 |
Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2013
From Shared Risk to Shared Value: the Business Case for Disaster Risk Reduction |
|
Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2013
From Shared Risk to Shared Value: the Business Case for Disaster Risk Reduction |
|
|
|
169
the continuation of disaster risk and food insecurity rather than part of the solution.
FAO (2011a) estimates that roughly one-third of food produced for human consumption alone (not counting animal feeds that take 37 percent of grain production) is wasted. Another study shows that potentially 30–50 percent of all food produced never reaches a human stomach (IMECHE, 2012
IMECHE (Institution of Mechanical Engeneers). 2012.,Global Food. Waste not, want not., London,UK.. . ). The causes of food losses in low-income countries are mainly connected to financial, managerial and technical limitations in harvesting techniques, storage and cooling facilities, infrastructure and packaging and marketing (FAO, 2011FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development), IMF (International Monetary Fund), OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), et. al. 2011.,Price Volatility in Food and Agricultural Markets: Policy Responses., Policy Report including contributions by FAO, IFAD, IMF,OECD, UNCTAD, WFP, World Bank, the WTO, IFPRI and the UN HLTF, 2 June 2011.. . aFAO (Food and Agriculture Organization). 2011a.,Global Food Losses and Food Waste. Extent, Causes and Prevention., Study conducted for the International Congress "Save food") at Interpack 2011, Düsseldorf, Germany., Rome,Italy.. . ). In medium and high-income countries, which contribute more to food waste than low-income countries, food loss tends to occur at the consumption stage.Given the dependence of food-insecure households on purchased food, investments in global logistics to reduce food waste and efforts to change consumption patterns, coupled with improving access to food for low-income households, may do
more to increase global food security than any further investments in the intensification of production (Fava Neves, 2011
Fava Neves, M. 2011.,Food chains and the reasons behind rising food prices., Food Chain, Vol. 1, No. 1. (May 2011). pp. 52-70.. . ; Maxwell and Slater, 2003Maxwell, S. and Slater, R. 2003.,Food policy old and new. , Development Policy Review 21(5–6): 531–553.. . ; Webb et al., 2006Webb, P., Coates, J., Frongillo, E.A., Rogers, B., Swindale, A. and Bilinsky, P. 2006. ,Measuring household food insecurity: why it’s so important and yet so difficult to do. , The Journal of Nutrition 136(5): 1404S–1408S.. . ).Investments to address infrastructure deficits may also contribute to increased food security. In Africa, for example, a persistent infrastructure deficit is a key determinant of low productivity and trade. Less than 4 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s arable land is irrigated—a much lower proportion compared with South Asia (almost 39 percent) or Latin America and the Caribbean (11 percent) (Yumkella et al., 2011
Yumkella, K., Kormawa, P., Roepstorff, T. and Hawkins, A. 2011.,Agribusiness for Africa’s Prosperity., UNIDO., Vienna,Austria.. . ). Supplemental irrigation, which allows earlier planting in appropriate time, would dramatically increase yields in those areas.And as Table 10.1 shows, Africa’s infrastructure networks consistently lag behind those of other low-income countries. In such contexts, damage to infrastructure from even small and localised disaster events, such as floods, can have severe implications for the resilience of smallholder farmers as well as
Figure 10.17 Overseas development aid flows for food aid and food security
|
 |
