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Nigeria on the Brink of a Food Crisis

Continued sectarian violence in Nigeria resulted in the widespread abandonment of farms. Conflict spreads throughout the country, affecting the agricultural season in rural and often isolated regions. This led to dramatic decline in household food stocks. In addition to farming, the conflict limits “off-season livelihood activities” such as fishing.

This coupled with a predicted shortened growing season to create a potentially devastating food crisis. Consequently, Nigerian government reported as many as one million people facing food shortages in the coming months.

The Islamist insurgency in northern Nigeria, which began in 2009, has forced more than 365,000 people to flee their homes and farms. Agriculture generally serves as the primary means of support. Moreover, as refugees, these families have little opportunity to independently replenish their food supplies. According to The Guardian, “violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency has caused 60 percent of farmers to leave the fertile region.”

In addition to low production, this conflict led to disruption in trade routes. Those managing the trade fear security, for the products and their lives. As production declines, the prices for staple food rise. These prices rose an estimated 10 percent from last year and more than 30 percent from the five-year average.

Alone, this lack of production has led to serious food shortages. Now, the strain of drought-induced food shortage threatens a full-scale crisis. According to The Nigerian Meteorological Agency, the national agricultural sector depends heavily on rain, “with the bulk of its produce cultivated in the north and central regions.” Weather forecasters predict the rainy season to begin in June, though it typically starts in May. In addition, the rain season may end before September. The result: a severely shortened growing season. With a population of 160 million to feed, Nigeria prepares this looming food crisis.

Refugees and farmers affected by the drought cannot afford the drastic rise in prices. Without an independent stock of food, though, these individuals must rely on the market.

In response, farmers are encouraged to use early maturing seeds to help generate a shorter planting season.

However, as Ibrahim Mota of the Dawanau Grain Traders Union shared recently, “Seeds, no matter how sophisticated, have to be planted by humans to germinate.” The Famine Early Warning Systems Network continues to monitor the food supply in this region, encouraging the Nigerian government to alleviate the burden of this conflict on farmers. Without details on the exact tactics to mitigate conflict, families live in constant risk of acute food security.

– Ellery Spahr

Sources: The Guardian
Photo: India Times

Muslim Exodus in CAR: Economic Consequences

One of the poorest nations in the world, the Central African Republic (CAR,) sees 90 percent of its citizens survive on just one meal per day. Sectarian and religious violence, primarily targeting the minority Muslim population, only makes matters worse.

Most food trade in the capital city of Bangui is reliant on the imports of wholesale vendors, which are resold by small traders in the marketplace. Muslims, however, own and control these wholesalers, in addition to a large proportion of the agricultural sector as well. And the Muslims are fleeing.

About 40 large wholesalers participated in the market before Muslim leader Michel Djotodia seized power in a coup in March 2013. Less than a year later, only 10 remain. It should not be terribly shocking that Muslims, who live in constant fear for their lives amid ever-increasing violence, are embarking on a massive exodus out of the CAR and into neighboring countries such as Chad and Cameroon.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM,) over 60,000 people have already fled since December 5, 2013, when Christian militias and soldiers exploded into violence.

The Muslim exodus has left farmers without access to seeds, prevented food trucks from crossing the border due to fear of attack and risks an incredible rise in prices as food supplies dry up. If security does not improve soon, the 10 remaining wholesalers claim they will leave as well. Even if they were to stay, profits would be minimal. Over the past two months, sales dropped 90 percent among wholesalers because people can no longer afford to buy the food they need.

Philippe Conraud, Oxfam country director, argues that the combination of people being forced out of the country and the inability for food to come in risks turning the situation into something analogous to a siege. French and African troops, sent to the CAR by the United Nations Security Council, have proven unable to halt the atrocious violence thus far.

In addition to the tumultuous effects fleeing traders have on the country of their origin, neighboring countries must prepare for the economic outcomes of the present circumstances. With at least 30,000 refugees in Chad and 10,000 so far in Cameroon, these neighboring countries have their hands full with the conflict’s humanitarian crisis.

Giovanni Cassani, emergency coordinator for the IOM, touches on the enormity of the problem. 50,000 people can make up a small town. Unless the situation in the CAR improves soon, neighboring countries will have to deal with the long-term economic transformations of a Muslim exodus.

