World Food Day - Q3 - Sep 2018 by Mediaplanet UK&IE

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World Food Day “Our Actions are our Future. A Zero Hunger world by 2030 is possible” José Graziano da Silva P2

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ur vision is a sustainable and thriving cocoa sector – where farmers prosper, cocoa-growing communities are empowered, human rights are respected, and the environment is conserved

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IN THIS ISSUE

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READ MORE ON GLOBALCAUSE.CO.UK Dr Liz Goodwin, World Resources Institute - Ending food waste could be key to ending hunger

Phil Hogan, EU Commission Reinforcing the EUAfrica partnership in food and farming

Marie Haga Executive Director, Crop Trust Food systems need to move beyond providing calories and, instead, also focus on nutritional value

IMAGE: ©FAO/KHALED DESOUKI

There is no time to lose in the ﬁght to end hunger and obesity “Our Actions are our Future. A Zero Hunger world by 2030 is possible,” is the slogan for World Food Day 2018.”

We reap what we sow. In many cultures, this ancient proverb is a warning about what happens to people who behave badly. It also offers an encouraging message, nudging us to prepare well for a positive harvest.

here are only 12 years left to deliver on the international community’s pledge to eradicate hunger by 2030, a cardinal objective of the Sustainable Development Agenda. There is no time to lose. Undernourishment has risen year on year since 2014 Sadly, the number of people suffering undernourishment has risen to 821 Follow us

million in 2017. This is the third year increase in a row after a decade of decline. Conflict and climate change impacts, which take their heaviest toll on rural communities, are the main reason for this situation. About 60% of the world’s hungry, and an even more intolerable 75% of stunted children, live in countries affected by conflict. Building the resilience of poor rural communities and family farmers is key to eradicating hunger, and peace is, too. Investment is needed to improve the links between field and plate We need policies to spur more privatesector investments in agriculture and rural development, to boost social protection programmes for the vulnerable, and to optimise MediaplanetUK

links between food producers and consumers. We need science and innovation to ﬁnd the best seeds, to save precious water resources and to protect biodiversity. The adoption of climatesmart practices is also central to making sure our food systems are able to adapt to climate change and contribute to its mitigation. We also need to reduce food loss and waste, which affects one third of all the food produced worldwide and carries an estimated annual global bill of $2.6 trillion a year. 672 million people classed ‘obese’ in 2016 World Food Day is not just about making sure people have access to enough calories. Healthy lives require much @MediaplanetUK

José Graziano da Silva Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

better nutrition than we currently enjoy. In 2016, 2.6 billion people were overweight - 672 million of them were obese (13.2% of the global population). If governments and the private sector do not take serious, coordinated actions on this issue, we may soon have more obese than undernourished people in the world. Furthermore, childhood overweight affected 38 million children under ﬁve years of age, with Africa and Asia representing 25% and 46% of the global total, respectively. The problem of obesity is most signiﬁcant in North America, but it is worrying that even Africa and Asia are also experiencing an upward trend. Eight of the 20 countries in the world with the fastest rising rates of adult obesity are in Africa. We are witnessing the globalisation of obesity. @MediaplanetUK

Consumer-focused campaigns help prevent food waste Happily, support for doing the right thing is growing. Indeed, a pilot project by a supermarket in Britain found exceptional, 14-fold returns to investments in reducing food loss and waste. Clever campaigns promoting “ugly” fruit and vegetables - a ridiculous description of nature’s bounty – are winning the hearts and minds of many of us in our everyday lives. Let us spread the word about the new mind-set: adopting healthy diets and preserving our natural resources are essential for a more sustainable world. We can make it happen.

