What is food security?

Overview
The EU – a mainstay of support for food security
Instruments

Overview

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” (Rome Declaration on World Food Security – UN Food and Agriculture Organization)

In the developing world, nearly 1 bln people are unable to meet their dietary needs. Another 5-10% are at risk of ‘acute’ food insecurity in times of crisis. Despite improvements, the millennium development goal on hunger is likely to be missed by a wide margin in Sub-Saharan Africa, where persistent food insecurity is compounded by widespread political instability, conflict and the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Lack of food – the defining feature of poverty

Food insecurity is directly linked to poverty, which means that it is a priority for the EU consensus on development. Support must be given at the right time because even a transitory crisis can trigger chronic food problems, as assets are quickly depleted and livelihoods undermined.

EU food security policy

puts food availability, access to food, responses to food shortages and nutritional problems at the centre of poverty-reduction strategies.
acknowledges the causes of food insecurity – environmental degradation, poor productive systems, badly functioning markets, limited human capacity and inequality
recognises the social factors affecting access to food – gender, age and ethnicity.
supports broad based food-security strategies at the national and regional level in preference to handing out food aid directly
is based on the premise that the long-term objectives of meeting millennium development goals and eradicating food insecurity will only be met through nationally owned poverty-reduction strategies.

Food insecurity in crisis situations

Food insecurity is particularly hard to tackle in complex, ongoing crises and in the fragile transition to stability. During a crisis, fragile states may lack the capacity or institutional frameworks to implement long-term food security solutions – a situation that may be compounded by poor governance, conflicts, man-made disasters, HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

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The EU – a mainstay of support for food security

Because food aid is primarily a humanitarian tool, it is managed by ECHO and administered through:

European Development Fund (EDF)
Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI)
European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI)
the food security thematic programme – addressing food security at global, continental and regional level in countries where the other, geography-based, instruments cannot be used.

EU actions tackle the structural causes of food insecurity on three levels

national level – inadequate food and water availability
household level – poverty resulting in insufficient access to food
individual level – food use and nutritional adequacy.

In assessing and implementing support for food security the EU attaches importance to:

consistency with EU development policy and the Commission's country and regional support strategies
close coordination with other EU financial instruments, ECHO, EU member countries and major donors. This ensures external coherence and complementarity. Food security programmes support changes to policies and institutions to achieve sustained economic growth and reduce poverty.
building on nationally owned policies and strategies for poverty reduction and social cohesion
reinforcing national capacity and supporting local partnerships
measure that have an impact – direct or indirect – on incomes for the poor and most vulnerable
disaster preparedness and crisis prevention
the link between relief, rehabilitation and development in protracted and post-crisis situations
consistency with the Code of conduct for food aid
efficiency in reducing poverty and food insecurity in a specific environment. Where possible, relief materials will be purchased in the country or region.
sustainability of food security programmes – insofar as possible.

Collaboration with FAO

EU and FAO cooperation is based on the 2004 EC-FAO Partnership .

The focus is on:

increasing the ability of countries and regions to design and implement food insecurity information systems
increasing awareness in government and local circles of the links between food insecurity and poverty
using food insecurity information systems to help design and implement food security strategies

Support through the FAO targets cross-cutting activities particularly relevant to food security and poverty reduction in fields where FAO has a comparative advantage – such as support to the agricultural sector after a natural disaster.

Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) is at the forefront of research in food security and natural resources management, genetic resources and international policy. EU resources are allocated to a CGIAR programmes closely related to food security in the fields of genetic resources and international policies related to water management and the new initiative of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development.

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Instruments

Financial aid can be provided either as budgetary support (national procedures apply) projects (Commission procedures apply) or food aid – and at national level (agreement with the country's government) or international level (cooperation with international organisations).

Budgetary support

Budgetary support is provided as financial assistance through the government budget and aims to:

support policy and institutional reforms related to food security
facilitate import of food by the private sector
promote employment and income generation to improve access to food
help provide safety nets

Budgetary aid is provided under well-defined conditions:

to low-income and least developed countries
to countries with a strong macroeconomic framework demonstrating fiscal sustainability
to countries with good governance, including sound public-finance management and effective public and private sectors
where policies and programmes exist to promote food security and reduce poverty.

Project support

Support to country/ regional strategies and programmes

Project support is provided in countries with a weak institutional framework where the policy environment does not allow budgetary aid. Support will:

ensure financial support is routed to "food insecure" groups
ensure that development assistance is managed properly and promote capacity building where the public sector is weak and realistic avenues for improvement are lacking
make it possible to test pilot approaches to tackling food insecurity
make it possible to address key bottlenecks in food availability and access to food
ensure that aid recipients participate actively in project design and implementation.

Food security projects are supported for a limited time – during a transition from relief to long-term development or when food insecurity is structural. Projects focus on improving access to food through support to production systems, other income-generating activities and social safety nets.

Regional strategies on food security should be promoted and – when justified – supported.

Food aid

Food aid should be:

considered a tool for humanitarian assistance. In grant form, it should be provided only in acute, protracted crises to meet well-identified and internationally recognised needs.
restricted to situations where it is the best tool to solve an immediate problem.
delivered in response to a food-related emergency (man-made and natural disasters, calamity or similar circumstances creating severe food insecurity that local government is unable to handle).
targeted to the most vulnerable groups, while respecting their nutritional requirements and habits. Preference will be given to local and regional purchases.
based on reliable, objective, credible and transparent assessments of needs.
fully delinked, cash only, and donors should buy locally and regionally in order to stimulate agricultural production, sustain local markets and enhance the livelihood of producers.
demand-driven and provided in compliance with broader food security strategies.

EU food aid is targeted by means of a continuous process of analysis, needs assessment, information and consultation between ECHO and the main UN and NGO partners. Other Directorates General may be involved, particularly DG Development and DG RELEX.

The EU is committed to work actively towards making food aid more effective and minimising any negative impacts.

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