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Category Archives: Food Insecurity
New Research Program: Urban Food Plus
The Universities of Kassel, Göttingen, Freiburg and Ruhruni Bochum have announced an exciting new research program called “Urban Food Plus”, which explores the opportunities of (peri-)urban farming to address food insecurity:
African food security not only depends on productivity increases in marginal rural areas, but increasingly also on a more efficient use of niche environments such as (peri-)urban zones, where innovations are more easily adopted due to close market linkages between producers and consumers.
Across different climatic zones urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) covers 5% to 36% of an African city’s total food supply and up to 90% of its fresh vegetable consumption. However, little is known about how to overcome problems in resource use efficiencies, negative externalities, and UPA-related income effects on gender or different population groups.
The multi-disciplinary UrbanFoodPlus network of German, African, and international scientists, private sector representatives, and stakeholders aims at developing site-specific, farmer-tailored innovations for improved agricultural production, food safety, and value chains in four major West African cities (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; Tamale, Ghana; Bamako, Mali and Bamenda, Cameroon).
On-farm experiments, workshops, and policy dialogues involving stakeholders at different levels aim at detecting bottlenecks in UPA production and marketing chains, and identifying and test-implementing options to overcome them. An International Graduate School combining research and teaching capacity at African and German universities will enhance scientific capacity building and knowledge transfer.
There are several openings for ph.D. and postdoc positions available at the project website.
Major Group statements urges UN to fight hunger
We document a joint statement by Major Groups issued today, which is addressed at Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon:
Dear Secretary General,
We would like to commend the efforts of civil society in highlighting the importance of food security for the achievement of sustainable development. Despite these inputs, the outcome document of Rio+20 does not propose an ambitious plan for the achievement of universal access to food and water.
In light of this shortcoming, Mr. Secretary, we appreciate that you are pushing for the eradication of hunger. As you are well aware, almost 1 billion people are hungry. Malnourishment compromises lives, depriving people of adequate development and a healthy future. At the same time, an increasing number of people suffer the effects of unhealthy diets that lead to diabetes and other non-communicable diseases. At this moment, more people die from diseases caused by overconsumption, than because of under consumption.
We commend your initiative Zero Hunger Challenge, which is aimed at ending hunger in your lifetime. In order to succeed, we must not simply establish new goals, nor do we only need to share our vision of a hunger free world. We urgently need to shift towards an economy that is based on the well-being of all people, animals and the rest of nature. We need to agree on concrete steps to end starvation and malnutrition for all, as well as to fight unsustainable patterns of food production and consumption.
People need to have the right to define their own food and agricultural systems. Therefore, food sovereignty must be a key principle lying at the heart of our efforts to end hunger globally.
Our current food system is plagued by unequal access to productive resources. The FAO has found that women farmers could help feed at least another 150 million people, if we act now to close inequities. In addition, land grabs and water grabs undermine food sovereignty today and threaten the resource base of current and future generations. This is the reality we face.
In order to realize the future we want and we need, governments must recognize the rights of peasants and rural peoples and protect the right to land, food and water in international human rights law. It is important to ensure a human rights based approach to development and to establish institutional mechanisms that will ensure fulfilment of human rights, particularly those pertaining to life, survival and development.
Therefore, we strongly support the establishment of the Ombudsperson for future generations at national and High Commissioner for Future Generations at international levels to advocate for the needs of both current and future generations. We look forward to working with you on the report you have been invited to provide on this regard.
Governments alone are not able to deal with the challenge of feeding a growing world population. Stakeholders, including farmers, young people and NGOs – as well as everyone in this room – must be included in decision making processes that affect food security. At the international level, we support the Committee on World Food Security as an inclusive forum to develop food and agricultural policies that will help us feed the world.
Mr. Secretary, we understand the challenge. We know what your role is and we know ours. We urgently need to make all actors aware of their roles, rights and their responsibilities. Thank you.
A Cambodian farmer, victim of landgrabs, looks at his former fields.
Photo (CC): OXFAM GB in Asia