31 Oct 2017

Food is a basic human right. The right to have food sufficiency protects humanity to go hungry. It is an accepted fact that hunger is a violation of human dignity, social and cultural rights. Millions of people today in the world do not have enough food to live healthy lives.

Although there are efforts by the global world to eradicate hunger and poverty, targets to achieve food security and adequate nutrition have not been achieved. People may go hungry in cases where they are experiencing oppressing circumstances as when they are being trafficked, after natural disasters and when they are in detention just to mention a few.

It has to be noted that mankind can talk of food security when all people, at all times, have physical, social, economic access to sufficient nutritious food. Humanity therefore has to come up with initiatives or policies that clarifies and maps the future of food sustainability. Food security therefore must give people food preferences for active and healthy lives.

According to the Public relations officer for Ministry of Agriculture Ms Boikhutso Rabasha, the Government of Botswana has introduced several initiatives to cub shortage of food. They have introduced the Livestock Management Infrastructure Development (LIMID) with the objectives of promoting food security through improved productivity of livestock.

Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agricultural Development (ISPAAD) is another initiative that assist in attaining self-sufficiency in food production. Its major objectives are to Increase production, promote food security at household and national levels and commercialize agriculture through mechanization.

Ms Rabasha further stated that the government has also come up with Poverty Eradication Programmes which are aimed at improving the livelihoods of Batswana by addressing all aspects of poverty including among others; the policy environment, the institutional framework and the establishment of sustainable economic empowerment projects. Some of the projects carried under this programme are backyard tree nurseries, harvesting of natural products, phane, fish farming, poultry products, jam and pickle projects.

Youth grant is an empowerment programme aimed at promoting active participation of youth in the socio-economic development of the country. It aims to encourage the out-of-school, marginalised and unemployed youth to venture into sustainable and viable income generating projects.

Mr Owen Molefhe is a retired Agricultural demonstrator, he owns vegetables and fruits farms.

He said in an interview that the human race should reduce deforestation and use more land to plant food for humanity to arrest the unprecedented food challenges in the world. He said worldwide global warming has been singled out as a factor that can result in low yields in the farming practices.

“It can bring the shrinking of crops, loss of animals in times of famine and the mushrooming of pests and organisms, which may be costly for the farmer to control,” he pointed out.

Mr Molefhe was of the view that when farming practice is affected, the quality of crops declines leading to low market prices which will affect the smooth running of sustainable agriculture which most countries have invested on to produce more food. He believes that funds dedicated for eradicating hunger and poverty can best benefit women and children as they are the ones vulnerable to poverty.

The Ministry of Health’s Nutrition and Food Control Officer Mr Michael Basheke when responding to media questions on food sustainability said that to make the global food consistently sustainable, humanity must implement good agricultural practices, processing and handling losses, embark upon good environmental management practices to limit extent of unfavourable climate changes which impact negatively on food production and implement good management of land and water conservation programmes that also include the control of environmental pollution.

There are many problems that can be cited as causes of hunger in the world but there is no doubt however that throughout the world, conflicts disrupts food production and farming, leading to migration which will subject people to hunger and malnutrition.

As highlighted, Mr Basheke concurs with Mr Molefhe that the eradication of hunger and malnutrition can be achieved through adequate food production, good storage and handling practices thus minimizing losses during harvesting, processing/preparation and utilization.

A combination of own food production and use of own income generated may be more viable in meeting household food security for non-agricultural communities, he noted. He also elaborated and agreed that though there is adequate food produced in the world for everyone, hunger is still a challenge due to the unequal distribution of food globally.

“Even where food is adequate, there can be a problem of food sustainability due to varied reasons such as climatic variations, especially drought, floods and other disaster situations,” he said.

Enough food for everyone’ means food is accessible and sustainable to everyone who needs it and food is of quality, Mr Basheke said, highlighting that this may not always be the case because of inadequate means of acquiring food due to many factors such as; limited income, or land and associated inputs to produce and maintenance of adequate food stocks.

Addressing the global imbalance and inconsistencies in food consumption there is an understanding that in the world of seven billion population one part of the population (one billion) suffers from under nutrition while the other part (one billion) suffers from obesity.

This imbalance in global food production and trade among other factors need to be addressed and addressed nationally/and globally, he understood.

“There is need to re-look into the global policies regarding imbalance in food production and consumption. The policies should aim at promoting increased food production and consumption in countries that are currently consuming less as in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East and review structural reforms to promote balance in trade between the developed and developing world.” BOPA