Thẻ: Food security

The National Security Imperative of USAID’s Food Security Programs

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Climateandsecurity.org

As of today, the Trump Administration has paused two essential US global food security initiatives, Feed the Future and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). Created in reaction to the 2007-8 global food crisis and resulting instability, Feed the Future is a marquee US government food security program and tool for implementing the bipartisan Global Food Security Act, working in 20 countries to build a more resilient food system and supporting agricultural innovation at 17 US universities. Operating since 1985, FEWS NET provides rigorous analysis and forecasting of acute food insecurity to inform US and other humanitarian responses in 30 countries.

These programs make invaluable contributions to US national security and global stability. For example, Feed the Future builds resilience in five countries where the US National Intelligence Estimate on climate change assesses “building resilience…would probably be especially helpful in mitigating future risks to US interests.” In Central America, where drought during growing seasons has driven increased migration to the United States, Honduran Feed the Future beneficiaries report a 78% lower intent to migrate than the wider population. Meanwhile, FEWSNET’s data and analysis more quickly and efficiently direct US humanitarian support in reaction to conflict, economic shocks, and extreme weather, including in regions where the US military is deployed. 

Both programs have historically received consistent bipartisan support. Speaking at the launch of a new Feed the Future initiative last year, Senator John Boozman (R-AR) noted, “food security is national security.” Another Feed the Future supporter, Representative Tracey Mann (R-KS 1st District), has highlighted the value of his district’s Feed the Future Innovation Lab and stated that global food security programs have “an especially strong return on investment because they support American agriculture producers today, while greatly reducing the need for conflict or war-related dollars spent tomorrow” and are “a way to stop wars before they start.” As Executive Director of the World Food Program (2017-2023), former South Carolina Governor and Representative David Beasely testified to the Senate that “Investments in early warning systems like USAID’s Famine Early Warning System…allow humanitarian partners to project and respond in real time to potential emergencies….Without this capacity to forecast food insecurity, the cost of humanitarian intervention is much greater, both in dollars and lives lost.”

Last year, dozens of national security leaders, including the former commanders of Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), Africa Command (AFRICOM), and Central Command (CENTCOM), endorsed the Council on Strategic Risks’ The Feeding Resilience Plan: Safeguarding US National Security at the Crossroads of Food and Climate Change. The report makes recommendations to US policymakers to better anticipate, prevent, and respond to food- and climate-driven national security threats, including to:

  • “Support long-term resilience building in vulnerable countries by sustaining and expanding Feed the Future,” noting it and similar programs “bolster vulnerable countries’ ability to withstand food shocks and forestall security threats or need for costly US assistance,” and
  • “Expand on USAID’s FEWS NET to include longer-term food insecurity warnings” and to have security and defense agencies better “integrate FEWSNET projections with processes to forecast political instability and conflict.”

Amid multiplying threats from instability, extreme weather, and geopolitical competition, these recommendations remain critical today, and highlight the important national security benefits of capabilities like Feed the Future and FEWS NET.  

Rice Markets Are In Crisis Mode

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Global supplies of rice are facing its most significant shortage in two decades, exacerbating food insecurity fears. Rice is a staple food for over half the world’s population. India’s export bans sent shockwaves through markets as some argue the country is using food as a political pawn. America’s $34 billion rice industry must compete against the same market uncertainty while managing droughts, floods and changing temperatures. Watch this video to learn more about how global rice markets influence food security, geopolitics and the livelihoods of millions of farmers.

The Ukraine Crisis Threatens a Sustainable Food Future

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

WRI.org

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has already driven millions of people from their homes and left many without water, power and food. As hostilities continue, the humanitarian and economic consequences will expand far beyond the region, putting potentially millions of people around the world at risk of hunger.  

And these aren’t just short-term threats. The decisions that farmers and policymakers make over the next few weeks and months will have long-term consequences for the future of the world’s food systems. The right responses can keep the world on track for a sustainable food future. The wrong ones will worsen food insecurity and fuel climate change.