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Why healthier animals help save the planet Humankind and our planet stand on the precipice of a great nutritional reckoning. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently reported that world hunger is on the rise for the third year in a row, with nearly 821 million people undernourished1.

t the same time, food p ro d u c t i o n must increase by 70% in 2050 to meet growing global demand2. Challenges around global hunger and food security continue to increase. A similar statistic demonstrates just how much we overuse. Each year, our global population uses natural resources 70% faster than they can be renewed – equivalent to using 1.7 earth’s3. Or, put simply, by early August of this year we burned through the resources that should see us through an entire year. It is imperative to consider how agriculture can play a part in the solution. Raising healthier animals can sustainably improve the lives of millions of people and our planet. “Animal protein – meat, milk and eggs – are an essential part of a balanced diet. That’s why it is vitally important we make the health and well-being of animals a priority and identify how to raise them more efficiently, so we can improve lives today while conserving natural resources for future generations,”

said Jeff Simmons, President and CEO of Elanco, a leading animal health company with a legacy of innovating products to meet global challenges. Healthy animals can impact global hunger One of the most significant threats to food security lies in livestock disease, with 20% of farm animal productivity lost due to illness and death4. This also creates economic losses for farmers and results in numerous ripple effects. For example, nearly 25% of the global population is anemic5, and anemia from iron deficiency is the most common cause6. Increased protein in the diet could help solve this widespread form of malnutrition and the most common cause of impaired cognitive d eve l o p m e n t in children. But less available protein and economic losses to farmers make it more difficult for many people to purchase and consume meat, milk and eggs, which all offer important nutritional profiles for human health. Meat is nutrient-rich in vitamin B12, which is only found in animal food sources, and is also rich in zinc and iron. One egg contains half the protein a child needs each day. Milk is high in calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and protein, which

are all essential for healthy bone growth and the development and maintenance of healthy teeth. “We can make great strides for global human health and the environment by improving the health and well-being of animals,” said Simmons. “This is because a healthy animal has a direct impact on the health of people and our planet by providing safe, wholesome nutrition and improving environmental sustainability.” Simmons adds that veterinary oversight is integral to animal health and helps identify ways to ensure that animals live longer, healthier and higher-quality lives.

the people who care for animals is crucial to improving global animal health yet poses a significant challenge. Multi-stakeholder partnerships are changing that. “Our partnerships bring together the people and assets to meet the multifaceted needs of farmers and the livestock for which they care,” said Maria Zampaglione, shared value advisor for Elanco. “While our expertise is animal health, our partners bring infrastructure and additional insights to the table resulting in impactful solutions – the types of solutions that can provide long-term answers to food security issues.” For instance, one project in East Africa demonstrates the interconnectedness that starts with animals and helps local farming families increase livestock production. The shared value project provides them with access to high-quality, reliable veterinary medicines and knowledge to combat livestock disease. It also supplies the animal health tools in quantities and packages useful to smallholder farmers, while offering training on disease awareness, preventative animal healthcare, and more. Supporting these farmers reduces hunger and poverty in a sustainable way. “Providing training and access

It is vitally important we make the health and well-being of animals a priority He also points to innovation as essential to providing more protein using fewer resources, and reducing or eliminating hunger while maximizing food choices for consumers. The key is getting tools in the hands of farmers, and helping them learn how to use innovative medicines. Improving animal health through partnerships Providing education and tools that improve animal health and support

Jeff Simmons President and CEO, Elanco

to reliable, effective animal health tools helps smallholder farmers identify, prevent and treat livestock illness, protecting their herds from devastating losses,” said Simmons. That’s the kind of action that will help secure the future nutritional needs around the world without bringing increasing pressures on the natural resource base.

About The East Africa Growth Accelerator Elanco Animal Health is committed to providing services and resources to improve animal health and foodanimal production in more than 70 countries around the world. Elanco supports the East Africa Growth Accelerator through veterinary resources and education. The goals of the project are to train 12,000 farmers, treat 1.1 million cows and 16 million chickens, and give 240,000 dairy and poultry farmers access to affordable animal health products by 2020.

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Ending food waste could be key to ending hunger Dr. Liz Goodwin Senior Fellow and Director, Food Loss and Waste, World Resources Institute

Today, more than 800 million people are hungry around the world, while one-third of the food we produce is never consumed.

he Sustainable Development Goals have prioritized ending global hunger through Goal 2, and food loss and waste is addressed through Target 3 of Goal 12. But the issues are not so siloed, and we must look at both in tandem to solve either. A lack of cooking skills means more food is wasted I often surprise people when I talk about the fact that some of those who are hungry in developed countries, for example, are also some of the many who waste food.

