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Why is food security and nutrition important for Oxfam development projects?
Food security is not only about hunger, it is mainly about malnutrition which comes from not having the right food available, lack of awareness and/or not being able to access it due to physical constraints or high prices. Agricultural and livelihood projects aim to improve production techniques, yield and income but they may not measure the impact on the household’s food security, which can also be affected by climate change, trade and many other external factors. Some key starting points to ensure food security is to raise the level of awareness among the public, enact adequate policies that support, promote and maintain food security in a country.
In the South Caucasus where over 60% of HH income goes to food purchase, 80% of all food is imported in Georgia, local food production has low yield, over 90% of all farms are held by small-holder farmers with less than 1 ha and the price index is double that of most developed country – ensuring food security for the poor and marginal poor is critical. However, there is a lack of information and data on food security, so solid evidence is necessary to advocate to policy makers.
The project titled Improving Regional Food Security through National Strategies and Small Holder Production funded by the European Union began in September 2013 for a four year period and covers the three countries of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan – aims to improve food security and nutrition in the south Caucasus through small holder and civil society participation in the policy development and governance processes. Oxfam cooperates with national alliances of civil society organisations such as the GAARD (Georgian Alliance for Agriculture and Rural Development) and the AA (Agricultural Alliance) in Armenia with 22 and 16 member organisations respectively. Strong partner organisations like the Georgian Farmers’ Association, Elkana Biological Farmers’ Association, Pro-Media Gender NGO and the Young Women’s Association understand small-holder farmers and women’s interest, and have a broad constituency all across the country which they represent as members of the alliance. As one member of GAARD put it: “Our previous experience in advocacy shows that you can be a very well known organization but if you are alone, it is difficult to deliver your messages. Partnership with others makes it much easier; there are more chances that you will be heard; the simple logic that jointly we are stronger.”
The key to successful advocacy for Oxfam starts with strong evidence from research, networking with national organisation, campaigns to influence and engage with policy makers to make changes. In 2014, the Project carried out a research on Food Security in the South Caucasus, as well as a Diagnostic Review of State Policies in Georgia on food security. The findings were presented by the GAARD and the AA to its members, donors and Government representatives and provided the alliances with the credibility and leverage for its advocacy work. As a result, the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia agreed to set up and coordinate a Food Security Working Group to address the challenges faced by the country. In early 2014, the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia presented a draft Agricultural Development Strategy for 2015-20 and this was the opportunity for Oxfam, the GAARD and key partners like Elkana to review the draft, present it to their small-holder farmers constituency, collect input and make recommendations to the MoA. Elkana organised a Farmers’ Congress which turned into live debates to agree on an Appeal Text which highlighted issues with production, women’s access to credit, agro-tourism, support for ecological local production and market development. Farmers in Georgia particularly understand the challenges of low productivity and fragmented land, but they also see their comparative advantage for producing high quality ecological products. As one woman put it: “It is particularly important to produce healthy food in Georgia now, […] Eco-products are very expensive all over the world, and we, Georgians have the possibility to produce healthy food…”. The Project even consulted with the private sector who felt excluded from the process and also made recommendations to ensure that the State programs fills the gaps and not replace existing structures. As a member of a food testing laboratory put it: “It is in the interest of the Ministry to be open and engage all stakeholders in strategy development, so that it [the strategy] will actually work.”
The Appeal Text and other GAARD recommendations were submitted to the MoA and fully integrated into the strategy in July 2014. However, at that time there was a change in Ministry who reviewed the strategy, released a new draft, and the GAARD was again mobilised to make recommendations within only a one week deadline! In the end the final strategy was unveiled in Feb 2015 and 81% of all input was either partially or fully addressed in the new Agricultural Development Strategy 2015-20. The challenge for next year is for civil society and farmers associations to get involved in the development of the strategy’s action plan and budget allocation, and to monitor its implementation on improving agricultural production and food security in the South Caucasus countries.
Photo below: GAARD meeting Feb. 9th 2015
Photo: Strawberry farmer in Azerbaijan offering fresh fruit
