Health and Nutrition

Smallholders need a hand-up not a hand-out

Submitted by Lucy on 18th April 2013
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By Lucy Holt

What does empowerment mean? How do you empower people? And which people do you empower? These were some of the questions tackled by a specially convened learning circle at this week's Dublin Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Climate Justice.

We were there to celebrate Ireland's EU Presidency and we were there to inform the post-2015 development agenda, but mostly we were there to learn from each other: to share our experiences and take home practical ideas that we could implement.

In the room were smallholder farmers from Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, and Columbia; development practitioners from the ground and from head-offices; researchers from the social and natural sciences; as well as local and national politicians. Read more »

Youth speak out on Hunger, Nutrition and Climate Justice

Submitted by Lucy on 16th April 2013
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By Lucy Holt

This week’s conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Climate Justice had a mission to give a voice to the voiceless. To ensure that the people who are most vulnerable to climate change and the most marginalized from political processes are represented in the post-2015 development agenda. More than just words, the conference brought nearly a hundred grassroots practitioners to Dublin from Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America to tell their stories, share their experiences, listen and learn from each other, as well as ask questions and demand answers from decision makers in policy, research and aid organizations.

It also brought two World Vision Youth Ambassadors, Mr Alex Nallo and Mr. Salah Hussein, to address the conference on behalf of the most vulnerable and voiceless: the children of today and the unborn children of tomorrow, raising the complex and difficult issues associated with intergenerational climate justice. The two demanded that conference participants think further ahead than a post-2015 agenda and start thinking about a post-2050 agenda, delivering a strong message that 2015 is not the end-point but a chance for a new beginning. Read more »

Falling sick on an empty belly? Linking the future of food security and disease

Submitted by Cecilia on 15th November 2012
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By Joost Vervoort and Hannah Rowlands

How does malnutrition in children impact the danger they face from Malaria? How do people’s livelihoods in agriculture contribute to their likelihood to catch diseases like Schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease caused by trematode flatworms, from natural water bodies? How can efforts to increase food security be combined with attempts to reduce disease risks?

Problems around diseases and food insecurity for vulnerable rural communities in the developing world go hand in hand. So, too, do the impacts of government policies and strategies of non-state actors focusing on health care and food. Both issues face many similar future uncertainties – both of an economic and political nature including migration and funds for treatment as well as biophysical change such as climate change, ecosystem degradation, with different but related impacts. Read more »

A look at food losses in Uganda and insights on the FAO Save Food Programme

Submitted by Lisen on 5th July 2012
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By Denise Martínez Breto

No other accounts on the reality of growing crops, harvesting and selling food could ever be as genuine as those coming from the farmers themselves. In a two-hour dedicated Learning event on food losses and waste during the Agriculture and Rural Development Day farmers from Uganda, FAO members and private sector organizations zoomed in on food thrown out or squandered in both developed and developing countries.

One-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption is either lost or thrown away, together with the natural resources used for its production. Although food losses occur at all stages of the food supply chain the causes and their impact around the world differ. In developing countries, food losses hit small farmers the hardest. Almost 65 percent of these food losses happen at the production, post harvest, and processing stages. In industrialized countries, food waste often occurs at the retail and consumer level due to a “throw-away” mindset.

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