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Right to food is right to life. No one can deny with this universal principle of human rights. However, this very rights has been increasingly over-shadowed, under-estimated and negatively encroached in many ways by different actors and processes. It has thus hit hardest the daily lives of many specially the bottom line people with economic deprivation, social discrimination and vulnerable to human induced and natural disasters.
By Yamuna Ghale
The concept of rights to food had been first coined by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1941 under the broader framework of “Freedom from Want”. Since, then right to food has been the topic of discussion in different forums. The Article 25 of Universal Declaration on Human Rights, 1948 explicitly endorsed Right to Food as one fundamental rights along with safe housing and clothing. Among he others, further emphasis was given through UN Convention on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights. Likewise, the World Food Summit has been emerged as a crucial platform to bring this issue in to the fore front of all actors to make them accountable in securing food for all within the framework of human rights. In this process, the voluntary guideline prepared by FAO in supporting implementation of those provisions is becoming an impulsive factor in realizing right to food. The guideline has explicitly highlighted three kinds of functions of the nation states to respect; protect; and fulfill the provisions. Though such guidelines are voluntary in nature, it has moral obligations to abide with it.
The worldwide scenario of securing food for all is not very encouraging. The target of Millennium Development Goal to reduce the number of people affected by hunger to half by 2015 from the base year of 1995 seems to be an unrealistic goal. According to the recent estimate of FAO, 1.02 billion is suffering from hunger and malnutrition in 2009 and is ever increasing in an alarming rate. It gives a clear message that securing food for all is not getting enough attention at both national and international levels. In many cases, nation states and support systems in fulfilling minimum conditions to reach to a common goal of reducing number of hungry people is not fulfilled. The scenario therefore shows a threat of possibility of using food as a strategic political weapon against the nation states with vulnerable economies and weaker governance when both internal and external shocks remain prolonged and beyond the competence to deal with it. Therefore, it is important to have political commitment of all actors to ensure commitments for harmonized approaches, equitable resources allocation and right targeting of programs to address immediate needs including social protection and safety net measures without compromising the need to invest on long term viability of local production along with need based and equitable supply mechanisms
Hunger is basically a political phenomenon. Hunger situation thus is not only a response of technical failure. The socio-political aspects of hunger, techno-fix components, resource politics and working in synergy and harmonized approach are some of the major aspects to be addressed and sooner will be the better. Likewise, there are different needs to respond to different forms of hunger. Chronic hunger is the widely recognized form on the basis of calorie intake and can be responded if the political will exists at different levels. This form of hunger is generally a manifestation of systematic denial of access to productive resources and weak purchasing power. This form of hunger can make permanent damage in human life due to sustained uncertainty on access to productive resources and other means of livelihoods if not dealt timely. In the long run, it can massively weaken human potentials to take advantage of sustained economic growth. Likewise, if these kinds of situation are persistently ignored, it can take form of an acute or transient hunger, which can then amalgamate with immediate influx such as natural disaster like drought and flood, market disruption and ineffective supply chain at the local level. It can have direct impact on physiological state of people and immediate access to food and production resources then lead to famine in certain locality at particular time period and cause endemic situation like influenza, diarrhea if not addressed timely. The other form of hunger is hidden hunger, which is even complex and cannot be addressed by a simple measure in many instances. It is generally triggered by macro level economic alignment and structural adjustment processes. In the long run, such economic processes systematically undermine the leverage and space of developing nation states to challenge prevalence of negative implications of macro economic reforms. The influence in the production system, changes in food habit and food basket composition, capture of food supply chain by the corporate companies, commoditization and privatization of productive resources ultimately help the process of corporate control. It thus can create dependency and paralyses purchasing capacity of people, which can even be a threat towards national sovereignty. Finally, people will lose their autonomy to decide on what to grow, what to cook and finally what to eat, as shown below.
Among many, agriculture with its multi-functional character has its potential to play vital role in securing food for all. Agriculture is a source of humanity, basis to protect cultural values, exercise social justice, protect and promote environmental services and sustained economic prosperity. Agriculture does not only ensures food security of producers and other consumers through surplus sale but largely governs resource management, governance and resource politics which entail power exercise to determine autonomy and sovereignty of citizens specially at the local level. The recent phenomena of global warming and its impact on climate change, and its subsequent effect on agriculture production system, the recent financial crisis led joblessness, deviation of development priorities, increasing food prices and resource concentration and capture of production resources by powerful nation and companies and threat to developing countries ever expanding. Recent trend has shown that the countries with politically committed and established food production, technology and established supply mechanisms are also having extensive reform programs to respond the challenges caused by these global phenomena. The recent trend of declining crop yields in many parts of the world is highly impacted by declining investments in agriculture sector. Other issues such as HIV/AIDS and migration are also crucial factors affecting food security in many regions. Therefore, substantial increment in investment pattern and policy reforms in agriculture field can offer different agro-ecology specific response and improved food security.
