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Agricultural productivity growth in sub-Saharan Africa has been a qualified success. Total factor productivity growth has increased rapidly since the early 1980s. By the early 2000s, average annual TFP growth was roughly four times faster than it had been 25 years earlier. This period of accelerated growth, however, followed nearly 20 years of declining rates of TFP growth subsequent to independence in the early 1960s. Average agricultural TFP growth for sub-Saharan Africa was 0.14% per year during 1960 – 84, and increased to 1.24% per year from 1985 – 2002. The average over this period was approximately 0.6% per year, which accounts for 36% of the increase in total crop output over this period. These highly aggregated results conceal substantial regional and country-level variation. Expenditures on agricultural R&D, along with the reform of macroeconomic and sectoral policies shaping agricultural incentives, have played a substantial role in explaining both the decline and the rise in agricultural productivity. The case study of Ghana clearly reflects these broader findings.
The concept of food security has evolved over many decades. From the end of World War II to the late 1970s food security was defined as a country producing enough staple food that it could feed itself even in the event of crop failure and import shortfalls. Today we refer to this particular phenomenon as self-reliance, and for many reasons have focused on scales below national. About 25 years ago the concept of food security for low-income populations in the US was introduced into the anti-hunger discourse and practice: defined as access for all people to nutritionally adequate food at all time through normal channels. In this framework, multiple interventions from food stamps to new corner store initiatives have flourished around the country. At the same time the attractiveness of self-reliance is evidenced in the enormous effort going to local and regional food system development, which addresses natural resource use, the economic and social welfare of all food supply chains members, community impacts, and public policy objectives, The paper makes the case for merging these two different definitions of food security, arguing that in terms of food access, low-income populations do not exist in a vacuum. The availability of—and access to—food for disadvantaged populations in the future is tied to a region's ability to produce and distribute a significant share of the foodstuffs needed by the entire population. Little research to date has focused explicitly on reducing food insecurity through regional food systems. The presentation concludes with the description of such a research project.
There are multiple reasons to clean up the food system including improving the nutritional quality of our food, reducing the amount pesticides and pathogens found in the food we eat, and improving the treatment of the animals and people involved in our food system. This presentation will focus on the imperative to "clean up" the effect of our food system the larger scale environmental and ecological problems including the health of streams, rivers, lakes, estuaries, and drinking water supplies. The focus will be on the "raw material" production sector of our food system — the millions of acres of land devoted to the production of feed and food grains. The presentation will conclude with a discussion of the opportunities the upcoming farm bill presents to clean up the food system.
Translating recommendations on childhood obesity into action: Presentation will highlight the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's unprecedented $500 million effort to reverse childhood obesity by 2015.
An overview of that initiative, including the work of the RWJF Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity and the many grantees working to promote healthy communities, will be provided. Examples of on-the-ground success stories and the advocates who make it happen will be shared.
The most severe deficits in child nutrition typically occur between the ages of six months and two years, when children need to complement breastmilk with solid foods of higher nutrient density than the starchy staples consumed by older children and adults. Shortfalls in consumption of these high-density complementary foods lead to stunted growth in terms of both weight and height, and greater vulnerability to disease. The most underweight children face the greatest risks, but even small changes in bodyweights can signal important changes in nutrient balances and disease risks. This paper reviews new evidence on child bodyweights and child mortality, from recent Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) that cover 53 countries over a 20-year period. We then describe a new approach to making locally-produced complementary foods more widely available at lower cost, using third-party testing and labeling to reveal nutrient density which is otherwise unobservable by the buyer. This quality certification helps emerging producers compete with well-established brand names, so that consumers can buy larger quantities at lower prices and better meet their children’s nutrient needs. Quality certification programs of this type are widespread in high-income countries, but are rarely available in the poorest places where child undernutrition is most severe. Their potential impact in Africa is shown by initial projects in Mali and Ghana.
Sustaining the world’s growing population is a major challenge for development, but it is being made more difficult because governments are ignoring their own warnings from nearly 20 years ago that climate change is a threat to human society and to natural ecosystems. Agriculture is particularly vulnerable to climate change and as currently practiced contributes to it. The multiple ways in which agriculture and the food system contributes to climate change will be described within the multiplicity of factors contributing to global warming. These insights will allow us to identify ways in which modifications to agricultural practice in both tropical and temperate zones might be harnessed to mitigate climate change while increasing productivity. Since climate change is already proceeding at an accelerating pace, it is essential that the food system become more resilient by anticipating future changes and implement adaptation measures.
Even if all dimensions of the science are understood, there is still the problem of developing and implementing policies universally across the globe. The failure to do so after two decades of treaty negotiations suggests that there is a fundamental flaw in the current approach to developing a comprehensive global treaty. An alternative strategy will be proposed, and more effective means of utilizing scientific input into the policy process will be suggested.
In a world where we produce more food than ever, and yet one out of six people on the planet goes hungry, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the obstacles that stand in the way of creating a more equitable and sustainable global food system. Danielle Nierenberg, senior Researcher at the Worldwatch Institute and co-Project Director of the Nourishing the Planet project, has spent the last year traveling to 25countries in sub-Saharan Africa evaluating environmentally sustainable innovations in agriculture that are working to increase yields, improve livelihoods, alleviate hunger and poverty while also protecting ecosystems. She will discuss the collaborative efforts of these farmers, scientists, NGOs, policymakers and government agencies who are working together and succeeding at accomplishing these goals. Many challenges exist, but there are stories of hope and ideas that are thriving on the ground. The goal of the Nourishing the Planet project is to seek out these initiatives, give them a voice, and create a roadmap for the donor and funding community to guide their investment in agricultural development to those that can be scaled up and replicated in other regions to improve food security worldwide.
Read Danielle Nierenberg's bio
The politics of food is changing fast. In rich countries, obesity is now a more serious problem than hunger.- Consumers once satisfied with cheap and convenient food now want food that is also safe, nutritious, fresh, and grown by local farmers using fewer chemicals.- Heavily subsidized and under-regulated commercial farmers are facing stronger push-back from environmentalists and consumer activists, and food companies are under the microscope.- Meanwhile in developing countries, agricultural success in Asia has spurred income growth and dietary enrichment, but agricultural failure in Africa has left one third of all citizens undernourished.- The international markets that link these diverse regions together are subject to sudden disruption, as noted when an unexpected spike in international food prices in 2008 caused street riots in a dozen or more countries. The politics of food has become more polarized over the past decade, with conflicting claims and accusations coming from advocates on all sides. This polarization of positions has had a damaging effect on both the quality of policy making in the developing world and on quantity of assistance offered by donors for agricultural development.
Read Robert L. Paarlberg's bio
Climate change will affect food and human security through three mechanisms. First by triggering more extreme weather events – droughts and floods which lead to either short term crises or more longer term food insecurity. Second, though gradually shifting the geography of agro-ecological zones and thus what we can, and cannot grow, how well it will grow and when it will grow. Finally, Climate change will cause society, its economics and politics to change. If that change is rapid such that society cannot adapt in time, history tells us we will react with more controlling political systems and more violence. The changes triggered by climate change have parallels in the changes being triggered by economic globalization. Rapid change and unexpected shocks to the system will be the norm in future.
Knowing this, we need to plan now, not just for adaptation to climate change and the embracing of globalization, but to adjust the way we organize and run our countries, businesses and institutions to accommodate the certainty of uncertainty and to seek to deliberately mitigate the social cost of change. Climate change may be as powerful a force for political change in the future as republicanism or emancipation were in the past.
We live, in interesting times.
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