food security

GM Crop Information

KMAadmin — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:52:24 -0600

When GM crops and foods were first introduced in the late 1990s, some scientists raised concerns that genetic modification was imprecise and unpredictable and could result in harm to health and the environment. They warned that:

GM could create foods that are toxic, allergenic and less nutritious than their non-GM counterparts
GM crops could damage vulnerable wild plant and animal populations
GM plants cannot be recalled, but as living organisms will propagate, transmitting any damaging properties from generation to generation
GM crops could cause irreversible alterations to the food supply, with serious consequences for the environment and human and animal health.

Subsequent events and a growing body of scientific evidence have shown each of these concerns to be valid but the biotech industry and its supporters have engaged in a global PR, marketing and lobbying campaign to promote this technology in order to undermine the concerns and attack those raising them.

GM information

GMWatch sends out regular bulletins that provide news and comment on GM foods and crops, with particular emphasis on exposing the PR behind the global push for GM technology.
Spinprofiles documents the PR and propaganda activities of PR firms engaged in managing and manipulating public perception, opinion and policy. SpinProfiles also includes profiles on think tanks, front groups funded by industry and "industry-friendly experts" who work to influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of corporations or other special interests.
Greenpeace International Genetic Engineering Campaign has details on the latest campaigns with easy and quick-to-do email actions to help keep food supplies free from GM contamination.
Friends of the Earth International is the place to find details on the latest FoE global campaigns and downloadable reports on GM food and crops.
Biosafety Information Centre, run by the Third World Network, has information and downloadable briefing papers on biosafety problems with GM crops and foods worldwide.
Bioscience Resource Project has science stories on GM crops and food. Includes critiques of corporate 'junk' science, exposures of conflicts of interest, and news on the persecution of whistleblowers.
Ban GM Food is a campaign-oriented website geared to Europe. It has details of how to take action and downloadable leaflets that people can print out at home and distribute. Emphasis is on scientifically accurate and well-referenced information.
GM Contamination RegisterBecause no official body is keeping track of GM contamination events worldwide, GeneWatch UK and Greenpeace have stepped into the gap with this up-to-date register.
Physicians and Scientists for Responsible Application of Science and Technology is a group of scientists and medics who campaign for a ban on GM foods.
Will GM crops deliver benefits to farmers? is an informative web page on farmers' experiences and agronomic research on GM crops.
EcoNexus "offers a rigorous scientific critique of genetic engineering (GE) and genetically modified organisms, and more recently of agrofuels (biofuels), synthetic biology and other new technological applications".
ISIS – Institute of Science in Society is the place to go for science in the service of social and environmental sustainability. This website and the associated print magazine, Science in Society, frequently break news about new insights and developments that take years to become widely accepted knowledge.
Ban Terminator Terminator Technology is an unpopular development in GM that makes GM crops produce sterile seeds. This website has news about the research and worldwide campaigns against Terminator.

KM & Communications

Risk analysis of genetically engineered plants

storytelling — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:19:46 -0600

A report by Testbiotech e.V. Institute for Independent Impact Assessment in Biotechnology
Authors: Christoph Then, Christof Potthof October 2009

Summary points compiled by GMWatch

GM food safety testing

European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) concept of risk assessment of genetically modified (GM) plants is essentially based upon guidelines that were developed by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) as early as 1993 on the assumption that the risks posed by GM plants are the same as those posed by conventional plants.
But the differences between conventional breeding and genetic engineering of plants are becoming clearer in the light of current genome research. Experience gained from conventional breeding cannot be applied to GM plants.
Changes in the activity of plant genes in the genetic engineering process are not an expression of natural gene regulation but an indication of disruption.
The outdated risk assessment methods for GM plants mean that their safety, predictability and controllability are not examined properly in the approvals procedure.
GM plants are tested much more superficially than irradiated food, pesticides, chemicals and medicines. To prove the safety of radiated food, for example, feeding trials were conducted on mice, rats, dogs, monkeys and even humans. Feeding trials were performed over several years to investigate growth, carcinogenicity and effects on reproduction. GM plants have undergone no such investigations.
Overall the risk assessment process for GM plants as defined by the EFSA does not even meet the requirements of the EU for comprehensive testing. It replaces actual risk testing by a system of assumptions.
More and more cases are being documented showing that independent risk research is being hampered. In many cases it is not even possible to access necessary testing materials. Even the publication of findings is being obstructed.
Society, politicians, and approval boards should no longer close their eyes to the fact that GM technology uses methods that are largely outdated and riskier than was originally thought. It is not the fear of new products that make a critical appraisal of GM technology necessary, but rather the fact that its scientific principles have been called more and more into question by new findings.
More than ten years after the first commercial cultivation of GM plants, there is no generally agreed perception about the risks posed by those plants or about how to conduct proper risk assessment.
The concept of 'substantial equivalence' (the assumption that a GM plant is substantially equivalent to its non-GM counterpart) was introduced by the OECD in 1993 and has come under harsh criticism from scientists. However, it is still seen as the starting point for the EFSA's risk assessment, thereby influencing its outcome.
Even in cases when significant differences between transgenic plants and their counterparts are observed, they are mostly dismissed by the EFSA as being not of "biological significance" – without attempts to verify or further investigate these differences to detect unintended effects.
The EFSA does not think that feeding trials with GM plants (or derived food and feed) are necessary.
GM plants of complex makeup cannot be assessed by analysing some of their isolated components, as is habitually done by industry in its own testing of its GM plants. Testing of whole GM plants is especially necessary on the new generation of GM crops, which have several 'stacked' GM traits. But feeding trials using whole transgenic plants are not required by EFSA.
Scientists point out that testing should be extended to include whole-plant/whole-food testing in both toxicity and allergenicity studies in order to more reliably detect unintended and detrimental effects of genetic modification.
These arguments are not followed by the EFSA. EFSA only suggests more detailed investigations in connection with products such as Golden Rice (where market authorization has not yet been applied for). According to the EFSA the metabolism of these plants can be regarded as being changed on several levels, so feeding trials with whole plants should be performed in order to avoid negative health effects. In this argument, EFSA contradicts the position of the Golden Rice team. But EFSA at the same time assumes that transgenic plants where approval for commercialisation is currently being applied for should be seen as harbouring only minor risks. EFSA does not consider feeding trials to be necessary even in the case of stacked events.
EFSA states, incorrectly, that one introduced gene produces one gene product, with no other knock-on effects on the plant: "The current generation of GM plants cultivated for commercial purposes has been modified through the introduction of one or a few genes coding for herbicide tolerance, insect resistance or a combination of these traits. In these plants the genetic insert leads to the production of a gene product, which does not interfere with the overall metabolism of the plant cell, and does not alter the composition of the GM plant except for the introduced trait." The truth is that genes interact with each other in complex ways and their function is defined by the environment.
Risks to human health of products such as radiated food, pesticides and pharmaceuticals have to be investigated to prove their safety without anything being presumed. But in the case of GM plants the risks first have to be proven before detailed investigations are made. The approach chosen by the EFSA turns around the burden of proof: GM plants are assumed to be safe until the opposite is proven.
Just how much the science of GM has moved on from the outdated assumptions made by EFSA is clear from the patent applications of companies such as Monsanto. Here's Monsanto's patent application WO2004053055, which claims unintended effects(!) in GM plants: "Nonetheless, the frequency of success of enhancing the transgenic plant is low due to a number of factors including the low predictability of the effects of a specific gene on the plant's growth, development and environmental response, the low frequency of maize transformation, the lack of highly predictable control of the gene once introduced into the genome, and other undesirable effects of the transformation event and tissue culture process."

KM, Emerging Technologies and Innovative Schemes

Urban Agriculture: A Response to Food Insecurity?

KMAadmin — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 02:32:00 -0600

Author: Nyumbaiza Tambwe

Abstract

The United Nations Population Fund-State of World 2007 considers 2008 as the year of new departure in human history in that half of the globe’s population (3.3 billion) will be living in the towns and cities. The report outlines the fact that most of these urbanites will be in developing countries and they will be poor. In Africa and Asia particularly, urban population is expected to double between 2000 and 2030. While Asia’s urban population is projected to increase from 1.36 billion to 2.64 billion, Africa’s urban population is expected to increase from 294 million to 742 million.

As a consequence, satisfying urban dwellers’ basic needs in terms of health, food, education, housing, water and other needs could be challenging. Even though cities and towns benefit from most of the local and foreign investments, urban areas experience high rates of unemployment, food insecurity and poverty, which continue to exacerbate.

To alleviate some of these problems, a large number of urban residents in developing countries, particularly in Africa, resort to urban agriculture for food, income generation, and employment. City dwellers convert open spaces (backyards, parks, garbage deposits, power lines and railways, roads, and peri-urban zones) into gardens and farms as a means of reducing urban poverty.

