The causes of food insecurity in rural areas

Food insecurity in the region is principally, but not exclusively, a rural problem. When famine strikes, it is the rural population who is most vulnerable. Interventions need to be planned on the basis of a good understanding of the factors that contribute to the particular vulnerability of rural people.

NATURAL RESOURCES

The natural resource base for the poor and food-insecure is invariably narrow and, in many areas, fragile. With the exception of Uganda,¹² only 4 to 10 percent of the land area is classed as arable, and just 21 million ha of land is suitable for rainfed cultivation. The greatest numbers of poor people are concentrated in the arid and semi-arid ecosystems and on marginal land in the higher rainfall parts of the region. It has become axiomatic to say that poverty is one of the main causes of environmental degradation. This can be seen all too clearly in the farming of steep slopes, which takes place as an increasing population is forced to cultivate marginal land. The falling crop yields that characterize the marginal areas are a result of the loss of massive quantities of topsoil throughout the region, declining soil fertility as fallow systems are replaced by continuous cultivation, reductions in soil organic matter as manure is burnt for fuel, and shrinking holding sizes. However, the poor are also the most vulnerable to environmental degradation because they depend on the exploitation of common property resources for a greater share of their incomes than richer households do.

In the rangelands, the evidence for long-term secular environmental degradation is ambiguous. The successive cyclical growth and decline of herds reflects cycles of rainfall and rangeland productivity, and is perfectly normal. As animals die in large numbers, the rangelands recover remarkably quickly. However, when there is a major drop in the number of animals, the people who depend on them for their livelihoods also suffer. Development programmes that have sought to increase animal production on rangelands through water development and animal disease prevention have all too often failed to find, at the same time, sustainable ways of increasing animal nutrition, so the resulting increased numbers of animals may wreak havoc on the range itself.

Many of the available freshwater resources are in river basins and lakes that extend beyond the boundaries of individual nations. Shared water resources include lakes Victoria, Albert, Edward, Kivu and Turkana and major rivers such as the Blue Nile, White Nile, Atbara, Awash and Shebele. The potential for developing irrigation from these sources is constrained by the problem of achieving agreement on sharing the resources and avoiding conflict.

Although natural climatic factors have played their part in the process of desertification, in general, it is increased population and the related development of unsustainable production systems that have had most negative impact on the fragile natural resource base. Wood and manure have remained the main sources of domestic energy, even in urban centres. This situation has contributed to depleting the forest and range resources, resulting in an overall decrease in biomass and biodiversity, reduced water infiltration and increased runoff and soil erosion. These factors, which contribute to the impoverishment of ecosystems, have led to a vicious circle of environmental degradation, lower system resilience to erratic rainfall, decreased agricultural productivity and increased poverty and food insecurity.

CROP-BASED SYSTEMS

Agriculture in the region is, for the most part, characterized as being low-input/low-output. The level of technology is generally basic, and productivity per hectare and per person employed are perhaps the lowest in the world. In the parts of the region with higher potential (i.e. those areas with high and reliable rainfall), in which crop-based systems predominate and population densities are highest, productivity is constrained by lack of knowledge, lack of financing and poorly articulated markets. In these areas a substantial proportion of farmers live at the edge of subsistence, and are food-insecure simply because they have limited access to land. For example, in Ethiopia, almost 40 percent of farm households have less than 0.5 ha of land, and more than 60 percent have no more than 1 ha from which to support a family of between six and eight people.

In the areas of low potential, where there is less than 600 mm of precipitation per year and unreliable inter- and intrayear rainfall patterns, risk avoidance is the most important strategy. Few of the technologies generated for high rainfall areas (such as hybrid seed and fertilizer) meet the rigorous demands of risk minimization that farmers have to meet in drier zones. Little of what has emerged from research is suitable for marginal and drought-prone areas because few resources have been devoted to this topic, perhaps reflecting the low perceived profitability of investment in such areas.¹³ However, there are many reasonably well-understood technologies that are not yet widely used, including improved water control and water harvesting, improved tillage systems and drought-resistant varieties of crops and agroforestry species. There are also valuable lessons and technologies from other parts of Africa and the world that could be usefully applied.

In the Horn of Africa, only 6 percent of the cropped area and less than 1 percent of the cultivable area is irrigated, compared with 37 percent in Asia. While irrigation development, especially through small-scale, farmer-driven initiatives, is beginning to prove its worth in some areas, it is unfortunate that the coincidence of available perennial water, suitable land and population is so rare in the marginal areas of the region that are most prone to drought.

