In this report, ETC Group provides evidence that six companies are exercising an anticompetitive oligopoly in seeds and agrochemicals. To stave off criticism, they’re launching a series of initiatives – including the promise of cheap, post-patent genetically modified (GM) seeds – to mollify antitrust regulators and soften opposition to GM while advancing their collective market control. The “Big Six”, which own most of the market, are argued by ETC group to be constructing agreements that aim to scare off competitors, confound regulators and pass off oligopolistic practices as acts of charity. The author argues that antitrust regulators cannot allow an oligopoly to control global agricultural inputs. The world needs agricultural biodiversity to achieve the Right to Food and to respond to the uncertainties of climate change. National governments and UN agencies need to respond, including the UN Committee on World Food Security, which meets in Rome in October 2013.
Poverty and health
In this paper, the author argues that trade agreements need to respect and promote human rights, not drive a process of globalisation that privileges commercial interests and tramples on public interests. She looks at the problem of land grabs, namely large-scale purchases or leases of agricultural or forested land on terms that violate the rights of the people who live on or near that land. She proposes four linked policy shifts to create a more stable and transparent international food system. 1. Reformed trade rules should ensure export restrictions in times of crisis are subject to transparency and predictability requirements and that allow all countries policy space for food security policies. 2. Publicly-managed grain reserves should be established to dampen the effects of supply shocks. 3. Governments should provide readily accessible funding for the poorest food importers, which would be triggered automatically when prices increase sharply in international markets. 4. Governments should develop strong national and international laws to govern investment in land, respecting the principles and guidelines set out in the Voluntary Guidelines on Land Tenure. Tanzania’s recently announced limits on how much land foreign and domestic investors can lease sets a good example for the rest of the developing world, the author argues.
Malawi has seen an agricultural revolution in the past decade with the introduction of farmer subsidies. From an importer of maize, Malawi has become an exporter of maize to the rest of the southern, central and eastern African region. In this presentation, the author argues that social protection programmes that focus on enhancing agricultural productivity within small farms can provide a short-term pathway out of poverty.
Both maternal HIV diagnosis and household food insecurity may increase maternal stress levels, and lead to unhealthy coping behaviours. In this study, researchers examined the independent associations of HIV, persistent household food insecurity and the synergistic effect of both on maternal stress. For 12 months after childbirth, they followed 232 Ghanaian women recruited prenatally from hospitals offering voluntary counselling and testing (VCT). They found that the proportion of HIV-positive women who lived in severe food insecure households increased over time. By contrast, the HIV-negative group living in severely food insecure households experienced a steady decline across time. HIV-infection and persistent household food insecurity were independently associated with high stress. Being both HIV-positive and persistently food insecure strongly and synergistically increased the risk for high maternal perceived stress. Comprehensive multidimensional intervention studies are needed to better understand how to reduce stress among HIV-positive women living in persistently food insecure households and how to reduce the likelihood of food insecurity in HIV-affected households in sub-Saharan Africa.
This report is a call to action for the world to rediscover the importance of breastfeeding and for a commitment to support mothers to breastfeed their babies, especially in the poorest communities in the poorest countries. It calls for world leaders, international institutions and multinational companies to take action to ensure that every infant is given the life-saving protection that breastfeeding can offer. All countries should put breastfeeding at the centre of efforts to improve infant and child nutrition, and should develop specific breastfeeding strategies as well as including breastfeeding in their nutrition strategies. Developing countries should ensure that they address all of the obstacles identified in this report that deter optimal breastfeeding practices. The four major barriers are community and cultural pressures, the health worker shortage, a lack of maternity legislation and the promotion of formula by big business.