Taking Lubumbashi city (the second largest city of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as case study, this paper seeks to explore the potentiality of urban agriculture as source of income and food. The paper uses a sustainable livelihoods approach based on alternative theories of development. The livelihood perspective argues that individuals and households diversify assets, incomes, and activities in response to the pressure of push and pull factors. In the context of economic crisis, urban agriculture may become a response to food insecurity if economically viable, and adaptative to urban dynamics and capable of recovering from shocks and trends.

Specifically, the paper analyzes three categories of farming households and comes to the conclusion that agriculture within and around Lubumbashi city is more of a survival strategy than an entrepreneurial one for the majority of farming households. Only less than a quarter of selected farmers have been able to move out of food insecurity and poverty. The majority of farmers are food secure just for a short period of time (that is at the harvest time, three to four months). The paper shows that farmers who practice urban agriculture as their primary activity may become food secure if supported by the state and development agencies. Poverty that characterizes the majority of farmers, competition for land, and rapid population growth constitute a real threat to the expansion of agricultural activities within and around the city.

Data has been collected by means of semi-structured interviews, in-depth questions, observation and informal conversation, as well as primary and secondary sources. One hundred farming households have been selected and interviewed between November 2004 and March 2005. The analysis of the collected data required the use of SPSS for quantitative data and the interpretation for those of qualitative nature.

Introduction

The paper attempts to establish a relationship between urban agriculture and food security. In other words, it seeks to examine the impact of agricultural activities taking place within and around the city of Lubumbashi on household level. The paper uses the sustainable livelihood approach based on the theories of alternative development. Instead of identifying all strategies used in urban areas, the study focuses on urban agriculture because of its potential as source of food and income. On methodological level, using the non-probability sampling, the city was divided into its seven administrative wards. As each ward is administratively divided into areas, each area was taken as reference for the selection of informants. A quota sampling of two farmers was given to each area regardless the fact that the number of urban farmers or gardeners was unknown. By selecting at least two farmers in each area of each ward, this means that all Lubumbashi wards were representative in the sample. Also most of the socio-economic categories of people living in this city were represented. Gender as well as a third criterion of selection completed the two-mentioned criteria. More than a half farmers selected was women. With 41 administrative areas, a total of 100 farming households were selected.

The body of this paper is structured as into five main sections. The first section explains why the city of Lubumbashi has been chosen as a study site. Secondly, a brief review of the anthropological literature on household strategies is presented with a focus on the household economy. Alternative development literature considers the household as the starting point in the process of production and consumption. The third section as a practical section examines two major components of food security to see whether urban agriculture permits food to be available and accessible to farming households living in the city of Lubumbashi. The section deals with three farming households representing the major categories of farmers. Fourthly, the paper identifies various types of strategies used by individuals and households to address the question of food insecurity in the city of Lubumbashi. Finally the fifth section emphasizes the role played by women in the household as caregivers and managers. Here, particular attention is drawn on the reinforcement of women’s role in the household and the burden it implies.

Lubumbashi city: study site

The choice of Lubumbashi as a study area is due to its weight in the economy of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Commonly called the capital of copper, Lubumbashi lived for almost one century at the rhythm of the giant mining company, Gécamines. The majority of companies in Katanga province functioned on the orbit of Gécamines. This was the case for example of the railway company (Société Nationale de Chemin de Fer du Congo) which was created to transport Gécamines minerals, from Katanga to Angola and from Katanga to Tanzania.

Considering the dominant economic weight of Gécamines, its collapse in the 1990s deepened the economic crisis in the country. It must be added that Gécamines fall affected primarily its labour force: more than 11 000 workers were retrenched. Secondly, this resulted in the fall of all companies operated on its orbit.

The post-Gécamines era is characterized by a high rate of unemployment in Lubumbashi, low income for people working in government and parastatal services and the rise of informal economic activities. The rapid population growth and poverty in the city worsen the living conditions of urbanites. Therefore, there is a necessity to find out how people cope with the economic crisis in the context of a state that is unable to play its traditional role (public services, protection of citizens, and so on). Instead of identifying all the strategies used by the poor as recommend the sustainable livelihood approach, the attention in this paper focuses on the one that emerges “urban agriculture”.

The household: economy and polity

By considering the emergent urban agriculture, this paper opts for the theories of alternative development, which constitutes a move away from large-scale model of development theories. The reason is that the Congolese state as well as its market economy is too fragile, too weak to be taken as major factors from which development may be originated. Large-scale theories consider the state and the market economy as the key players in development. In his analysis of state in the developing countries, Evans (1989:562) classifies Zaire (former name of the Democratic Republic of Congo) in the category of predatory states. The major characteristic of predatory state is that state administration lacks coherence and efficiency. This constitutes a handicap to the promotion of economic and social development. Predatory state is politically dominated and economically exploited by small political power elite. National resources are abusively used by the clic (team of major political players) in power for their own interests. To quote Evans (1989: 569-70):

“The Zairian state apparatus have extracted vast personal fortunes from the revenues generated by exporting the country’s impressive mineral wealth. During the first two decades of Mobutu’s rule, Zaire’s gross national product per capita has declined at an annual rate of 2.1% (World Bank, 1988), gradually moving the country toward the very bottom of the world hierarchy of nations and leaving its population in misery as bad as or worse than they suffered under the Belgian colonial regime”.
The launch of a multiparty system in mid-nineties did not improve the situation. This coincided with the collapse of the giant mining firm (Gécamines), the collapse of state services, mal-governance and corruption. While the average income reached its highest level in the 1973 at US $ 1.31 percent per day, by 1998, that figure was down to US $ 0.30, an average drop of over three percent per year (UNDP, 2006:7).

The majority of urban poor find refuge in the household. Contrary to the neoclassical economy, which considers the household only as a unit of consumption; the household in the alternative development literature is regarded at the same time as a unit of production and a unit of consumption. As unit of production, the household is involved in market and non-market income-producing activities. Based on Polanyi (1977), Friedmann (1992), and Martinussen (1997), the most important socio-economic institution of the civil society is the household.

Additionally, the household is also a polity. As a polity, the household is a unit that makes decisions on a daily basis concerning the use of household resources and other matters that affect their lives and livelihoods. As acknowledged by Freidmann (1992:46), conflicts may arise within the household over questions of power-who does what kind of work, who controls what portion of whose income, whose voice should count in the last instance in decisions.

The Friedmann’s model of household economy distinguishes three major sources of monetary income in the household: (i) formal work, (ii) informal work, and net family transfers. Similarly with regard to the sources of income, the author distinguishes three kinds of expenditures, namely (i) consumption proper (food, clothing), (ii) investment in household durables (including housing, furnishing), and (iii) investment in the capacities and skills. Finally, Freidmann’s model envisages that the state provides social services such as health care, land donations, subsidized bus transportation, school lunch programs, and police protection.

Components of food security

According to Rukuni and Eicher (1988), the concepts of food policy and food security came of age in the early 1980s. It was firstly defined as “the ability of food deficit countries to meet target consumption levels on a year-to-year basis” (Alberto 1981 cited in Rukuni and Eicher 1988:133). In 1986, the World Bank and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) formulated the most accepted definition of food security. According to this definition, there is food security when all people, at all times, have access to sufficient and safe food preferences for an active and healthy life. Various levels of food security have been distinguished: national, regional, and local. For example, a food secure household is a household in which all members have access at all times to enough food for an active and healthy life.

Two major components of food security appear in the above definition: food availability and food affordability. Availability of food means that sufficient safe and nutritious food is either domestically produced or imported from the international market. Food may be available on the market, but it must be accessible to the population. For food to be accessible, individuals and households must be able to afford the food prices on the market.

The opposite of food security is food insecurity. Food insecurity is described as a condition in which people and households lack basic food intake to provide them with the energy and nutrients for fully productive lives. Food insecurity becomes chronic from the moment it translates into a high degree of vulnerability to undernourishment and this is related to poverty, existing mainly in poor countries.

Domestic Food Production

In 2002-2003, Lubumbashi residents produced only 13,214 tons of maize, which represented just 4.8 per cent of their real needs (see table1.1). In fact, Lubumbashi city at that time needed 274,340 tons of maize to feed 1.2 million inhabitants. Although the provincial maize production estimated 369,078 tons (see Annual Report of the Provincial Agricultural Service, 2002-2003) may cover the demand in maize in the city, it must be pointed out that Lubumbashi population constitutes only one-quarter of Katanga province’s population (5 million inhabitants). Theoretically, Lubumbashi dwellers alone consume 74.3 per cent of the total maize produced in the province. Actually, the maize production is shared by Lubumbashi population and the rest of Katanga population. More than that, the neighbouring provinces are also served from the same production. That is the reason why Lubumbashi city imports maize from Zambia, South Africa and Tanzania to compensate the emptiness left.