Some of those who are hungry in developed countries, for example, are also some of the many who waste food In the United Kingdom, many families struggle to afford their food bill. As with the general population, a decline in home cooking skills means they often rely on processed and prepared foods, which can cost more. And because many don’t understand how to make use of leftovers or are confused by date labels, food unnecessarily ends up thrown away. Through simple steps like teaching people how to cook, we can help families stretch their food budgets while wasting less.

I’m always inspired by a woman who was struggling to feed herself and her son, yet was able to reduce her food spending by 80% after a training course in cooking. Ending hunger and reducing food loss and waste are economic challenges as much as they are moral ones. Smart policy must start by bringing together a range of leaders – political, religious, business and social – to look at the issues as complex and intertwined, but also as solvable.

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PHOTOS: HANNAH MAULE-FFINCH, UNICEF

Improving nutrition will fuel economic growth but needs new investment The global food system is broken. As a result of increasingly erratic climate conditions, this broken system exacts an immediate human cost on the world’s poor – increasing hunger and malnutrition.

Ertharin Cousin

Board Director, The Power of Nutrition

The latest statistics from the UN show that 821 million people – around one in nine people around the world – were reported to be undernourished in 2017, an increase from 804 million in 2016.

t a chronic level, 151 million children under ﬁve years old currently suffer from stunting, a further 51 million suffer from wasting, and undernutrition remains an underlying cause of over half the deaths of children in this age group. Women and children are most affected As is so often the case with issues related to poverty and injustice, women and children carry a disproportionate share of this burden. Children affected by stunting are 1.5 times more likely to die from diseases such as diarrhoea, pneumonia, malaria or measles and their ability to learn is impaired PHOTOS: HANNAH MAULE-FFINCH, UNICEF

undernutrition can reduce a child’s IQ by as much as 15%. At a purely human level, justice demands the global community to stop this growing human tragedy. Moving beyond this evolving crisis, any hope of achieving the Zero Hunger Sustainable Development Goal requires a significant step change, including greater focus, investment and innovation – with absolutely no space for complacency. Tackling hunger and undernutrition should not require a hard sell Improving nutrition won’t just help more children to have healthier, safer lives or succeed at school. It will generate a transformative impact on whole societies – reducing an avoidable healthcare burden, untapping the full potential of future generations and increasing economic opportunity. Long-term undernutrition can cause a cycle of stunting Chronic undernutrition creates irreversible stunting, a condition that prevents sufficient physical and mental development, inevitably effecting future education and employment potential. This all too often results in a vicious cycle where children affected by stunting, as adults are then more likely to raise children who also suffer from undernutrition, trapping generations in an ongoing web of poverty and limited opportunity. Undernutrition can cost as much as 11% in GDP Chronically malnourished children are more vulnerable to disease, placing increased pressures onto already stretched public health systems. The World Bank has

calculated that the economic impact of undernutrition costs countries up to 11% in lost GDP. In contrast, the results of investing in nutrition speak for themselves. The World Health Organization estimates that every $1 spent on helping mothers to breastfeed during the first six months generates up to a $35 economic return. And children free from stunting are 33% more likely to escape poverty. Tackling undernutrition therefore represents an investment in longterm economic development. In countries such as Peru, achieving measurable reductions in childhood malnutrition has helped to successfully remove pressures on public healthcare programmes. As a result, they have been able to release resources to invest in other vital programmes such as tackling avoidable diseases or improving education. Improved nutrition benefits commerce Commercial organisations also stand to benefit – through access to a more dynamic workforce, growing consumer markets and more resilient and secure supply chains. In a global economy, where we buy goods and services from all around the world, this is important progress that can have a long-term and sustainable impact. Helping the growth of emerging markets in Asia and Africa, where the highest burden of undernutrition can be found, will have a positive commercial impact on businesses around the world and potentially enable them to translate vital savings and benefits back to shareholders, employees and consumers. So, this is clearly an area where

