Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

Consultation

Sustainable Development Goals - your story of creating a food secure world

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has been formulated to guide the actions of the international community over the 15 years period from 2016 to 2030. As a global framework for mutual accountability, the Agenda’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) cover all aspects of life and are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.

All countries, poor, rich and middle-income are called upon to work toward achieving the SDGs. This means that all of us - both as citizens and as professionals - are responsible to make our work and our private lives conducive to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

While the 2030 Agenda should always be seen as a comprehensive and shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, focusing on food and agriculture, investing in rural people and transforming the rural sector can speed progress towards all 17 SDGs. With food and agriculture laying at the very heart of the 2030 Agenda, FAO has been made custodian UN agency for 21 indicators, across SDGs 2, 5, 6, 12, 14 and 15.

One of the aspects that distinguishes the SDGs from previous development frameworks is the strong focus given to monitoring the progress. At the global level, the 17 (SDGs and 169 targets are being monitored and reviewed using a set of global indicators. Moreover, at country level, governments can use their own national indicators to assist the monitoring of the goals.

With the implementation phase now in full swing, we feel that learning about your first-hand experience on how the SDGs have changed your work and life and what impact they have had so far in your countries is very important.

In this particular online discussion we would like to focus on SDG2 “Zero Hunger” and invite you to share with us your “SDG2 story”.

  1. How is your work helping to create a food secure and Zero Hunger world? Have you seen your work change after the adoption of the SDGs? If so, how?
  2. Can you share any stories of how your work has successfully contributed towards the realizition of SDG2 in your country?
  3. What is your experience with monitoring and evaluating progress towards ending hunger, malnutrition and supporting sustainable agriculture in your country?

If there is another SDG that is more relevant to your work and for which you have a good story, we would be happy to hear about that as well. Please feel free to send us also your photos and videos showing how you, your community and your countries are living the SDGs.

Your stories will allow us to get a better picture on what has already been achieved and how. They will help others to learn from your experience, from the successes you celebrated and last but not least from any challenges you might have encountered.

We look forward to your participation!

Your FSN Forum Team

This activity is now closed. Please contact [email protected] for any further information.

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Max Blanck

European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)
Italy

Dear All,

With this interesting discussion now closed, I would like to express my deepest appreciation for the time you dedicated to sharing your SDG-related stories.

In this online discussion we have deliberately invited you to comment on a very openly formulated topic as we did not want to limit you in telling the stories you deemed important.

In my view, the most important result of this exchange is that it underlined once again the complexity of the fight against hunger and malnutrition and the multitude of avenues that we can follow.

Something that many of the examples you shared have in common is that they provided innovative approaches or applied tested solutions in an innovative way. This is encouraging as it showcases the high level of commitment towards realizing SDG2 and the vitality of the development sector, especially at the grassroots level.

The diversity of the examples you shared also underlines the importance of knowledge sharing initiates to help us stay updated and able to learn from each-other.

For this reason we also appreciate the more critical comments you shared as they highlight pitfalls that can jeopardize our success.

Over the next weeks we will analyse your comments in greater detail and might get back to you should we require further information.

Once again, thank you very much!

Max

"Taking the SDGs at face value and not conceptualizing them to be the result of political conflict would be a huge mistake. The global cacophony of politically correct communications that the SDGs have stimulated could also cement power relations that recreate inequalities and marginalization in the global political economy. This bleak reality is in no way foreordained, though — political analysis can help us uncover the politics that works against the goals, and can inspire more informed engagements in SDG politics.

Regarding the "zero-hunger" goal specifically, there is a clear multilevel politics of ideas animating discussions about the future of food. Stakeholders who are situated differently in relation to food tend to vehemently disagree on the interventions and investments necessary to enhance food security and realize the right to food. The targets and indicators linked to “SDG 2” are subject to this broader food politics. Fractious political divides pertaining to the availability of food, and to its accessibility and to dietary adequacy, set the limits of the possible for realizing this SDG."

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2019/06/26/book-review-politics-rules-power-globalization-and-development-by-adam-sneyd/

-Adapted from Politics Rules: Power, Globalization and Development (Fernwood Publishing and Practical Action Publishing, 2019).

Dear Forum Members

Greetings from Dschang, Cameroon

My name is Djoumessi Tobou France Gina. I am a PhD student in Nutrition and Feeding animals at the University Dschang-Cameroon. My area of ​​research is food security.