According to the United Nations Development Program (2006:3), 80 per cent of Congolese live under conditions of extreme poverty (less than US$ 1 a day), 71 per cent suffer from food insecurity, 57 per cent have no access to safe drinking water, and 54 per cent of Congolese cannot benefit from basic health services. From the above data, it can be deduced that food insecurity in the city of Lubumbashi results more from people’s lack of access to food than from lack of available food. With a salary of US$ 10 earned in the public sector (by a nurse in public hospital, a teacher at the primary school or a police officer), whatever the quantity of food produced and its availability on the market, this category of population cannot afford it. At the period the interviews were carried out, a bag of maize (50kg) cost at least US$ 40. Low purchasing power or lack of money to buy the available expensive food makes the majority of Lubumbashi residents unable to obtain sufficient, nutritious, personally acceptable food through normal food channels. This confirms the argument developed by a number of researchers such as Reutlinger and Selowsky (1976), Sen (1991) and Rukuni and Eicher (1988) that poverty is the major cause of famine and hunger in the world. While Reutlinger and Selowsky challenged the assumption that higher rates of economic growth, food production, and market forces bring about an improvement in nutrition in the Third World within an acceptable time frame, Sen challenged the prevailing view that famine was caused primarily by a food production shortfall. As a result, people resorted to food production as one of the strategies to supplement their low income and to generate income. While for the majority of Lubumbashi farmers, urban agriculture is just a secondary activity, for others it is a primary activity and for a very small category of farmers, urban agriculture is a source of enrichment.

Urban agriculture as a secondary source of food: the Ngoy household

Ngoy household represents the majority of farming households interviewed (77%) for which urban agriculture is a secondary activity. Therefore, food production is a supplement to the low income earned by the household. The urban poor practice several activities for their survival. And urban agriculture is one among many others.

Married and a father of six children, Ngoy is a 49-year-old man, and is working at a Chinese’s store. His wife (Kakazi Ngoy) sells vegetables on the market which are grown on the backyard garden. With US$ 15 earned per month, Ngoy complained to be unable to feed his family:

Low household income is one of the reasons invocated by urban poor to explain their engagement in food production. To supplement the low salary earned and to reduce the severity of economic crisis, Ngoy encouraged his wife in 1993 to use the vacant land surrounding their yard in order to grow vegetables.

Our yard does not have enough space to grow vegetables. But around the yard, there is vacant land to be used for agricultural activities. So, I asked my wife to use it for the growing of some vegetables. Our neighbours have been doing so for a long time. She accepted because it was the only way to survive.

As it appears, low income households exploit any vacant land in the city in order to produce food. Since vegetables are grown around the yard, Ngoy household does not buy vegetables anymore. By contrast, instead of buying bitoyo (local salted fishes) and ndakala (small fried fish) as main condiment in the household, Ngoy household has adopted vegetables as the main accompaniment. By replacing fish with vegetables, the Ngoy household standard of life is declining. Vegetables are generally consumed to accompany fish and not as a substitute.

By alternating the growing of vegetables all over the year, farming households aim to secure their members from bad harvest due to a climate change or bad harvest of one crop. Alternating crops is like diversifying crops on one garden or farm. The advantage diversification of crops is to reduce the risk of shortage as a downturn in one activity is offset to some extent by the continued production of others.” Explaining the reason why his wife alternates the growing of vegetables on the same garden, Ngoy stated:
My wife grows amaranth, sweet potato leaves and marrow leaves in rain season primarily for home consumption, but those (cabbages) grown on dry season are primarily sold even though the family consumes part of the produce.

Ngoy household as well as many other households in this category are self-sufficient in vegetables. They have different kinds of vegetables they cultivate. When there is a surplus of production, the surplus is sold.

My wife sells vegetables on the market. Sometimes people come to our house to buy vegetables. When she sells well, the family can afford two maize meals a day. Generally, we eat once a day.

The growing of vegetables or their selling does not solve the problem of malnutrition. Instead of sleeping on an empty stomach, urban farming allows poor household members to get one or two more meals a day. Despite the contribution of vegetables in the household’s diet, Ngoy acknowledged that his household’s living conditions have not yet improved.
In summary, households falling into Ngoy household’s category undertake agricultural activities to supplement their low income by using various strategies namely reduction of expenditures on food, reduction of the quantity and quality of meals, suppression of some kinds of meals (meat, potatoes, rice, etc) and increasing the number of meals during the harvest period. Unfortunately, the majority of these strategies are survivalist.

Urban agriculture as a primary source of food: the Kilambe household

Kilambe household represents the 3 per cent of households selected, which were able through urban agriculture to feed their members for the entire year, and also the 6 per cent who did so for only six months. It must be added that the majority of the households interviewed were food secure only during the harvest period (3 to 4 months). Households falling into this household category are those who practice urban agriculture as the primary activity for food production and income generation.
Kashika Kilambe has been living in the city of Lubumbashi since 1970. She is a 55 year-old-woman. She is a married woman and has got seven children of whom two are already married. But two of her husband’s nephews and her own sisters live with them. Her husband worked at TabaCongo, but has been retrenched in 1999. Since then, she has become the main food producer and supplier of the family. Like many other households, Kilambe explained the reason of her engagement in food production:

I decided to grow vegetables on the back of our yard in 1993. There was food shortage in the city, particularly maize flour. The scarcity of maize flour was coupled with the scarcity of money because of the monetary reform, which occurred that year. It became tough to feed our big family. I undertook to grow vegetables on the backyard to get fresh vegetables (sweet potato leaves and amaranth, marrow leaves and, I even sold part of my vegetables.

The growing of vegetables in the backyard permitted the household to reduce the severity of food insecurity and, at the same time to reduce the expenditures on foodstuffs. But urban agriculture remained for this household a secondary source of food for as long as Kilambe’s husband was still working at TabaCongo. But from 1999 when Kilambe’s husband lost his job, urban agriculture became the principal source of food for the household. The backyard garden’s experience helped Kilambe to grow maize crop at the periphery of the city. She stated:

A friend of mine who was growing maize crop along Lubumbashi-Kipushi road encouraged me to start growing maize. I decided to do so. My experience in growing vegetables in the backyard was helpful for the growing of maize. The first year I produced only 3 sacs of maize (50kg). The following year (2001) with the help of my husband and children, the production tripled. I realized (9 sacs). Now I am able to produce 12 sacs of maize.

What started as a survivalist activity (on the backyard) has transformed into a real economic activity which produces not only food but also income, and therefore implicated much more members of the household (husband and children). Also, as much more space was needed for the extension of the agricultural activities, the periphery of the city offered the space needed for maize farming. While the main objective remained feeding the household members, the quantity of maize produced (12 sacs) allowed Kilambe to sell part of her produce.

Of 12 sacks of maize I produce annually, the family consumes 8 sacs because the four others are sold in order to generate an income which helps to meet the rest of family needs. It is not enough but it is much better than nothing. My family members can afford two maize meals a day.

Although the growing of maize brought a lot of benefits in terms of food and money, the Kilambe household did not abandon cultivating vegetables. On the contrary, the household rotated different types of vegetables, such as amaranth, cassava, marrow and sweet potato leaves and cabbages. Diversification and rotation of crops allow poor households to get food all over the year and to reduce risks of one crop production. As she acknowledged:

As you can see, I grow maize along Kipushi road and vegetables on backyard. In rain season I grow amaranth, sweet potato, marrow and cassava leaves and in dry season I cultivate cabbages.

The expenditures on foodstuffs have been drastically reduced, which means that as the household allocates less money to buy foodstuffs, the surplus money from food selling can be allocated to other needs of the household.

My family does not anymore buy maize flour and vegetables on the market. Sometimes I don’t know how much they cost on the market.

Even though Kilambe recognizes that her maize farm supplies the essential of food to the household, this is not enough to feed every member of the household at all times. Instead of three meals per day (breakfast, lunch and dinner), for example, the Kilambe household members get two meals a day.

To sum up, Kilambe household grows food crops as a strategy to fight against hunger. In order to increase the production, the household incorporates all members at a certain age, diversifies and rotates crops. Food production in the Kilambe household has reduced expenditures on food stuffs, but what is produced is not yet enough to cover all household needs. Additionally, household means being limited, therefore, a survival urban agriculture is the dominant type of farming practiced in this category of households.

Urban agriculture as source of enrichment: the Kadony household

Kadony household is part of the very rare farming households primarily engaged in food cultivation for commercial reasons. This household is an example of success in the practice of cultivation which started in the city to be extended later on in the rural areas.

Kadony is a senior lecturer at the University of Lubumbashi. He is married and a father of several children, Kadony engaged in the growing of maize, peanut, cabbages, onion and sweet potatoes for several reasons, namely; to supplement the low salary earned, to supply food to his household, and to finance his doctoral research. As he stated:

I have been cultivating since 1989. I started growing maize plant and later on peanut for home consumption. In 1989, I produced 8 bags of maize.

Considering the high level of profitability of peanut crop, Kadony household decided to produce much more. The result was far above his expectation.

1992-93, I produced 60 bags of peanut. After the selling, I was able to buy a return air ticket (Lubumbashi-Kinshasa) to meet with my supervisor for the follow-up of my thesis. I was in need of it. The purchase of a return air ticket and my stay in Kinshasa cost almost $US 2000. My salary at that time was tenfold less.