Ukrainian refugees at the Poland border.
Ukrainian refugees escape to the border town of Medyka, Poland. Millions of Ukrainian residents have fled their homes in recent weeks, due to the Russian invasion. Photo by Damian Pankowiec/Shutterstock

Emerging Food Implications of the Ukraine Crisis

Tiếp tục đọc “The Ukraine Crisis Threatens a Sustainable Food Future” →

Food security at risk due to climate change

~ Trần Đình Hoành ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

vietnamnews

Update: March, 23/2017 – 18:00

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Crops wither following a prolonged drought in Bình Thuận Province in July, 2015. – VNA/VNS Photo Mạnh Linh

HÀ NỘI — More solutions are urgently needed to ensure Việt Nam’s food security as climate change has transitioned from a risk to a nationwide reality, said an agricultural deputy minister on Wednesday.

Việt Nam is still considered an agricultural country, with approximately 70 per cent of the population living in rural areas which are highly susceptible to climate change, said Agriculture and Rural Development Deputy Minister Lê Quốc Doanh at a regional conference on food security held in Hà Nội on Wednesday. Tiếp tục đọc “Food security at risk due to climate change” →

Hạn mặn miền Tây: Sao phải ngăn mặn cấy lúa?

~ Trần Đình Hoành ~ Bình luận về bài viết này
Zing 15/03/2016

Mặn đang xâm nhập sâu vào các tỉnh miền Tây khiến nông dân lo lắng. Tuy nhiên, GS Võ Tòng Xuân cho rằng “phải coi nước mặn là bạn, giúp nông dân ven biển làm giàu với con tôm”.

Theo thông tin từ Văn phòng công tác biến đổi khí hậu Cần Thơ, những ngày qua, độ mặn đo được trên sông Hậu ở địa phương này luôn ở mức trên 2.000 mg/l (2‰). Đây là điều chưa từng có trong lịch sử địa phương.

Tình trạng ngập mặn đang diễn ra ngày càng gay gắt khắp miền Tây, dưới tác động của El Nino kéo dài. Cơ quan chức năng dự báo, nước mặn và hạn hán đến tháng 6, ảnh hưởng nghiêm trọng đến lúa, cây ăn trái, nuôi trồng thủy sản và có đến khoảng 1 triệu người trong vùng thiếu nước sạch.

Thế nhưng, GS Võ Tòng Xuân lại có cái nhìn khác, không bi quan về thực trạng này.

Han man mien Tay: Sao phai ngan man cay lua? hinh anh 1
Lúa chết vì nhiễm mặn ở thị xã Vị Thanh, Hậu Giang. Ảnh: Việt Trung.

Tiếp tục đọc “Hạn mặn miền Tây: Sao phải ngăn mặn cấy lúa?” →

The Food Security Solution

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

May 20, 2016

CSIS – In a world that has become increasingly interconnected and chaotic, with more displaced persons since World War II, and with an array of humanitarian disasters that has outstripped the international community’s budgets and capacity to respond, why should global food security remain an imperative development priority? Why has the United States invested so heavily, to the tune of $5.6 billion over the past five years, in agricultural development and nutrition to reduce extreme poverty?

Agriculture’s Economic Power

Agriculture is the primary source of employment and income for 70 percent of the world’s rural poor, and it contributes more than a third of gross domestic product (GDP) in many of the least developed countries. In light of evidence that GDP growth originating in agriculture can be four times more effective than growth in other sectors in raising incomes of the extremely poor, the economic leverage of agriculture for development is hard to dispute.

Aligning foreign assistance with country-led strategies for agricultural growth is the most effective approach to achieving results for vulnerable smallholder farmers, their families, and their communities. Government ownership is critical to sustaining development investments and to ensuring a sound policy environment for private-sector engagement. In order for agriculture to reach its potential to generate employment, raise smallholder incomes, and catalyze markets, both the will of country leadership to dedicate resources and the ability of local and international private companies to invest along the value chain are required. In some cases, this translates into tough policy reforms that take time to understand, to implement, and to enforce.

