The Analysis of the Food Security Problems - Essay Example

Name: Tutor: Course: Date: Food Security Problems in West Africa Food insecurity is a problem that is known to affect many countries around the world especially developing countries. Among the West African countries affected by food shortages include Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger and some sections of Chad. The food security problems being experienced are related with the staple foods in the region. Many people in the region are suffering from lack of access to nutritional food since many food stores have been cleared. Nigeria has its Northern part affected. This region relies on fish, livestock and crops for its food supply (Pinstrup-Aderesen, 92). Situation The current situation is West Africa has been described by USAID as a ‘hunger gap’ which needs to be checked or else a crisis will develop. The situation is turning into a serious problem of concern since there are no food reserves and the next season of harvest is expected in October. Food imports have increased from the normal capacity. The farm holdings in the region are dominated by small holder farms which constitute over 75%. Due to rising populations the food demand remains high (Rosegrant et al. 25). In countries like Nigeria there has been increased domestic production of food but it is still not sufficient. There is an obvious instability in food supply. This is because the losses incurred after harvest have gone up from 20 to 40%. The techniques employed in harvesting, storage and processing are not efficient. This results in unstable supply. Since nutritious food substances are always expensive poverty and low income limits access to such foods. The wellbeing of most of the populations and their food intake is said to be have a low quality. The low status of the economy among most of the people in this region contributes a lot to this. Those whose economic status is poor are most affected and vulnerable. Other categories of affected people include the elderly, pregnant women, children, lactating mothers and small holder farmers. Over half of the population in this region is malnourished (Inter Academy Council, 120). Deficiency diseases common in this are include lack of iron which is known to affect physical activity. It can also result in death if allowed to continue to extreme conditions. It also causes people to become susceptible to infections. Another problem is protein energy malnutrition which makes children not to grow and adults to lose weight. Protein energy malnutrition is also associated with malaria, T.B, whooping cough, diarrhea and measles. There is deficiency in vitamin A which causes lowered resistance to diseases. Imbalance nutrition causes obesity in people especially those living in urban areas. Obesity comes with hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus. Those who are vulnerable and poor can have their problems solved by reduced poverty. Households should also be assisted to have accessible nutritious food in adequate amounts at all times (Pinstrup-Aderesen, 72). Problem The Sahel region of West Africa is known to have a history of food scarcity. This is brought about mainly because of the lack of rainfall in that region. Rains came late, insufficiently or too erratic. Erratic rains resulted in drought, delayed planting and cause a lack of water in the water sources many populations rely on. This has increased the already growing difficult food condition of the area. The practice of importing food is common in West African states. High populations and drought conditions have been a major problem in food production in this region. The quantity of food produced through agriculture since the economies of this states are based on agriculture is low compared to the demand. Many of these states have not done enough to invest in agriculture. Many of the dry and agriculturally unproductive areas can easily be turned into productive places if the right strategies are used (Rosegrant et al. 45). Food production must be increased to carter for the rising demand. Agriculture in this region is greatly hampered by the state of the climate and the soils. Many soils are not fertile enough to sustain agriculture. Wind and water erosion are the greatest contributors to the poor state of the soils. Food scarcity has formed a vicious circle of poverty which results in diseases and other preventable infections. Poor health reduces the capacity of the populations to work on the farms in order to produce enough food. Lack of adequate food has resulted into uncontrolled importation of food commodities which ends up crippling the local agricultural industry (Inter Academy Council, 54). There is no political will from the governments of the Sahel countries and the international community for fighting the food crisis in the Sahel. Many of these countries had bad harvest and serious floods which destroyed crops. Funding in these countries has been for a long time a big problem for the farmers and even the government. The governments in this region have also been having low budgets for agriculture which should not be case. Many of the West African states have poor policies that promote inflation under which poverty thrives. Policies, institutions and structures have been elevated above the people. Political problems and government policy have not favored the development of agriculture in these countries. Civil and political unrest has also been blamed for low food production. Nigeria has had a history of religious conflicts while other countries like Sierra Leone and Liberia have suffered from civil wars (Pinstrup-Aderesen, 96). Evaluation At independence most of the countries in West Africa had thriving agriculture. Farming on a small scale was highly encouraged and very successful. There was enough food and importation was possible. Along the way agriculture has greatly contributed to the realization of health and peace in the population of the region. Agricultural export earnings were growing from time to time. However problems have come to increase in the region with high growths in population which could not match food production. At the moment there is a sharp concern a bout the future of this region as far as food security is concerned (Latham, 88). The past few years have not been so bad in some parts of the region. There was hope that this