Food security is an elusive goal for many of the world\u2019s poorest countries. There seems to be a \u201ctwo
\nsteps forward, two steps back\u201d scenario constantly in play. If it\u2019s not a multi-year drought or disastrous
\nhurricane, then it\u2019s a coup d\u2019etat, civil war, increase in global commodity prices, or a Biblical locust
\nplague, to name but a few. To alter the famous opening line of Tolstoy\u2019s Anna Karenina, \u201c[Rich
\ncountries] are all alike, every [poor country] is poor in its own way.\u201d We in the development community
\nhave been trying to crack the nut of food insecurity for a very long time. We have some wins with our
\nvarious approaches and a few losses. It\u2019s extremely rewarding to see a tangible impact on the ground,
\nbut shattering to see our best laid plans fall apart.<\/p>\n
The buzz word these days is \u201cresilience\u201d. How do communities who are moderately food secure weather
\nthe storm when the unexpected disaster comes to pass? This is actually a critical component of the
\nfood security model because a natural disaster can wipe out even the most herculean efforts to combat
\nhunger. In 2008, I was in Haiti when 3 major hurricanes rolled in and pummeled the hilly terrain west of
\nJacmel where a team of agricultural extension agents I was managing worked with smallholder farmers
\nto increase agricultural production. The farmers had just planted an improved variety of black bean
\nseed which we had provided weeks before. The seeds had germinated well and on track to double
\ntheir yields. They lost 90% of the crop that year, and farmers were back to square one. We eventually
\nmanaged to get things on track the next season, but the example highlights the fact that many of the
\nworld\u2019s poorest farmers are teetering on the brink of ruin season after season.<\/p>\n
Climate change is also having a significant impact on many countries\u2019 ability to produce sufficient food
\nfor growing populations. We are witnessing multi-year droughts that are unprecedented in the modern
\nera. Prior to the conflict, Syria experienced a five-year drought from 2006 which had severely impacted
\nfood production and caused millions of rural households dependent on agriculture and livestock to
\nmove to urban areas for survival. For a region that has been a bread basket since the time of Moses,
\nneither rural households nor the government were able to cope with this change. In fact, many argue
\nthat the roots of the revolution against the Assad regime were in part based on the government\u2019s
\ninability to enact policies to assist struggling households or adapt to climactic changes through efficient
\ntechnology such as drip irrigation – an invention from their neighbors in Israel to cope with limited
\nwater. According to a recent paper by Francesco Femia and Caitlin Werrell from the Center for American
\nProgress entitled \u201cThe Arab Spring and Climate Change\u201d, the ongoing drought had a destabilizing effect
\nin Syria and led to violent consequences. They are argue that we are likely to see more conflicts arise
\nfrom the effects of climate change in certain parts of the world.<\/p>\n
The stakes are high. Global food security is an issue that needs a lot more attention and funding to
\nsupport the most affected countries by using strategic approaches, improved technology and research.
\nThis blog will explore various issues related to food security and some efforts that Nile Point are
\nengaged in to battle hunger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Food security is an elusive goal for many of the world\u2019s poorest countries. There seems to be a \u201ctwo steps forward, two steps back\u201d scenario constantly in play. If it\u2019s not a multi-year drought or disastrous hurricane, then it\u2019s a coup d\u2019etat, civil war, increase in global commodity prices, or a Biblical locust plague, to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food-security","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nilepoint.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nilepoint.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nilepoint.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilepoint.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilepoint.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3968"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilepoint.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4097,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilepoint.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3968\/revisions\/4097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nilepoint.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilepoint.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilepoint.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}