what is right for individuals, including children in some of the world’s poorest countries, is also in the best interests of national governments, businesses and commercial investors. It is also an area where responding to an immediate moral imperative constitutes a prudent long-term investment in countries’ futures that will help them grow their economies and become less dependent on foreign aid or development assistance. New Investment is needed to overcome barriers to better nutrition Given the potential beneﬁts, perhaps the biggest challenge around nutrition is understanding and overcoming the barriers holding back progress. The interventions required to deliver a reduction in undernutrition are not prohibitively expensive – with education and behaviour change likely to have as much impact as more costly measures. However, given the sheer numbers involved, making sufficient progress will require scaling up successful small programmes, which in turn depends on unlocking much greater investment. Until recently, the absence of adequate coordination or innovative financing bodies limited the ability to drive the increase in ﬁnancial and technical investment required. That’s why I am excited about the progress that The Power of Nutrition has made in the relatively short time since its formation in 2015 – unlocking more than US$360 million in new investment and working through world-class implementing partners to help fund national-level nutrition programmes, which are taking to scale proven interventions

that will improve nutrition in the crucial ﬁrst 1,000 days of a child’s life. Generating $1billion in new funding by 2022 This investment is already driving promising results. The first two investment programmes, in Tanzania and Liberia, have reached more than 7 million children under five and over 2 million women. Investments like this will help reduce the risk of undernutrition, stunting and wasting. Further programmes have been initiated in Ethiopia, Madagascar and Rwanda, with the Cote D’Ivoire soon to join them. Investments in Indonesia, Burkina Faso, India, Benin and Nigeria are anticipated to receive approval in the next 12 months as part of an ambitious programme that reﬂects The Power of Nutrition’s strategic goal to unlock $1billion in new funding by 2022. Beyond the immediate progress in raising new funds and supporting new investment programmes, and the impact that these programmes are having on the ground, this success also provides a valuable blueprint for others to follow – demonstrating the long-term return of investment that will come from giving mothers and young children access to better nutrition.

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Why working together is the way to a living income Collaborative action is needed by companies, consumers and governments if smallholder families are to earn a living income from the produce they grow on their farms.

Dr Gerd Müller The German Federal Minister, Economic Cooperation and Development

Every working smallholder farmer in every corner of the world deserves to earn a living income. This is an income that does more than simply lift growers and their families above the poverty line. Instead, it should ensure that everyone in their household can enjoy a decent standard of living.

Antonie Fountain Managing Director, The VOICE Network

hat’s the dream anyway. The reality is that a shocking 63% of people working in agriculture live in extreme poverty. In fact, according to ﬁgures from the World Bank, there are an estimated 500 million smallholder farming households globally, who comprise a large proportion of the world’s poor living on less than $2 a day. This situation has to end insists Dr Gerd Müller, the German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development — and governments around the world can help by offering their support in a number of areas. “Farmers in developing countries must be able to make a living from their work,” says Müller. “We support them by jointly developing better farming methods and additional sources of income. We also help build the capacity of local authorities so that they can support farmers in their work.”

consumers also have to get involved and have a responsibility to buy fairly — not just cheaply. “Buying sustainable, fairly traded products benefits farmers directly,” he says. “Through our purchasing choices, we can put pressure on retailers and industry to get them to respect human rights and pay fair prices in global supply chains.” Government support and consumer power are indispensable to end the economic plight facing many smallholder farmers. But moreover, companies need to do their bit, too. By joining forces, they can create consistent sustainability messages while using their influence and resources more effectively. Because, ultimately, this is a systemic problem, so collaboration between all actors is critical. “To solve poverty issues, everyone needs to play their part,” says Antonie Fountain, Managing Director of The Voice Network, an association of NGOs and Trade Unions working on sustainability in the ﬁeld of cocoa production. “That means businesses, governments, civil society, academia, farmers, etc., getting together to identify objectives and share learnings. We’re starting to see results, slowly: there’s now a broad industry ambition to end deforestation in major cocoa-producing countries, for instance.”