National Security Risks Tiếp tục đọc “The Food Security Solution” →

Food firms failing to tackle nutrition crisis

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này
By Vaidehi Shah

Tuesday 19 January 2016

Rising obesity and malnutrition are indicators that a global nutrition crisis is mounting, but the world’s largest food and beverage (F&B) companies are not doing enough to solve it, a new study says.

canada candy
Candy on a supermarket shelf in Edmonton, Canada. One in three people globally is either overweight or undernourished. Image: Tyler McKay / Shutterstock.com

ecobusiness – Rising rates of obesity and malnourishment indicate that a global nutrition crisis is mounting, but the world’s largest food and beverage (F&B) companies are not doing enough to solve it, a new study says.

Released on Thursday in London, the Global Access to Nutrition Index report found that while leading food firms have made some progress towards improving consumers’ diets, there is much more the sector can do to tackle these widespread issues.

The index, which was first launched by the Netherlands-based non-profit Access to Nutrition Foundation (ANF) in 2013 and is now in its second edition, assesses the 22 largest food companies on how well their corporate strategy, product offering and marketing efforts address obesity and under-nutrition. Tiếp tục đọc “Food firms failing to tackle nutrition crisis” →

Reinvigorating agricultural productivity in the Lower Mekong

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này
November 27, 2015 1:00 pm JST
Aladdin D. Rillo and Mercedita A. Sombilla

asia.nikkei.com – The green revolution has done wonders for Asia. Yields for most crops, particularly the region’s main staple of rice, have doubled over recent decades. In the Lower Mekong Delta, considered to be Asia’s rice bowl, the new technologies and crop strains that the green revolution brought were a big success.

Cambodian farmers load vegetables onto a cart for transport to market, at a farm in Kandal Province, south of Phnom Penh, on Oct. 16, which was World Food Day. © AP

Rice production in the Lower Mekong countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam soared 68% between 1980 and 1995. During the same period, average yields more than doubled from their levels in the 1960s to about 3.5 tons per hectare. Total land area planted with rice also increased by around 25% to 16.3 million hectares between 1996 and 2005.

      By the end of 2013, however, the gains seemed to have leveled off. Between 2006 and 2013, average yield growth slowed to 22% across all of the Lower Mekong countries except Cambodia, as growth in rice production slid to 36%.

The slower trends in yield and production growth were not unique to the Lower Mekong. They also applied to the rest of Asia for various reasons. Chief among them is that green revolution technologies, particularly new rice seed varieties, had become exhausted. Poor land and water quality were also culprits in the drop-off, along with inadequate farm management practices and the rapid conversion of farmland to non-agricultural use. Eroding profit margins due to a decline in the price of rice on global markets exacted a heavy toll as well.

Low productivity

There is reason for alarm at the change. Agriculture still provides 10% of Asia’s value-added output and is an important source of employment as about 45% of jobs in Asia are in rural areas. With declining yields and production, this means that productivity, the value of output per worker, will decline further. Tiếp tục đọc “Reinvigorating agricultural productivity in the Lower Mekong” →

Experts give ASEAN food security scheme high marks

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Speed read

  • ASEAN members have boosted efforts to secure domestic and regional food reserves
  • The Philippines is the ‘fastest-growing country’ in terms of rice yields in the region
  • An ASEAN vision for science and technology will help foster ASEAN community 2015  

scidev.net – [MANILA] Two experts gave a positive assessment of food security efforts of Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) member countries during a forum on food security organised by SciDev.Net and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) last 30 July in Makati City, Philippines.

Asked to rate “ASEAN food security 2015” from a scale of 0-5, with ‘5’ as the highest score, panellists from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Philippines’ Department of Science and Technology (DOST) gave an optimistic assessment of ‘4’. Tiếp tục đọc “Experts give ASEAN food security scheme high marks” →