Food Security • In Focus

 

"... this is a truly remarkable project. In a relatively short space of time, and with not a large amount of money, it has been a catalyst for positive and effective change among some 90,000 farmers and their families ...."

 

 

 

 

 

 

"All People, at All Times"

As defined at the 1996 World Food Summit in Rome, food security exists when "all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life." To attain food security, three conditions must be met:

  1. Availability of food: A country or community must have enough food in total ― usually from a combination of local agricultural production and imports ― to feed its people.
  2. Access to food: Enough food in total is the first step. In addition, enough food much reach every person. Tragically, in many countries with adequate food supplies overall, large numbers of people still go hungry ― for reasons ranging from poverty to impassable market roads and more.
  3. Utilization of food: People must have, not only enough calories, but also nutritionally balanced diets to achieve good health and true "food security."

All of Africare's agricultural programs in one way or another address those three conditions. A major group of programs, initiated in 1989, adheres specifically to Africare's three-faceted "food security" model. The programs share core goals: increased food production and marketing, improved household nutrition and community capacity-building. To reach those goals, the programs' objectives and activities vary as needs in the varying countries demand. To support the work and to build local market capacities, Africare monetizes food commodities donated by the U.S. government under U.S. Public Law 480.

Africare's food security programs have facilitated impressive results. Stated an evaluation of the work in Uganda: "... this is a truly remarkable project. In a relatively short space of time, and with not a large amount of money, it has been a catalyst for positive and effective change among some 90,000 farmers and their families, not counting the many farmers who have learnt by demonstration the possibilities of progress." Enthused the leader of one Ugandan women's group, "We are racing for development!"

Africare's food security programs have benefited about people in Angola, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote

d'Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.

 

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(Updated, Dec. 19, 2007)