全球粮食安全与营养论坛 (FSN论坛)

该成员提交的意见和建议涉及：

    • According to United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security "Food security is achieved when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. According to FAO (The state of food security and nutrition in the world 2021 -doi:10.4060/cb5409en. ISBN 978-92-5-134634-1  nearly 12 percent of the global population was severely food insecure in 2020, representing 928 million people – 148 million more than in 2019. Increase in Food Insecurity could be attributed mainly to shortage of food and high food prices.

      Shortage of food to meet the dietary needs and food preferences is closely related to production, and distribution. Food production is determined by many factors. Among these are  land use;  use of high yielding seeds/planting material, effective of soil and water management, control of pests and diseases,  and harvesting at correct times. Distribution in food that was produced is determined by transport of food from the farm and marketing.  Food distribution involves  storage, processing, transport, packaging, and marketing of food. Food-chain infrastructure and storage technologies on farms can affect the amount of food wasted in the distribution process. Poor transport infrastructure can increase the price of supplying water and fertilizer as well as the price of moving food to national and global markets. Ineffective Livestock management also causes food shortage. In this regard rearing of high yielding breeds, availability of animal feeds are important. In all these activities inequalities among food producers/farmers influence food security to a great extent.

      Food Security can be broadly categorized to National Food Security and House –hold Food Security.

      National Food Security

      National Food insecurity (NFS)  is attributed to inadequate food production at national level and high prices consumers have to pay

      In general, National Food Security depends on level of food production in a country and is affected by many factors common to the  country. Among these are wild animals such as elephants, monkeys destroying crops, disease such as Chronic Kidney Disease affecting thousands of farmers  in a number of countries , inadequate irrigation water supply due to droughts, lack of reasonable transport facilities, high prices of  seeds, fertilizers and other inputs, ineffective marketing, lowered land productivity . All these issue can be addressed satisfactorily  if the relevant authorities take cognizance of these issues in their endeavors to  increase national food security.

      Nations do not have to have the natural resources required to produce crops in order to achieve food security, as seen in the examples of Singapore  where land and water necessary for food production are  limited  but Food Security is at 73.1 (100 is the most favorable) .According to FAO  In 2019, the high cost of healthy diets together with persistent high levels of income inequality put healthy diets out of reach for around 3 billion people, especially the poor, in every region of the world. Ref. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2021. p. 5. doi:10.4060/cb5409en. ISBN 978-92-5-134634-1

      One of the important contributory factors for the decline in the productivity of land resulting in lowered Food Security is Land Degradation. Soil erosion, soil compaction, and nutrition depletion, cause productivity of land to decline, making crop production less profitable. (See the publication “Land Degradation- an overview by Stanley Weerarartna, published by Springer- eBook ISBN 978-3-031-12138-8 Print ISBN978-3-031-12137-1

       As indicated above several factors play important roles in food production. Efforts to strengthen the national food security require an integrated approach that combines crop improvement alongside sustainable land and water management, efficient irrigation, application of appropriate fertilizers and other inputs, effective marketing etc. To achieve NFS, the inequalities that cause NFS to be low need to be identified and appropriate straggles implemented. For example in countries/regions where NFS is at a low level due to lack of adequate irrigation water, water supply need to be improved by rain water harvesting, construction of water reservoirs etc, Such strategies are possible only in those countries which are financially sound.

      House- hold Food Security

      House-hold Food Security is closely related to the economy which has deteriorated during the last few years mainly due to drop-in crop production and several other factors. Prices of most food items have been on a steady rise since the last quarter of 2021 in many countries, and reached a record high in August 2022, with the year-on-year food inflation rate at nearly 94 percent, further limiting the purchasing power of households. ... Small scale farmers are the food producers in many countries. They are characterized by shortage of land, and capital.. Some pawn their gold jewelry to raise money to buy seeds, fertilizers and other inputs. 

      Poverty reduction is an integral part of house hold food security. Without FS, poverty becomes a vicious cycle. As a result of poverty, access of people to adequate, good quality food that is required to be healthy is denied. Malnutrition caused by low FS, has serious consequences on health of people. The lack of food security is thus both a cause and an effect of poverty. In a region that is home to more than half the world population, building food security—and sustaining it—is imperative for people’s welfare and the economic growth that drives it. According to FAO, the number of undernourished people has increased from 526 million in 1995–1997to 567 million in 2006–2008.

      Improving agricultural productivity is essential for ensuring long-term food security and promoting poverty reduction in households.  Adequate food supply is a fundamental prerequisite for hose-hold food security, especially as the global population is projected to reach 9 billion by2050. Improving farm productivity through better technology and efficiency can help increase food production at  national as well as household level.  Historically, agricultural productivity has played an important role in poverty reduction. As poverty in Asia remains a predominantly rural phenomenon, improving agricultural productivity will have an increasingly large impact on economic development and poverty reduction.

