CIDA's Food Security Strategy

Summary

Increasing food security

Almost one billion people around the world have too little to eat or are malnourished, the result of a number of factors. These include population growth and volatile food, transportation, and agricultural costs, as well as a struggling economy and reduced global investment in food and agricultural development.

For the men, women, and children who are hungry, a lack of access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food will influence their health and limit their ability to learn in school and earn a living. It's a central obstacle to reducing poverty.

What is food security?

According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, food security exists when people are able to access enough safe and nutritious food to live a healthy life.

This food can be produced domestically, imported, or arrive at through food aid.

Global food security at a glance

How many are affected? Prior to the 2008-2009 food crisis, more than 923 million individuals did not have access to sufficient safe and nutritious food. In 2009, the number of people worldwide suffering from hunger reached 1.02 billion, or one-sixth of the world's population.

Who are they? Many of the one billion individuals that have too little to eat are small-scale farmers living in rural areas, including women and children. At the same time, worldwide, 500  million small-scale farmers support more than two billion individuals, or one third of all humanity. In many developing countries, particularly in Africa and Asia, small-scale farmers, the majority of whom are women, produce 80 percent of the food consumed.

Because women account for a large proportion of agricultural production in the developing world, they are particularly important agents of economic development and food security.

What are the present challenges? From national and regional perspectives, governments must strengthen their ability to address food security. Examples of important factors limiting improvements to food security include:

• Low productivity
• High input costs
• Quality of produce
• A lack of modern techniques and technology
• High transportation costs
• Loss of arable land

In global terms, the evolving financial crisis and economic recession continue to aggravate the stability of food systems.

CIDA's Food Security Strategy

Within the Food Security Strategy, CIDA will focus on three priorities:

• Food aid and nutrition
• Sustainable agricultural development
• Research and development

Food aid and nutrition

Worldwide, more deaths are attributable to hunger and malnutrition than to HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. In terms of addressing the food needs of vulnerable and high-risk populations, emergency food aid, social safety nets, and nutrition are examples of key interventions that contribute to addressing food insecurity. Where food aid and nutrition are concerned, CIDA will:

• Support the efforts of the UN World Food Programme to meet the food needs of vulnerable populations in developing countries
• Explore innovative initiatives for food assistance and nutrition programming
• Support national and regional strategies to incorporate nutrition considerations into broader food security initiatives
• Work with international and multilateral organizations and national governments to increase micronutrient programming
• Support and strengthen national and regional food reserves and food crisis alert and prevention systems

CIDA's work to improve access to sufficient quantities of nutritious food and enhance the quality and effectiveness of food aid and nutrition programming will result in more lives saved and better overall health.

Sustainable agricultural development

Most poor people living in rural areas earn their income from agriculture, which according to the 2008 World Development Report is two to four times more effective in reducing poverty than investments in other sectors. Where sustainable agricultural development is concerned, CIDA's Food Security Strategy will:

• More than double investment in sustainable agricultural development
• Support national and regional agriculture strategies

These measures to address sustainable agricultural development will translate into progress on many fronts: more small rural farmers will increase their agricultural production, and CIDA's partner governments will develop stronger policies, make their institutions more accountable and design better processes to provide stable local sources of nutritious food.

Research and development

As investments in agricultural research and development have declined over the past 30 years, so too has growth in global agricultural productivity. Based on present estimates that global food production must increase by 70 percent by 2050, investments in agricultural research and development are essential if production is to keep pace with the increasing demand.

As a significant donor to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, and through contributions from Canadian academics and non-government organizations, Canada is putting its considerable experience in agricultural research and development to use on a global scale by sharing knowledge and resources with developing countries.

CIDA's Food Security Strategy will contribute to research and development efforts by:

• Creating, in partnership with the International Development Research Centre, the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund for research in collaboration with developing countries
• Supporting the work of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and its Challenge Programs to increase the nutritional value of crops and improve crop resilience
• Strengthening national and regional agricultural research systems
• Ensuring that research informs food security policies and programs

These measures will give farmers in partner countries better access to the new technologies and specialized expertise they need for their farming operations to keep pace with the growing demand for food.

Conclusion

As long as hunger and malnutrition persist, the world's poorest will struggle to live long and healthy lives. CIDA's Food Security Strategy will address the problem by using every dollar to bring long-lasting benefits to those who need help in breaking out of poverty and meeting basic needs.

In the short-term, the strategy will increase stability by improving access to high-quality and nutritious food.

Medium- and long-term, it will aim to improve agricultural research and development, but also help more people access adequate, safe, and nutritious food.

CIDA will review its progress against the Food Security Strategy and report this progress and any lessons learned on a regular basis. All activities associated with the development and implementation of this strategy complies with the Official Development Assistance Accountability Act.

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PDF versions of the document

Complete version

CIDA's Food Security Strategy (PDF, 271 KB, 9 pages)

Abridged version

Canada's Aid Effectiveness Agenda:Increasing Food Security (PDF, 424 KB, 3 pages)

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