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| Photo courtesy: CIMMYT, Nepal |
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| Photo courtesy: CEAPRED, Nepal |
The overall poverty scenario of Nepal is in increasing trend. The Human Development Report 2009 shows Nepal in the 144th position. Nepal being a potential country to tap opportunities of geographical variation and climatic conditions, richness of biodiversity, multicultural requirements and strategic positioning to take advantage of markets, still remains far behind in promoting its niche based potential. In the globalize context, Nepal cannot remain in isolation of global initiatives and commitments, but needs to exercise tapping different opportunities offered by the process of globalization and also specific privileges offered to LDCs through public private partnership. Nepal being a signatory of many international provisions, it has its duty to fulfill the commitments without compromising the national sovereignty and autonomy of its citizens especially of farmer’s rights over genetic resources for food and agriculture. Nepal now being selected as a chair of LDCs for the next three years has a space to make best use of these kinds of strategic platforms. The then foreign minister of Nepal has made commitments to deal with food security, climate change and economic crisis while accepting the position for the chair of LDCs, which needs coherent and long term commitments to realize it in operational terms.
The global actors around the world are now having almost common agenda in response of climate change and economic crisis. The upcoming mega events within 2009 such as UN conference on Climate Change to be held in Copenhagen, the WTO ministerial in Geneva and the World Food Summit on Food Security are some of the important and decision making platforms that decide the fate of many poor and discriminated groups throughout the world. The climate change conference is expected to count agriculture as part and parcel of different efforts to meet international and national climate change objectives. Likewise, the theme of 7th WTO ministerial is set as "The WTO, the Multilateral Trading System and the Current Global Economic Environment". Therefore, this is an opportune moment to make a follow up on the commitment of World Food Summit held in November 1996 and thereof to reaffirm the right of everyone to have access to safe and nutritious food, consistent with the right to adequate food and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger. Therefore, developing countries especially LDCs have to do extensive homework in consultation with its citizens, private sectors and political parties, work in close collaboration with like-minded actors at different levels and follow ongoing debates on those issues and consultation with other global actors. Otherwise, LDCs like Nepal will not have a chance to graduate from LDC and able to use it’s potential to enjoy sovereign rights of citizen to contribute towards ensured food security, livelihoods and other spheres of prosperity.
In the globalize context, among 49 LDCs, Nepal is also in the face of high time to think beyond food sufficiency through agriculture. Food sufficiency is only the ability to produce enough food to support a population. Considering not only the limited productive land resource and terrain constraints Nepal has, but also the potential of geographic variation and richness in biodiversity, the initial thought should be oriented towards establishing food sovereignty protecting people’s autonomy and voices in changing the rule of game is highly important. It will initiate the process of establishing right to food and fight against not only hunger and food insecurity but more that than avoiding dependency over unnecessary seed and food aid that undermine and replace indigenous crops and varieties of local importance. The opportunity for investing available development aids for promoting productivity and trade can be of right balance in the long run. It will thus help to promote culture of participation and representation of small producers and consumers in decision making processes, establish prior informed consent mechanisms, ensure effective implementation of access to and benefit sharing from the use of genetic resources, protect farmer’s rights and fight against bio-piracy and unnecessary gene flow and pollution and also meaningful share in market processes. Many innovative approaches can be adopted to revitalize agriculture sector for today and the future.
The impact of climate change and or economic crisis goes beyond the geographical boundaries. In this process, the coping strength of developed countries is usually on a higher side. Nepal can therefore learn from other developed countries to adopt immediate to long term mechanisms. For example, the EU commission had already made a decision to arrange placement of commission members at farmers’ fields for certain period of time to understand the reality and adopt common agriculture policy as required can be an inspirational move. Likewise, the program of Brazil government on “Zero hunger” and its linkages with management of productive resources can have its significance to Nepal to learn. The recent announcement of Chinese government to adopt four tier approaches promoting energy efficiency, use of renewable energy, forest coverage and low carbon economy through multi-pronged interventions is also highly appreciated by all. Otherwise, the cost of investment to respond negative impacts of climate change can be too high. According to Tony Ryding of Green Peace, developed countries need to invest at least $140 billion to finance for climate change impact to developing countries, which in fact is a loss-loss situation for all. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to work in responding to the threats of global and local changes and subsequent vulnerability, which can only then help to realize the slogan of World Food Day 2009 “Achieving Food for all at the time of crisis”.
Author is Food and Agriculture Policy Analyst, Nepal. She can be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
(Editor’s Note: Nepalis, wherever they live, as well as friends of Nepal around the globe are requested to contribute their views/opinions/recollections etc. on issues concerning present day Nepal to the Guest Column of Nepalnews. Length of the article should not be more than 1,000 words and may be edited for the purpose of clarity and space. Relevant photos as well as photo of the author may also be sent along with the article. Please send your write-ups to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
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