As African farmers experience escalating anxiety over the appropriation and control of land, seeds and farming techniques by foreign governments and corporations, the multi-million dollar Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa – a Gates Foundation-funded initiative – promises to increase food production and defeat poverty in Africa by implementing vigorous Western-style agricultural techniques and genetically modified crops. Modelled on the previous Green Revolutions of Latin America and the Indian sub-continent, the African Green Revolution should heed the environmental devastation these previous experiments in agriculture have wrought, the author of this article cautions, such as seriously depleted water tables and impoverished soil. Although new seeds and tools may bring higher production in the short term, some Africans are concerned about the consolidated control that foreign corporations will exercise over food supply, as well as the precarious dependence on large amounts of water and energy inputs, and the environmental toll such methods may eventually take. A growing movement of local farmers – largely led by women – argues that the surest path to food security is ensuring food sovereignty. The article points to a number of international organisations and alliances, like Via Campesina and Groundswell International, which advocate for community-level control over food production. These organisations target primarily women farmers who, according to the article, are responsible for up to 70% of food production in the developing world. The author asserts that supporting small-scale women farmers is crucial to ensuring food sovereignty in poor countries.
Poverty and health
In response to declining soil fertility in southern Africa and the negative effects that this leads to, such as food insecurity, fertiliser tree systems (FTS) were developed as technological innovation to help smallholder farmers to build soil organic matter and fertility in a sustainable manner. In this paper, the authors trace the historical background of FTS and highlight the developmental phases and outcomes of the technology. The synthesis shows that FTS are inexpensive technologies that significantly raise crop yields, reduce food insecurity and enhance environmental services and resilience of agro-ecologies. Many of the achievements recorded with FTS can be traced to some key factors: the availability of a suite of technological options that are appropriate in a range of different household and ecological circumstances, partnership between multiple institutions and disciplines in the development of the technology, active encouragement of farmer innovations in the adaptation process, and proactive engagement of several consortia of partner institutions to scale up the technology in farming communities. It is recommended that smallholder farmers would benefit if rural development planners emphasise the merits of different fertility replenishment approaches and take advantage of the synergy between FTS and mineral fertilisers rather than focusing on `organic vs. inorganic' debates.
In this interview with the World Health Organisation, Brazilian Minister of Health Alexandre Padilha calls on other countries around the world to develop a pact to eradicate poverty and hunger. Padhila calls for the launch of a proactive and rational agenda that encompasses the food, pharmaceutical, arms, tobacco and alcohol industries, as well as action to develop and increase the wealth of peoples, setting goals for environmental sustainability and the end of extreme poverty. The last two United Nations meetings on health – on polio and HIV and AIDS – point to the same direction in solving both challenges: equity in the access to prevention measures and treatment, he notes. The Brazilian Ministry of Health has carried out a broad public consultation to prepare a plan to address non-communicable diseases. The prevention and control of these diseases will be the subject of a set of political and governmental policies.
Despite guarantees to the right to adequate food in its current Constitution and ratification of several international covenants that expressly recognise this right, the Kenyan government has failed its people in this regard, writes the author of this article. The current food crisis is marred by reports of surplus crops rotting in granaries due to lack of markets or means of transportation to ready markets, while there have been allegations of theft of relief food by government officials. The government has admitted that it does not have sufficient infrastructure to distribute relief food and is relying on local and international relief agencies to do the job. Poor distribution of relief food has been exacerbated by government’s failure to map the drought zones properly, the author argues. Controversy has also raged regarding the safety of genetically modified maize being imported into the country, with the public bio-safety regulatory authority admitting incapacity to conduct the required tests. It is on record that the government ignored the adverse weather forecast from the Kenya Meteorological Department and the local chapter of the International Committee for the Red Cross, failing to plan ahead. Poor government policies that fail to incentivise maize production - the country’s staple food - have also been blamed for declining maize yields, year on year. The author calls on government for effective measures to end the cycle of famines.
The new wave of land deals in agriculture has had a negative impact on the poor in developing countries, according to this paper by Oxfam. Oxfam’s research has revealed that residents regularly lose out to local elites and domestic or foreign investors because they lack the power to claim their rights effectively and to defend and advance their interests. Oxfam makes a number of key recommendations. First, the rights of the communities affected by these deals must be respected and their grievances addressed, and those who are profiting from the international deals must help to ensure this happens. Second, the balance of power must be shifted in favour of local rights-holders and communities. Governments should adopt strong, internationally applicable standards on good governance relating to land tenure and management of natural resources. Third, host governments should respect and protect all existing land use rights, and ensure that the principle of free, prior and informed consent is followed and that women have equal rights to access and control over land. Fourth, investors should respect all existing land use rights. Fifth, financiers and buyers should accept full supply-chain responsibility. Sixth, home country governments should require companies investing overseas to fully disclose their activities, and ensure that standards and safeguards are implemented to protect small-scale food producers and local populations.