After the academic issue was solved, Kadony household decided later on to buy a second hand car as a unit of production for the household. The $US 3000 used to buy the car came from the selling of peanuts. Since then, the household does not experience food shortage.

In the three sources of household expenditures envisaged in Freidmann’s (1992) model of household economy, the buying of a car is a durable investment even though it is not directly affected to commercial use. In a case of crisis, the car may be sold and the money may help the household to move out the crisis. The acquisition of a second hand car increased the social status of the Kadony household.

In 1998, I bought a second hand car for commercial purpose. It cost $US 3000. Since then, my salary has become a secondary source of income in the household. It may be paid or not, I always have enough food to feed my household members and enough money to cover other needs of the household.

By buying a car for commercial purpose from the selling of agricultural products, the Kadony household like many households in this category increased the productivity of his farms by expanding the activities and hiring workers.

The food secure Kadony household shows that urban agriculture can move a household out of poverty, and more importantly this activity can become a sustainable livelihood strategy. However, very few households may be included in the category of the Kadony household.

To show how important urban agriculture is for his household, senior lecturer Kadony has been expending his agricultural activities outside the city.

It can be deduced from the above statement that the sustainability of urban agriculture is mostly dependent on the availability of land as agricultural activities expand, and also on material and financial support from government and development agencies.

Household strategies to food insecurity

From the three categories of households, it must be retained that urban households respond to food insecurity by using various ways. These vary from incorporating household members into food production to reducing the quantity and quality of meals. The multiplicity of strategies reduces the impact of food insecurity on the household. The table that follows illustrates both viable and survivalist as household strategies to food insecurity.

Table 1: Summary of household strategies to food insecurity

Viable strategies

Survivalist strategies

-Incorporating household members

-Diversifying food crops

-Rotating vegetable crops

-Attributing specific role to each crop (food, income generation)

-Eating sweet potatoes as food bridge

-Reducing the quantity and number of meals per day

-Suppressing some types of meals (meat, rice)

-Replacement of staple food (maize meal) by sweet potatoes

-Making vegetables as main condiments

-Elimination of some foods (meat, fish, etc)

-Eating late at night

Source: author’s fieldwork 2004/2005

Source: author’s fieldwork 2004/2005

The above table indicates that farming households use their members with an objective to increase the production. Kilambe for example, recognized that the engagement of her husband and children was helpful to triple the maize production from 3 bags (50kg) in 2000 to 9 bags in 2001. The increase permitted the household members to get two maize meals a day. Households often move from backyard to the periphery of the city or use land in the surrounding villages to expand their activities. The size of a plot determines the production.

The diversification of crops as well as the rotation system was practiced. On one plot two or three crops were grown. Maize crop might be the main crop, but was often associated with two other crops such as, beans and vegetables or peanut and vegetables. In the rainy season, households grew specific types of vegetables such as amaranth, beans, cassava leaves and sweet potato leaves, while in the dry season cabbages were the most cultivated.

Also, crop like peanut was specifically grown for commercial reasons irrespective of the quantity produced while vegetables were primarily grown for home consumption, but could also be sold. Maize crop was produced for both reasons: home consumption and income generation. Sweet potatoes played a major role in Lubumbashi residents’ diet during the period of food shortage.

On nutrition level, households were able to eat two to three maize meals a day during the harvest period. Three to four months later, only one maize meal was affordable by the majority of the households interviewed. When the household could not afford more than one meal a day, the time to eat the only one meal was late in the night (around 22:00).

The predominance of vegetables in Lubumbashi residents’ diet as the principal condiment was also one of the strategies used to reduce the impact of food shortage and high food prices in the household. As already pointed out, some foods (meat, fish, chips and omelet) were eaten only at special events (birth, marriage and death). The elimination of these expensive foods allowed poor households to survive.

To sum up, while some household strategies are viable and therefore sustainable (incorporating all household members, diversifying crops), others are just survival for (food reduction, replacement of maize meal by other kinds of meals such as beans and sweet potatoes, and the predominance of vegetables as substitute to fish and meat.

Gender in food and income generation

In the context of economic crisis characterized by growing unemployment and low income in public administration, the household plays a major role in the supply of food and income generation. The dominant presence of women in urban agriculture can be explained by the fact that women are often considered as caregivers and managers of household.

In the absence of salary or with a very little salary earned by their husbands (see Kilambe and Ngoy households), women are the ones who are supposed to generate an income and provide food to their households. They undertake, therefore, multiple tasks from planting food crops to selling agricultural products on the market. As stated by Van Esterik (1999), women’s sense of self is based on their ability to feed their families. This is to say that women loose their power and identity when they lack access to food.

Instead of losing their power and identity as caregivers and managers of the household, women are ready, in addition to their domestic chores, to undertake agricultural activities to supply food to their household members and to generate income. Two selected women of Bongonga area gave the following reasons to justify their engagement if food production:

My husband has lost his job, the only source of income. What you want me to do? I have to do something. If not, my children will die. I have to grow vegetables: beans, potatoes and marrow and sell part of the production.

With only $US 10 my husband earns per month, I cannot feed my family. I have got 8 children. I also keep nephews at home. To supplement my husband’s salary, I keep chickens and plant vegetables and maize.

Most of the women interviewed have recognized that their production was not enough to cover all the food needs in the household. Nevertheless, in the situation of food shortage, the only one maize meal consumed on daily basis is a sacrifice made by a woman. Whatever the quality or quantity of food consumed in the household, a meal means not only food, but also capacity for a woman to keep her family members alive and to prevent them from begging.

We generally eat once a day. Sometimes twice a day, but I am proud because I am the one who provides the one meal in the household. I cannot allow my children to become beggars (Interview 63, February 2005).

By participating to the production of food in the household and becoming the central producer and provider, the woman reinforces her status in the household. In the meantime, men are losing their position of head of the household. Women tend to decide on the way production must be used.

I don’t expect clothes from my husband. If he is not able to provide food to the family, you think he can be able to buy clothes. I buy clothes during the harvest time when I sell part of my maize (Interview 25, January 2005).

Women reinforce their status in the household not only by supplying food, but also by deciding on the allocation of the household income. As noted before, the reinforcement of women’s status in the household undermines men’s status. Sometimes this brings conflict in the household where men like to keep their position as head of the household. One of the respondents said;

Since I have been cultivating, I manage the household income. But my husband accuses me of not consulting him as head of the family. He does not know my priorities. When I get money, I like to solve the most important problems in the household for example, food, rent, and water and electricity bills. Sometimes he understands, sometimes he does not (Interview 79, November 2004).

Change of women’s status in a context of patriarchal system can be source of conflict. Since women have been having more power to decide, men feel powerless and tend to leave all the burden of the household to their wives. They explain their behaviour by the fact women want to rule the household, so they have to take all the responsibilities. A teacher did complain as follows:

I am a teacher. I earn $US 20 per month if I add the $US 10 I monthly receive as parents’ contribution to school. I supply food to family just for one week. The family depends on my wife’s activities. She grows vegetables and sells on the market. The problem is that she is the decision-maker in the household. I don’t see my place anymore. She has even forgotten the period I was supplied everything in the family, when I was working at Forrest Company (Interview 62, March 2005).

The significant contribution of women to reduce food insecurity at household level has the advantage to reinforce their status, but on the other hand it constitutes a burden on their shoulders. Loss of control over household income makes men powerless. As a consequence, family pressure is now more directed towards women than towards men. As one woman supported by World Vision International/Congo declared:

From 8:00 am to 4:00 pm I am at my maize farm. When I come back home, I have to cook and clean the house. I don’t have a domestic worker. I do everything myself. That is the reason why I am always tired. The only days I have a rest are Saturdays and Sundays.

Urban farming has become more central for the survival of households that some women work so hard they even sacrifice their own health. Petit’s survey (2001) conducted in the city of Lubumbashi showed that women’s contribution to the household income was very insignificant when the giant mining company (Gécamines) and other companies operating in its orbit were paying their employees. Unfortunately, the more economic crisis deepened the more women’s contribution to their household becomes central survival means particularly in food supply and income generation.

Conclusion

In the context of economic crisis with a weak state, the household economy is already becoming a response to food insecurity. The practice of cultivation in the city of Lubumbashi has rendered almost all selected households self-sufficient in vegetables through the techniques of diversification, rotation, and alternation all along the year.

Temporary food security (harvest) has also been observed concerning maize. During that period, two to three maize meals a day become possible. But it must be added that only very few households became food secure for the entire year (the Kadony household). The case of Kilambe household is in between the Kadony and the Ngoy household. While through urban agriculture Kadony household succeeded to move out of food insecurity, the Ngoy standard of life continued declining. Kilambe did not necessarily move out of food insecurity, but his condition was not declining. This category of households may become food secure and move out of poverty if a financial support is given to them. Therefore, the role of the government and development agencies is crucial. The case of urban agriculture in Great Gaborone (Botwsana), which through grants received from the government became an entrepreneurial activity, is illustrative (Hovorka, 2004).

