Conflict, food insecurity, and globalization:

"We explore how globalization, broadly conceived to include international humanrights norms, humanitarianism, and alternative trade, might influence peaceful and foodsecure outlooks and outcomes. The paper draws on our previous work on conflict as a cause and effect of hunger and also looks at agricultural exports as war commodities. We review studies on the relationships between (1) conflict and food insecurity, (2) conflict and globalization, and (3) globalization and food insecurity. Next, we analyze countrylevel, historical contexts where export crops, such as coffee and cotton, have been implicated in triggering and perpetuating conflict. These cases suggest that it is not export cropping per se, but production and trade structures and food and financial policy contexts that determine peaceful or belligerent outcomes. Export cropping appears to contribute to conflict when fluctuating prices destabilize household and national incomes and when revenues fund hostilities. Also, in these scenarios, governments have not taken steps to progressively realize the right to adequate food or to reduce hunger and poverty. We conclude by exploring implications for agricultural development, trade, and human rights policies." Authors' AbstractHunger, Conflict, war, Globalization, Crops, exports, coffee, Cotton, Human rights, Right to food, Fair trade,

The human right to food as a U.S. nutrition concern, 1976-2006:

"For 30 years, U.S. food and nutrition scientists and policymakers concerned with food and nutrition have explored the possibility of making the human right to food (HRF) the moral and legal cornerstone of U.S. domestic and international initiatives in this area. The U.S. government has consistently opposed formal right-to-food legislation, labeling it as overly burdensome and inconsistent with constitutional law. In contrast, anti-hunger advocates have favored a rights-based framework as a way to hold government accountable for improving the nutritional situation of its poorest citizens and for saving lives and preventing malnutrition in developing countries. The U.S. government has continually expanded food and nutrition assistance at home and abroad, but not within a human rights framework. What might a human rights perspective add, and what are the continuing rationales of the opposition? Using as touchstones U.S. government and nongovernmental organization (NGO) testimonies from the 1976 Right to Food Resolution congressional debate and the 1996 World Food Summit, which featured U.S. opposition to HRF language, the U.S. government and NGO HRF positions are traced from 1976 to 2006. Qualitative analyses of historical policy position papers, testimonies, research reports, and the popular nutrition literature are used to evaluate how human rights and the HRF—as framing and rhetoric—have influenced nutrition policy, public and official understanding, and outreach. In this documentation process, we also integrate information from the wider “human rights” positions of the food-and-nutrition advocacy community, including Food First, Bread for the World, the Food Research and Action Center, the community food security movement, and charitable food assistance agencies, to demonstrate where these different advocacy agents, organizations, and agendas fit in this process of advancing a HRF sensibility." from Authors' AbstractFood policy, Human rights, Right to food, malnutrition, Social welfare,

Conflict, food insecurity, and globalization:

"For more than two centuries, proponents and critics of an open global economy have debated whether the free flows of goods, services, and capital make the world more peaceful and food secure or instead exacerbate inequalities and hardships, fanning interclass or interethnic violence motivated by grievance and greed. Food security and pri-mary agricultural commodities have been largely left out of these discussions; the authors begin to fill these gaps... the paper recommends four agendas for further food policy consideration: first, more attention to equitable outcomes in food distribution and food production and trade programs, so that such food security programs do not further contribute to ethnic divisions favoring violence-prone grievance and greed. Second, more careful scrutiny of national marketing and financial policies that influence farmer and middlemen income, and who benefits from agricultural export crops. Third, the design of some type of compensation fund for sudden or certain “losers” in globalization, who face loss of livelihood and recruitment to violence when cash crops like coffee fail to deliver expected livelihoods. Fourth, and in sum, more systematic use of livelihood-security and rights-based frameworks that address local-level food security in the context of national food policy planning " from TextHunger, Conflict, war, Globalization, Crops, exports, coffee, Cotton, Human rights, Right to food, Fair trade,

Breaking the links between conflict and hunger in Africa

"Armed conflicts frequently lead to the destruction of food systems. Often, warring parties manipulate starvation as a deliberate tactic, using their control over access to food to attract and reward friends and humble and punish enemies. Such conflicts are “food wars,” not only because hunger is used as a weapon but also because food insecurity is both an effect and cause of conflict....National governments in Africa, together with global investors, whether private or public (aid donors), must include conflict-prevention considerations in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of development programs and projects.They should calculate savings from conflict avoidance as part of the returns to development spending. Such an approach can help break the links between conflict and food insecurity. " from TextConflict ,Access to food ,Hunger ,Conflict prevention ,development projects ,Food markets ,

Agricultural extension services and gender equality: An institutional analysis of four districts in Ethiopia