– Jaclyn Stutz

Sources: BBC, Global Post, Washington Post
Photo: Oxfam International

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After Years of Conflict, New Crisis in Mali

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At this time last year, France had just lead an intervention into Mali as Al-Qaeda militants had control over much of the country. The French sent troops in after the government became alarmed by the direction Mali was going. Within three weeks, the French had driven out many of the jihadists that had once seemed like they would take hold of the country.

While there are still worries about a remaining Al Qaeda presence in the region, the tumult that ensued in the last few years has severely affected the nation’s food situation. Many residents were displaced from the fighting and harvests have been disrupted as well.

Thus, a number of food programs have stated that 800,000 people are in need of “immediate food aid,” and that “three million people nationwide are at risk.”

Food shortages have been an ongoing problem amid the tumult going back to 2012.

This looks to be the largest crisis facing the country at the present time, yet the help that came last year to fight the jihadists has not been there to fight hunger. According to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, “the ‘lean’ season… will start early this year. The late arrival of rains, the low availability of cereal stocks… mean that people have not been able to recover.”

These factors, along with the instability that has been much publicized, has brought Mali to the food crisis they are now facing. It is up to organizations like The Borgen Project to raise the proper awareness about the food crisis. The United Nations appeal for help in the food situation was only able to raise half the funds it set out for.

The Oxfam director in Mali said, “We have to invest in agricultural and pastoral policies that… make people less vulnerable to shocks.”

The next few months will be very important for the future of Mali. It is just this sort of food crisis that could cause the desperation that allowed the jihadists to come into Mali previously. If the Western world identifies the issue beforehand, they will be able to save the money and resources that another intervention would entail. Mali is a banner example for the importance of foreign poverty relief, and the background of the past two years should weigh heavily on the work the West can do.

– Eric Gustafsson

Sources: Trust.org, The Economist, ABC News, The Guardian
Photo: Voice of America

Yesterday in Yemen

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“We are hungry and we need jobs,” says a Yemenis woman, who faces a recording camera while standing on the side of a dirt road. Her clothes are stained by sand and her eyes are bloodshot, but she responds with firm assurance to questions in a recent YouTube video composed by activists from Support Yemen, who aimed at facilitating dialogue in the capital city of Sana. Topics ranged from the ongoing political instabilities that the region faces to other matters, such as closing the gap between civilians, military, and tribal forces. These are not the only factors hindering Yemen’s economic and social progression, as high food prices, endemic poverty, diminishing resources and influxes of refugees and migrants are also damaging the region from within.

In hopes of relieving some of the hunger the Yemenis people are facing, much needed food support will be streamlined into the region thanks to recent contributions by the Government of India and the World Food Programme (WFP.) After a Comprehensive Food Security Survey was conducted in Yemen last year, WFP found 22 percent of the population was living under severely insecure food standards. This has led the WFP to set a new goal at providing five million people in 16 governorates with food assistance and programs to strengthen their community’s resilience.

It has also been announced that the WFP will be appropriating a budget of $495 million for programs and activities in Yemen, starting in 2014 and ending in 2016. WFP’s continued effort in Yemen has already provided assistance to 5 million children, pregnant women, and internally displaced persons (IDPs.) In a place where nearly half of children younger than five years old are malnourished and stunted, there is still much more that can be done.

Doing their part in combating hunger in the area is the Government of India, who recently contributed $1.8 million in an effort that will aid almost 121,300 people most in need of assistance over the next six months. Those funds were used to purchase approximately 2,600 metric tons of wheat, which will provide emergency food assistance for 3.5 million people, 600,000 IDPs, and other nutritional support for 405,000 children under the age of five. Mohammed Saeed Al-Sa’adi, a representative for the Government of Yemen, had this to say about the donation: “We are grateful to the government and people of India for providing this timely donation and we highly appreciate the cooperation between WFP and India in delivering assistance to those in need.”

Appropriated funds going towards Yemen will provide relief over the next few years, but it will only prove temporary if sustainability and community resilience aren’t increased in the area. With a growing deficit of $3.2 billion and poverty rates on the rise since 2011, it is important to realize the consequences which many men, women, and children will face after they have taken a toll. As donations come into the area from across the globe and programs are constantly being implemented into Yemen communities, it is hopefully a fruitful sign of things to come.

