to foodstuffs have yet to be seen, and the elements that work against these progressions have yet to take hold.  In the coming year, the FPA Food Security blog will keep you atuned to all of these developments.

Watch this space…

Reuters reports rapidly melting glaciers and falling water tables in the world’s largest grain-producing nations pose a significant threat to food security.

Meeting in Barcelona this week to flesh out details of the looming Copenhagen climate summit in December 2009, negotiators and participants must also taken into account the scientific reports showing unmistakable changes and concerns over water conservation measures, and consequent relocation of sizeable populations.

With the predicted rise of the global population from the current size of 6.7 billion inhabitants to an estimated nine billion people by 2050, nations and policymakers alike have no choice but to confront the inevitable questions over population density and resource allocation.

In Saudi Arabia, for example, deep aquifers have allowed for complete self-sufficiency in terms of national grain production for a number of years.  However, the same aquifers are now being drained, say Saudi authorities.  By 2016, the country is expected to halt grain farming and become entirely dependent on grain imports in order to sustain its burgeoning population of 30 million, according to Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute.

Underdeveloped countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam seem to be especially susceptible to threats to the food supply brought on by climate change.  The article quotes Lester Brown as saying that there are climate models that predict sea levels to rise one meter by the end of the century, flooding half the rice fields in both countries and wiping out food supplies to millions.

The article also points out how despite the fact that although Great Britain is currently seventy percent self-sufficient in food production and consumption, the country is also analyzing measures to feed a population expected to increase from 61 million to 70 million over the next two decades.

Some analysts say that two ways to alleviate these problems would be through population control measures and a “’rethink [of] the entire food system’ in the same way the world’s economic and energy systems are being debated as a result of climate change.”

Posted by Patricia Lee.

The Financial Times reports that according to a UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), foreign direct investment (FDI) flows in agriculture jumped to $3bn (€2bn, £1.8bn) annually in the 2005-2007 period, up from $600m during the 1990s. Though at first glance the numerical increase appears quite significant,  on the overall scale FDI flows in agriculture are very limited.

UNCTAD’s World Investment Report is the first detailed analysis of FDI flows behind the farmland grab trend, in which participating countries like Saudi Arabia and South Korea invest in overseas plots. The investors plan to export the bulk of the crops back to feed their domestic populations.  Investments in agriculture are being spurred by rising food prices and shortages, which has subsequently resulted in export bans.

Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of UNCTAD, notes, “This year’s World Investment Report reveals a real and rising interest . . . for investment in developing countries’ agricultural industries,” and indicates that “‘south-south investment’ in agricultural production is on the rise.”  The Secretary-General believes this trend will continue in the longer-term future.

However,  the agricultural industry is historically amongst the most heavily regulated in many countries.  UNCTAD does note attempts to secure similar food supplies have been unsuccessful in the past,  citing previous experiences in South Korea in the 1960s and 1970s and the Gulf nations in the 70s. Along with respective agricultural policies set by individual governments; investors’ inappropriate policies, inexperience and lack of understanding of the local culture contributed to these failures.

Posted by Patricia Lee.

The BBC reports on the Mozambican government’s agricultural program designed to permit inmates of its burgeoning prison population the ability to grow their own food.  The idea of producing and varying the current diet of beans, rice, and porridge to include potatoes,  pumpkins, lettuces, and other vegetables, and allowing inmates to work outdoors, is a welcome opportunity, say many of its participants.

An additional caveat is the local sales of some of the vegetables produced to help pay inmates’ transportation and medical expenses.

Mozambique currently houses a prison population of more than 15,000 inmates.  These inmates live together in overcrowded, under-equipped facilities often providing little to no means of effective sanitation.

Mozambican prisons have been criticized by human rights organizations in the past for insufficient sanitation measures and overcrowding.  In both 2004 and earlier this year,  inmates have died from asphyxiation due to the aforementioned reasons.  The Minister of Justice, Benvinda Levy, states that the nation does not have the resources to feed the large numbers of prisoners.

Broadly speaking,  the government food program has been widely accepted and welcomed.  At the present time, it is being carried out in prisons in the capital of Maputo,  and the neighboring province of Gaza.

Posted by Patricia Lee.

Plant scientist Dr. Gebisa Ejeta was awarded the 2009  World Food Prize for his development of drought resistant sorghum seeds, which have helped African farmers increase their crop yield.  The $250,000 prize is awarded each year by the World Food Prize Foundation, which was established by Norman Borlaug, known as the “Father of the Green Revolution.”

Dr. Ejeta hails from Ethiopia, where his work has had a particular impact in easing famine conditions that frequently afflict his home country. Hybrid sorghum seed that he developed in the 1980’s created a yield 150% greater than natural seeds.  Upon creating a sorghum seed resistant to the Striga parasite, yields were quadrupled.

Dr. Ejeta’s work at Purdue University was funded by the United States Agency for Development (USAID) as part of its Sorghum, Millet and Other Grains (SMOG) initiative.

Bill Gates, in his capacity as co-chair and trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, congratulated Dr. Ejeta and called for more aid to small farmers saying that to “…grow more crops and get them to market is the world’s single most powerful lever for reducing hunger and poverty.”

October 16th is World Food Day, an opportunity for education and action on food issues, both globally and locally.  Throughout the past year, the Global Food Crisis blog has posted about a variety of issues including the security, availability, safety, trade and organizations that deal with food.  We invite you to mark World Food Day by learning information about global food issues and how you can take action.

UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Director-General Jacques Diouf made a call to action, stating that, “The world food security governance system is inefficient and not well coordinated to address the present food crisis and the new challenges which we will have to face in the future.” Visit FAO’s World Food Day page to learn how you can get involved.

World Food Programme Executive Director Josette Sheeran states that “‘World Food Day’ is ‘No Food Day’ for almost one out of every six people around the world this year.”  WFP also offers “10 Things You Can do on World Food Day.”

Read U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s World Food Day statement and link to the State Department’s Food Security page.