Food systems evaluation discusses food security needs in Guinea-Bissau
Bissau - In Guinea-Bissau, improving food systems is essential to combat food insecurity and promote the country's development. These systems are composed of a set of activities involving, fruit/nut/mushroom/herb gathering, hunting, fishing, planting, harvesting, processing, distributing, consuming, and disposal of unwanted produce/food. To evaluate all these aspects, research was developed from a partnership between the European Union, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the French Agricultural Research and International Cooperation Organization (CIRAD).
In August 2021, the results of this assessment were presented in a virtual workshop with some 50 participants (members of government, representatives of international organizations, and civil society). The central theme of this meeting was to understand how to make food systems more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive in the African country of about 2 million people, with a chronic malnutrition rate of over 25%, according to World Food Programme (WFP).
With an economy centered on cashew nut exports, Guinea-Bissau devotes more than 90% (Government uses 93%) of its exports to this product, which, despite providing a means of subsistence for most Bissau-Guinean families (about 70%), is also an obstacle to the diversification of agriculture and food in the country.
The assessment process began in June 2021 using international methodology that participating countries from around the world have refined over time. One of the project's National Consultant, Moisés Lopes, explains that the goal of this research was to contribute to the development of a document to stimulate concrete actions aimed at transforming these systems.
"Food is an issue that touches on almost every aspect of society, so it is important to work on different dimensions. We can't just look at agriculture, we need to be connected to legislation, imports, encouraging domestic consumption. In this sense, it is necessary to build a national dialogue", emphasized the researcher, who dedicated himself to the socio-economic and territorial balance aspects during the study.
Moisés worked with documents and bibliography analysis and, in the points that lacked information, he dialogued with institutions such as the Central Bank, ANCA (National Cashew Agency), and IBAP (Institute of Biodiversity and Protected Areas). Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, visits to producers were not carried out, which would have improved the process.
According to the 2021 survey report from the Food Security Monitoring System (SiSSAN), in July 2021, 14.5% of households suffered from food insecurity. The most affected regions were Oio and Tombali, with food insecurity rates exceeding 20%. In Guinea-Bissau, during 2018, 28% of children under the age of five were suffering from stunting, and over 30% in the regions of Oio, Bafata, and Gabu. One factor that contributes to this rate is the lack of financial resources. According to the WFP, about 70% of the population lives below the poverty line (on less than $1.9 a day).
One of the workshop participants, Bernardo Cassama, Director General of Livestock in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, reminded that food security should be seen from the point of view of quantity and quality, that is, the guarantee of having food in stock and the diversification of that nutrition.
"The country's climate and soil help in this aspect of diversification. Here, the food base is rice, but it is worth remembering that the FAO itself and the World Health Organization (WHO) advise the population to diversify their diet with cereals, fruits, vegetables, and other types of animal and vegetable protein," commented Bernardo.
He believes that the government needs to intervene with organizations and national institutions so that the population can strengthen food security, especially when they are affected by fatalities, floods, and prolonged rains.
"Our soil is fertile, but a big problem is the awareness of the population and this awareness goes through the government. We eat rice all the time, but all this impact of eating a lot of rice for 50 years causes serious health problems, so we need to think about diets more seriously."
Jorge Oliveira, who also participated in the workshop, was Secretary-General of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and helped build an information system on the country's food situation from surveys about harvesting information. He recalls that this system worked very well for many years, providing crucial information, but today there is great difficulty accessing this data.
"Because of the lack of periodicity of these surveys, yields are calculated on an approximation basis, of what would be a good or bad harvest. There is a difficulty for the government to direct enough funds to maintain the professionals who do these surveys of different food crops," said Jorge.
The issue of food storage in the country was a point discussed during the meeting, and on this topic, Jorge remembers that the country has always maintained a large storage network in various parts of the territory, which helped to store and preserve seeds, but nowadays, this network is operating well below its capacity.
"We have great difficulty with storage and with the organization in the cashew plantations. Some areas that were used for other crops are covered with cashew and, even those areas covered with cashew are poorly used. It is necessary to clean up these areas to increase the productive capacity," pointed out an official.
Cashew Nuts and Rice
National Consultant for the project, Elisabete Dumbia, worked with the dimensions of health and environment in this study. On the environmental aspect, she pointed out that in rice production, one resorts to burning that takes up a large forest that, after harvest, needs rest, but many farmers do not wait for this time and end up planting cashew nuts in this place.
"This area needs to regenerate to produce other secondary crops, but since cashew generates more money than rice, farmers opt for cashew."
The researcher recalls that in a period of 19 years, Guinea-Bissau lost 16% of its vegetation cover, which impacted the forest products grown. One of the reasons for the strong degradation in recent years was the exploitation of the 'bloodwood' species, for example.
In her research process, Elisabete mentions having analyzed examples from Bolivia and Zambia and that these two countries helped her to better understand the impact on some of their productions and challenges in those countries and in Guinea-Bissau too.
"Studies like this are important for us to understand what is not being done well within the countries. In the cashew dynamic, for example, there are many negative and positive aspects as an income-generating crop. If we could identify other products that could be profitable, it will be very important for our agriculture, population, and development."
At this moment, a report is being elaborated and completed by the international team. FAO's Program Assistant in the country, Mario Reis, points out that everyone's contributions will be taken into account in the report that will be presented at the United Nations Summit on Food Systems convened by Mr. António Guterres, Secretary-General of the UN and to be held this September.
Mario also reinforces the agency's commitment to contribute to these transformations such as the preparation of the implementation of the General Census of Agriculture and Livestock, support for the strengthening of the technical capacities of the National Fisheries and Soil Laboratories, support for the implementation of the Land Law and its regulations, and the emergency support to producers, with funding from the World Bank, which aims to mitigate the negative impacts of COVID-19 on the Food and Nutrition Security of about 50,000 families.
"We have to choose concrete and coordinated actions that seek a real transformation of sustainable food systems, and for this, we need to develop policies, technologies, practices, and partnerships that increase the capacity of food systems to anticipate, absorb and cope with shocks, and to manage or recover from risks to encourage the development of more sustainable food systems," Mario said.
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