PASTORALISM

If the crop-based systems in marginal areas have received little attention from research and extension services, pastoral systems have been almost completely neglected. A generation of ill-conceived, externally funded projects, aimed at providing water for livestock in apparently "empty" areas of rangeland as well as veterinary services, rangeland management, genetic upgrading and fattening schemes, have had severely adverse environmental impacts and may even have contributed to increasing the vulnerability of pastoralists to the very drought problems they were intended to solve. Since the early 1990s, there have been few new initiatives, and programmes directed to the pastoral economy have been limited. Attention has shifted to promoting pastoralist self-reliance, but this has come at a time when governments are no longer willing and/or able to afford to deliver such services as health, education and water to these areas. The new participatory approach has been accompanied by increasing numbers of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) delivering services and, in many cases, by technically ill-conceived development programmes that ignore the lessons of the past.

In view of the fragile ecosystems involved, it is intrinsically difficult to develop technology that will bring sustained increases in productivity without adverse environmental effects. Because they result in increased livestock numbers, even successful animal health programmes, including the virtual eradication of rinderpest, face the challenge of improving animal nutrition in a low and unpredictable rainfall environment. A policy and marketing framework that encourages sales and offers alternative outlets for savings must also be in place if off-take is to increase. However, it must be recognized that, in this environment, livestock are still the best investment and will consequently tend to be accumulated by those who can afford them.

KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Knowledge and information systems underlie a broad range of fields, including social safety net policies, agricultural knowledge, the environment, health and education, administration, marketing, and even political information. Their poor state of development in the region handicaps both households and communities in their efforts to survive and prosper under difficult conditions. It also limits the capacity of governments to formulate appropriate policies and programmes that address the problem of food insecurity. Knowledge enhancement services, early warning systems and management information systems underpin all other efforts to address food security.

Information systems have been geared almost exclusively to the collection of performance data that are relevant to crop production areas, using a combination of remote sensing and field data-gathering networks to provide early warning of emerging food insecurity situations. In some countries, there is a multiplicity of early warning and vulnerability systems, operated by governments, donors and NGOs. Systems for providing a similar warning of impending disaster in pastoral systems have emerged only recently and are being tested on a pilot scale. Over time, there has been increased capacity to provide accurate early warning information. However, the ability or willingness to respond adequately to the warnings that are produced has not improved. The recent crisis has demonstrated that there are weak links in the chain between early warning, pledges of food aid, ultimate delivery and properly directed distribution. It has also highlighted the one-way nature of current information systems in the vulnerable areas, where the capacity to disseminate knowledge and information in order to improve the coping abilities of the population remains poorly developed.

HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY

The poor and food-insecure generally have a narrow economic resource base with few options for expanding their incomes, either on- or off-farm. Almost total dependence on agriculture in a high-risk environment makes them vulnerable to any external shock, such as drought. The opportunities for diversification within agriculture depend on access to markets or a fundamental change in access to productive assets, such as the development of irrigation. Productivity-enhancing technological innovations normally benefit men, while women may even find themselves with additional work and no greater food security. Because of generally low levels of education and skills, off-farm employment is usually seasonal and low paid. Migration to the city or to work on large farms, similarly, results in an extra burden on the women who remain on the farms. It is significant that, except for the Sudan, none of the countries of the region has any significant exploitable mineral resources, thereby limiting the options for economic diversification.

MARKETING AND CREDIT SYSTEMS

Market liberalization has spread throughout the economies of the region over the last decade, as part of structural economic reforms. While this has undoubtedly opened up new opportunities to those farmers who have access to good land, irrigation and markets, it has virtually by-passed the resource-poor farmers and those in low-potential and remote areas. Indeed, many such farmers may well be worse off now than they were before the reform process, when some of them benefited from subsidization through the operation of pan-territorial prices for inputs and outputs which were offered by state marketing agencies. The people in these areas now find themselves in the painful position of having to pay the highest prices for agricultural inputs and consumer goods, while being paid the lowest prices for their surplus production. In the liberalized economy, fewer rural enterprises appear to be profitable, with the result that farmers retreat into subsistence production. Pastoralists, many of whom have benefited from the profitable export market in the Gulf countries, are periodically hit by cross-border controls and disease outbreaks which interrupt this trade.

As with marketing, the liberalization of financial markets is gradually providing the larger and more accessible farmers with access to rural financial services. However, the poor, who are deemed to be at high risk, are the least likely to have access to formal credit and must rely on family, friends and local moneylenders when in need of a loan. Consequently, borrowing is almost always for a family celebration or emergency, and is rarely for productive investment. Institutions in the commercial financial sector are unlikely to reach down to the small farmers for many years to come because of the high transaction costs and perceived risks, thus these farmers are deprived of an important tool for development. In the meantime, small savings and credit schemes, often operated by NGOs and indigenous rotating savings and credit associations, offer the only way to enable poor households to accumulate funds and invest.

