The European Commission presented in August 2020 its periodic report on food security and aid offered by the EU to low- and middle-income countries. (1) However, the film shown in Brussels is far from reality. The numbers don’t add up, migration doesn’t stop.
Food security, the numbers don’t add up
‘An estimated 26.4 percent of the world’s population (about 2 billion people) suffer from food insecurity, and more than 135 million people in 55 countries are affected by famine that requires the provision of urgent food, nutrition, and livelihood aid. This increase is mainly due to conflicts, natural disasters and climate change.
If current trends continue, the achievement of not only the Sustainable Development Goal (Sustainable Development Goal) SDG 2, Zero Hunger, but of all the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030′. (1)
The scenario portrayed in the Brussels report is based on old estimates by U.N. agencies that downplayed extreme poverty-then attributed to 821 million people worldwide-to disguise their failure. (2) Instead, the most recent data show how 3.5 billion people, slightly less than half of the world’s population, are now facing hunger and misery.
European aid against hunger, in Africa and elsewhere
‘Since 2012 , total official development assistance (ODA) from the EU and its member states for food and nutrition security has steadily increased to €5 billion in 2018, an increase of 19.7 percent over 2016. This accounted for 8.1 percent of total ODA flows in 2018, the highest level recorded since 2012′.
Sub-Saharan Africa remains the top recipient of European support (49 percent). Followed by Asia, Pacific and Oceania (13.1 percent), the combined share of food and nutrition security funds allocated to North, Central and South America is 5.8 percent. Aid provided in 2018 is mainly for rural development, sustainable agriculture, agricultural research, food assistance and basic nutrition.
European aid, the first areas of focus
‘Empowering women and girls and promoting gender equality have been increasingly integrated into food and nutrition security programs. In 2018 this target is 64 percent of total support for food and nutrition security, up from 53 percent in 2016.
Environmental goals are also on the rise, with 51 percent of food and nutrition security disbursements allocated to climate change adaptation or mitigation.’ (1)
Employment opportunities in rural areas, particularly for women, and the resilience of agricultural systems to climate change are therefore mentioned as prime objectives for ensuring food security in countries targeted by EU assistance programs.
Some examples of European aid in Africa
The report mentions some examples of European aid in and around Africa. A few are mentioned:
– Geodata for Agriculture and Water is a program developed with 23 projects in 14 countries. Satellite data useful for optimizing cropland management are transferred to smallholder farmers, with the goal of reaching 4.5 million by 2022,
– Malawi. Ireland has introduced 13 new improved varieties of legumes (e.g., beans biofortified with iron and zinc), cereals, roots and tubers, including a vitamin A-rich orange sweet potato,
– Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Togo. Germany funded an education and training program that promotes women’s development in agriculture and was implemented together with the African Union Development Agency,
– South Sudan. Italy has implemented the ‘SA.N.I. Food Security, Nutrition and Hygiene’ project, which has ensured access to water for 1,550 people, ‘Safe Water Champion‘ training for 450 women, support services for 5,000 pregnant and/or lactating women,
– Kenya, Mozambique, Malawi, Senegal, Afghanistan. Various programs have enhanced women’s access to farmland and land management.
Interim conclusions
The European executive claims the EU’s ‘leading role’ in addressing global food crises and pledges to strengthen the link between humanitarian aid, peace and development. But aid from the EU and its member states is totally insufficient compared to the current food crisis. Just in sub-Saharan Africa, more than 5,000 more children die each month than in the past due to the economic crisis caused by Covid-19 alone.
The impact of European aid on the living conditions of millions of people even a few dozen miles off the Italian coast is less than nothing. And it is ridiculous to label the desperate and hungry as ‘economic migrants’. Crossing the desert and the Mediterranean is an acceptable risk, a state of necessity. Responding to the need with substantial and effective aid is the only logical solution to be adopted, which, however, escapes the Brussels report.
#Égalité!
Dario Dongo and Sabrina Bergamini
Notes
(1) Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council. Honoring EU food security and nutrition policy commitments: fourth biennial report. COM(2020) 285 final https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52020DC0285&from=IT#footnote7
(2) FAO. (2019). Global Report on Food Crisis. See https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade .it/idee/buona-pasqua-per-pochi-rapporti-fao-wfp-oms
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Journalist. Consumption, rights, nutrition, social, environment. Head of Consumers Help. She collaborated with ResetDOC, Il Riformista, La Nuova Ecologia, IMGPress.