      Implementing pogrammes to reduce inequality among households in a country or region is important to achieve a reasonable level of food security. Inequality in health among people result in wide differences in the capacity to produce food and hence Food Security. For example in Sri Lanka a chronic kidney disease, affecting farmers and their house-holds in some parts of the country result in lowered Food Security. In such situations the relevant authorities need to implement relevant programmes to reduce the occurrence of the disease so that the level of Food Security among those house-holds can be increased. In fact, reverse osmosis plants have been installed in affected areas which has reduced level of differences in Food Security level among the households.

      Most food producers in Asian countries live in villages. Hence, rural development can contribute substantially to poverty reduction and achieving a higher level of food security. As a majority of the region’s poor live in rural areas, national policy makers are facing a dilemma when choosing policies to stabilize food prices.   Some countries to maintain farm incomes at high levels do not implement practices to reduce high food prices. But, such policies tend to affect the poor non- faming households causing them to have a low food security.   High food prices can also reduce the farmer’s own purchasing power, forcing them to spend a large sum of money on seeds, fertilizers, and other inputs thus further reducing food production and thereby reducing Food Security. Rural economic growth and stable food prices, therefore, are essential in any strategy to increase Food Security.

      An integrated approach is necessary to achieve food security. The factors, which cause food insecurity among different communities in the country need to be examined and action taken accordingly.

      Dr. Stanley Weeraratna

      Former Professor of Agronomy, Ruhuna University, Sri Lanka

       

       

       

       

    • Extreme poverty is a global challenge; it is observed in all parts of the world, including developed economies but mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. According to World Bank data, in 2015, there were nearly 702 million people living in extreme poverty, down from 1.75 billion in 1990.  "Global Monitoring Report; Development Goals in an Era of Demographic Change" (PDF). www.worldbank.org/gmr. Retrieved 4 November 2015. Of the 2015 population in extreme poverty, about 347.1 million people (35.2%) lived in Sub-Saharan Africa and 231.3 million (13.5%) lived in South Asia.

      In a broader perspective, poverty is a phenomena occurring mainly due to insufficient income caused mainly by deprivation of employment and inadequate opportunities, incurable diseases, deformities etc. Considering the above situation, poverty can be defined as a general state of deprivation, having more to do with entitlement and capacity, rather than conventional indicators such as income and nutrition .Therefore, poverty means, the forms of economic, social and psychological deprivation occurring among people lacking sufficient ownership, control or access to resources.

      Most of the people in extreme poverty are in the rural sector and their livelihood is mainly related to agriculture. Hence, agriculture plays a very important role in eradicating extreme poverty.  Most of the farmers in the two regions indicated above cultivate small extents of lands mostly 0.5- 1 ha which are of different topography. Some are hilly in which soil erosion is prominent. Their net income has been sliding down consistently due to a number of factors indicated below:

      • Soil productivity plays an important part in increasing/sustaining crop yields. A number of factors determine soil productivity. Among these are soil physical, chemical, and biological properties. In addition, soil erosion, soil management practices, climate also influence soil productivity.  Soil productivity tends to be reduced mostly by soil erosion caused by run-off. Continuous cultivation of crops in the same piece of land without implementing appropriate crop rotation programme, inadequate organic and inorganic fertilizer application also tends to reduce soil productivity.
      • In many countries drought, floods tend to cause crop losses causing extreme poverty.
      • In many countries good quality seeds and planting material are not available to small holders which tends to cause poverty.
      • Weeds, insect pests and diseases cause yield losses causing a reduction in the incomes of farmers.
      • High post-harvest losses.
      • High cost of production mainly due to high costs of inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides and labour.
      • Problems related to marketing.
      • Inadequate implementation of Agro industries. 

      The degree to which these issues/problems affect the small holder farmers vary considerably not only from country to country but also within the same country. For example,  in Sri Lanka, crop losses due to elephant damage and drought  in some parts of Sri Lanka is considerable which causes the farmers to continue to be poor. Floods in Bangladesh and droughts in India and sub-Saharan Africa have a devastating effect on the farmers’ incomes. Difficulties involved in marketing at reasonable prices and high post harvest losses in many Sub-Saharan African and South Asian countries also tend to exacerbate poverty. It is sine qua non that a comprehensive approach is adopted to increase income of farmers through appropriate actions with emphasis on increasing productivity to eradicate extreme  poverty in these two regions atleast by 2030.

      Home gardening.