ACCESS TO INFRASTRUCTURE

The poor state of development and maintenance of roads and transport, energy sources and telecommunications in the marginal areas of countries in the Horn of Africa makes it difficult for these areas to become integrated into the national and regional economy. As with all other indicators of development, the countries of the region have some of the worst figures worldwide with respect to access to roads and water supply. A recent report ¹⁴ suggests that, in terms of access to infrastructure, the gap between Africa and the rest of the world has widened over the past 15 years.

The sparse road and communications network hampers emergency relief operations as well as the commercialization of the rural economy. The density of the road network in the countries of the region gives an idea of both how difficult it is to reach people in rural areas with services and the problems such people face in participating in the market economy. For example, in Ethiopia, every kilometre of road serves 72 km 2 and 3 000 people, compared with only 8 km 2 and 850 people in North Africa.

Even after strenuous efforts by development agencies and NGOs, access to a clean water supply is still an unobtainable luxury for most rural inhabitants in the Horn. Piped systems are uncommon in rural areas and protected wells and hand pumps are the best that rural communities can expect. The burden of collecting water, as with so many other menial tasks, falls almost exclusively on women in the communities, who must spend many hours each day collecting water from unsafe sources. The statistics on access to water and sanitation reveal wide differences within the region. In three countries (Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia), only one-quarter of the population has access to safe water, and in two others (the Sudan and Uganda) the figure is less than 50 percent. Access to sanitation is as low as 13 percent and, except for Kenya, barely exceeds 50 percent anywhere.

ACCESS TO SOCIAL SERVICES

The indicators of access to social services in the countries of the region are also among the lowest in the world. While the average figures are bad enough, they mask fundamental inequalities in access to services within the region. Again, rural areas, especially remote, low-potential areas, are the least well served. Nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralists are the most difficult populations to provide services to and, consequently, they are invariably the ones with the poorest health services and least education. All these indicators, combined with malnutrition and poor access to safe water, have adverse consequences for productivity and for the long-term physical and cognitive development of people in the region.

Health services

Expenditure on health services is low, ranging from 1 percent of GDP in Kenya to 4.7 percent in Uganda (see Table 2). Data for the region suggest that there are fewer than 0.1 hospital beds and fewer than 0.05 doctors per thousand population.¹⁵ Kenya has the most hospital beds, at 1.6 per thousand. Children are, of course, the most vulnerable to disease, with 5 million in Ethiopia showing signs of vitamin A deficiency. Two-thirds of women of reproductive age suffer from anaemia, which accounts in part for the exceptionally high levels of maternal mortality (between 450 and 1 540 per 100 000 live births). Children suffer from infectious diseases, especially measles, as well as malaria and internal parasites, which are closely related to water supply problems. The incidence of HIV ¹⁶ is a more recent but most worrying health development (see Box 1).

TABLE 2
Health and education indicators

Country	Population with access to safe water 1990-96 %	Rural population with access to safe water with 1990-96 %	Population with acces to adequate sanitation 1990-96	Rural population with access to adequate sanitation 1990-96 %	Life expectancy at birth 1998 (years)	Net enrolment: primary - secondary ratio	Proportion of relevant age group %
Kenya	53	49	77	81	51	65	61
Sudan	50	45	22	4	55	n.a.	n.a.
Uganda	34	32	57	55	42	n.a.	n.a.
Eritrea	7	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	51	29	38
Ethiopia	27	20 8	n.a.	43	35	25

Source: World Bank. 2000. World development indicators 2000.

Education

Access to education in the region is also poor, especially in the remote and low-potential areas where pastoralists live. On average, countries in the region devote slightly more than 3 percent of GNP to education, national figures ranging from 0.9 percent in the Sudan to 6.5 percent in Kenya.¹⁷ There are great variations in access to education and in indicators of educational level. On the one hand, Somalia and Ethiopia have primary school enrolment rates of 11 and 37 percent, respectively, with female enrolment at not much more than half of male enrolment figures and adult literacy rates of 24 and 33 percent, respectively. Kenya, on the other hand, has a primary school enrolment rate of 85 percent for both males and females, and an adult literacy rate of 77 percent. Uganda has recently made the provision of improved education and health services a top priority in its Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS), and the same aims are emerging in the PRS in Kenya.

¹² Arable land accounts for 25 percent of the land area in Uganda.

¹³Technology for large-scale mechanized farming has been introduced, but this has little relevance for food-insecure rural people.

¹⁴ ADB/African Economic Research Consortium/ECA/World Bank. 2000. Can Africa claim the 21st century?

¹⁵World Bank. 2000. World development indicators 2000, average for 1990-1998. No data for Djibouti and Somalia.

¹⁶ The 1997 figures for percentage of adults infected are: Eritrea 3.17 percent; Ethiopia 9.31 percent; Kenya 11.64 percent; the Sudan 0.99 percent; and Uganda 9.51 percent.

¹⁷ FAO/UNAIDS, 1999, see footnote for Box 1, figures for 1997.