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Food and Governance

Food and Governance. Duncan Green Ecumenical World Development Conference Swanwick October 2012. Or go forward into an Age of Development?. The Challenge: Slide back into an Age of Scarcity. The food system is failing. A billion hungry people

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Food and Governance

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  1. Food and Governance Duncan Green Ecumenical World Development Conference Swanwick October 2012

  2. Or go forward into an Age of Development? The Challenge:Slide back into an Age of Scarcity

  3. The food system is failing • A billion hungry people • 1.5 billion anaemic through iron deficiency • Half a million kids go blind every year due to lack of vitamin A And at the same time • 1.5 billion overweight adults (of which 0.5 billion obese)

  4. Hunger rising since the mid 90s Source: WFP

  5. Increased demand 50% by 2030 (IEA) Energy Climate Change Food Increased demand 50% by 2030 (FAO) Water Increased demand 30% by 2030 (IFPRI) Framing: The Standard Response • Can 9 billion people be fed equitably, healthily and sustainably? • Can we cope with the future demands on water? • Can we provide enough energy to supply the growing population coming out of poverty? • Can we mitigate and adapt to climate change? • Can we do all this in the context of redressing the decline in biodiversity and preserving ecosystems? Biodiversity

  6. What’s missing from this picture? • Power: who decides? (Amartya Sen on famine) • Distribution: who benefits? • Justice: what is fair? • Which brings us to governance

  7. Governance in the south: my guru

  8. Ha-Joon Chang: lessons from 21 successful countries • Need to ‘free policy imagination’ • Role of the state • Smallscale farmers are central (Vietnam) • Importance of land reform (Japan, Taiwan) • State-backed credit and insurance • Encourage organization (co-ops etc) • Stabilize prices (USA, Chile) • But delivery can be public, private or mixed (i.e. Different from industry)

  9. To which, I would add • Gender • Gender equality would boost output by up to 10% • land ownership (15-20% women) • Access to credit • extension services (5% aimed at women) • Reproductive health • Resilience • Adapting to climate change (rubber) • From tradition to science • The Power of Organization • Against land grabs and rip-offs • For better deals in markets (farmers want to sell, not just grow)

  10. Other missing pieces: Volatility and urbanization • The Number of hungry people in cities is rising. Our research (with IDS) shows • Food Price Volatility -> inequality • Having fun matters as well as eating • What do poor people need? • Jobs • Social protection (often informal) • Price stability • Women need help with extra pressure

  11. Why Food Price Volatility matters

  12. What about the rich countries? Production: • Waste • Consumption: is meat murder? • Competition (biofuels, land grabs) • R&D: • Technology for whom? • Decelerating productivity growth • Aid to ag down in last 20 years from 20% to 7%

  13. Aid and Trade • WTO lets rich countries off eg with subsidies (40 x aid) • Food security v self sufficiency • Panic buying and export bans, but what about Yemen? • Biofuels waste money and food • Food aid system overstretched and clunky • Policy advice often very free market (ignoring lessons of history)

  14. PROBLEM – more of the same, elites failing a failing food system the age of crisis planetary boundaries disempowering inequality

  15. SOLUTION – the many working together a good food system valuing preciousresources the new prosperity fair shares

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