Rome food agencies

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News from the UN’s Rome-based food agencies

>>> Effective action for the right to food
>>> Latest FIVIMS newsletter June 2007
>>>Interviews

The four Rome-based food agencies FAO, IFAD, WFP and Bioversity have prioritized the development of the International Alliance at the highest level and have shown their support through their high-level participation. The Alliance has been brought to reality through their contributions to an ad hoc working group that also includes representatives of international NGOs.

Effective action for the right to food

This year’s World Food Day theme is dedicated to the Right to Food. On 16 October 2007, a wide array of activities will take place to remind people of the right every person has to have regular access to sufficient, nutritionally adequate and culturally acceptable food for an active, healthy life.

Governments, local authorities and civil society organizations play complementary roles in making the right to food a reality. The International Alliance against Hunger, in this sense through its National Alliances against Hunger provides a multistakeholder platform for cooperation and concrete action for:

Advocating for legal reforms to incorporate the right to food in country legislations.
Coordinating the work of actors already involved in right to food activities.
Raising awareness through campaigns and seminars amongst both rights holders and duty bearers about the right to food.

National Alliances have embraced the concept of right to food at various levels and through different approaches.
The Alliance in Guatemala contributed in the negotiations for the design of the Food Security and Nutrition Law passed in April 2005. With this law, Guatemala became the first country in Latin America to include in its domestic legal system a definition of food security as a right of all citizens.

In Africa, the Alliance in Sierra Leone began an on-going process advocating for the concept of right to food among communities through radio programmes and seminars. The most recent seminar was held in March 2007 in Kambia village to present the concept of right to food to some 200 participants from farmers and women associations as well as individuals.

The International Alliance Secretariat has also promoted publications on the right to food through its website and recently included links to the new right to food website and its learning portal.

For more information on the Right to Food and how to implement it in your country visit http://www.fao.org/righttofood/index_en.htm

Latest FIVIMS newsletter

Read the latest Newsletter published by the inter-agency FIVIMS Initiative (Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems) an active partner of the International Alliance against Hunger. http://www.fivims.net/upload/recentletters/413/NEWSLETTER_July_07.pdf

For more information on FIVIMS visit their website at http://www.fivims.net/index.jspx?lang=en

Interview

Interview with Charles Riemenschneider, former Director of the North American Liaison Office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and currently head of the Investment Centre of FAO's Technical Cooperation Department.

In this interview Charles Riemenschneider goes in-depth on this year’s World Food Day theme “Investing in Agriculture for Food Security” its relation to reaching the Millennium Development Goals and the role governments and civil society should play to guarantee effective investments in this sector.

Q: Foreign aid to agriculture has steadily declined over the years, what could the main cause be and how can it be reversed to reach this years World Food Day theme “Investing in Agriculture for food security”?

A: A number of factors have led to the decline in development assistance devoted to agriculture. Donors and governments have too often found it easier to tackle issues more typically in the public domain, like health and education, rather than get involved in productive sectors dominated by private entities, like agriculture, which are intrinsically more difficult for governments and donors. Not only does agriculture involve millions of small farmers that suffer from major exogenous risk factors such as drought, pests and disease, but experience has shown that agricultural development assistance is also more difficult to monitor and show results than other types of assistance. However, I am optimistic that these trends can be reversed and more balance in development assistance will emerge. The importance of economic growth, led by sectors like agriculture, is getting greater recognition both for its impact on poverty and for the simple reason that without economic growth, government investments in health, education and similar activities will not be sustainable.

Q: To reach the Millennium Development Goals #1 of halving hunger and poverty before 2015 where should the bulk of the agriculture investment be made, in small-scale farming or in agribusiness?

A: Both types of investment are necessary. Since 70% of the poor people in the developing world live in rural areas and rely upon agriculture for their livelihoods, small-scale agriculture has to be at the centre of poverty reduction programmes. In the end, most investment in improving agriculture has to be made at the individual farm level by these same small farmers. However, investments in large-scale farms and agribusinesses are also necessary because of their importance in introducing new technologies, in adding value to primary production, and in accessing major domestic and international markets which have synergistic effects on small farmers as well. New technologies, value addition, and market access are necessary to generate the income to pull all types of farmers out of poverty.

Food supply systems are being transformed rapidly in developing countries—one only needs to look at the massive growth in supermarket chains throughout the world. Small farmers will play an ever growing role in meeting the demands of this new food supply system which is serving an increasingly urbanized world. The key to success in meeting MDG #1 will be achieving the right balance of private and public investments among both small farmers and agribusiness to let the sector grow most rapidly in a sustainable manner.

Q: What role should governments play to create an enabling environment for agriculture investments?

A: First and foremost, governments need to create a safe and predictable environment for investment by small farmers, large farmers and agribusinesses. Small farmers are by far the largest investors in the sector and all need incentives and security for their investments. The are many things governments need to do including: land tenure security, recognised grades and standards to facilitate trade, food safety regulations to protect consumers, transparent public administration, simple and incentive-creating tax regimes, access to rural finance, venture capital and microfinance, flexible labour markets and, ultimately, political stability.

Q: Focus has been made by several civil society campaigns on not only the quantity but also the quality of investments in agriculture. In which way can governments and civil society - including the private sector - work together to improve both quantity and quality of aid?

A: Enhancing the quality and effectiveness of aid requires actions by donors, governments, the private sector and civil society. Following the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, donors have committed to working more closely together to 1) harmonise their operations and reduce the transaction costs of aid delivery, 2) align their programmes behind agreed, well-designed national programmes, and 3) make aid more predictable. The Global Donor Platform for Rural Development, of which the FAO Investment Centre is co-chair, has been created with 26 financing institutions and development agencies to enhance shared learning between the partners and to foster greater harmonization and alignment at the country level.

Governments need to improve the efficiency of their public administration and allow farmers the freedom to do what they do best – produce crops, raise livestock and supply food and industrial raw materials to the world. This means that government should focus on doing those things which put in place the proper enabling environment and which no one else will do – setting policies, collecting statistics for planning, enforcing regulations and standards, building public infrastructure, providing services that the private sector is unable to deliver including support to the emergence of strong producers' organizations. At a technical level, improved public financial management makes sure that there is less waste of resources – whether they are from domestic tax revenues or from aid.

Civil society needs to collaborate closely with governments in taking on service delivery – such as extension and veterinary services and even research, in some circumstances – helping to monitor local impacts of investment and alerting governments to unexpected consequences and emergencies.

The private sector needs to be organized to engage in dialogue with governments and in some cases, collaborate in public investments through public-private partnerships, bringing private sector management skills and technology to bear.

Q: The International Alliance against Hunger seeks to join political will and practical action (through civil society participation) in the fight against hunger. Therefore, accountability is one of its main pillars. How can transparency and accountability be guaranteed when investing in agriculture?

A: Many governments need to give priority to overhauling public administration. It is vital to reduce corruption, increase transparency and create systems to enhance accountability. This process has been boosted by the Poverty Reduction Strategies that have been prepared in many countries which have been built upon a broad-based system of consultation of all stakeholders. We also need to focus public agricultural investments more at decentralised levels of government. Decentralisation, which is being implemented in many developing countries across the globe, brings decision making closer to the people and fosters greater local democracy and peoples' participation.

Accountability is also improved through the way investments are designed now, through a long process of consultation and participation with the beneficiaries. Investment operations now include participatory monitoring techniques which ensure that the small farmers who are targeted by the investment have a means of voicing their opinions about its successes and failures.

For more information on this year's World Food Day please visit their website.