References

Annual report of the agricultural service/Katanga province: 2002-2003 Denzin, Norman K. (1978). Research act: A theoretical introduction to sociological Methods. New york: Mcgraw-Lill
Feige, Edgar (1989). The underground economies: Tax evasion and information distortion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Fobre, Nancy (1994). Who pays for the kids? Gender and the structures of constraint. London: Routledge
Friedmann, John (1992). Empowerment: The politics of alternative development. Cambridge, Massachussets: Blakwell
Hill, M.R. (1993). Archival strategies and techniques: Qualitative research Methods Series. London: Sage
Hovorka, A.J. (2004). “Entrepreneurial opportunities in Botswana: (Re) shaping Urban Agriculture discourse”. In Journal of Contemporary African Studies, volume 22, number 3
Leedy, P.D. (1989). Practical research: Planning and design. Fifth edition. London:MacMillan
MacGaffey, Janet et all. (1991). The real economy of Zaire: The Contribution of Smuggling and Other Unofficial Activities to National Wealth. London: James Currey
Martinussen, John (1997). Society, State and market: a Guide to Competing Theories of Development. London: Zen
Petit, Pierre (2001). Lubumbashi 2000: La situation des ménages dans une économie de précarité. Lubumbashi: Observatoire de changement urbain
Polanyi, Karl (1977). The Livelihood of Man. New York: Academic
Reutlinger, Shlomo and Selowsky, Marcelo (1976). Malnutrition and poverty. [s.I]: Johns Hopkins University Press
Sawio, J.C. (1994). Who are the farmers of Dar es Salaam? In Cities Feeding People: an Examination of Urban Agriculture in East Africa. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre.
Sen, Amartya Kumar (1991). Poverty and famines: An essay on entitlement and deprivation. Oxford: Clarendon Press
United Nations Development Program (2006). Case study: The Democratic Republic of Congo World Bank (1986)

KM & Social Challenges

Food price increases; is a practical, comprehensive government response possible?

storytelling — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 04:56:12 -0600

By : Josephilda Nhlapo-Hlope , Chief Policy Analyst , Policy Advisory and Coordinating Services Unit, Presidency, South Africa

Introduction and Background

This paper discusses the food price crises of the first/second/third quarter of 2008. It briefly outlines trends and reasons for the rising food prices, the impact and then suggests appropriate practical measures to alleviate the impact on the poor and generally increasing food security at a household and country level.

Whilst this is a food price crises impacting negatively on access especially for the poor, the response for South Africa is three fold, enhancing job creating/inclusive economic growth, cushioning the poor and enabling the agriculture sector within South Africa to be more productive. This paper concentrates on the two latter responses because the government of South Africa has a program called Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA), a set of concrete economic proposals aimed to tackle directly constraints to inclusive growth. According to its 2009 annual report much has been achieved since ASGISA was launched in 2006.

Macroeconomy: Unemployment fell from over 31% in 2003 to around 22% by late 2008. Poverty also decreased in this period, due to the expansion of social grants and higher levels of employment. Economic growth averaged over 5% from 2004 to 2007, only to be curtailed first by the electricity emergency and then by global economic meltdown.
Infrastructure Investment: Gross Fixed Capital Formation averaged 22% of GDP by 2008, up from 15% in 2004.
Governance: The review of DFI’s has been completed, and recommendations of how to increase the efficiency and efficacy of DFI’s in driving the development agenda were made. The Competition Commission capacity has been strengthened and more and more cartels and other anti-competitive behaviour unearthed; a programme to curtail red tape in municipalities is also gathering momentum. Siyenza Manje and Project Consolidate programmes have strengthened weaker municipalities, and areas where the public service needs further strengthening have been identified.
Skills: The Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa) has been declared in all quarters as one of the most successful skills interventions in South Africa and will be incorporated into the widely consulted and recently approved Human Resource Development Strategy.
The Marginalised: The lives of many young people have been transformed though initiatives such as the Umsobomvo Youth Fund and the National Youth Service (NYS) and the Expanded Public Works Programme has made a real impact. Programmes such as the Community Work Programme, show promise by providing guaranteed income while at the same time enabling the poor to improve or beautify their surroundings and build community cohesion.
Industrial Strategy: Through the Industrial Policy Framework, jobs were created in the three top priority sectors in AsgiSA – tourism, BPO and biofuels – and progress was made in developing policy frameworks as well as providing limited and targeted subsidies. All three sectors grew considerably, but there is much room for further growth…...
There already exists a tri-partite response to the global economic meltdown anchored on principles such as protection of the poor and vulnerable and growing the economy to create decent jobs. (ASGISA annual report 2008/2009)

The unsaid thesis of the paper is that it is the poorest that suffer most from price shocks and that global trade cannot be relied upon completely for food security for all the country’s citizens in spite of rules and institutions put in place. It therefore is important for countries like South Africa to:

embark more vigorously on poverty alleviation strategies anchored on inclusive growth hence ASGISA
invest in agriculture for increased food production. South Africa has a comparative advantage in some types of agriculture production and thus government and the private sector must invest in reducing constraints to increased production and increased efficiencies.

The paper draws heavily from research done by the South African Government Departments such as the Department of Agriculture, the National Agriculture Marketing Council and quasi government bodies such as the Competition Commission and various other briefs written by international organisations such as the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Profile of food price increases

Food price inflation at a global level reached crisis proportions with high food prices leading to unrest in countries such as Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Haiti as well as demonstrations in South Africa, Kenya, Bolivia etc. The World Bank puts food price increases from January 2002 to third quarter of 2008 at 140%, with a 45% increase in the latter 9 months alone (FAO). At that time FAO further forecasted that the cereal import bill of the world’s poorest countries would rise by 56 percent or more in 2007/2008 due to the sharp rise in international cereal prices, freight rates and oil prices.

As seen from the graphs below food prices increased and peaked in 2008.

Figure : Nominal Global Cereal price trends,
Source: NAMC January Quarterly Bulletin (adapted from FAO)

Maize from which the South African staple food “porridge” is made, peaked at US$ 294.18/ton in June 2008, decreased to US$ 158.36/ton in December 2008 only to increase again to US$176.42 in January 2009. (NAMC 2009).

Wheat the main ingredient for bread, peaked at US$ 481.50/ton in March 2008, decreased to US$ 235.25/ton in December 2008, i.e. a decrease of 51.14 %, only to increase to US$ 256.4/ton January 2009. (NAMC 2009)

Rice price peaked at US$ 962.60/ton in May 2008; by December 2008 prices had decreased steeply by 39.54% to increase again in January 2009 to reach US$176.42. (NAMC 2009).

Though there has been a decrease in food price and food price inflation, food prices are sticky downwards. Conceicao and Mendoza (2009) show that for cereals, 2009 prices are way above their 10 year averages. As of March/April 2009:

maize prices are 43% above its ten-year average;
wheat prices were 31% above its ten-year average;
rice price is 49% above its ten-year average (Conceicao/Mendoza 2009)

Indeed in spite of the decrease in food price inflation, for many countries as table one below shows, food inflation is still above ordinary inflation. We therefore dare not be complacent, policies and programmes should be put in place now to enhance food security at a household level and country level.

Table : Country Comparison of Food Inflation v.s Overall Inflation

Country	Month	Overall inflation (%)	Food inflation (%)
Botswana	December 2008	13.7	24.9
South Africa	January 2009	8.1	16.1
China	January 2009	1.0	4.2
Turkey	January 2009	9.5	11.5
Canada	January 2009	1.1	7.3
Brazil	January 2009	6.1	8.6
United States	January 2009	0.4	5.3
United Kingdom	January 2009	3.0	10.2
Australia	December 2008	3.7	5.6

Source: NAMC adapted from Central banks and statistics reporting institutions of these countries, as well as press

Meat prices did not behave differently and prices today are still above 2007 price levels.
See figure 2 below which illustrates that the price of beef increased to US$ 4 940/ton in November 2008. Between November 2007 and November 2008 it increased, by 14.33 %. The price of pig meat fluctuated around US$ 2 100/ton between mid 2005 and early 2008, and increased by 17.77 % between October 2007 and October 2008. The price of poultry meat has been increasing steadily since mid 2006, but decreased by US$ 286/ton between September 2008 and October 2008. It increased by 21.99 % year-on-year ending October 2008”. (NAMC February 2009 quarterly review p.g .12)

Figure : Nominal Global Meat Prices
Source: NAMC January Quarterly Bulletin (adapted from FAO)

Many countries responded to the high food prices by either banning food exports, or increasing tariffs on imports of food thereby worsening the food price crisis by reducing the supply available. Experts wrongly projected that there will be little relief from high commodity and food prices in the short to medium term. However with the sharp decline in raw commodity prices, generally lower transportation costs, a softening demand for more expensive food items, and the lower demand for bio fuel food crops as crude oil price fall, price inflation has fallen.