Buying fairly, not cheaply But Dr Müller also stresses that this problem is so big and so devastating that governments can’t possibly tackle it alone. German and European

Bringing different stakeholders together What’s more, GIZ — the German development cooperation commissioned by the German Federal Min-

istry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is facilitating ‘The Living Income Community of Practice’, which brings together different stakeholders to work towards a living income for smallholder farming families. “With our work, we have been able to show that there is a large gap between what cocoa farmers should earn and what they are actually earning today,” says Christoph Beier, Vice-Chair of the Management Board at GIZ. “This should be a wakeup call to companies and governments to take remedial action.” Dr Beier notes that smallholder farmers producing for global supply chains often receive just a fraction of the consumer price, so living incomes have to be an integral part of sustainable supply chains. The trouble is, says Antonie Fountain, some companies don’t know enough about their suppliers and who they source their products from. Yet they have a moral duty to ﬁnd out.

A living income isn't 'a nice to have'. It should be a human right Businesses should understand their supply chains “I ﬁnd it incredible that, in the 21st century, products are still being grown

Sarah Roberts Executive Director, Ethical Tea Partnership

or made off the back of exploitation and extreme poverty,” notes Fountain. “The second UN Guiding Principle on Business and Human Rights states that companies have a responsibility to respect human rights. But how can a company do that if it doesn’t understand every part of its supply chain? Businesses must have reliable and credible auditing systems in place to make sure they are sourcing sustainably and ethically. Otherwise they’re effectively saying: ‘We don’t care what happens in our supply chains.’” Sarah Roberts is Executive Director of The Ethical Tea Partnership, a not for proﬁt organisation bringing together tea companies with development agencies, NGOs, and governments to create a fairer, more sustainable tea industry. She believes that deeper collaboration between companies, governments and NGOs and a focus on longer term social impact work is the key to improving lives in tea communities. Roberts says: “By working together we can amplify and accelerate our impact. A good example of this is our work with our partners on Malawi Tea 2020. Together with the Tea Association of Malawi (TAML), Oxfam, IDH (the Sustainable Trade Initiative), and GIZ (German Development Agency), we’re leading a coalition of stakeholders from across the entire tea value chain with the aim of creating a more competitive Malawian tea industry where workers earn a living wage and smallholders are thriving.” “It is clear that in addition to

Dr Christoph Beier Vice-Chair, The Management Board, GIZ

collaborative working, companies also need to know the realities that farmers and workers are facing - they should look at what they can do with regard to their own terms of trade and procurement practices,” Roberts adds. Giving farmers skills and vocational training Another way to help smallholder farmers is by helping them diversify into other areas if they aren’t able to earn a living income from agriculture alone. “Take Malawi, where a number of factors impact on tea farmers’ incomes,” says Roberts. “A signiﬁcant one is that many people struggle to produce a living income when they only have small plots of land. So it is essential that governments are investing in skills training and vocational development for those who will not be able to earn enough income from their plots.” A living income isn’t ‘a nice to have’. It should be a human right, and work is happening to help all smallholder farmers achieve it. But it’s a massive undertaking and more needs to be done. Joined up thinking and collaborative action from everyone is the only way forward. Tony Greenway

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Q&A with David Beasley, Executive Director, World Food Programme (WFP) David Beasley Executive Director, World Food Programme

Is it realistic to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030? We can achieve Zero Hunger, but we must do more to end conflict. Sixty per cent of the 821 million hungry people in the world are living in conflict zones. It’s even more tragic for children – it is estimated that 122 million of the 155 million children who are stunted live in countries affected by conflict. The primary reason hunger is on the rise after decades of progress is conflict, and we will never reverse that if the conflicts keep occurring. Sadly, since the mid-1990s, most of the conflicts are recurrences of previous disputes. That’s why we need more comprehensive and long-term engagement from the international community that improves stability and supports people as they rebuild.

How do we ﬁght hunger and malnutrition? We must have a long-term focus that is not just about food, but about helping people create stable communities with functioning, resilient marketplaces. For example, in Niger, World Food Programme (WFP) has been working with several partner organisations to help more than 250,000 people in about 35 communes, or towns, with a multisector approach that builds resilience and stability. More precisely, the programmes in Niger cover land regeneration and water harvesting, working with women’s groups to plant tree nurseries and community gardens and school meals through community gardens. A concerted, focused effort like this can create stability, the kind of conditions that help a family, a community and a region take care of itself.