      Home gardening plays an important role in alleviating poverty. A proper home garden fulfills the family’s food and nutritious requirement to a great extent and reduces the expenditure on food. It also improves the family’s food consumption pattern, minimizing the cost, maintains food and ecological safety through promotion of environmental friendly cultivation methods, encouraging youth to undertake home gardening and improves mental and physical health of family members.

      Hence, Agriculture,  in addition to other factors, plays a very important role in eradicating extreme poverty.

      Dr.Stanley Weeraratna

    • Rural migration has important repercussions on agriculture and development of rural areas. It  is opportune that FAO decided to make it the theme for the next SOFA. My thoughts on chapter 4 of the draft outline are given below.

      Chapter 4

      4.1 Migration and Labour Markets

      In most of the developing countries where there is a high degree of migration, around 75% of the population lives in rural areas. For example in India nearly 70% of the people live in rural areas.  It is around 65% in Bangladesh. In Sri Lanka too nearly 70% of the people live in rural areas. Livelihoods of most of the inhabitants of rural areas is related to agriculture. For example, nearly two-thirds in rural areas of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are directly involved in agriculture related activities such as land preparation, transplanting, harvesting etc.

      A large percentage of the inhabitants of rural areas are becoming increasingly divorced from farming. This is attributable to declining per hectare yields due to land degradation, high cost of inputs such as labour, fertilizers, marketing problems etc. Climate change causing long periods of drought, floods also cause people to abandon livelihoods based on agriculture. For example in Sri Lanka, a large % of farmers have been affected by the drought which prevailed for three cropping seasons. All these factors cause a shift on the pattern of labour market from agricultural to non-agricultural.

      4.2 Migration on Livelihood

      According to several studies, livelihoods of most of the inhabitants of rural areas is related to agriculture. For example, nearly two-thirds in rural areas of Bangladesh are directly employed in agriculture. Migration is a major coping strategy for poor people to earn a livelihood causing a change in livelihood patterns.  Studies have shown that displaced people initially try to relocate themselves within the village, then in neighboring villages and gradually move to urban areas or to another country when no other livelihood option is available in their known rural surroundings..

      In the agriculture sector there are categories of people such as farmers who are directly  involved in crop production. There is also a category of people such as farm laborers , tractor operators, pesticide applicators, harvesters  etc. who are indirectly  related to crop production. When those in the former category are affected by migration, those in the other category will also be affected due to non-availability of agriculture related activities. However, livelihood of those who are involved in activities such masonry, carpentry etc. are improved as the monies remitted by those who have migrated tend to be spent on activities indicated above. No studies appear to have been carried out to look into this aspect of migration. 

      4.3 Remittances for agriculture and Rural Development.

      Rural migration has positive and negative effects on agriculture.

      Positive effects:  According to a number of studies, remittances from migrants to cities is made use to invest on agriculture causing an increase on agricultural productivity. For example Singh et al. (2012) observed that in Bihar, the efficiencies of human labour and irrigation in rice production were higher among migrant households than non-migrant households, indicating rational use of these two critical inputs on migrant households in Bihar.

      Negative effects: Reduction of people in rural areas tends to have negative effect on agric. productivity. In Sri Lanka for example, many people, especially young adults in rural areas have migrated to cities to work in garment factories, offices etc, causing a dearth of people to work in the land. As a result large extents of paddy lands in Sri Lanka remain uncultivated. Harvesting of plantation crops such as tea, rubber, coconut, and sugarcane has become a problem due to non-availability of adequate labour.

      Development: Development is a broad term. We can talk about economic development, and social development. In many developing countries, migration has resulted in economic development.  Remittances by migrants are an important source of income to many rural families in developing nations. It also directly contributes to household income, allowing households to purchase more assets; enables higher investment in business; and facilitate buying more goods, and spending more on education and health inputs.  A cross-country study of 71 developing countries found that a 10 per cent increase in official remittances per capita will lead to a 3.5 per cent decline in the share of people living in poverty (Adams and Page 2005). Thus migration tends to have a positive impact on economic development of rural areas.

      Although migration has positive effects on economic development, it tends to negatively affect social development in rural areas. In many developing countries such as Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, women migrate to cities to work in factories, and the husbands are left to look after the children. In such situations children are neglected,  and men tend to get involved in activities such as illicit affairs, getting used to drink illicit alcohol etc. All this cause social problems. This aspect of migration on social factors has to be looked into.

      In view of what has been said I would like to suggest that the topic of the consultation be slightly changed to Rural migration, its effect on agriculture and socio-economic factors in rural areas. It will focus more on the issues related to rural migration.

