Dear Madam,
In line with the theme of the 20th anniversary of the Right to Food Guidelines, associated with the call for contributions to the Right to food
Please find attached my personal contribution.
The right to food is a human Right, the right to food is not about charity, but about ensuring that all people at all times have the capacity to feed themselves in dignity, free from hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition. Food security means having, at all times both physical and economic access to sufficient food to meet dietary needs for a productive and healthy life (World Food Summit, 1996). States should ensure that all human beings are protected and live in dignity. States and international organizations should consider the benefits of local procurement for food assistance that could integrate the nutritional needs of those affected by food insecurity and the commercial interests of local producers.
I totally agree that access to food is part of human rights, in developing countries especially Africa where the majority of the population is under malnutrition due to bad economic governance; States should invest in the eradication of hunger. For all that, an enabling environment is key to implementing policies aimed at eradicating poverty and inequality and improving physical and economic access by all, at all times, to sufficient, nutritionally adequate, and safe food and its effective utilization, and in particular, monitor the food security situation of vulnerable groups, especially women, children and the elderly, and their nutritional status, including the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies.
As we will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the right to food guidelines; call for the governments to implement these guidelines and invest more in poverty eradication, which is essential to improve access to food. We know that in Africa, the vast majority of those who are undernourished, either cannot produce or cannot afford to buy enough food, they have inadequate access to means of production such as land, water, inputs, improved seeds, and plants, appropriate technologies, and farm credit. In addition, wars, civil conflict, natural disasters, climate-related ecological change, and environmental degradation have adversely affected millions of people. Although food assistance may be provided to ease their difficulties, this could not be a long-term solution to the underlying causes of food insecurity but it is important to maintain an adequate capacity in the international community to provide food aid, whenever it is required, in response to emergencies. Developed countries to support developing countries to know how to feed themselves.
But it is very needed also to have a strong partnership, I would suggest partners do the following:
1. Government to establish good agriculture practices, innovations, and technologies, with strong monitoring and coordination mechanisms, promote research and remove trade barriers.
2. For the Consumer Movement and INGO, create a strong advocacy stance to policymakers to avail adequate policies and regulations in place and awareness creations to communities on access to food as human rights and encourage them to know their rights and obligations.
3. Call for the private sector to invest more in food systems for the availability, accessibility, and affordability of food diets.
4. As the human population growth day today, the government could provide support to youth incubators, and farmers to access finance and call them for investing more in food systems.
5. International organizations, to support the government to achieve the SDGs Goals
To be food secure, a population, household, or individual must have access to adequate food at all times.
With best regards
NDIZEYE Damien
ADECOR's Executive Secretary(ADECOR)
NDIZEYE Damien