What is the role of partnerships from private and public sectors to achieve SDG 2 to achieve Zero Hunger by 2030? Zero Hunger is not attainable without effective partnerships at every level – non-government organisations, governments, civil society and the private sector. That long-term strategic approach I’ve mentioned needs private sector expertise. We work with the private sector on innovative new solutions, like blockchain, or in technological advancements that help us plan the scale and speed of operations. And of course, the private sector ﬁnancial support also helps as well. I will also say that we need the private sector to step up more. With all the wealth in the world today, no child should go to bed hungry. There are enough resources, and enough talent, to help us end hunger.

A Zero Hunger Eastern Africa is possible David Phiri FAO Subregional Coordinator, Eastern Africa and Representative to the African Union and UNECA

Is Zero Hunger – a world free of hunger by 2030 – possible in East Africa? A: Absolutely! The African Union’s heads of state, through the Malabo declaration in 2014, committed to reach this goal even earlier, by 2025.

What more needs to happen to end hunger? A: We need to better address climate change. Droughts and floods are more frequent and intense, giving communities no respite. New plant and animal pests and diseases have emerged and the established ones attack more ferociously. For example, fall armyworm and avian inﬂuenza are devastating the food and agriculture sector. As a rule of thumb, communities and governments should always plan and prepare as if the agricultural season is going to be negatively affected somehow, and use climatesmart agriculture approaches. Countries also need to translate political will into concrete actions,

supporting rural communities with essential resources to increase food security and eradicate hunger.

Any Zero Hunger achievements we should know about? A: One crucial aspect is the African continental free trade area (ACFTA). This can accelerate ending hunger as countries trade food and agricultural products more freely with each other. Together with the standardisation of food safety regulations and stronger support for rural communities, the ACFTA will help East Africa reach Zero Hunger.

People in East Africa are incredibly resilient. What are some of the most striking examples? A: In the mid-1980s, the world was shocked by images of hunger in Eastern Africa as famine hit the region. Despite the intensity of East Africa’s last drought (2016-2017), the prevalence and severity of hunger were minimal. It was the same for

Southern Africa following its El Niño-induced drought – the worst in 50 years. Not one person died because of drought. We often do not hear about these success stories, but they show that over the years, the efforts of governments and development partners like FAO are paying off.

What does a Zero Hunger world mean to you? A: A Zero Hunger world means better economies, health, education and more gender equality and social development. For me, it means that organisations like FAO will not exist to preach food security, but to sustain existing food security, focusing more on nutrition, environmental friendly agriculture, and rural development. Zero Hunger also means no food aid anywhere in the world.

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Agricultural researchers boost ﬁght against malnutrition with staple crops

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Martin Kropff

Director General, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)

For several decades, plant breeders have been focused not only on boosting yields and improving crop hardiness, but also on developing crop varieties with greater nutritional value. “By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round.” Those words frame the ﬁrst part of UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 , “Zero Hunger,” established as one of 17 overall objectives to alleviate poverty worldwide. As part of achieving SDG 2, measurable indicators include considering the prevalence of undernourishment in addition to the persistence of moderate or severe food insecurity. What may be less well known is that the second clause of SDG 2 states: “By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting

in children under ﬁve years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons.” At the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), we are doing our part to help achieve all of the targets of SDG 2, including boosting yields, production and maintaining genetic diversity, to name a few. We are also making strides toward improving the nutritional value of wheat and maize, recognising that the nutritional balance should come from a more diverse diet. Unfortunately, many do not have access to it. The good news is that the proportion of undernourished people dropped from 15% in 20002002 to 11% between 2014 and 2016. During that same period the number of undernourished fell from 930 million people to 793 million. But there is much more work to be done Currently, almost 2 billion people do not consume enough essential