situation of food availability would continue but things turned sour. Today millions of people are at risk of starvation if no proper interventions are done. Malnutrition and famine are on the increase in Chad, Northern Nigeria, Niger and Burkina Faso. Governments in these countries have not done their best to solve these problems. In Nigeria alone about 15 million people are suffering from food scarcity. In Niger more than 60% of people have food shortages resulting from failure of rainfall (Kherallah et al. 21). Even though the economies of these countries may be able to support proper food production they do not do that. Cases of malnutrition in children are very high and it is feared that in the next few months deaths might a rise. Food insecurity is made worse by high poverty levels which are formed around unemployment. Many unemployed people living in the West African countries increase the burden of food consumption. This causes many households to become poorly fed. According to relief officials about 10 million people might be at risk from starvation in this year. Over 850,000 children are at risk of being malnourished especially in Chad and Niger (Rosegrant et al. 27). Response The long standing problem to food scarcity in the Sahel region has always been met by increased food importation. However this has not been able to serve the purpose since a permanent solution is needed. The governments in the affected countries are making some efforts to get in imported food supplies. The more able countries in the region are doing their best to help the affected people. An example in the Nigerian government which happens to have a strong economy but has its northern part affected by hunger problems (Kherallah et al. 202). The Nigerian government has gone ahead to release key stables from its “National Strategic Food Reserve (NSFR) of some 80,000 metric tons of assorted food survival grains of sorghum, maize, millet, cow peas, etc” These foods have been given to people in the northern part of Nigeria but more efforts are being made to assist closer countries in the Sahel such as Niger Republic and Chad (Latham, 19). All the food stuffs from NSFR are being sold on a subsidy of 30% but there are fears that the malnourished children who need them might not get them. Planting has been done in some areas to arrest any further food problems in future but other places are still hindered by erratic rainfall which affects both harvesting and sowing. The United States is attentive to food problems around the world but has particular interest in Africa through the ‘Feed the future initiative.” This has also been extended to West Africa whereby Nigeria is expected to receive about $51M to take care of food scarcity as well as hybrid seeds and developing markets. The markets program funded by the United States government has realized results in this region. However the international community of donors must keep the region’s current situation in front of all others so that the suffering people can receive help (Kherallah et al. 200). The “Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)” has stepped up efforts to do proper coordination for agricultural activities in order to raise the level of profits. This is meant to help the farmers get more profits and also to distribute food in the areas that have been affected by lack of rainfall. Leaders in West Africa have a development program for agriculture which is aimed at supporting the investment of the private sector on private farms.They also seek to guarantee food security in West Africa together with increasing the competitiveness of goods on international markets (Latham, 100). ECOWAS which is led by the member states is bound to succeed in alleviating food shortages because it addresses every aspect of food security. It has an arrangement called ‘African Agriculture Development Program’ through which it seeks to complement the initiatives done by the World Food Program (WFP). Such initiatives include the ‘purchase for progress plan’ a project aimed at strengthening food security and also guarantees prices for farmers operating on a small scale. Most of these farmers are women found in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Mali and Liberia. The WFP on its side is committed to carrying out vulnerability analysis, early warning systems and mapping. This equips the governments with the help of ECOWAS to locate where the next crisis is going to hit, how to get quick response and coordination mechanisms that can help to prevent another crisis in future. In Niger the WFP intents to carry out general distribution of food on 1.5 million people and another 500,000 children below six years to be put on specialized feeding (Rosegrant et al. 73) Conclusion Food scarcity in West Africa especially the Sahel region has been a problem for quite some time now. Lack of enough nutrition is normally blamed on low food supplies which result from the unfavorable climatic conditions in the region. Poor nutrition results in lack of minerals and vitamin’s in people’s diets. The resultant effect is disease and infections that lower the availability of manpower needed to work on the farms for meaningful production. Floods that ravaged some of the countries in the region are thought to contribute to the hunger situation. Millions of people have been affected by this problem and many more are falling victims to it. Cases of malnutrition are on the increase. The respective governments of the countries involved have tried to intervene in their own ways. The international community and the United States in particular have come in with their assistance. Nigeria for instance has already started assisting the people in its northern part as well as neighboring countries like Niger republic and Chad. Planting has been already been started in order to arrest the situation before it gets out of hand. References Gopalan, Srikantia SG. Nutrition and disease. World Rev Nutr Diet 1973; 16: 97-140. Hilary, J. 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Pinstrup-Aderesen, P. Food and Agricultural Policy for a Globalizing World: Preparing for the Future, Amer. J. Agr. Econ.84: 1201-1214. American Agricultural Economists Association 2002. Rosegrant et al. 2005, Looking Ahead. Long-Term prospects for Africa’s Agricultural Development and Food Security, Washington D.C.: IFPRI Read More