Armed conflict jeopardizes food availability, and such food insecurity can lead to more conflict
Despite regional setbacks, Egypt is a bright spot for implementing long-term sustainable solutions
May 10, 2016, Cairo, Egypt—Armed conflict and the Arab revolutions that began in 2010 caused massive displacement and migration, thus halting and, in some cases, reversing the progress for countries in the Middle East and North Africa to reach the Millennium Development Goals. According to the 2016 Global Food Policy Report, released by the International Food Policy Research Institute, one of the biggest challenges for the MENA region is the disruption caused by conflict on a fragile food system. However, despite the challenges in recent years, the region can improve if major conflicts subside, leaders create a business-friendly environment conducive for job creation, and invest in the safety nets and technology needed to promote food security.
“The region has huge potential including a young and dynamic population, but for people and countries to prosper the vicious circle of conflicts and food insecurity has to be ended,” said Clemens Breisinger, head of IFPRI’s Egypt Strategy Support Program in Cairo.
According to the report, by aggressively seeking consensus among country leaders; following emerging policy reform successes in Egypt to end subsidies; strengthening safety nets to help the very poor; and increasing transparency in policy-making and data availability, some of the most food insecure countries in the world can take steps toward a future with less hunger and violence.
Egypt is a bright spot in the region as the government has continued to reform subsidies and strengthen food assistance programs. By boosting the dietary value of subsidized food, expanding technology in the distribution process, and initiating a new food waste reduction project, the country has a good chance to reduce the number of food insecure Egyptians.
Countries with “alarming” food security at national level—measured as their dependence on food imports relative to foreign currency earnings—include Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan, and Yemen. Djibouti is the only country in the region that suffers under “extremely alarming” food security.
Recent setbacks have devastated the region, causing poverty to rise above 1990s levels. In 2012, more than 7.4 percent of the population lived in “extreme poverty”—or an average daily consumption of $1.25 or less and living on the edge of subsistence. Researchers estimated that the number of people living in extreme poverty has likely risen in recent years.
More than one in five children in the region is too short for their age in 10 Arab countries, and in Djibouti, Egypt, Kuwait, Somalia, and Syria, progress is actually slowing down. Against this backdrop, the region is home to some of the highest obesity rates on the planet: almost half (an estimated 45 percent) of adults are severely overweight.
The report provides an in-depth look at major food policy dev
elopments and events in the past year, and examines key challenges and opportunities for the coming year. The environmental and food security problems in the MENA region are representative of many regions worldwide, including food insecurity, high levels of obesity, and environmental stresses. The report highlights issues of climate change and smallholder farmers, sustainable diets, food loss and waste, and water management.
Globally, today’s food system has major weaknesses: nearly 800 million people are left hungry, one-third of the human race is malnourished, over half of some crops never make it to the table, and the planet is ravaged from environmentally unfriendly agricultural practices. As the global population is expected to soar exponentially in the coming years, we must examine ways to feed more people efficiently and sustainably, while combatting climate change.
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The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) seeks sustainable solutions for ending hunger and poverty. IFPRI was established in 1975 to identify and analyze alternative national and international strategies and policies for meeting the food needs of the developing world, with particular emphasis on low-income countries and on the poorer groups in those countries. www.ifpri.org.