Food Security: The Need for Multilateral Action

Abstract

Paper prepared by a multi-departmental World Bank team for presentation at the Korea-World Bank High Level Conference on Post-Crisis Growth and Development.

Food Price Volatility and Its Implications for Food Security and Policy

“…Irrigation more than doubles the yields of rain-fed areas because more crops can be harvested in any given year; it also at least partially promotes resilience, protecting farmers against droughts. Delgado et al (2010) estimate that expansion of irrigation infrastructure to all land in developing countries "would contribute about half of the total value of needed food supply by 2050. "…”

“…Without roads to transport their agricultural production, some farmers cannot reach consumer markets; others have market access, but at a very high cost. Delgado et al (2010) argue that, in most cases, transport costs represent 50-60 % of total marketing costs. Byerlee et al (2008) estimate that less than 50 % of the rural African population lives close to an all-season road.…”

“…Unfortunately, increases in agricultural productivity have been relatively meager in recent years. In this line, "the average annual rate of growth of cereal yields in developing countries fell steadily from 3 % in the late 1970s to less than 1 % currently, a rate less than that of population growth and much less than the rise of the use of cereals for other things besides direct use of food" (Delgado et al 2010, p 2).…”

“…In this line, Delgado et al (2010) argue that "it is essential that during noncrisis years, countries invest in strengthening existing programs-and piloting new onesto address chronic poverty, achieve food security and human development goals, and be ready to respond to shocks." When TCTs and CCTs are not available, governments may implement other types of assistance programs.…”

Unscrambling Africa: Regional Requirements for Achieving Food Security

“…Given the composition of signatories, which included 54 developing countries but no regional economic communities, the Declaration referred to aid recipients as 'partner countries' (OECD, 2005). As a result, most donor programmes developed in response to the l'Aquila commitments focus on 'priority countries', 'country-owned strategies' and 'country-led' processes (Collier, 2009;FAO, 2009;Delgado et al, 2010;USAID, 2010).…”