How global trends are transmitted to South Africa

These global trends impact directly on South Africa because South Africa deregulated and liberalized its agricultural and food sector in the mid 1990s, and introduced trading in the futures market i.e. South African Futures Exchange SAFEX. Factors that determine the price in SAFEX include:

The international price. Even the price of domestically produced maize is impacted upon by the international market.
The exchange rate – the ZAR is unstable against the dollar, very volatile,
Local production (influenced by weather conditions and hectares planted)
Local consumption (usually fairly constant)
Production levels in the South African Development Community region. Levels at a regional level are currently not looking good. Prospects for imports from South Africa are increasing. (South Africa is generally the main source of white maize for these countries in times of shortage).
Stock levels (both domestically and internationally) – International stocks for wheat declined by 16 percent; maize by 0.8 percent (very small) and domestic stocks for maize are about 1.06 million tons compared to a long term average of 2.8 million tons in 2008. Stock rebounded a bit because of the food price hike mainly in developed countries.The 2008 planting season cereal output is estimated 12.3% higher in developed countries, and only 2.3 % higher in developing countries. This is due to the production constraints pertaining in developing countries and volatility of the prices making long term investment decisions difficult. (Conceicao/Mendoza 2009).

Price increases for the commodities (except vegetables) that make up a large percentage of the food basket of the poor are summarised in table 1 below. As shown below the three main items driving inflation are wheat, sunflower (oil and fats) and to some extent dairy.

Table : Price changes in food mostly consumed by the poor.

Commodity	June 07 to Feb 08 % change	Feb 07 to Feb 08 % change	Jan 08 to Jan 09 % change
Wheat products/ bread	26.79%	31.98%	29.51 %
SAFEX Wheat R/ton	52.97%	103.85%	-13.37 %.
Maize products (mealie meal)	6.73%	22.54%	8.59%
Maize (SAFEX) R/ton	1.02%	13.16%	1.20%
Cooking Oil	66.67%	71.67%	28.90%
Sunflower Oil, fats margarine	39.36%	44.08%	43.6 %
SAFEX Sunflower R/ton	49.65%	85.69%	-12.29 %
Average meat	10.25%	13.13%	7.88 %
Full cream 1 litre	12.98%	31.59%	5.21%
Full cream long life 1 litre	19.21%	32.29%	-5.86%
Eggs 18s extra large	9.17%	16.97%	26.49%

Source: Adapted from STATSA, NAMC and AC Nielson

Reasons for high food inflation especially of wheat

The high food spikes were due to a combination of factors which alone would not have fuelled the price increases but because they happened simultaneously, they together set the conditions for “a perfect storm” in terms of food price increases. The increases in agricultural commodity prices on the international market can be attributed, but not necessarily restricted to (i) competing demands; the lower availability of grains for human consumption because of biofuel production and animal feed (ii) unfavourable climatic conditions for the production of grain in major grain producing and exporting countries, (iii) trade restrictions that were imposed by major grain exporting countries, such as Argentina, (iv) increasing energy and fuel costs making transport of grains more expensive, and (v) potential misuse of market power on the input and output sides of the agro-food chains. Each factor is discussed in detail below.

Competing demands

South Africa does not use food crops to produce biofuel, but at a global level according to the World Bank, 11% of global maize production and 7% of global vegetable oil supplies were used to produce bio fuel. The high and increasing demand for biofuels, was fuelled by high crude oil prices, legislation, and incentives pertaining in many of the major grain producing countries and this has negative effects on the production of grain for human and animal consumption in two ways. (i)Less land is available for ploughing grain as farmers re enticed to switch to alternative biofuel crops. (ii) Maize and oil seed is used to produce bio fuels instead of being made available for humans. So in spite of the fact that there is an increase in maize production globally, the increase is offset by the even greater demand for biofuel. “Global maize production increased 55 million tons from 2004 to 2007 according to the USDA and biofuel use in the U.S. increased 50 million tons. Global consumption for all other uses increased 33 million tons, which caused global stocks to decline by 27 million tons and maize prices to more than double” (World Bank note on rising food prices pg 5.)

Another competing demand is the use of oil seed for animal feed. The increase in prosperity mainly in India and China has increased the demand for animal protein and thus may have contributed marginally (according to the World Bank) to the increase in prices of oilseed from which both cooking oil for human consumption and oil cakes for animal feed are produced.

Reduced food availability at a global level

According to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in 2006, global cereal stocks—especially wheat—were at their lowest levels since the early 1980s. The reduction in food stock available for trading in international markets was a product of unfavourable weather patterns and a reduction in land available for planting wheat. For example the combination of the 2006 and 2007 Australia drought and poor cropping season in the European Union and the Ukraine reduced exports by 19.2 million tons at a global level. It was however the policy responses of major food exporters that fuelled the increase in food prices. Trade restrictions that were imposed by major grain exporting countries, such as Argentina who early last season closed registration for new export orders of grains and oilseeds as well as increased their export taxes (from 10% to 35% on various grains) to curb food inflation in the run up for the elections. In June 2007 Australia changed the Wheat Marketing act to include the right to veto bulk wheat export applications. Australia established a new company AusWheat to oversee and control bulk wheat exports in a single desk arrangement that operate a pool system. China introduced value-added tax as well as temporary taxes on wheat exports during December and January 2008 to restrain exports. Export restrictions were also exercised by India, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia and the Ukraine. Even Zambia in March 2007, put an export ban on grains to ensure that it has enough grain for the season. Brazil and the USA livestock producers have lobbied for export taxes to counter their local rising feed costs.

The shortage and rise in global prices has impacted directly from South Africa directly since domestic prices are a function of global prices (see section 2) and indirectly as South Africa animal feed buyers faced difficulty this past season in sourcing grain from its traditional supplier, Argentina, to prevent potential grain shortages

Increased input costs

The production of food requires a range of fertilizers. The price of natural gas and petroleum is one of the biggest components in the production of ammonia and potash (fertiliser components). Crude oil prices had at some points soared nearly 70%. This means that not only the cost of producing the inputs has risen, but in addition the costs of transporting these input to farms and the grains from where they are farmed and stored to where they are processed and sold has increased.

Potential abuse of market power on the input and output sides of the agro-food chain (mainly a South African phenomena).

A study done by the competition commission on grain point to that farmers’ margins are squeezed as they face buyer power from processors and also face high input costs. Thus in spite of the high prices, farmers are not necessarily the beneficiaries and thus not incentivised to increase production and thus increase food availability. Consumers on the other hand, face prices that are not necessarily determined by the market, but through anti competitive behaviour such as price fixing, market allocation and speculation. The high concentration and vertical integration pertaining to the entire value chain of the grain industry facilitates anticompetitive behaviour. While a concentrated market structure does not necessarily mean anticompetitive behaviour, the classic case where Tiger Brands was fined millions for collusion and price fixing is proof that there is anticompetitive behaviour post the farm gate and it is contributing to the high prices and asymmetric price transmission.

Another high profile case of anticompetitive behaviour is the Dairy case. Milk processors are being investigated for market allocation and price fixing as well as playing a “supply stabilising role”. Dairy prices last peaked in the period July-Oct 07. Since then, they have been declining by over 30% on average. However at a retail level dairy products showed a September 07/08 year on year inflation of 10%.

“legal” restrictions

The USA had surplus yellow maize grain stocks but SA suppliers could not procure from the US because of the present limitations put by the SA GMO legislation. South Africa Industry was then forced to use white maize for animal feed and processing. This situation almost led to an absolute shortage on maize in the country during January and February 2008.

Electricity Crises

Electricity is vital for the maintenance of the cold chain and for irrigation. Farmers lost crops in early January when the crisis was at its highest and irrigation could not be done. (Load shedding was erratic and at its maximum as ESKOM attempted to stabilise the system) A lot of perishable food had to be discarded. Both these factors led to shortages and an increase in the price.

Conclusion

It must be emphasized that none of these factors on their own would have led to the price spike we see. The good crop in USA, Kazakhstan and Argentina offset the decline brought about by the drought in Australia and the bad cropping season in Ukraine and the EU. What caused the price hike therefore is a combination of all these factors. An additional factor being debated amongst analyst is the impact of increased population, urbanisation and increase in wealth. There is the IFPRI school of thought which suggests that urbanization and increase in global incomes contributed to the price increase by increasing demand for food. This thesis is also supported by some leading analysts in South Africa who assert that population growth and a rising middle class increased demand and because of the constraints in supply both domestically and globally, this also contributed to the price spike. However there are other statistics that point to the fact that demand especially for grain remained relatively stable in South Africa, and therefore the increase in wealth and population could not have necessarily caused an increase in price. The World Bank which has gone even further and attempted to quantify the contribution of each of these factors to global price increases seems not to support the thesis that increased global incomes led to an increase in price of food. “Rapid income growth in developing countries has not led to large increases in global grain consumption and was not a major factor responsible for the large grain price increases” (World Bank note on rising food prices pg 10).