Decentralized delivery of public services has been promoted as a means to enhance citizen voice and make service provision more responsive to users. Ethiopia has undertaken two rounds of decentralization, making first the regional states and then the district governments responsible for providing key public services. This paper explores whether decentralization has improved the quality of service delivery and citizen satisfaction with the services provided, focusing on agricultural extension. Specifically, we examine whether services are responsive to the needs and expressed demands of poor farmers, including women farmers. We focus on the institutional arrangements through which agricultural extension services are provided and how these contribute to efficiency, effectiveness, and equity in service delivery.agricultural extension, Decentralization, Gender, institutional analysis,

Renegotiating the Food Aid Convention: Background, context, and issues

"The current global agreement governing food aid—the Food Aid Convention (FAC)—will expire in 2007. It has come under heavy criticism as has the diffuse set of broader food aid governance institutions that has emerged in the last 50 years. These institutions are characterized by overlapping mandates, differing degrees of authority and legitimacy, varied levels of transparency in decisionmaking, and problematic representation of the major stakeholders. A number of issues are likely to arise during the course of negotiations over a new FAC. These include its objectives; the nature of commitments—whether to express them in tonnage, value, or nutritional terms; the level of commitments and their distribution among donor countries; monitoring and enforcement of commitments; representation on the FAC governing body among food aid donor- and recipient-country governments and civil society organizations; and the institutional “home” of the FAC. More specifically, there is debate over such questions as whether the new FAC should have an “instrument focus”—food aid—or a “problem focus” such as “food security” or “hunger.” If the focus is on addressing hunger, should food aid under the FAC be restricted to emergencies only or should it pertain to broader food security issues? Should the FAC be a low-key forum for exchange of information or should it have some meaningful ways of monitoring commitments and encouraging compliance by both donors and recipients? Debates such as these will reflect views on the purposes of food aid itself. Conversely, debates regarding these broader questions carry consequences for the formation of views on the issues involved in the FAC negotiations. This paper's purpose is solely to outline issues and options; hence it does not advocate for particular positions." Authors' AbstractFood aid, International agreements, International organizations, Humanitarian assistance, Human rights, Local purchase, Triangular transaction, Development assistance, Trade agreements, Grain trade, Code of conduct, Needs assessment,

Redefining the role of food aid

"The principal objective of food aid, besides responding to needs created by conflict, and other disasters, should be to provide an insurance function for those events for which existing insurance mechanisms function poorly" "From TextHunger Prevention ,Poverty alleviation ,Insurance, Food supply ,

Impact assessment of food policy research a stocktaking workshop: synthesis report

"This stocktaking workshop provided an opportunity for several groups with active interest in impact assessment relating to agricultural policy research to share experiences and views about what constitutes good practice in this field. The sponsoring organizations have had a long-standing concern for the relevance and effectiveness of agricultural and food policy research in general and at IFPRI in particular. That concern has been addressed in past meetings and the time seemed right for a further stocktaking. The focus of this 2004 meeting was on impact assessment experience at IFPRI. IFPRI has, since the mid-1990s, carried out a variety of activities aimed at assessing the impact of its policy research, capacity strengthening, and policy communications programs. The workshop brought together practitioners of such impact assessment work, users of such information, as well as researchers whose activities have been the subject of impact assessment. The cogency and necessity of such impact accounting work was reaffirmed in general terms. There was constructively critical commentary on the merits of particular approaches and instruments, such as narrative recordings and more quantitative methods of attempting to measure effects of research investments. The perennial issue of challenging counterfactuals was necessarily addressed, and the practicality of experimental and quasi-experimental methods considered. The need for consistency of assessment approaches between ex post studies (which have been the bulk of IFPRI's experience to date) and ex ante assessment efforts that represent an increasing share of the assessment portfolio was also discussed. There has long been a commitment to work towards a strong impact-orientation “culture” within IFPRI; the workshop concluded that, while there has been progress in working toward mainstreaming such a culture, there is still far to go, and efforts must continue in this direction." from Author's AbstractImpact assessment, Agricultural policy, Food policy Research, Capacity strengthening, Research methods,

Aid to developing-country agriculture

Asia's economic crisis continues to reverberate globally, demonstrating the pivotal place of developing countries in world trade. It is now well established, if counterintuitive, that broad-based agricultural growth in developing countries boosts their agricultural imports. Aid can play a catalytic role in agriculture-led growth, but developing-country governments bear primary responsibility. They must create and maintain rural infrastructure; facilitate small farmers' access to inputs and credit; invest in agricultural research, basic education, primary health care, and nutrition; and offer incentives to protect natural resources.Poverty alleviation Developing countries. ,Economic assistance. ,Exports Developing countries. ,