Food Security
Food security: a top priority for the SDC
By revising its priority areas, the SDC has sought to re-focus its efforts on issues of global importance. In response to the major food crisis besetting the developing world, the SDC launched its “Food Security” Global Programme in Autumn 2008.
Supporting rural development and smallholder farming has always been a focus of Swiss development cooperation activities. In recent years, the SDC had scaled back its work in this area to concentrate more on other areas – a move that reflected a trend in development assistance generally. Faced with the emerging global food crisis in 2007, the SDC decided to redefine its priorities. At the top of its list was food security, a matter of global concern. According to Jürg Benz, who was in charge of devising the SDC’s new strategy: “The food security crisis means that we are now faced with an entirely new situation, one which will seriously hamper the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals”. Rising food prices are pushing the world’s poor to the brink of survival. Take the example of poor families in Bangladesh: before the crisis they lived on five dollars a day, of which three went on food and 50 cents on energy, leaving them with USD 1.50 to cover other costs like school books, clothes and medicine. Following the 20 to 50 per cent rise in food prices, coupled with soaring energy costs, these five dollars no longer cover their basic needs. As a result, children are abandoning their education to find work in order to supplement their family’s income. In addition, the health of these families is deteriorating due to the fact that they can no longer afford to buy personal hygiene items. The food crisis, therefore, threatens to dismantle the progress that has been made so far, leading to far-reaching and long-term consequences for the world’s most disadvantaged peoples.
Longer-term engagement
Switzerland initially responded to the crisis by introducing a range of emergency measures to provide food to those most in need, such as pregnant women, nursing mothers and infants. Subsequently, the SDC placed food security at the top of its list of priorities, making it the focus of one of three Global Programmes (the other two being climate change and migration). It now has an additional CHF 20 million at its disposal to launch food security projects in new regions. The aim of the SDC Global Programme is to create and exploit synergies by building on existing efforts in the fields of bilateral and multilateral cooperation, and humanitarian aid. To achieve this aim, the SDC has shifted its focus to longer-term structural measures, such as supporting developing countries with the design of an agricultural and food security policy that stimulates local production and boosts regional trade. Experience has shown that support should not be concentrated exclusively on agricultural development, but rather should strive to create fully-fledged value-added chains. As far as Jürg Benz is concerned, this is the only way to sustainably improve producers’ livelihoods and to spur on rural development. “We want to ensure that a coherent approach to food security is adopted at all levels. For us, this will mean more longer-term projects. In our view, development programmes should run for a minimum of five years.” At the governmental level, Switzerland advocates sustainable smallholder agriculture, and calls for a trade and agricultural policy which addresses the needs of the most deprived communities.
New approaches
The SDC will also test out new forms of cooperation. For example, it has plans to support smallholders and promote rural development in Africa (Malawi, Ethiopia and Kenya) by launching a project which was first carried out in Latin America with great success (see margin). In addition, Switzerland participates in a trilateral cooperation project to promote South-South knowledge transfer, in this case Brazil and Haiti. To help tackle its food crisis, Haiti will be able to draw on Brazil’s experiences since the introduction of its hunger eradication programme. Also as part of the Food Security Global Programme, the SDC plans to intensify its efforts at home as regards domestic policy matters. In particular, it will seek to raise greater awareness of the impact that Swiss agricultural policy has on trade in developing countries and their economies, as well as to call for the inclusion of this issue in Swiss political debate. Given that the effects of agro-fuel production and Swiss trade policy are often keenly felt by the people of the South, political decision makers should make greater and better use of the SDC’s specialist knowledge and expertise. “In summer 2008 alone, 30 questions on food security were raised in the Swiss parliament. The SDC, therefore, has a duty to make its voice heard and bring its opinion to bear in answers to these questions”, declares Benz. The major challenge for the future will be designing food production and global trade relations in such way that the basic human right to food becomes a lasting reality for all.
South-South knowledge transfer
In the 1980s, the SDC launched the Postcosecha (post-harvest) programme in Latin America. The key to its success was the introduction of small-scale domestic silos made from galvanised tin. These allowed smallholders to store their crops safely, affording them the freedom to decide when to sell their surplus on the market. The use of these silos allowed to avoid the usual 10 to 15 percent in post-harvest losses caused by inappropriate storage, the equivalent of some 50,000 tonnes of crops per year, worth USD 12 million. Given the success in Latin America, these silos could also be the way forward for countries in the African “maize belt“, where up to a third of harvest yields are lost due to poor storage conditions. The SDC is currently supporting a pilot project, coordinated by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), to transfer this knowledge from Latin America to Africa. The African countries participating in this project will be responsible for the large-scale production of the silos, which will not only help guarantee food security but also develop local industry and offer smallholders’ greater access to markets. (gn in Eine Welt, March 2009)
Additional Information and Documents
| When food markets do not provide enough food November 2008 Author: InfoResources (ed.) Lessons from the recent food price crisis. The global food crisis has made it clear that “food for all” requires a renewed focus on agriculture. | |
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