Impact of high food prices

As table below shows lower income levels spend a greater proportion of their income on food and thus are impacted the most by high food prices. As table 3 shows, LSM1 1 spend over 71% of their income on food, compared to the 11% of LSM 10.

Table : % expenditure on food by LSM

Main expenditure group

LSM 1

(poor)

LSM 6

LSM 10

(richest)

Food

4 284.01

70.81

17 235.54

24.18

37 072.65

(Adapted from Food scoping exercise: competition commission)

Food items most consumed by the lowest income quintile are grain products maize meal and bread, meat, vegetables, sugar, fats and cooking oil and dairy and eggs. (see table 4)

Table : types of food spend by LSM category

Main food group	LSM 1 %	LSM 6 %	LSM 10 %
Grain products	32.9	15.8	9.6
Meat products	37.4	35.1	27.8
Fish products	0.3	2.6	3.3
Fats & oils	3.7	3.3	2.3
Milk products & eggs	3.3	8.0	9.4
Vegetables	13.1	11.9	9.4
Fruit & nuts	0.9	4.3	6.2
Sugar products	4.1	3.7	3.6
Non-alcoholic beverages	2.7	3.6	5.4
Miscellaneous food	1.6	5.2	6.1
Prepared food	-	6.5	16.9
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0

(Adapted from Food scoping exercise: competition commission)

As discussed earlier the main drivers of food inflation are grain (wheat and maize) as well as oil. According to table 3 above, these three food items alone constitute about 36% of the entire food bill of the poorest households.

It is these households that are challenged in terms of access to food even before the food price crises and the crises made it worse. According to the National Agriculture Marketing Council households in poorest households needed 22% additional income to maintain status quo whilst the richest household only .5% of their income.

Chronic hunger is still prevalent as exhibited by the high wasting and stunting incidence (see table 4). “Children most affected are those living in rural areas and African children are 5 times more likely than white children to exhibit signs of malnutrition and inadequate access to food……Children from the poorest 10% of households are 3 times more underweight and 8 times more stunted than children from the highest 10% income households.2

Table 5: Provincial stunting rates3

Province	E. Cape	Free State	Gauteng	KZN	North West	Mpumalanga	Limpopo	W. Cape
2002 Poverty incidence	27.9%	20.3%	7.9%	18.9%	21.9%	20.0%	23.5%	8.5%
Stunting %	31.5	25.2	18.2	24.6	23.4	19.5	27.2	16.5

Source: food scoping exercise competition commission)

South African children also suffer from a lack of micro nutrients deficiencies with average daily intake of energy, calcium, iron, zinc, selenium, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin C, vitamin E, riboflavin, niacin, and vitamin B6 below 65% of the daily recommended allowance. So whilst basic food stuffs are fortified, the high food price of bread for example means the impact of efforts will be minimal.

Studies show that when the poor are faced with high price increases they either eat less or move to less value more bulky food items, thus increasing general morbidity as poor nutrition compromises the immune system even of a healthy individual. Chronic malnutrition retards growth (physically and intellectual) and hunger makes it impossible for children to concentrate at school and for adults to be productive at work, in addition a healthy diet is an important prerequisite to antiviral medication or even living positively.

Impact of high and rising food prices on inflation and various anti poverty strategies

Food contributes about 20% to the CPIX. High inflation (above the 4%-6% target range), forces the reserve bank to increase interest rates, an instrument at the Bank’s disposal for curbing inflation, it also puts an upward pressure on wages as workers attempt to maintain constant real wages and living standards. High interest rates have the negative effect of reducing aggregate demand and growth.

At a household level, high food prices reduce disposable income i.e. the buying power of consumers including vulnerable consumers that depend on social security grants. It is well documented that grants are used mainly on food followed by fuel and housing. High food costs therefore means that an even higher proportion of income will be used on food, reducing the income available for paying for services such as clean water, reducing income available for investing in income generating activities like job seeking, or even in education.

High food prices impact negatively on government programmes. For example, high food prices inflate the cost of the Integrated School Nutrition Programme meaning less children can be fed, or schools have to resort to cheaper but less nutritious food.

On a positive note however, increased prices can serve as incentives for farmers to produce more impacting positively also on the programmes of government for encouraging the entry and growth of formally disadvantaged farmers. The increased production can add a further boost to the Agroprocessing sector strategies of the industrial strategy. However this assumes a market that is able to respond. Competition issues, inadequate infrastructure (poor agrologistics and irrigation Infrastructure), and increased threat of global warming may mean that farmers may not be able to appropriately respond to the price incentives.

Suggested response

Important principles anchoring the suggested policy response include:
Any measures to alleviate the current impact of high food prices should account for the dualistic nature of the agricultural sector. On the one hand South Africa has a large number of subsistence and small-scale farmers that have to date not been able to produce surpluses of such proportions that it can be absorbed into the mainstream agriculture. On the other hand, South Africa has a commercial sector that is responsible for producing the majority of commodities that are available for the food processing sector to produce food that is sold in retail outlets across the country. Optimally responses by government should focus on both groups of farmers since asymmetric responses will not address the current challenges the country faces in terms of high food prices.

Public-Private Partnerships must be utilized to address the current food price crises. In this way responsibility is shared and the competencies and areas of influence are leveraged optimally.

Innovative response and research into alternative, environmentally sustainable methods of production is called for. With climate change threatening agricultural capacity, it cannot be business as usual. The elasticity of past supply responses may prove to be a poor guide for the future. Scarcity of water and arable land means that the boom in food prices could last longer than most expect. It is impossible to know yet whether the agricultural market was facing a structural or a cyclical change but we are probably up against a long cycle of rising prices. Limitations facing production still aggravate the situation. Water and land scarcity, together with slow improvement in agronomics, would be key factors shaping food production.
Whilst this is a food price crises impacting negatively on access especially for the poor, the best response for South Africa is three fold, enhancing job creating/inclusive economic growth, cushioning the poor and enabling the agriculture sector within South Africa to be more productive.

As said earlier, this paper concentrates on the two latter responses. The additional advantage of improving the productivity of the agricultural sector is that positive impact on employment and GDP. The agricultural, forestry and fishery sector’s contribution though declining still contributed about 8.1% to employment and 2.4% to GDP in 2006 (Quantec 2008)

Immediate response:

Government sponsored safety-net measures and welfare

Given the risks currently facing vulnerable groups due to the high food prices, it is important that safety net programmes be strengthened and expanded. These programmes are currently under the political leadership of the economic and social cluster. These include:

social welfare grants: the threshold for receiving a state grant was reduced to enable more poor people to have access and inflation related increases were granted. (Social assistance in South Africa is premised on that young able bodies individuals will be able to fend for themselves and thus only the aged, the disabled including those disabled by a chronic disease, poor children under the age of fourteen, and children who live in foster care receive social assistance).
food parcels and starter-packs for household backyard gardens were increased from 70 000 to 140 000 households per annum. The Letsema campaign whereby families in a village are encourage to help each other plough or plant gardens was intensified
School feeding schemes were given a financial boost of R 4billion in the next three years as an attempt that the poorest learners get at least one good meal at school everyday. The departments of education are struggling with trying to ensure that the meals are balanced yet affordable, (guidelines have been issued) and some schools face challenges in that there is inadequate education infrastructure as well as in adequate infrastructure to store food hygienically.

Challenges in implementing all these programmes include administrative inefficiencies in some areas as well as eliminating perceived corrupt practices in the roll-out.

Public/private welfare

Corporate South Africa can be encouraged to donate and distribute basic foodstuffs to vulnerable groups as part of their corporate social investment. In the previous food price hike, corporate South Africa, branded and sold mealie meal at cost in economically depressed localities. “yiyo lena”
Civil Society
Most church organisations run food kitchens generally but most called for increased contributions during the crises.
Organised labour mobilised and marches were held. Alternative research and knowledge was shared by government with Food and Agriculture Workers Union in various fora including at National Economic Development and Labour Council a tripartite social dialogue institution that aims to promote social and economic policies and development

Medium term response

Attempts should be made to improve the productivity, efficiency and profitability of the Agricultural sector. This would include:

Increasing investment in core public goods such as technology, infrastructure and mechanisation
Improving efficiency along the entire food value chain and this would require
broadening the Competition Commission investigations to include input suppliers and storage, commodity traders and retailers. Efforts should go towards removing barriers to entry and participation for smaller industry players in the food value chain so as to enhance competition. In this regard, the support and incentive programmes of the Department of Trade and Industry should be expanded to include the food processing sector
investing in transport and logistics (Spoornet),. This should be done in collaboration with other public and private agricultural industry stakeholders in order to maximise the leveraging of existing tacit knowledge..
Broadening the mandate of the food price monitoring capacity at the agriculture marketing council to include early warning. Government should develop protocols that will be triggered automatically to respond to any crises that reduces the ability of the vulnerable to access food.

