Barbara Huddleston and Ram Saran talk about FIVIMS
What does the abbreviated term "FIVIMS" stand for, and how it is related to FAO's priorities of FAO and in particular to food security? Barbara Huddleston: FIVIMS stands for Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems - any system that assembles and disseminates information about people that are underfed and undernourished, or at risk. It was the World Food Summit Plan of Action (1996) that recommended the establishment of such systems at both national and global levels. In particular, the Summit expressed concern with the FAO estimate that over 800 million people worldwide were undernourished in the sense of being underfed. It therefore resolved to take steps to reduce this figure by at least 50 percent by the year 2015. The Summit also set longer-term targets of eventually eradicating hunger and achieving food security for all. But in order to achieve these targets, it is necessary to first identify who the underfed and undernourished people are. Hence a need to establish or strengthen information and mapping systems at the national level, which can help identify people as well as assess the causes of their food insecurity and vulnerability. In explaining FIVIMS, you have referred to two terms: food insecurity and vulnerability. Can you explain the difference between the two? Barbara Huddleston: Both terms refer to a situation that can affect an individual, an occupational or social group, a geographic area, or an entire nation. But whereas food insecurity refers specifically to conditions that could lead to dietary inadequacy, vulnerability refers to the full range of factors which influence nutritional status, including - but not restricted to - dietary inadequacy. Related to this question are the two terms undernutrition and malnutrition, which we often come across in the area of food security. Do they mean the same? Barbara Huddleston: No. Undernutrition is the outcome of prolonged inadequate food consumption relative to the body's requirements. It manifests itself in the form of a reduction in energy expenditure, a reduction in body mass, or both. Although the main cause of undernutrition is an inadequate intake of energy, infection and disease can also prevent the body from making good use of available nutrients, and thus lead to undernutrition, even when food intake is adequate. Malnutrition, on the other hand, is a broader concept, which accounts for the effects of overnutrition and specific micronutrient deficiencies as well as undernutrition. Mr Ram Saran, the retiree working with you as a consultant, has been associated with an important aspect of developing FIVIMS in different regions. Was there any special reason for giving him this assignment? Barbara Huddleston: Yes. Mr Ram Saran is a retired officer of FAO. At the time of retirement he was Senior Economist in charge of the Food Security and Food Aid Policy Group. Previously, he had supervised the work of the Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS), which provides an important input to the area of food security. Because of his experience in these two capacities, as well as his detailed knowledge of the utility of various indicators for monitoring food security in his native country of India, he was considered ideally suited for the task in question. Mr Ram Saran, can you tell me about your career in FAO and its relevance to the recent consultancy work in which you have been engaged? Ram Saran: Although I worked in FAO for only six or seven years, my association with the Organization has been for a much longer period - almost 30 years. I have attended almost all FAO biennial conferences since 1967, first as a Government of India Officer, then as an FAO Officer, and last of all as a journalist. In the past, I also attended several other FAO meetings including biennial regional conferences for Asia and the Pacific, and sessions of the Committee on World Food Security and the Committee on Commodity Problems. Can you tell me about your career in the Government of India and the relevance of your Indian working experience to your present assignment? Ram Saran: Before I joined FAO in 1979, I had worked with the Government of India for about three decades. I worked for many years as Economic and Statistical Adviser in the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. In this post, I advised the Government on economic policy matters in the area of food and agriculture. The issues in which I was intimately involved included price policies, trade policies, production policies, food supply management, and agricultural planning and development. In addition, my office sponsored agricultural economic research at research institutes and universities, and organized systems for the collection of data on land use, food and agricultural production, and market intelligence from all over the country. I also served as a member of the Agricultural Prices Commission for a number of years. In this position, I assisted in the preparation of reports on price policies for food and agricultural commodities for the consideration of the Government. So, my experience in diverse areas, both as Economic and Statistical Adviser and as a member of the Agricultural Prices Commission, later stood me in good stead when I joined FAO. Many of the issues that I addressed in these two positions had a special significance for the work on world food security which has acquired a wider meaning in recent years. You have also referred to journalism in your work experience. What did you do in your journalistic career? Ram Saran: Journalism has not been my career as such. My main experience in journalism has been association with the journal Food Policy (Oxford, UK), for which I regularly wrote a column entitled "Monitor". Monitor was a review of selected documents and analytical reports emanating from Rome-based international organizations, namely: FAO, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), as well as the former World Food Council. What has your consultancy work on FIVIMS involved? Ram Saran: I have been mainly concerned with an analysis of the data needed and indicators that could be used to monitor food insecurity in different groups of low- or middle-income countries. I concentrated my attention on identifying the characteristics of food-insecure people in a homogeneous group of countries in each of four regions: Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The food-insecure people in these different country groups did not all have the same characteristics. But generally the food insecure in all of them could be broadly classified as small farmers; the landless; nomads; squatters; share-croppers; disadvantaged ethnic groups; fishermen, hunters, foresters and other inhabitants of secluded areas; the other rural poor; the urban poor; and refugees, displaced persons and earthquake victims. Depending on the precise characteristics that the food-insecure in each country group had, suggestions were made about the indicators to be monitored and the data to be collected, in order to keep track of positive or negative changes in their food security status. How do you view your present assignment after retirement from FAO? Ram Saran: The present assignment gives me an opportunity to remain professionally active. I have long experience of writing on economic problems. I therefore feel indebted to FAO for engaging me occasionally as a consultant to undertake analytical work on agricultural economic issues. Another important reason motivating me to continue work with FAO is that it helps me to serve the developing world from where I come, and to improve those agricultural economies to which FAO pays special attention. Barbara Huddleston, what plans does FAO have to develop FIVIMS, at both national and global levels, and what timescale do you envisage for this process? Barbara Huddleston: First, I would like to emphasize that FIVIMS is an initiative that has been taken up by an Inter-Agency Working Group (IAWG) that has a wide membership from among international organizations that are interested in improving the quality of information available to help cope with problems of food insecurity and undernutrition. The role of FAO is to serve as catalyst for the development of FIVIMS; thus FAO provides the secretariat for the IAWG and facilitates information flows among the various partners. FAO has also made provision in its Regular Programme of Work and Budget for 1998-99 to produce various technical papers and methodological guidelines for use by national FIVIMS, and to support work on linking the various international databases that will eventually form global FIVIMS. As far as the time schedule is concerned, the next step is the consideration of draft guidelines for national FIVIMS by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in early June. These guidelines have been prepared by the IAWG under FAO leadership, with the active participation of national experts from around a dozen selected countries around the world. Assuming the Committee is satisfied with the work that has been done to date, FAO and its IAWG partners, starting in July 1998, will begin implementation of a workplan to support countries that wish to establish national FIVIMS. Development of FIVIMS will be a gradual, interactive process. An international FIVIMS programme coordinated by the IAWG but involving the information system development projects of the different member agencies, will provide technical assistance to countries to develop or improve their national FIVIMS. The IAWG will develop quality standards as the country work proceeds. As better data become available, it will flow into global FIVIMS through various linked international databases. Improved data will make possible improved analyses, both within countries and internationally. And these analyses are likely to trigger new questions and new calls for more and better data. So, in conclusion, you can see that with FIVIMS, FAO and its many partners have embarked on an exciting new era of information development that should make it easier for all concerned to tackle directly and effectively the problems of food insecurity and undernutrition that we have set out to eradicate. Back to main story Related links | |||
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