– Jeffrey Scott Haley
Feature Writer

Sources: WFP, WFP (2), Saba News, Yemen Times, Albawaba

Food Dumping: Is It Necessary?

Poverty is the lack of basics needs such as food, water, shelter, and healthcare. Food is one the most critical issues to end poverty. Many people think that food support (when not for emergency relief) is a big help to impoverished nations. However, the effect might be the opposite. By providing excessive food support or food dumping, rich countries are undercutting the core of third world countries’ economy.

In poor countries, agriculture is the biggest economic factor. “In developing countries, agriculture continues to be the main source of employment, livelihood and income for between 50-90% of the population,” and in Africa, almost 70% of people rely on farming as their main source of income.

If third world countries want to erase poverty, investing and stabilizing agriculture are extremely important. When other countries are providing excessive food support, they increase the food supply when food demand remains the same. This situation decreases the food price in the local market because local farmers have to compete with foreign food aid in the market. Since the price for food decreases, the farmers do not have the ability to reinvest the profit into their land and their crop.

In addition, many developed countries have moved away from agriculture to focus on their competitive advantages (technology and service sectors). Therefore, they are in need of food supply. Since most of the food supply comes from developing countries. If these countries do not have the capability to provide, the world can experience a food shortage.

The beneficial solution is to help the poverty farmers with farming education, not food dumping. The more they produce, the more money they will obtain, the more like likely they are to get out of poverty. In addition, poor farmers will have to use cheap and unsafe farming treatment to their plants and cause health issues globally. According to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the key factors for farming supports are (1) listening to their needs, (2) increase farm productivity, (3) fostering sustainable farming practice.

– Phong Pham

Sources: Gates Foundation, Shaebia, T.R.A.D.E.
Photo: Stephen Raburn

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Indian Food Security Act Meets Opposition

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Uttar Pradesh is one of India’s poorest states, with the most recent poverty rate estimate by the Planning Commission of the Indian Government at 29.6%. As such, in order for India to continue to grow, the country must reduce the poverty rate in its poorest states. Proper health and nutrition are crucial to eliminating poverty and are why food security is such a focal point of poverty reduction advocates. The role food plays in poverty reduction is also why advocates worldwide have called for the right to food to be recognized universally.

On September 23, 2013, India’s Parliament enacted the Food Security Act. The act is aimed at ensuring that millions of low-income population groups are provided with nutritious food. The legal authority for the act was derived from Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which establishes the fundamental rights to nutritious food and life. Despite the clear benefits, implementing the bill has been surprisingly difficult in some areas.

The Indian National Congress recently protested against Uttar Pradesh’s failure to implement the Food Security Act. During the protest, 100 Congressmen, including senior leaders, were arrested as police charged a mob of party workers trying to forcibly enter the Uttar Pradesh Assembly premises, reports Business Standard. Union Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal demanded that the act be implemented, claiming that the people of Uttar Pradesh had been left out of receiving benefits.

Uttar Pradesh has delayed implementation of the Food Security Act until July 2014, citing the massive cost as the reason for the delay. According to Zee News, President Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in India stated that the act cannot be implemented until the central government in India is ready to bear the entire cost.

The same day as Congress’s protest, the Uttar Pradesh government released a statement, indicating that it had prepared a road map to implement the National Security Act. According to Business Standard, Principal Secretary of Food and Civil Supplies Deepak Trivedi explains that steps have been initiated in Uttar Pradesh on the provisions of the Food Security Act. Officials in Uttar Pradesh have been given instructions to make the implementation of the Act a priority.

– Cavarrio Carter

Sources: Business Standard, The Indian Express, Zee News, Government of India Planning Commission
Photo: Forbes India

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5 Facts about Poverty in Yemen

Poverty in Yemen
As one of the poorest countries in the Middle East, Yemen is currently faced with some of the most extreme poverty issues in the world. There are several issues that are unique to Yemen that contribute to this magnitude of poverty, issues that are on track to only get worse unless direct action is taken to mitigate these circumstances. If basic problems, such as lack of access to water, are not properly addressed, other matters, such as sub-par literacy rates, will continue to plague the region and exacerbate poverty in Yemen.

 

Top 5 Facts about Poverty in Yemen

 

1. Yemen’s population stands at 25.4 million and approximately 54% of those people live in poverty.  In other words, 54% of the population survives on fewer than 2 dollars per day.