Long term initiatives should include

the Development and implementation of an agricultural strategy that will bring about food price stability and sustainably enhance:
- food security,
- farm land productivity including land currently fallow especially in the former homelands,
- exports and employment creation
Effectively negotiating a package at the global level that will benefit farmers from the South.

Is a government response possible?

In South Africa, the:

very concentrated agriculture/food industry
complex land question and dual agriculture system

forces the state to play a very big role to try and put in institutions/policies that will level the playing field for all farmers, thus increasing food production and access to food for the poor as well as protect the poor from negative shocks. The African National Congress has been given a resounding mandate by rural voters because of the promise to concentrate more on rural areas and to focus on enhancing food security. Programmes suggested by the election manifesto include:

Intensifying the land reform programme to ensure that more land is in the hands of the rural poor and will provide them with technical skills and financial resources to productively use the land to create sustainable livelihoods and decent work in rural areas
Expanding agrarian reform programme, which will focus on the systematic promotion of agricultural co-operatives throughout the value chain, including agro-processing in the agricultural areas. Government will develop support measures to ensure more access to markets and finance by small farmers, including fencing and irrigation systems.
Ensuring a much stronger link between land and agrarian reform programmes and water resource allocation and ensure that the best quality of water resources reach all our people, especially the poor. (ANC Manifesto 2009)
Governments will also ensure that the current economic crisis does not deter from investing in farming, farmers and rural areas.

The Competition Commission has embarked on a massive food study across the value chains to attempt to unearth anti competitive behaviour.

There however is a role for all society. Food production is in the main in private hands.
Civil society must continue to agitate to make sure that the poor don’t get a raw deal from the private sector and from government, because in this very globalised world famines or decreased nutrition is rarely not solved by increased food production, even if the problem is food accessibility rather than food availability. Churches and NGOs should continue providing a safety net in any way they can.

Conclusion

There still is an answered question why food price decrease does not immediately translate into cheaper prices at retail level i.e. why are prices so sticky downwards? Is someone along the food chain taking advantage of the food price inelasticity of demand? In South Africa is the concentrated food chain structure beyond the farm providing an enabling environment for sticky prices downwards? A food summit in Johannesburg held early in 2009, tried to answer this enigma. No conclusive answer was reached. So the government will continue to invest in agriculture and land reform for increased food production and hope that an increase in supply will lead to increased food security for all.

The Competition Commission and academia will continue conducting research to facilitate evidenced based solution/policies to deal with food price fluctuations and asymmetric food price transmission. Indeed work has begun by academics such as Cutts and Kirsten. “From our analyses it follows that in agro-food industries with some market concentration there is a high level of asymmetric price transmission. This, however, is considerably lower when the retail product is perishable. The results concur with a priori expectations that retailers and/or processors respond more rapidly when their margins are squeezed than when they are stretched. The ability of processors and retailers to “delay” passing on certain price changes depends among other things on their market power.” https://www.up.ac.za/dspace/bitstream/2263/2714/1/Cutts_Asymmetric(2006).pdf

Selected References

Government of South Africa (www.gov.za)
2008 ASGISA Annual Report
Competition Commission (2008) Food Scoping Exercise
Competition Commission (2008) Food Study
Department of Agriculture (2008) Response to the global food price crisis
National Agriculture Marketing Council: Quarterly Food Price Monitor’ February 2009
National Agriculture Marketing Council: Quarterly Food Price Monitor’ October 2008
Framework Response to the Economic Crises (2009) the Presidency
2003 UNDP Human development Report
African National Congress 2009 Election Manifesto
African Development Bank (2008) Briefing note for Governors Food Prices: Overview of the Current Situation and Possible Way Forward
Cutts M and Kirsten J: (2006) Asymmetric price transmission and market Concentration: an investigation into four South African agro-food industries in https://www.up.ac.za/dspace/bitstream/2263/2714/1/Cutts_Asymmetric(2006).pdf
Conceicao/Mendoza 2009 in http://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/3459
Evans A (2008) Rising food Prices, Drivers and Implications for development, Centre on Economic Cooperation, New York University
Mitchelle D (2008) Note on Rising food prices
Treacy & Wiersema (1993) Customer Intimacy and Other Value Disciplines, Harvard
Business Review, Jan-Feb 1993
Von Braun J (2008) The World food Situation, New Driving Forces and Required Action, International Food Policy Research Institute

Footnotes

Living Standards Measure

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid...
Source: Adapted from 2003 Human Development report and http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid...

KM & Economic Challenges

KM, Problem solving regimes and appropriate technologies in Africa - the polycentric food security strategy - Dr. Shittu Akinola

KMAadmin — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:28:56 -0600

Dr. Shittu Raimi AKINOLA (Development Planner & Environmentalist)
Department of Architecture, Covenant University, 10 Idiroko Road, Canaan Land, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria.
e-mail:srakinola@yahoo.com;
Mobile: 234-803-407-5110

ABSTRACT
Despite the existence of abundant food security potentials in Africa and several Africentred initiatives birthed by African leaders, over the years, to address food insecurity challenges, food security is still a mirage. While the dominant contribution to food security in developed societies came from increased yields as a result of scientific/technical innovation, farmers in sub-Saharan Africa still rely on their age-old traditional systems of farming, thus making the region to generally lag behind other regions. While innovative ideas on food security are generated by African agricultural scientists and agricultural engineers, there have not been sufficient incentives on the part of African governments to harness these potentials for the benefit of peasant farmers. Rather, African governments and industrialists/private sector patronized imported agricultural technology and development paradigm which are usually at variance with African realities. Consequently, the stakeholders in food security - African university, African government, African industry/private sector and peasant farmers - operate on parallel lines as against collegial interactions within food security arena. Peasant farmers have not been able to benefit from agricultural innovations with the consequence of a wide gulf between reality and societal ideal manifested in food shortage and poverty.
The issue of appropriateness of technology for food security (pre- and post-harvest activities) is very crucial and imperative for all stakeholders in agricultural sector. It is increasingly being appreciated that appropriateness of technology does not only have to do with the technical efficiency and effectiveness of the technology but also with its impact on the social balance in the society, the environment, skill requirement, etc. The contention of this paper is that, in this era of problem-solving knowledge regime, the onus rests on African scholars to think in a new way and add value to their disciplines to solve specific problems in food security in Africa. This, however, requires that Knowledge Management (KM) tools and techniques need be taken into consideration with its potentials fully employed in Africa for food security in the continent.
Using the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, this paper will discuss the missing links between and among key stakeholders in food security in Africa. It will also attempt at evolving adaptive strategy, using inward-looking institutional mechanisms, to connect the key food security players in a polycentric manner. Further, the paper designs African Food Security Model (AFSM) aims at synergizing the efforts of the key stakeholders in food security. In addition, appropriate institutional mechanism is designed to craft effective linkage, partnership and collaboration between African government, university, industry/private sector, local communities and peasant farmers in their present day realities through polycentricity in order to ensure sustainable food security in Africa.

KM, Emerging Technologies and Innovative Schemes

Food Security in Lake Victoria Basin through Indigenous Coping Mechanisms to Water Resources Variations-Donald Mwiturubani

KMAadmin — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:11:56 -0600

Title: Sustaining Food Security in the Lake Victoria Basin through Indigenous Coping Mechanisms to Water Resources Variations

Author: Donald Anthony Mwiturubani

Organisation: Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Nairobi Office

Postal Address: 6th Floor, Landmark Plaza, Argwing Kodhek Road, P. O. Box 12869, GPO 00100, Nairobi, Kenya

E-mail Address: amwiturubani@issafrica.org or mwiturubani@yahoo.com

Telephone:+254 20 300 5726/28 (office), +255 784 36 31 17

Abstract: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) analysis of impacts of climate change suggest that in the Sub-Saharan Africa, where majority of the population depend on rain-fed agriculture, their economic activities are likely to be more vulnerable to climate change. This is because the coping mechanisms of the peasant communities in the rural areas are limited due to lack of appropriate technology. A survey of households and in-depth interviews of key informants in the Lake Victoria Basin (LVB), however, illustrates that local people in the LVB have been developing different strategies to dealing with rainfall and water resources variations. And that the strategies developed are in most cases adaptive to the changing ecological conditions and are effective and useful in responding to rainfall and water resources variations hence necessitate the design of water use systems for sustainable livelihoods. Agricultural activities are practised based on indigenous knowledge – informed by tools and indicators developed over time and space – to understand the onset and end of rainfall, the main source of water resources in the region. The tools and indicators on understanding rainfall and water resources variations are mainly based on the observations of the changing characteristics of the surrounding environment both on the atmosphere (wind systems, stars), on the land surface (flora and fauna) and other natural systems, such as natural springs. These findings form the basis for concrete recommendations to the governments in the region to formulate policies and enact laws to backup indigenous based technologies for sustainable development. The merging of indigenous and modern-day knowledge systems is also recommended.

KM & Social Challenges