By: The Green Revolution’s not that bad – Is it? « Blogal Prosperity by the Center for Global Prosperity

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 18:56:39 +0000

[...] How this can be applied to the recent famine in Somalia remains to be seen. Loyd Le Page, CEO of CGIAR, comments that, Modest investments in agricultural research that allow the world’s most vulnerable people to take …. [...]

By: Markos Tibbo

Markos Tibbo — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:37:13 +0000

It is sad to see the Horn Region under such a devastating famine and hunger at such a scale in the 21st century. How serious are we (GOs, NGOs, international public and civil society organisations, private sectors, individuals) to fight such a disaster is what matters! For example, how much of the GDP the sub-sector generates is invested for its development? For example, it is said that 30-50% of the agricultural GDP is generated by the livestock sector in most of these affected countries. Not a single country of I know invests 2% of its GDP on livestock sector’s development for protecting assets of the poor in the region. The rangelands are degraded due to neglect over decades, threatening future food production in the region with threat of desertification. Aid agencies provided support for short-term solution and did not have a significant sustained rehabilitation followed up for developing the region. Countries were not as series as the matter is in the last decades and vulnerability was a result of long-term under-investment in agriculture and food security. Famine and hunger have become repeated events and a brand for the region. As a citizen of the region, I suggest efforts to be coordinated through pre- and post-crisis rehabilitation, research and development to rebuild the assets of the poor and fight hunger. I suggest the following as key to follow up:
• Designing national policies and strategies for fighting desertification and drought
• Developing capacity in vulnerability assessment, monitoring and adaptation measures
• Developing early warning systems and responding in time against extreme events such as this
• Enhancing agricultural technologies such as the development of drought-tolerant varieties, resilient breeds, and the improvement of water resources development and management
• Enhancing community-based management of natural resources
• Enhancing integrated agro-ecosystems approach
• Enhancing the involvement of policy and decision-makers
• Expanding the involvement of stakeholders to include NGOs, civil society, universities, the private sector, etc.
• Fighting under-investment in agriculture and sustainable food security in the region
• Implementation flexible risk-management strategies such as adjusting stocking rates (destocking/restocking) along with diversifying species of animals kept
• Improving information-sharing among relevant stakeholders
• Increasing public and private investment in climate change adaptation, improving capacity to access other available financial resources and considering the establishment of climate change insurance
• Promoting appropriate policies to tackle the long term effects of drought
• Promoting the drought mitigation in the agricultural sector within national institutions systematically for funding mechanisms
• Strengthening national coordination among the multiple stakeholders;

Comments on: Experts Outline Options For Ending Horn of Africa’s Food Vulnerability

By: The Green Revolution’s not that bad – Is it? « Blogal Prosperity by the Center for Global Prosperity

By: Markos Tibbo