Food for thought: Agro-Fuels, Climate Change, Agricultural Production,
and Food Scarcity

A public dialogue about the future of food security and access to affordable food for the poor in southern Africa

Introduction and Background

The Annual SADC summit is scheduled for 16-18 August 2008 in Johannesburg, South Africa.  There is growing momentum to address regional poverty issues amongst different actors, especially following the outcomes of the SADC Heads of State and Government meeting at the International Conference on Poverty and Development held in Mauritius on 20 April 2008. On the margins of the SADC Summit, the Southern Africa Trust, in collaboration with regional civil society apex organisations, is organising a public policy debate on the future of food security and access to affordable food for the poor in southern Africa.

The main objective of this dialogue is to stimulate debate and promote greater understanding about the future of food security in the region. The meeting will specifically focus on the key food security challenges facing the region and measures that should be taken or are being taken by different actors to mitigate the current food price crisis.

In an era of unprecedented rising food prices, access to affordable food is a matter of life and death, particularly for the poor and vulnerable. Although the SADC region is expected to increase its cereal harvest by 18% compared to last year, which should result in a significant increase in regional food security, it is estimated that globally there are 10 million hunger-related deaths every year, half of them children, which will continue to be experienced. The SADC Ministerial Task Force notes that prices of staple food worldwide have risen sharply over the past couple of years and even more sharply from January 2007 to date. NEPAD’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) states that although soaring food prices are a global problem, people in developing countries are hit hardest because they spend a higher proportion of their income on food. Given that in Africa the price of basic food has doubled in three years, there are real fears about increases in malnutrition and hunger necessitating a call for short to long-term measures to address the food crisis. A number of factors  are believed to contribute to the observed increase in world food prices. Key among them are changing weather patterns, high energy prices, worldwide reduction in levels of food stocks, massive shifts in crop cultivation towards bio-fuels, increased consumption of food in emerging economies such as India and China, commodity speculation, and inadequate investment in agriculture in recent decades.
A number of organisations point out that the recent rapid rise in world food prices has transformed food insecurity from a difficult development problem into an emergency, hitting the poor hardest. Changing food production patterns, the rapid conversion of food to agro-fuels, and climate change, are all contributing to an already precarious situation. Climate change has become increasingly recognised as a contributing factor to food insecurity. The Bali Climate Conference of 2007 predicted that even small temperature increases in rain-dependent agriculture, could have potentially disastrous consequences, with possible reduction of production by up to 50%. In addition the increase in drought and floods, already a feature in parts of the region, are aggravating the food shortage.

Recently, an internal World Bank report has been quoted as reporting that bio-fuels have forced global food prices up by 75%, a worrying trend especially with the increasing dependence of the North on agro-fuels as a solution to the energy crisis caused by increasing oil prices. The report is said to estimate that rising food prices have pushed 100 million people worldwide below the poverty line, leading to labelling of the situation as the first real economic crisis of globalisation. It reportedly says that climate change has had a far lesser impact than the EU and US drive for bio-fuels, which has had by far the biggest impact. Those who advocate against increased production of agro-fuels argue that substitution and displacement of food crops is leading to food scarcity. Those in support of increased production of agro-fuels argue that agro-fuels will not necessarily divert farmers from food production and can help to counter climate change. 

Civil society organisations in southern Africa are slowly starting to take note of the debates around the causes of food insecurity but have not yet raised a coordinated and coherent advocacy voice. There is need to raise awareness about the issues that impact on food security, as part of the region’s drive towards poverty eradication.

It is against this background that this public policy debate is being organised at the time of the SADC Summit to raise awareness on the extent of the food crisis and explore policy options for urgent action by different actors. It is expected that the SADC Summit will discuss a regional framework to respond to the current food price crisis.

Objectives

The public dialogue seeks to stimulate debate on the state of food security in the region. The specific objectives are to:

It is expected that the policy dialogue will explore practical ways of mitigating the impact of high food prices especially as it affects the poor.

Participants

Selected participants from civil society organisations are invited to participate in the discussion that will attract speakers from a broad spectrum; including the regional civil society organisations representing parliamentarians, trade unions, NGOs, and business, as well as researchers and government officials. The discussion is expected to have about 100 participants.

It is expected that the dialogue will be recorded for television broadcast across the region.

Contact details

For further information and to RSVP, please contact Darshana Pema at the Southern Africa Trust

Tel. +27 11 318 1012
Fax. +27 11 318 0814
E-mail: dpema@southernafricatrust.org.