Food Insecurity: The East African Experience

H4A 4M: Food and Nutrition Science

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What is Food Security?"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."

-United Nations Food &

Agriculture Organization (FAO)

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What is Food Security?

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Categorizing Food Insecurity

Acute: Sever hunger and malnutrition to the point that lives are threatened immediately

Chronic: Ability to meet food needs is consistently under threat

Occasional: When food insecurity occurs due to a specific temporary circumstance

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Hunger In Our World

• There are 1.02 billion undernourished people in the world today

• In Sub-Saharan Africa there are over 200 million people who are food insecure

• Every year the number of food insecure people is INCREASING (with the notable exceptions of China and India)

• In Sub-Saharan Africa the number of undernourished grows by 1 million a year

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Hunger In Our World

(FAO, 2009)

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Implications for Health and Development

• Hunger and malnutrition are the leading cause of death in the developing world

• Half of all childhood deaths due to illness can be attributed to being underweight

• Direct Costs: Caring for the sick, food intervention etc.

• Indirect Costs: Economic decline due to ill-health and loss of productivity

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Primary Causes of Food Crises

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Causes of Food Insecurity in Africa

•Even ‘natural’ causes are exacerbated by human actions

• Drought on its own does not result in acute food insecurity or famine

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Human Economics

•Are food stores available?

• Can food be purchased using saved income?

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Human EconomicsExample from Malawi:

• Malawi is prone to seasonal drought

• Government sometimes sells grain stores in order to decrease debt and meet other financial obligations

• NGOs such as CPAR intervene with food security initiatives

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Human Wars

Wars exacerbate food insecurity by:

• Damaging land and disrupting trade system

• Displacing people from their homes

• Diverting money towards military expenditures

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Human WarsExample from Uganda: • 19 year civil war in Northern Uganda until 2007• Rebels staged raids on villages and laid landmines• 1.4 million forced to relocate to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps• Malnutrition rate in IDP camps were 20–40 % for children under 5 vs. the 15% national average

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Environmental Degradation

Damage to the natural environment through deforestation, over-cultivation, etc.

• Soil Erosion

• Decline in soil fertility

• Depletion of water tables

• Decline in rainfall

• Destruction of alternative sources of food and income

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Environmental Degradation

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HIV and AIDS

•22.4 million Sub-Saharan Africans live with the HIV virus

•2 million die each year from AIDS

•14 million children have been orphaned by AIDS

•AIDS has devastating effects upon household food security

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HIV and AIDS• Sick farmers = decreasing food production• Expendable income diverted to care for sick and funeral costs = decreasing ability to purchase food•Widows and orphans with no land are left particularly vulnerable •Guardian households have more mouths to feed• Malnutrition causes HIV to worsen more quickly

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HIV and AIDS

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Solutions

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Sustainable Livelihoods Approach Examining the variety of factors that affect

the ability to meet household food needs

• Ability to produce food• Ability to purchase food• Ability to withstand shocks in food supply • Cultural factors influencing access within

households

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Solutions in Action

1. Tree Nurseries

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Solutions in Action

2. Farmer Field Schools

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Solutions in Action

3. Conservative Agriculture

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