vitamins and minerals required for healthy brain and body development. We believe agricultural research organisations such as CIMMYT should continue to play a signiﬁcant role in reducing these numbers. Staple cereal grains make up a signiﬁcant proportion of diets, and demand for this affordable and efficient source of energy in developing countries will continue to increase in the future apace with population growth and dietary need. Discussions on global hunger risks often focus on ensuring the availability of staple foods, but cereals are not simply energy providers – they also contain significant amounts of other important nutrients, including proteins, fibre, lipids, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals. Whole grain cereals – with higher levels of bioactive compounds and complex carbohydrates – are an especially important component of a healthy and diverse diet . For people reliant on staple crops and without access to a diverse diet, including almost 800 million who

go hungry, one avenue of providing more nutritious food is through new varieties of staple crops. Nutritious staples For several decades, plant breeders have been focused not only on boosting yields and improving crop hardiness, but also on developing crop varieties with greater nutritional value. Quality protein maize – originally developed in the 1990s – is now grown on 1.2 million hectares around the world, while pro-vitamin A maize is grown on at least 100,000 hectares in Africa and has been shown to be as effective as vitamin supplements. High-zinc wheat is also taking off in Asia, and the ﬁrst high-zinc maize varieties for Latin America were released in February . These biofortification efforts demand investment in improved breeding approaches , but overall they are cost-effective and make a big impact . In addition to undernutrition, obesity is on the rise, with around 650 million people now seriously

overweight, including 350 million children and adolescents. Closer work with producers, retailers and other businesses in the agri-food sector is required to both develop more nutritious foods that satisfy consumers and involve more farmers – particularly smallholders – in producing nutritious and healthy food sustainably. At CIMMYT, we encourage greater productivity and crop diversity. There is still much we have to learn, but the more we understand the intersections and connections between food production and nutrition, the more we understand the potential to ﬁnd solutions to complex challenges. Biofortifying maize and wheat crops is one tool in the box – albeit a hugely important one in the effort to end global hunger.

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Why families are falling into the food poverty trap

Anna Taylor Executive Director, Food Foundation

Food poverty affects millions of children across the UK. Policy-makers need to step up create programmes and initiatives to ensure that everyone has enough healthy food on their plate.

he UK is a wealthy country. Yet millions of people across our nation are facing a daily struggle to feed themselves and/or their children says Anna Taylor, Executive Director at the Food Foundation think tank. “There’s an idea that rich countries face an obesity problem and poor countries face a food poverty problem,” she explains. “But food poverty is a global issue — so it’s a much more complicated picture than that.” The UK’s food poverty statistics are both worrying and depressing. The stats are linked to wages remaining low while costs go up, and individuals falling through gaps in the beneﬁts system. A new Food Foundation affordability report highlights that 3.7 million children in the UK are likely to be unable to afford a healthy and balanced diet, as deﬁned by the government’s Eatwell Guide. It also notes that the poorest households in the UK — those earning less than £15,860 — would have to spend 42% of their disposable income to meet the dietary recommendations outlined in the guide. Cutting back on food What’s needed is food security for

everyone. Taylor characterises ‘food security’ as being able ’to secure at all times enough food of sufficient quality and quantity to allow you to stay healthy and participate in society’. She also points out that there are varying degrees of food insecurity. For example, at one end of the scale, a family may have to make cutbacks on healthy food. At the other, it may have to cut-back on food, full stop. “That’s when you know you’ve tipped into severe food insecurity,” says Taylor. It’s not just about going hungry.The consequences of being unable to put food on the table can be devastating in all kinds of unexpected ways. “Maybe you aren’t able to invite your children’s friends over for tea because there’s not enough food spare,” says Taylor. “Or maybe you have to send your kids off to their grandparents’ every weekend because that’s where they’ll get a meal.” You might even have to resort to visiting a food bank (The Food Foundation report notes that food bank usage has risen to unprecedented levels) — or even stealing or begging. Food insecurity creates another harmful impact, notes Taylor. Parents who don’t have the money to take risks with food are less inclined to introduce new fruit or vegetables into their children’s diet in case what starts on their plate ends up in the bin. “So they just stick with the food they know their kids will eat, which often ends up being highly calorific, highly processed and low in nutrients.”

