By Simon Vilakazi

Food insecurity has been deepened by; high food prices, climate change and the recent economic crisis. It is continuing to affect the world’s poor people in developing countries despite many attempts to address it. The United Nation’s Chief Executives Board established a High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis (HLTF) under the leadership of the UN’s Secretary General. The HLTF brought together the Heads of the UN specialized agencies, funds and programmes, and relevant parts of the UN Secretariat, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Trade Organization[1]. This task team was mandated “to promote a comprehensive and unified response to the challenge of achieving global food security, including by facilitating the creation of a prioritized plan of action and coordinating its implementation[2]”.  It was established to speed-up global interventions to address the food insecurity challenge.

It was encouraging to many food security activists when the HLTF was established. It gave people an impression that the food insecurity challenge was getting the attention it deserved from a highest institution of the world. The HLTF promised that it was going to work with major role players in the production, distribution and marketing of food commodities. Shortly after its establishment, the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Programme (FAO) convened a High-Level Conference on World Food Security: The Challenges of Climate Change and Bio-energy in Rome from the 3^rd – 5^th June 2008. Conference delegates discussed issues of i) high food prices (causes, consequences and solutions), ii) climate change and food security and iii) bio-energy and food security[1].  

This conference was well attended by presidents and prime ministers, ministers and other governments’ officials from around the world. The resolutions adopted at this conference were wide-ranging. One of the most important resolutions from the conference was that “the international community needs to take urgent and coordinated action to combat the negative impacts of soaring food prices on the world’s most vulnerable countries and populations”[2].  They then set short-term, medium and long term intervention strategies. They even identified institutions of the United Nations, organisations, governments and non-government organisations (NGO) as agents of implementing the resolutions of the conference. All this was done to show that they are “commit[ed] to eliminating hunger and to securing food for all today and tomorrow.”[3]

All the bodies and institutions mentioned above were asked to speed up the implementation of measures to address the problem of hunger and food insecurity. Most of these activities and structures were done in 2008. It is now almost a year and half after the above initiatives were initiated. Sadly, all the promises of speedy action and solutions to food insecurity initiated after the Rome conference have not filtered to the poor people who are mostly affected by food shortages and hunger. Many countries in the world, specifically in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region are still having poor people who have no access to adequate food they need to live reasonable lives.

The High Level Conference on Food Security the UN organised identified governments as crucial role players in assisting the poor people access food they need. It is sad that, in 2010, a growing number of countries in the SADC region still refused to invest sufficient funds and other resources to food production for their poor people. When high food prices made it difficult for poor people to access food, many governments had opportunities to implement fundamental and sustainable strategies to deal with this problem. It was an appropriate time for them to ensure that high food prices do not deny poor people from accessing the food they need to live reasonable lives.

Very few countries in the SADC region implemented successful and long term measures to address food security challenges for their people. Economists and agriculturalists have been observing government’s responses to high food prices. It is interesting to note that only three countries in the SADC region concentrated their intervention strategies to the production of food for their people.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation in 2009, analysed the strategies that many governments adopted to deal with a challenge of high food prices. In its findings, it noted that many governments in the SADC region opted for strategies that include consumer-oriented policy responses that provide direct support to consumers and vulnerable groups in the form of food subsidies, direct food transfer social safety nets, tax reductions, food stamps or vouchers, school feeding, emergency food aid, self-targeted food-for-work programmes and price controls[4]. SADC Countries that adopted this strategy include Madagascar, Angola, Mozambique and South Africa.

An inappropriate food security strategy that many countries adopted included decreasing VAT, import tariffs and suspending exports of food commodities. These strategies might be good for middle income countries but they are counter-productive for least developed countries. We all know poor countries need to collect more taxes and tariffs from different sources to boost their revenues . Countries that adopted this strategy did not address main causes of high food prices. Their strategy was counter productive for long term viability of their economies. It is shocking to see that  a large number of  least developed countries of the SADC region adopted this strategy. These countries include Lesotho, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia.   

Only few countries in the SADC region chose sustainable measures of increasing production. They should have known that if there is sufficient supply of food commodities in their markets, the prices were going to decrease. Governments that adopted appropriate strategies to address high food prices implemented producer-oriented policy responses. These measures were implemented  to support farmers to increase production. They used measures such as input subsidies and producer price support. The SADC member states reported to have adopted sustainable strategy include Madagascar, Malawi and Tanzania. They expanded input (mainly fertilizer) subsidy programmes”[5]. In this way these countries improved their poor people’s access to basic foods.

As part of civil society, we call for appropriate and sustainable strategies for improving poor people’s access to culturally appropriate and healthy foods. Our governments need to desist from spending scarce resources on unsustainable food security strategies. We are all witnesses to the suffering of poor people as a result of a lack of access to food they experience in the SADC region and in other poor countries of the world. This challenge is becoming acute because inappropriate and unsustainable strategies have been adopted by many SADC countries’ governments. That is why in 2010 we still have millions of our people who have no access to good quality and appropriate quantities of food they need. The United Nation’s[6] report on food security indicates that “the number of malnourished, already growing since the beginning of the decade, may have grown at a faster pace after 2008,". This report [7] blames "unmet commitments, inadequate resources, lack of focus and accountability, and insufficient dedication to sustainable development created shortfalls in many areas” of improving poor people’s food security situation.

In conclusion, it is unacceptable that many governments still fail to address food security problems experienced by their poor people. Instead of finding sustainable solutions to this problem they continue pursuing strategies that are fruitless to people affected by food shortages. This inability to address the decades old food insecurity challenge is unacceptable. Governments need to work with poor people and members of civil society to find workable and sustainable food security strategies. On their own, they will not be able to find appropriate solutions to eliminate food shortages in their countries.  

[1]  Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, 2008. High-level conference, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Rome

[2]  Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, 2008, Declaration of the High-Level Conference On World Food Security: The Challenges Of Climate Change And Bioenergy. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome

[3]   Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, 2008, Declaration of the High-Level Conference On World Food Security: The Challenges Of Climate Change And Bioenergy. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome

[4] Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) 2009, Initiative On Soaring Food Prices: Country responses to the food security crisis: Nature and preliminary implications of the policies pursued. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Rome, pg 20

[5] Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) 2009, Initiative On Soaring Food Prices: Country responses to the food security crisis: Nature and preliminary implications of the policies pursued. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Rome, pg 20

[6] A United Nations Report on MDGs summarized by Reuters, 23 June 2010

[7] A United Nations Report on MDGs summarized by Reuters, 23 June 2010

[1]  United Nation, 2008, The Secretary-General’s High Level Task Force on Global Food Security Crisis: Background information. United Nations. New York.

[2]  United Nation, 2008, The Secretary-General’s High Level Task Force on Global Food Security Crisis: Background information. United Nations. New York.