Food security and Development: There is development if, alongside with economic growth, there is reduction of poverty, inequality and unemployment
In the course of 2004 activities of the National Agricultural Policy Center (NAPC), Franco Viciani, NAPC scientific committee member on January 29 made a thorough presentation with a historical background highlighting the notion of food security.
The lecturer main points concentrated on the notion of food security; issues concerning the concept of food security; food security situation, food security and development. He hence tackled reciprocal influence; the world food summit and some policy implications.
As for the notion of food security he said that the Rome 1996 World Food Summit defined food security as " Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life." He commented that this is a definition which has been adopted unanimously by all the states represented at the Summit, including Syria and is today generally accepted by all the main international organizations.
He, in particular concentrated on the FAO constitution of 1945 which states to raise levels of nutrition and living standards; better the conditions of rural populations and ensure humanity's "freedom's from Hunger." In the period between 1972- 1974 was the world food crisis which witnessed massive cereal purchases on world market; fall of cereal production, reduction of grain availability and price increases. He added that at the World Food conference of 1974 priority was given to the world food security with higher production availability and greater stability.
He said that over the 1990's food security increasingly became the central theme of FAO activities and in this context FAO convened in 1992 an International conference on Nutrition which stressed the importance of food utilization as an important component of food security. And thus the components of food security came to be four: Availability, stability, access and utilization.
With the rapidly growing concern over the state of food insecurity in several parts of the world, FAO's expert said that FAO convened in 1996 a world food summit in which the chiefs of states and governments attending the WFS adopted unanimously a declaration stressing "the right of every one to have access to adequate, safe and nutritious food," and setting a target of "reducing the number of undernourished people to half of their present level no later than 2015." However, criticism have been primarily addressed to the two components of food security notion highlighted at the 1994 world Food conference, but always maintained by FAO in its approach, i.e. availability and stability.
On the food security situation at world and regional levels FAO consultant Franco Viciani said that the latest FAO estimate is that there are approximately 800 million people undernourished in the so-called developing world- the proportion of undernourished being particularly tragic in Sub- Saharan Africa, with 33% undernourished with peaks of over 50% in some countries.
In Syria, he said, the estimated proportion of undernourished was of 4%. Compared with other countries in Asia and Africa, it is not a very high proportion. Still, he explained, it means that there are approximately 600,000 Syrian people whose " food intake is continuously insufficient to meet dietary energy requirements." And this figure does not take into account exceptional situations due to climatic vagaries or other adverse events. Therefore, he continued, while the FAO figure points to a situation where Syrian government policies have clearly been actively concerned about food security in the country - and this is confirmed by the report the Government of Syria has sent to FAO on the occasion of the recent international meeting on the "world Food summit - 5 years after". They are, however, a clear indication that the fight against hunger and under-nutrition remains a major policy challenge in Syria as well as in other countries.
On the effects of food security and malnutrition on development. FAO consultant said that the effects are reflected in a reduced working capacity; vulnerability to illness; transmission of poor nutrition to children, lower school performance with the effect might be permanent; inability to invest and risk of disinvestments and a negative impact on macro economic performance..
To alleviate food insecurity crisis, consultant Viciani indicated that FAO has launched a a so-called "twin- track approach" as part of a strategic design for reduction of food insecurity in following up the World food summit. The approach combines the promotion of broad-based, sustainable agricultural growth and rural development with targeted programs to ensure that hungry people who have neither the capacity to produce their own food, nor the means to buy it, can have access to adequate supplies. He explained that the components of the first part of the twin track approach include increasing the productivity of small scale agriculture and the integration of agriculture with non- farm income earning activities, while the second track of the " twin track approach includes targeted programs to ensure that hungry people who have neither the capacity to produce their own food nor the means to buy it can have access to adequate supplies.
However, the World Food Summit has probably been the most relevant and authoritative landmark in highlighting the priority of food security and the need to orient development strategies and policies in an explicit direction conducive to the eradication of hunger and malnutrition.
Consultant Viciani indicated that the attitude of the international financial organization has somewhat changed to the last few years. He explained that the World Bank itself has recognized some of the shortcomings of earlier approaches. Giving example, Viciani said that professor Joseph Stiglitz, former Vice President and chief economists of the World Bank, clearly indicated shortly before the end of his mandate that the so called "Washington Consensus " ( the paradigm that had inspired the policy reform process initiated in the 1980's ) had confused means with ends, noting that it had pursued privatization and liberalization as ends in themselves, while they can only be seen as means towards the real end, which is "sustainable, equitable and democratic development.. and a sharp reduction of poverty."
Viciani went on that the President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, in launching the World Bank's Comprehensive development Framework at the end of 1990s recognized mistakes made in the past and stressed that the primary ends of the Bank's action should be poverty reduction and sustainable development. Together with the IMF, the World Bank is currently committed to a program of " poverty reduction strategies"( PRS).
Nevertheless, Consultant Viciani considered it a starting principle the statement of Economist Prof. Dudley Seers formulated over 30 years ago "There is development if, alongside with economic growth, there is reduction off poverty, in equality and unemployment.." and of course, hunger and food insecurity.