The aim of this study was to assess latrine coverage and the associated factors among the rural communities in district of Bahir Dar Zuria, Ethiopia. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 608 households in district of Bahir Dar Zuria. Data were collected by means of a pretested, standardised questionnaire and observation checklist. Of the 608 households, 355 (58.4%) had pit latrines and only 220 (62%) were functional (providing services during data collection). One hundred and eighty-seven (52.7%) had been constructed two or more years prior to the time of the study and 202 (56.9%) latrines required maintenance. Latrine coverage in District of Bahir Dar Zuria was far from the national target of 100%. The availability of latrines was found to be affected by income level, frequency of visits by health workers, walking time from local health institutions, and distance from the urban area of Bahir Dar. Therefore, it is recommended that the frequency of supportive visits be increased and that special attention be given to households in inaccessible areas.
In order to reduce health inequities, there is a need to address the wider socioeconomic and structural factors that influence how people become sick, what risk factors they are exposed to, how they access services, and how they use those services. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels. This joint statement argues that integrated policy approaches are necessary in order to address the complexity of health inequities, including through national social protection floors, which address income security and the goal to establish universal access to health care simultaneously. Health policy generally, and health equity in particular, to a large extent depend on decisions made in sectors other than health, and are fundamentally linked to several interrelated issues such as governance, environment, education, employment, social security, food, housing, water, transport and energy. It means that health outcomes cannot be achieved by taking action in the health sector alone, and that actions in other sectors are critical. Failing to address the social determinants of health has held back progress on existing global health and development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals. The joint statement outlines the actions to be taken to address the social determinants of health, sector by sector.
In this media briefing, Oxfam reveals that investors are targeting the world’s weakest-governed countries to buy land, and it calls on the World Bank to lead the fight against land grabs. It argues that the Bank is in a unique position to act because it sets international standards for land investments, provides finance for land deals and advises developing countries on land investments. Oxfam’s analysis reveals that over three quarters of the 56 countries where land deals were agreed between 2000 and 2011 scored below average on four key governance indicators. The 23 least developed countries account for more than half of the recorded land deals over this period. Researchers assessed a range of factors including voice and accountability (e.g. whether citizens participate in selecting their government), rule of law, the quality of private sector regulation, and control of corruption. They found poor governance is good business for investors looking to secure land quickly and cheaply. Investors seem to be cherry-picking countries with weak rules and regulations. This can spell disaster for communities if these deals result in their homes and livelihoods being snatched away without consent or compensation.
This paper critically analyses the denial of the right of access to safe drinking water and sanitation. In so doing, it engages with the debate about whether access to water is a human right, using the situation in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape Province as a case study. Water in rural areas of the Eastern Cape continues to be regarded as a scarce resource, while at the same time the Constitution asserts that everyone has a right to access sufficient water and sanitation. The author argues that it is the duty of SA’s Government to work effectively for the progressive realisation of the right to access sufficient water and sanitation in rural areas. It should prioritise improvement of access to water in those areas where there is greatest need. Water sources must be as close as possible to households and water should be available on a daily basis. It should be as accessible and affordable as possible, particularly for the most marginalised and vulnerable members of SA society. An adequate policy should also be developed and monitored to prevent pollution of water resources and encourage water conservation.
The South African government has announced it will no longer pursue the willing buyer-willing seller option for land redistribution, citing the process as slowing down the speed of land reform. President Jacob Zuma listed land reform as a priority area for 2013 in his State of the Nation address on 14 February 2013. June 2013 will mark the centenary of the 1913 Land Act, whereby the British dispossessed African people of their land. He argued that the legacy of the Native Land Act still lives, and as a result many native families are still working for white farmers only for their food. Zuma said the land question needs to be resolved amicably within the framework of the Constitution and the law. But he called for the time it takes to finalise a claim to be shortened. In this regard, Government will now pursue the ‘just and equitable’ principle for compensation as set out in the Constitution instead of the willing buyer- willing seller principle, which forces the State to pay more for land than the actual value. Government’s mid-term review in 2012 revealed a number of shortcomings in the land reform implementation programme, which Zuma says will be used to improve implementation. He also pointed out that better incentives need to be provided for commercial farmers that are willing and capable of mentoring smallholder farmers.