According to IRIN News, new cases of leprosy have been reported from clinics in Antalaha, a remote area of Madagascar. The driving force behind the outbreak of the disease is increased malnutrition, the article reports, caused by dramatic increases in the price of rice. And while people are becoming poorer and more susceptible to illness, the public healthcare system is receiving less money from the government. According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), government spending for health dropped to US$2 a person in 2010, compared to $5 in 2009 and $8 in 2008. Clinics in remote places like Antalaha are the most likely to suffer from shortages of drugs and medical supplies. Six to 12 months of treatment with multidrug therapy - a combination of two antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory (medicines that the World Health Organisation distributes for free) - stops the disease from spreading, but there are other obstacles to overcome. The main one, according to medical workers, is that the Malagasy authorities declared that leprosy had been eradicated from the country in 2010. Medical workers are reported to be afraid to report new cases to the authorities as this will contradict the official position on the disease. Diagnosing the illness can also be tricky in a tropical climate that causes many dermatological problems, and basic items like bandages – which are needed to dress the wounds – are usually lacking in health centres.
Swaziland's parliamentarians recently debated the social safety net covering children, the elderly and the disabled. Recipients often depend on these small grants and pensions for survival. The debate on the future of social services was prompted by submissions from the Deputy Prime Minister, Themba Masuku, on the suspension of grants to the elderly. A number of Members of Parliament (MPs) supported the call for a constitutional amendment to abolish these government grants when government had no money to pay for them. The article reports that many pensions were suspended in the first quarter of 2011. In June 2011 only 6,480 pensions were reported to be paid, while at least 40,000 pensioners without bank accounts were reported to have received no benefits, so that OVC grants could be paid instead. The Deputy Prime Minister did not respond to parliamentary questions as to when regular pension payments would resume. The non-payment of social grants is expected to have a knock-on effect on health of the country’s population, particularly those living in extreme poverty.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) Food Price Index, overall food costs rose by 39% in 2011, while grain prices went up by 71%. The authors of this article point to investor speculation in commodity futures as the main culprit for price increases, as the more the price of food commodities increases, the more money pours into the sector and the higher prices rise. Although the volume of index fund speculation increased by 2,300% between 2003 and 2008 alone, the FAO estimates that today only 2% of commodity futures contracts result in the delivery of real goods. The problem is particularly glaring in Ethiopia, the authors note, where 5.7 million Ethiopians are dependent on international food aid, while the government sells or leases large tracts of fertile land to foreign investors. They, in turn, export most of the food they produce to other countries. Since 2007, the Ethiopian government is reported to have approved 815 foreign-funded agricultural projects. Given the threat posed by climate change, the authors call for a radical departure from agricultural mass production, as well as an end to large-scale monocultures and the massive use of pesticides. They argue that this type of agriculture contaminates water and dries up the soil, and that the export-oriented agricultural industry destroys markets in developing countries. What is needed is a re-orientation toward a system of agriculture driven by small farmers who grow their crops at the local level, using both sustainable and environmentally compatible methods. However, governments and economists continue to push for large-scale agriculture as the solution to poverty and hunger, even though it is actually a contributing factor to the problem, the authors argue.
Is job creation really the best way to seek wellbeing for all in countries with chronic, high unemployment? No, according to the author of this article, especially not in a wealthy middle-income country like South Africa, where very high unemployment combines with high poverty rates. A universal income grant, he argues, makes much more sense. He points out that earning a decent secure wage is not a prospect for millions of South Africans, especially with the global economic crisis having hit the country and unemployment standing at 35%. Having a job does not automatically prevent poverty, as most workers earn very low wages and have minimal labour protection, a situation exacerbated by the shift towards the use of casual and outsourced labour and the related decline in real wages for low-skilled workers. Although the current social grant system separates millions from destitution, he notes that it is ill-suited to today’s realities, as it hinges on the fiction that every worker, sooner or later, will find a decent job. In addition, targeted and means-tested social protection is burdensome, costly and humiliating. The author argues that a universal income is developmental and would boost wellbeing and health, referring to studies that show reduced stunting in children, better nutrition levels and greater school enrolment. He notes that a universal grant as small as US$12 per month could close South Africa’s poverty gap by 74% and lift about six million people above a poverty line of US$50 per month.
Failure to achieve desired human development outcomes in the water supply and sanitation sector over the last decade has prompted this re-assessment of sector strategies and a focus on issues of governance and political economy. The authors assess the applicability of the various political economy analysis (PEA) frameworks for the water and sanitation (WATSAN) sector, drawing out five key points to take into account when developing a sector level PEA framework. First, the sector’s diversity (both the sub-sectors of water supply, sanitation and geographical locations of sub-sector service delivery contexts urban, rural, peri-urban) does not mean that different elements of the WATSAN sector require the application of separate frameworks, but the different historical, institutional and political contexts do need to inform the tailoring of questions and areas of focus across the subsectors. Second, a multi-sector and multi-scalar analysis can help to identify actions and decision making influenced by external processes and actors operating at various scales. Third, a combined sector governance and political economy analysis for the sector is not recommended: a joint analysis requires considerable time and research, and leads to overly normative and prescriptive mindset preventing consideration of a full scope of non-obvious opportunities for intervention. Fourth, a PEA framework for WATSAN requires flexibility in its application to the sector. Fifth, a PEA WATSAN framework needs to focus on both process and outcomes: the majority of PEA and governance studies have failed to drive forward change in the water and sanitation sector.