Fighting hunger
Reducing by half the number of people suffering from hunger by 2015 is a priority for the EU and the International community enshrined in the first Millenium Development Goal. Over 900 million people are estimated to be malnourished - most of them in Sub-Saharan Africa and in South Asia. Even if food prices eased in the second half of 2008, they are still very high and subject to volatility in some developing countries, affecting access to food for low income population groups.
Story from the field
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Strengthening the adaptive capacity of rural poor to water scarcity in drylands, Kenya
The purpose of the pilot action was to strengthen the capacity of dryland communities to cope with the impacts of climate change, improve food production and ultimately livelihoods. -
Children Carers Community Project in Chile
For Chilean women the possibility of getting a job goes hand in hand with the issue of childcare. This is the issue tackled by the Children Caretakers Community Project in 4 communes of Santiago: Maipú, Huechuraba, San Miguel and Peñalolén. -
Integrated Community Based Rural Development Project
The project aims at improving the livelihood 20 villages after engaging in rural development and sustainable management of natural resources. The beneficiaries should have sufficient and diversified food, access to health and education facilities.
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What's On
EU € 1 billion Food Facility. Already more than 200 projects and 50 million beneficiaries in poor countries in the fight against hunger.
Following the high global food prices in 2008, the € 1 billion Food Facility was
approved in December 2008 as a rapid EU reaction instrument to address food
insecurity in 50 developing countries.
EU and FAO help farmers in Zimbabwe grow food
EU and FAO have started a major operation in support of small scale farmers in Zimbabwe to fight hunger this year. In its joint efforts with the European Union, FAO has procured 26,000 tons of seeds and fertilisers for distribution to 176,000 vulnerable farmers - representing between 10 and 15 percent of communal farmers in the country.
Financial support
For the period 2007-2013, the EU food security policy is financed through three types of instruments:
- the implementation of food security policy at national and regional level is supported by geographical instruments, such as the European Development Fund (in the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries) and the Development Co-operation Instrument (in Latin America, Asia and South Africa),
- food security issues at global, continental and regional level are addressed by the Food Security Thematic Programme (FSTP). This also tackles food security issues in those countries where the geographical instruments cannot be fully utilised,
- In order to respond rapidly to problems caused by the food crisis in developing countries, the € 1 billion Food Facility provides assistance to countries most affected by the crisis over a three-year period 2009-2011.
Food aid, being basically a humanitarian tool, is managed by DG ECHO under the Instrument for humanitarian aid.
Within the Commission, the responsibility for programming financial resources is shared between Directorate General Development (for African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and the FSTP) and the European External Action Service (geographical resources for non-ACP countries).
Background information
The 1996 World Food Summit agreed that food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.
Food security is a priority area of concentration of the European Consensus on Development. The EU food security policy tackles the issue on three dimensions: availability of food at regional and national levels, access to food by households and food use and nutritional adequacy at individual level.