The food security is general and particular in a security of the western regions. Indeed, the population growth of 1.14 per year (Ria Novosti - Sputnik, 2019) creates an imbalance between demand and supply of protein of animal origin, malnutrition especially in low income families. To fight against this scourge, the development and the vulgarization of the mini-breeding, offer you an alternative alternative to what you want to contribute globally to the economy of the African countries by the promotion of the employment, exchanges and exchanges preservation of biodiversity. Thus, the culture which was an unconventional breeding, was above all a pledge of food security. The guinea pig is a monogastric herbivore whose major interest lies in its prolificacy, its high growth rate, its lean meat and its inexpensive diet. Despite its importance, diet remains the main limiting factor for the expression of the production potential of animals in a tropical environment. Indeed, in this zone, the animal culture is rustic, the animals feed mainly on kitchen waste, crops and grass grasses often deficient in essential nutrients such as proteins and minerals (Noumbissi et al., 2014). This results in low productivity, stunted growth, decreased fertility, abortions, and small ones with low birth and death rates (Niba et al., 2004). Improving productivity among consumers can do the other, improving their diet and especially their implementation.

To overcome this scourge (malnutrition), our studies focused on the valorization of Moringa oleifera seeds in the guinea pig diet in order to increase the availability of animal proteins.Our study shows that Moringa seeds are very rich in protein (38%) and can be used both human and animal. In addition, these seeds significantly improved the average daily earnings of guinea pigs. In short to fight against food security we can advise the practice of this breeding, the use of Moringa seeds to improve the yield of animal productions.Indeed, guinea pigs do not compete with humans for food. It is herbivorous, its waste is less polluting, but can be used to fertilize the pond or crops. Its breeding makes it possible to avoid the hunting with excess thus protection of the biodiversity.

In conclusion, it is a good candidate for sustainable development and for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

Dear Forum Members

Greetings from Bamenda, Cameroon.

The National Development Foundation (NDEF) is working to empower smallholder farmers to use ecological farming practices to reduce the vulnerability of their households to food, health and income insecurity while ensuring a sound  environmental management. 

The National Development Foundation (NDEF) is working to empower smallholder farmers to use ecological farming practices to reduce the vulnerability of their households to food, health and income insecurity while ensuring a sound environmental management.

Specifically on SDG2, we are working on a number of programmes aimed at helping rural poor people in villages of the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon to have zero hunger. We are developing a farmers’ agroforestry resource centre at our head office in Bamenda to demonstrate how a number of interrelated activities could be carried out on a small piece of land to boost food production and use land to its maximum capacity. Our work is helping to create a food secure and Zero Hunger world through the following programmes:

  • Agroforestry Programme
  • Plantain Multiplication Programme
  • Cassava Programme
  • Beekeeping Programme
  • Moringa Programme
  • Fish Rearing in containers and concrete tanks
  • Poultry keeping
  • Pig rearing
  • Crop processing for value addition Programme

In the agroforestry programme, we target beneficiaries or clients who live in the poorest rural communities where the need for sustainable incomes and life opportunities are most urgent. We prefer to work with constituted groups of people such as farmers and structured development committees. We train farmers to establish tree nurseries from which they get improved trees seedlings for integration into their farms. We train them on modern tree propagation techniques (such as grafting, airlayering and rooting of cuttings) and effective nursery techniques. We also train them how to construct and use propagators. NDEF was technically supported here by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) Yaounde.

Towards a World of Sustainable and Adequate FSN

Here is a more of a questionair with a scattering of some suggestions that seem to have been overlooked by most people. I think something critical is lacking in our efforts so far, viz., a unified means of ensuring the sustainability of our endeavours. I hope this would be of some use.

Cheers!

lal.

Sustainable Development Goals - your story of creating a food secure world

By: Mylene Rodríguez Leyton

Teaching Researcher, Nutrition and Dietetics Program, Research group on food and human behavior. Universidad Metropolitana-Barranquilla, Colombia.

How to help you reach a world without hunger and in the sense of food security?

I am a Dietician Nutritionist and my work focuses on the training of future professional students of Nutrition and Dietetics, I work as a research professor at the Metropolitan University, in the city of Barranquilla located in the Colombian Caribbean. Our work contributes to reach a world without hunger and in which food safety prevails from the teaching, research and extension processes; based on the model and the pedagogical strategies found in the classroom of the class, in the practice sites, in the projects of formative research, in extension and in innovation. The solution of the problems of Hunger in communities, groups and vulnerable people, especially children, seniors and pregnant mothers.

Teachers play roles as advisors and facilitators in the management processes of policies, plans, programs and projects in local, national and local scenarios.

From the research the teachers contribute with the generation of new knowledge and innovation products with scientific evidence to be taken as an input in the interventions for attention and prevention of malnutrition.

Has your work changed after the SDGs were approved? If yes, how?

