Download Food Poverty and Human rights

Dr Maurice Mullard



OECD Area approx 15 per cent UK inflation
rate at 5 per cent yet some food items have
been rising at 35 – 100 per cent – cereals and
rice
Poor Countries food around 60 per cent of
average incomes
Economics of food are higher food prices
good for farmers?





80 per cent of people are farmers living on less
than 2 dollars per day
EU 80 per cent self sufficient in food
EU and US subsidies to agriculture failure in
Africa to invest in agriculture spillover effect of
cheap food imports
Restriction on food exports
Higher food prices and the price of oil







Both Countries emerge as democracy after
military rule
All farmers are small farmers subsistence
rather than agro business
Farmers receive subsidies for fertilizers
Lack of infrastructure roads technology
Ethiopia great potential for growing food for
export but too poor to develop
Saudi Arabia buying tracts of lands for
agriculture
Will this benefit Ethiopia?






Agriculture future markets
Bring marginal land into food production
Higher food prices pay farmers more
China and India changing diets
Can we afford to carry on eating meat
Role of super markets




Packaging and waste
Food and shelter as human rights
The Millenium Development Goals
PRSPs





World population 6 billion
800 million affluent consumers
2.2 billion 2 and 1 dollar a day
1 billion live in 59 countries Collier thesis on
Good Governance
Rising prices of raw materials oil iron ore lack
of transparency in government contracts




Ethiopia is land of contrast.
She is the second most populous country in
Sub-Saharan Africa with a population of 67
million.
Nigeria is the biggest country 25 per cent of
population of Africa live in Nigeria approx
140 million
Both countries have long history, mosaic
(mixture) of peoples and diverse cultures.
Muslim and Chrsitain Sharia Law

potential
for
development-agriculture,
biodiversity, water resources, minerals, Yet,
Ethiopia is faced with structural poverty
population below the poverty line is 44 per
cent. Thus, Agricultural Development Led
Industrialization (ADLI) strategy is among
the main Development Policies.

Ethiopia began the liberalization process in
the 1990s with a clear vision of reversing the
socio- economic crisis of the 1970s and
1980s and rapidly transforming the economy.
Following the collapse of the military regime
and its command economic system, the
country has taken a major policy shift
towards democracy and market-oriented
economy.
Real GDP------------------------------------10.6
Overall Inflation at Country level --------6.8
Private consumption Expenditure --------23.1
Gross Domestic Investment ---------------15.5
Domestic Revenue -------------------------12.0
O/W: Tax Revenue -------------------------13.7
Total Public Expenditure -------------------20.9
O/W: Recurrent -----------------------------10.5
O/W: Capital ---------------------------------37.1
O/W:Spending on Poverty-oriented Sectors-------------------------------------------------37.6
Export of Goods & Non-factor Services
(Nominal)-------------------------------------34.2
Imports of Goods & Non-factor Services
(Nominal)--------------------------------- 33.3
Official Exchange Rate (Birr/USD)------ 8.65
Sectoral distribution of GDP 2004/05
Agriculture --------------------------------48%
Industry -----------------------------------13%
Services------------------------------------39%
Structure of Export 2004/05
Coffee-------------------------------------41%
Oil seed-----------------------------------13%
Leather and Leather products ----------8%
Chat---------------------------------------12%
Gold---------------------------------------6%
Others-------------------------------------16%
As the result, the incidence of poverty in
Ethiopia remains high with 47% and 33% of
the rural and urban population respectively
falling below the poverty line.
 As the consequence of the structure of the
economy, the problem of food insecurity.
 Inadequate availability and accessibility of
social services

Weak institutional capacity is also
the problem. Because there is
non-existence and/or extreme
weakness of the markets
especially factor markets.
The major constraint to building
the productive capacity of the
Ethiopian economy is also lack of
adequate finance.
Because the level of
investment in Ethiopia is still
very low as compared to other
African countries, which had
average investment to GDP of
22-25 percent.
Limited participation of the private
sector in Ethiopia. This is because
private enterprises in Ethiopia are still
in the rudimentary stage of
development because of structural
problems.
Low contribution of export to GDP.
This is because the domain of
merchandise trade comes from
agriculture and concentrated on single
product i.e. coffee.
Market access and managing
commodity market instability i.e.
volatility and declining price in
commodity market.
The magnitude and burden of
external resource leakage in the
form of deteriorating ToT, debt
servicing and other international
payments is reaching beyond the
country’s capacity.
The following, among others:

Concentration on agriculture and rural
development as it is a source of livelihood for
85% of Ethiopians – with a focus on
agricultural research and extension, irrigation,
water harvesting, and water management;
Encouraging private sector to promote offfarm employment; and promoting rapid
export growth;
 A big investment in the social sectors such as
education, health, and water and sanitation;

Deepening decentralization and
empowerment, to bring decision-making
closer to the grass roots population;
 Improvement in governance to empower the
poor, a stable framework for private sector
growth;

 Launching
a food security program, to
improve the food security situation of the
most vulnerable, and reduce dependence on
emergency foreign relief aid; and,
 A big effort to build capacity, in the public
and private sectors, including reforming the
civil service to deliver better services,
strengthening the justice system, and
doubling the size of the technical and
vocational training, and university
education systems.
In general the four broad pillars of the
Government’s strategy are:
 (i)
the strategy of Agricultural Development
Led Industrialization Strategy;
 (ii) reform of the civil service and justice
system;
 (iii) decentralization and empowerment; and
 (iv) capacity Building