2. Approximately 45% of the population is malnourished.

3. Life expectancy in Yemen is 64 years old, 14 years younger than the average life expectancy in the United States.

4. Major infectious diseases plaguing the country include Bacterial diarrhea, Typhoid fever, Dengue fever and Malaria, all of which are preventable, curable and in some cases largely unheard of anymore in the western world.

5. There is less than 1 physician for every 1,000 people in Yemen.

 

Major Causes Behind Poverty in Yemen Today

 

  • The dire water shortage: The use of the word ‘dire’ cannot be stressed enough. According to Maplecroft, a global risk analysis organization, Yemen is ranked as the seventh most water-stressed country on the planet. Even though there is a water shortage in Yemen, approximately 90% of the country’s water is put towards its largely ineffective agricultural practices. In Yemen’s capital city, Sana’a, tap water is only available once every four days for its 2 million people. Even worse, in Taiz, a major city in the south, tap water is only available every 20 days. It is estimated that in 10 years, Sana’a will literally run out of water for its citizens.
  • On the brink of famine: In mid-2012, several major humanitarian relief organizations issued a warning that 44% of the population’s food needs are not currently being adequately met. Five million of these malnourished Yemeni citizens require emergency aid and immediate action. The warning cited a surge in food and fuel prices and political instability as the cause behind the number of malnourished people doubling since 2009. Though there is food available in some cases, many Yemenis cannot afford to buy nourishment because they have been displaced from their homes due to conflict.
  • Lingering political instability: Like most of the Middle East, Yemen felt the effects of the Arab Spring in 2011. The initial uprising was centered on protesting high unemployment, economic conditions and government corruption, which included the then president’s plan to alter the constitution to allow the direct transfer of power to his son. Al-Qaeda also has a presence in the region, which further contributes to political instability. For these reasons and many others, the attempt to reach stability within the government and the region is an ongoing process. After significant fighting and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of citizens, a new president was placed in power after running uncontested in an election. The new president is responsible for overseeing the drafting and implementation of a new constitution and further presidential and parliamentary elections in 2014.

– Colleen Eckvahl

 

Sources: BBC: Yemen’s President cedes power, BBC: Yemen on brink of food crisis, Green Profit, Maplecroft, The World Bank

 

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Inflation and Food Shortages in Venezuela

For residents of Venezuela, food and grocery shortages have become a part of daily life. Outside of many government-subsidized grocery stores, people line up before dawn hoping to purchase what they can before supplies run out. Items such as milk, meat and toilet paper are bought up quickly. The shortages have lasted for more than a year, prompting calls for President Madura to reevaluate the economic policies of his predecessor, Hugo Chavez.

Though Venezuela is one of the most oil rich nations in the world, it is struggling to mitigate inflation and keep subsidized grocers stocked with products. Many experts say that strict price controls are to blame for the country’s economic problems, while President Maduro insists that it is all part of an effort by the opposition and CIA to destabilize the government and sabotage Venezuela’s oil industry.

Asdrubal Oliveros, an economist at one of Venezuela’s leading consulting firms, told the Guardian that the current crisis is the result of several factors, which include the country’s overreliance on imports and the government price controls. Another factor is the decrease in agricultural production due to the government’s recent land expropriations. “It’s cheaper to import than it is to produce,” Oliveros said. “That’s a perverse model that kills off any productivity.”

Many economists echo Oliveros analysis, saying that the Venezuelan government is not helping the problem by fixing prices so low. When prices are set low, companies and producers are not able to make a profit—this, in turn, leads to a cessation of farming, manufacturing, and production. Originally designed to help Venezuela’s poor and working classes afford food and staples, the price-fixing program has instead led to empty shelves and long queues.

After becoming President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez and his ministers sought to reduce the growing wealth disparity in their country. To achieve this, they implemented price controls on certain goods so as to make them cheaper for individuals and families with lower incomes. This step and increased spending on social programs, however, may be contributing to the country’s current economic crisis.

Aggravating the problem is the fact that inflation is increasing at an alarming speed. In August, 12-month interest rates rose to 45.4 percent. This is the highest since Venezuela’s hyperinflation crisis in the mid-1990s. Officials in Maduro’s government have said that they will be considering changes in the country’s economic policies in an effort to combat the rising prices and food shortages in Venezuela.

– Daniel Bonasso

Sources: The Guardian, New York Times, Wall Street Journal