Negative impact on health These factors can all lead to another problem: health and obesity issues. Recent reports show that children from food-insecure households are more prone to chronic disease in late adolescence. “There’s a cluster of health consequences that go with the stress of food insecurity,” says Taylor. “The anxiety, depression and general mental health impacts are massive, because getting food for your children is the only thing you think about, day in and day out.” The answer to food insecurity lies in the hands of policy-makers, says Taylor. “There are various things that could be done. For example, school holidays are a particularly difficult time for low-income parents, so kitchens that would otherwise be idle could be used to feed children who are entitled to free school meals after the age of seven.” And the focus of supermarket promotions, such as Buy One Get One Free, needs to change. “Unhealthy calories are three times cheaper than healthy calories,” says Taylor. “The trouble is, people in poverty rely heavy on those kinds of deals — so let’s have them on healthy food instead. I think there’s a disconnect between policy-makers and what’s really happening on the ground; so a concerted effort from government is needed with the right mix of policy and programmes to prevent food insecurity from occurring in the ﬁrst place.” Tony Greenway

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Cheap cocoa is costing farmers dear Darío Soto-Abril Global CEO, Fairtrade International Shock, frustration and anger. Those were my feelings after seeing a Fairtrade study in Côte d’Ivoire showing that only 12% of cocoa households earn a living income.

ocoa lovers around the world might be as shocked as I was to learn that the median income in Ivorian cocoa households is US$ 2,600, when our estimates tell us a decent, living income should be US$ 6,133 a year. I am frustrated, because this refers to Fairtrade-certified farmers, who benefit from a minimum-price safety net and receive a premium for their crop. I am angry, because the situation for most cocoa farmers could even be more precarious. Cocoa farmers earn 40% of a living income World cocoa prices plunged by more than a third last year. The latest cocoa barometer report from a global group of NGOs points to a systemic failure in the global cocoa trade. Cocoa farmers bear all the risk from price volatility, putting an unbearable strain on their fragile incomes, while other actors in the cocoa chain adapt or even make windfall gains and consumers continue to enjoy their chocolate. This is still happening despite considerable investment in the industry to build a sustainable cocoa sector. The focus has been on raising productivity and diversifying crops. Those are important ingredients in the income mix. The average cocoa farm in Côte d’Ivoire yields only half or less of what could be achieved with training and resources such as fertilisers, equipment and replanting. If farmers diversify into other crops, livestock or non-farm activities, they lower the risk of fluctuating world cocoa prices. We must pay cocoa farmers more But even tripling yields would not provide the average cocoa farmer with a living income. And diversification alone will not necessarily make farms more profitable. If we want farmers to earn a living income, we must also be willing to pay farmers more. There is no way round it. Until recently, price was a taboo subject when talking about farmers’ income. Now that conversation is opening up. Nearly 1,500 participants at this year’s World Cocoa Conference, including NGOs, governments and industry players, issued a declaration calling for more decisive action to make living income a reality. At Fairtrade, we are rolling out a new cocoa strategy to deliver living incomes through a holistic approach that includes productivity, cost efficiency, and higher sales on Fairtrade terms. We will go beyond revamping our minimum price and premium for cocoa. We are committed to pushing for a new sustainable pricing model based on a ‘living income reference price’. We can’t do it alone. We see the reference price as the basis for income interventions with willing commercial partners, and as a revolutionary way to define living income and pricing targets against which industry players can measure themselves and communicate their footprint. Shoppers need to be able to differentiate living income products from those that are not farmer-centric Living income reference prices in cocoa will also give consumers an opportunity to connect with farmers and make the right choices, by allowing shoppers to differentiate between living income cocoa and other, less farmer-centred options. We, the cocoa lovers of the world, can transform our shock, frustration and anger into action to ensure farmers get a living income. The skewed playing field faced by cocoa growers in Côte d’Ivoire and elsewhere can be levelled if we address farmer income together, decisively, as both a moral imperative and a practical path forward. Adding price to the mix is the right thing to do.