ACF-Feeding-Hunger-And-Insecurity
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A HUNGER WATCH PUBLICATION Feeding hunger and insecurity Field analysis oF volatile global Food commodity prices, Food security and child malnutrition Feeding hunger and insecurity Field analysis oF volatile global Food commodity prices, Food security and child malnutrition Published by ACF International Network Written by Samuel Hauenstein Swan, Sierd Hadley and Bernardette Cichon Case Study Research by Ethiopia: ACF Ethiopia Central African Republic: Bernard Bauge and Mélanie Broquet Sierra Leone: Sophie Laurence Liberia: Caroline Broudic Design by Bhavesh Patel Cover photograph © Samuel Hauenstein Swan ISBN No: 978-0-9557773-2-5 © Copyright ACF International Network 2009 Working toWards eradicating child hunger ounded in 1979, Action Against Hunger (Action Contre la Faim/ACF) is an international organisation committed to saving the lives of malnourished children and their families in over 40 countries world- Fwide. One of the leading organisations in the fight against hunger and malnutrition, our teams provide for people’s immediate needs when food is scarce and provide families with the tools and support they need to build a sustainable future. Every year our 6,000 aid workers directly help over 4 million people, restoring self-sufficiency and independence to vulnerable populations throughout the world. ACF International ACF International Network Feeding Hunger and Insecurity x executive summary What caused the Food Price Crisis? Key Messages Who is vulnerable? The crisis is not over. Even though global What happens when food prices rise? food prices are falling, local prices have What has been done? continued to increase or have remained at What needs to be done? their inflated level in most vulnerable coun- tries, putting millions of people at risk. What caused the global food crisis? Despite no clear global increase in acute The Food Crisis emerged from a combination of short, malnutrition, high prices consistently forced medium and long-term factors (on both the demand families to adopt damaging coping strate- and supply side). Long-term factors included popu- gies to maintain staple food consumption; lation growth, urbanisation, growth of middle-income ‘seasonality’ shows that this can have long- economies, reduced stock levels, lack of investment term implications for poverty, vulnerability in agriculture and climate change, while crop failures and malnutrition. in major exporting nations, increasing fuel prices and Context matters; urgent funding is needed bio-fuel production represent some of the short and to translate global policy into effective re- medium-term factors. While causes have been large- sponses addressing the needs of those ly agreed upon, their relative importance and abso- most affected and most vulnerable. lute impact are hard to determine. Interventions must be inclusive, coordinat- ed and comprehensive, addressing both Who is vulnerable? agricultural production and nutrition in tan- Not all governments, countries and people have dem, both in the short and long-run at the been affected equally. Vulnerability depends largely global, national and local level. on four factors: State vulnerability. High food prices increase import t the end of 2007 and early 2008, interna- bills and affect public spending and macro-econom- tional food and oil prices soared. FAO esti- ic stability, with long-term implications for poverty. Amates that the high cost of food has pushed The degree high global prices translate into high do- the number of people suffering from hunger from 850 mestic prices. Physical, political and human geogra- million in 2005 to 963 million today, threatening to phy can limit or exacerbate the impact of global food undo any progress made towards achieving Millen- costs on domestic prices. nium Development Goals 1 and 4. Even though glo- A household’s position as a net food-buyer or net bal food prices are now falling, domestic prices have food-seller. High food prices may come to the bene- continued to increase or have remained at their in- fit of net food sellers, but the majority of poor house- flated level for most vulnerable countries, putting mil- holds, including ‘subsistence’ farmers, rely on the lions at risk. The Global Food Price Crisis is not over. market for most of the year. Wealth and the proportion of household income Warnings from our country teams that the annual, spent on food. Household wealth provides a buffer seasonal rise in admissions rates to feeding pro- to the constraints high food prices impose on family grammes was beginning earlier than normal, prompt- budgets – poorer groups can spend over 80 percent ed Action Against Hunger to launch an evaluation of of their income on food, and these groups will be the impact of high and volatile global food prices on significantly affected in the short and long-term. households in the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Liberia and Sierra Leone. By integrating our findings Other dimensions of vulnerability to high and volatile with the global policy debate, this report seeks to an- food prices include timing of food price rises relative swer five basic questions: to the harvest, susceptibility to malnutrition (women ix ACF International Network Feeding Hunger and Insecurity executive summary and children are most at risk) and marginalisation the severe food crises in Niger (2005) and Malawi (whether groups, countries or even regions are over- (2001). The question is whether households respond- looked or intentionally excluded from social protec- ed to global price increases in the same manner. tion policies and interventions). Case studies sum- marising Action Against Hunger research in Bangui, Action Against Hunger research implies the answer Central African Republic (CAR) and Freetown, Sierra is unequivocally ‘yes’: all country studies showed Leone further investigate the dimensions of vulner- households were restricting food consumption and ability. limiting dietary diversity. Studies carried out by the World Food Programme (WFP) support our findings, Central African Republic: Food prices in Bangui in- revealing a striking similarity between coping strat- creased only moderately. Though there was no sta- egies adapted in response to global and seasonal tistically significant increase in malnutrition rates, price rises. higher prices had some impact on households who responded by decreasing dietary diversity. The impact of global price increases on malnutrition is less clear, despite households adopting similar Sierra Leone: Research from Freetown demonstrates coping strategies. Only non-significant increases in the importance of context. Overall, prices rose sig- malnutrition and under-five mortality rates were re- nificantly, dietary diversity and quantity of food were corded in CAR, while longitudinal statistics were una- reduced, and there were suggestions that levels of vailable for Sierra Leone and Liberia where reports malnutrition increased. However, price increases, suggested malnutrition rates were rising in early malnutrition rates and changes in diet varied dramati- 2008. Malnutrition rates did increase in selected dis- cally between the five research sites within the city, tricts in Ethiopia. divided by little more than a few kilometres. Ethiopia: high food prices have led to significant de- What happens when food prices rise? terioration in terms-of-trade between income sources Decades of research and observation show that re- and staple food prices (particularly maize, though duced dietary diversity can have long-term implica- kocho prices remained stable). In the Southern Na- tions for poverty, vulnerability and malnutrition. ‘Sea- tions, Nationalities and People’s Region malnutrition sonality’ describes regular, seasonal fluctuations in rates and under-five mortality rates have increased various dimensions of poverty and wellbeing. High dramatically since late 2007. No similar data is avail- food prices, disease rates, energy expenditure due able from the Somali Regional State, where pastoral- to intensity of agricultural labour and powerlessness ists were selling more, and more valuable assets to compound on one-another during the hunger season purchase food. causing malnutrition rates to rise. Even if global food price increases have not yet been When faced with high seasonal food prices, poorer followed by a worldwide increase in malnutrition there families usually ‘cope’ by first rationing and reducing is cause for concern. Households across the world the quality of food consumed, often skipping meals are spending a greater proportion of their income on or seeking alternative income sources like gathering food, reducing staple food consumption and restrict- firewood. As food insecurity intensifies, households ing dietary diversity in reaction to high food prices. adopt more damaging coping strategies such as the Reduction in dietary diversity will cause micronutrient sale of assets. Steadily depleted assets can increase deficiencies which can have long term adverse effects household vulnerability to price rises in later years on the physical and mental development of children. as coping mechanisms become more limited. There Coping strategies may begin to wear thin, and vulner- is substantial evidence which strongly suggests that ability during the hunger season will increase as food this degradation of assets was a major factor behind stocks and assets are exhausted quicker. Reduced ACF International Network Feeding Hunger and Insecurity viii executive summary buffers and greater vulnerability