Foro Global sobre Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición (Foro FSN)

Linking Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) to Extension and Advisory Services (EAS) to support food security and access to agricultural markets

The consequences of climate change have a negative impact on agriculture and rural and vulnerable population, which has already been affected by the severe outcomes of the recent global economic crisis. Since the recent food and financial crises, the prices of nearly every agricultural commodity have risen sharply, in a process which does not seem to have peaked yet. Several factors contributed to these price increases: increasing frequency and severity of droughts, rising energy prices and subsidized bio-fuel production, income and population growth, and market and trade policies that had a distorting effect. Poor people spend 50–70 percent of their income on food. Because wages for unskilled labor tend not to rise in line with food inflation, the poor have little capacity to adapt as prices rise. Moreover, even before the recent food crisis, the poorest of the poor were being left behind. Relevant coordinated interventions are needed to address production and productivity through policy and institutional innovations, improved markets and market linkages for smallholder agriculture.

Considering these challenges, CGIAR[1] Research Programs together with National Agricultural Research Systems and Rural Advisory Services joined efforts and set as primary objectives addressing the issues in order to improve agricultural productivity, increase the quality and quantity of food through intensification and diversification of sustainable agriculture and to develop the knowledge for the efficient use of natural resources, mitigating the negative impact of the consequences of climate change. A priority cross-cutting issue is addressing the needs of vulnerable and low income groups minimising projected adverse effects of the above mentioned threats.

Joint efforts of Agricultural Research Systems and Rural Advisory Services are focused on four main goals of regional development:

1. Improving the well-being of the rural population, particularly vulnerable groups and those dependent on agriculture;
2. Guaranteed improvement of the quality and quantity of nutritious food through the intensification and diversification of agriculture;
3. Rational use of natural resources;
4. Mitigating adverse effects of climate change.

The Strategies of agricultural research and innovation for future with food security stipulate an integrated approach based on (i) need for an integrated regional agricultural policies aimed at achieving the above goals; (ii) the opportunities for bigger impact by strengthening cooperation between national research institutions and multi-stakeholder regional centers and institutions in the field of agricultural research, innovation and education to facilitate actions for development along agricultural production and food chains; (iii) the implementation of collective actions to overcome the common problems at the regional level, such as trans-boundary diseases, use of natural (water, land) resources, and (iv) the further improvement of food security policy, providing for the development and integration of regional markets, enhancement in trade and commercial relations and modernization of communication infrastructure, and others.

Currently the CGIAR has developed strong research competencies in:

• Improvement of crop and animal production for commodities of importance to the poor;
• natural resource management for sustainable agriculture, including conservation and improved use of water, soils and forests; and
• social sciences and policy research which benefit the poor through improving access to agricultural resources, food and markets.

Agricultural growth through improved productivity, markets and incomes has shown to be a particularly effective contributor to reducing poverty especially in the initial stages of development. Good practices and research are critical for fostering the positive change in policies, governance arrangement and market systems to allow agriculture fully contributing to poverty reduction and development. As society and environment are constantly changing and interconnected a reconsideration of formerly proven principles are required. For instance, climate change shifts the parameters for crop yield improvement, policies promote socio-political dynamics, institutions and markets promote greater equity and environmental protection, and increasing agricultural productivity is critical to meet the needs of rising populations.

Reducing rural poverty and improving food security are conjunctive and require studies to develop and validate specific agricultural investments appropriate to different agrarian economies. Such research would involve a range of integrated components, including improving varieties of crops and livestock, restoration of degraded natural resources and improved value chains and markets. Outcomes of such interventions would be applicable for out-scaling the capacity for sustainable intensification of production with improved stability of yield and resilience to shocks, as well as improved household food security, increased stability of production and resilience to shocks and increased income from farm and non-farm activities, permitting investment in health, education and other poverty-reducing activities.

Improving food security and nutrition requires studies to develop and validate agricultural investments appropriate to high potential areas, including studies on improvement of crop and livestock productivity, a sustainable provision of natural resources which anticipates climate change, and improvements in policies on markets and trade which help to reduce and stabilize prices. Changing levels of production, price and access to affordable food by the urban and rural poor are considered as proper indicators of those interventions.

Creating effective mechanisms of delivering nutrient-rich foods to vulnerable groups, particularly those nutrients essential to growth and development of children is critical as well to cost-effective targeting of multi-stakeholders interventions. These may range from increasing the nutritional value and safety of relatively more available, staple foods, to increasing production and consumption of foods rich in micronutrients, particularly animal products, vegetables and fruit, through local agricultural diversification and improved market chains. There is a need for more evidence on where and how local improvements in agriculture lead to reduced undernutrition. For today, many programs on food supplementation and fortification have evidences of addressing undernutrition, but are rarely linked to local agricultural production which could present opportunities for agricultural improvement and sustained access to nutritional foods. Because of the critical importance of women in child nutrition, understanding and enhancing their role in the production and distribution of food at the household level must be an essential part of any strategy to reduce undernutrition.

Market driven changes, particularly in food security, should  involve different institutional arrangements in generating outcomes of coordinated interventions, especially with the private sector, which play critical role in the supply of genetic technologies and seeds, agrochemicals, veterinary products, agricultural machinery and implements, and even human nutrition. This role will continue to grow as the cost of biotechnology applications continues to fall, intellectual protection instruments become more standard and input and service markets consolidate. Multinational and national input supply firms are focused mostly on the commercial agriculture sector where the market and institutional conditions are present to ensure suitable rates of return for their investments, and this will continue to be so for quite some time. However, their up-stream domains will have an increasingly wider application scope and this will open up important partnering opportunities with public entities –both national and international – that have downstream capacities across different crops and agro-ecological environments.