Achieving equitable access to good food

The May 2022 IPES report "Another Perfect Storm" has a number of solutions to tackling hunger and lack of access to good food. The first is that commodity speculation on food crops must be stopped. This has been attempted in the past through legislation, but has had limited impact on the transparency of markets, pointing to the need for further action. Speculation can lead to grain being held in reserves by large private companies (including the ABCD grain giants: Archer-Daniels Midland, Bunge, Cargill, and Dreyfus) until prices appear to peak, or by countries with opaque markets such as China. Such practices can lead to hoarding, and investments and speculation on the prices of food crops can be a damaging practice where this drives up real food prices, leaving families in low-income countries unable to purchase staple foods, and leading to hunger and malnutrition in these regions. More action must be taken by governments and within international policy to regulate the practice of commodity speculation and to ensure that markets remain transparent. The IPES food report suggests a number of actions to achieve this, including the use of taxes in commodity index funds; stopping financial institutions from selling agricultural commodity ETFs during periods when food prices are at a high; and taking measures to keep markets transparent, including requiring declarations to be made by traders on the sizes of their grain reserves.

Presented by: Professor Melissa Leach, Director, Institute of Development Studies, UK 

IPES International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems

Global Justice on Broken Markets

A second solution from the May 2022 IPES report "Another Perfect Storm" is that of diversifying food supply, such that countries have a greater degree of self-sufficiency and less reliance on crop imports. This solution includes the move to the use of more traditional food crops to diversify diets, thus encouraging consumption and use of local products alongside imported food products and fertilizers. Alongside this solution, greater use of agroecology as a farming practice can also contribute to resilience-building in food systems, promoting mixed farming methods, and lessening reliance on synthetic fertilizers.

Presented by: Professor Melissa Leach, Director, Institute of Development Studies, UK

IPES report "Another Perfect Storm"

Reducing the non-food uses of crops and reducing the area of cropland used for non-food crops. This measure would ensure that local communities have a greater access to the crops that they are growing for nutritional purposes.

Presented by: Professor Melissa Leach, Director, Institute of Development Studies, UK

IPES report "Another Perfect Storm"

The FAO's One Country One Priority (OCOP) scheme is designed to improve the value chains of special agricultural products (SAPs), working towards increased food security, better nutrition and the preservation of the natural environment, all while increasing the incomes of smallholder farmers. One of the aims of the OCOP scheme is to encourage the creation of green value chains with a country-specific focus, allowing each country involved to identify the special agricultural products for which they will improve and develop value chains. The minimization of food waste, the promotion of climate smart technology and the development of climate adaptation are also all elements that the OCOP scheme supports.

Presented by: Chikelu Mba, Team Leader, Seeds and Plant Genetic Resources, Italy

One Country One Priority Scheme

One Country One Priority Scheme

Save the Children use 'Cash Plus' interventions to support families in need. Such interventions combine the more traditional transfer of cash to families with an educational piece, educating families on nutrition, sanitation, breastfeeding, and managing cultural misconceptions. This allows for the creation of an integrated model of support that provides a more comprehensive and long-term aid strategy for families struggling with malnutrition in the Global South than a traditional reliance on cash transfers alone.

Presented by: Gwen Hines, CEO, Save the Children

Save the Children 'Cash Plus'

Save the Children are working on aid programmes where regular payments are provided to families in need in the region of 20 US Dollars per month. These transfers can be rapidly scaled up if a crisis, such as a famine, hits. The framework for such a scheme is designed to provide shock-proof social protection, where the ability of families to cope is strengthened by the initial small grants, and supported with early action in the case of a crisis. More broadly, such a framework also ensures that the aid and support systems that are provided by NGOs such as save the children are able to take an iterative approach, where they can be tweaked and altered during times of difficulty so that they can continue to support populations in the most helpful and appropriate ways during these times.

Presented by: Gwen Hines, CEO, Save the Children

Save the Children aid programmes