      Stanley Weera-ratna

      References:

      Singh, R.K.P., K.M. Singh & A.K. Jha( 2012) Effect of Migration on Agricultural Productivity and Women Empowerment in Bihar Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2111155

      Adams, R., and J. Page (2005). ‘Do International Migration and Remittances Reduce Poverty in Developing Countries

       

       

       

       

    • The extent to which AEAS should be involved

      In some countries shifting cultivation was practiced some time ago and is still being practiced in many Asian countries. In a more settled form of agriculture, farmers cultivate small parcels of land permanently. A large proportion of food produced in Asia and Africa is by small-scale farmers or family farmers numbering around 500 million. They need access to information on better land predation methods, new seed/plant varieties, effective use of fertilizers, control of pests and diseases. AEAS need to facilitate these activities.

      Simply providing access to know-how will not improve the productivity of small scale farmers because there are many other limiting factors such as lack of water for drinking and household activities, inadequate transport and infra-structure facilities, etc. Very often famers, mostly their family members, have to walk 1-2 km in search of water thereby wasting their time which otherwise would have been used for household activities and / or in the land. In view of the limitations AEAS need to be involved in planning/deciding what crops to grow, getting the infrastructure improved, marketing strategies, support rural communities to manage their natural resources more effectively etc. These may be done in collaboration with the other institutions such as Rural Development Division, Land Use Planning Divisions etc. operating at village level. Hence, Ag. Extension personnel should be involved in a holistic approach to development.

      are the key actors in many activities related to development of the agriculture sector. They are involved in mainly in planting (e.g. transplanting rice) and harvesting (e.g. paddy/vegetables/fruits). They contribute to food security on a great way, both in their families and in society at large. This is especially true if family farming is considered, where family income depends on the combined efforts of its members. Issues related to health affect the rural population to a great extent. Malnutrition leads to various diseases such as tuberculosis which affects the rural population. . In many Asian countries Chronic Kidney Disease which is considered to be caused by low nutrition level, toxic compound/s in water also is a health problem especially among the rural population. It is the women in the families who have to face the burden when a family member/s are affected by a disease. A disease among a family member/s result in less time being spent by the woman in the family, for crop production and related activities. In general, extension staff is not adequately knowledgeable on the important aspects of nutrition and related diseases. Hence, GFRAS nutrition group need to promote knowledge of the extension staff on nutrition and nutrition related diseases.

      Specific challenges I encountered -

      based inequality against women is a common characteristic in many communities in Asia and Africa although they are the active labour force in rural areas. They suffer the most because of factors such as illiteracy, poor health partly due to malnutrition etc. Female agric. extension staff are unable to reach most of the farm families especially the women mainly because they live in inaccessible areas far away from village centers, and public transport is not frequently available. Hence they have to travel by foot or by bicycles/motor cycles. In my work involved in extension, I found that inadequate transport is a challenge.

      Female extension staff needs to be given maternity leave when necessary. Very often replacements are not appointed due to financial and other issues and hence extension activities are affected to a great extent. This was also a challenge I encountered.

      Examples of AEAS successfully addressing issues related to gender and nutrition-

       

      a Consultant of PLAN, an INGO, I was instrumental in organizing and assisting a number women famer societies in Sri Lanka. A society in Kurunegala District in Sri Lanka was interested in carrying out work related to nutrition among the members. The society members were undecided on what crops to cultivate and I was able to assist in making them aware of the nutritionally desirable crops and also giving them the required information to purchase the other requirements. The active involvement with the stake holders made this programme a success.

      In my work involved in the Poverty Alleviation Programme of the Govt. of Sri Lanka, home gardening was promoted with the collaboration of field staff. A large number of rural households took part in this programme. We were able to develop small enterprises with the involvement of the people in the villages, mainly women. These enterprises were involved in producing seeds and planting material, vegetative propagation, manufacturing organic fertilizers, bio pesticides etc. In this process it was possible to assist home-gardeners in obtaining necessary materials easily and also developing a few micro-enterprises in the village. Participatory discussions, to make the villagers aware of nutrition, what crops to cultivate, proper processing of the produce, biological control of pests and diseases, arranging markets, led to the success of this programme. Getting the health officers, agricultural extension officers in the village to take part in the participatory discussion was found to be advantageous.

      Role of GFRAS –

      GFRAS has an important role to play by helping AEAS to implement effective programs to assist woman organizations to obtain appropriate education on matters related to health and nutrition. Implementation of strategies to help AEAS need to be carried out at national level depending on the actual problems in the specific area. The intensity of the effects of the nutrition factors which influence sustainable agricultural production may differ within the same country. For example Chronic Kidney disease, related to nutrition is reported only in some parts of India, and Sri Lanka. Hence more emphasis needs to be given to control this disease in these areas. It would be advantageous for GFRAS to liaise with the relevant state and private sector organizations and NGOs as the case may be. It would be more effective if there is a coordinator in each large country, similar to UNDP which will make such liaison more effective.