Of course, in my personal experience in the courses of deepening in public nutrition with students of last semesters I have generated spaces for discussion, analysis and reflection so that students understand the complexity of the problems and later as future professionals assume that they have social responsibility in the solution of nutritional problems.Particularly in the month of October 2018, in commemoration of World Food Day, I had the opportunity to organize a Symposium with national and local guests to execute and share together with a team of teachers from the Nutrition and Dietetics Program. different points of view related to Hunger and food security, with the generation of innovative products; but the most important point was the realization of a Panel called Zero Hunger where a group of students of Nutrition and Dietetics from Colombia and students from Mexico who were in exchange at my University made an analysis from their perspective of students on the problem of malnutrition in the two countries Colombia and Mexico; this intervention generated a positive impact on the students attending because they allow them to become aware from the identification of the magnitude of the problem through the appropriation of the data and the figures of the indicators, allowing them to empower themselves and prepare themselves to exercise an active role from your period of professional training. A product of this event was a compilation of reflections elaborated by students in a World Food Day Bulletin, In this year 2019 with a group of my Seventh Semester students; a series of forums were held in the classroom to present their views on the problems of hunger and malnutrition, from case reviews and bibliographical reviews, then the students individually elaborated writings that they socialized with their peers. class, later the students who had common themes were integrated to elaborate new writings and finally elaborated with a magazine that entitled Public Nutrition to the Day in which they are the authors of the essays; this experience allows them to make their ideas visible, creates a sense of ownership and sensitizes them to the role they play in the eradication of hunger and malnutrition.

Can you share some stories about how your work has contributed successfully to achieving SDG 2 in your country?

In Colombia, the entity responsible for malnutrition care policies is the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, and the Colombian Family Welfare Institute also plays a leading role in the implementation of the policy of comprehensive care for the poor. early childhood.With the emergence of the Sustainable Development Goals, in Colombia food and nutrition security policies have been strengthened; guidelines and norms have been defined to fight against malnutrition; the strategy of care and prevention of child malnutrition is being developed, which is a set of food and nutrition actions with a family and social pedagogical perspective aimed at the care and prevention of malnutrition from pregnancy, its objective is to improve the nutritional status of the beneficiaries prevent low weight for gestational age in pregnant women and malnutrition in children under 5 in previously targeted areas.In Colombia there is an intersectoral commission for food and nutrition security that is composed of government entities that coordinate in a coordinated manner the actions to achieve the objectives and goals of food security for the execution of the food and nutrition security policy in the country. Priority has been given to regions where morbidity and mortality rates due to malnutrition have been high, as in the case of the departments of La Guajira and Chocó.For its part, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has been developing projects to strengthen the rural sector in response to a need for post-conflict.We, as academy participate directly in the development of these policies and contribute from the community level in extension projects, volunteering, to participation in the planning and execution of public policies on food and nutrition; likewise from the research we are generating new knowledge, proposing innovative and sustainable solutions to reduce hunger and achieve food security; We are clear that there are challenges such as the issue of migration that affects the population of Venezuela that arrives in Colombia under difficult conditions of health and nutrition.

My vision as a teacher is to ensure that our young students and professionals lead the fight against hunger and malnutrition and achieve Zero Hunger in our local environments, thus adding to the achievement of SDG 2.

Mapping and monitoring of native mangaba tree (Hancornia speciosa Gomes) in the Northeast, Brazil

The mangaba tree is native from Brazil witch, over the years, it has been suffering a deforestation process. In Coastal Tablelands and Lowlands territories from the Northeast Region, the mangaba tree has been managed by ‘catadoras de mangaba’ (mangaba women pickers). Since 2009, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) have mapped and monitored the areas of native mangaba trees in Sergipe State.

The territories used by the mangaba women pickers are in the cities of Santa Luzia do Itanhy, Indiaroba, Estância, Itaporanga d 'Ajuda, Aracaju, São Cristóvão, Nossa Senhora do Socorro, Barra dos Coqueiros, Pirambu, Santo Amaro das Brotas, Japaratuba, Pacatuba, Japoatã and Brejo Grande. In 2016, these territories occupied 34,033 ha, however, there was a reduction of 10,456 ha (29.6%) of the areas mapped until 2009. The livelihoods and lifestyle of mangaba woman pickers are been threatened by the increased activity of sugarcane and eucalyptus growing, shrimp farming, resorts, which destroys the ecosystem and drastically reduces the native vegetation and mollusc harvesting, another activity carried out by many of the communities concerned.

This research has alerted public makers to the risks of extinction of the plant and livelihoods of mangaba women pickers in Sergipe, in addition to the risk of harming more than 5,000 people who depend on the activity to survive. Brazilian Ministry of the Environment (MMA) has build publics policies of ensure access to land and conservation of lifestyle of mangaba women pickers. The National Supply Company (Conab) has followed the Embrapa´s researchs to defined the prices of mangaba fruit in it programs.

More information:

MOTA, D. M. da, SILVA JUNIOR, J.F. da, SCHMITZ, H. and RODRIGUES, R. F. de A. (eds). 2011. A mangabeira, as catadoras, o extrativismo. Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Belém, PA, Brazil; Embrapa Tabuleiros Costeiros, Aracaju, SE, Brazil, 303 p.

RODRIGUES, R. F. de A.; SILVA JUNIOR, J. F. da; MOTA, D. M. da; PEREIRA, E. O.; SCHMITZ, H. 2017. Mapa do extrativismo da mangaba em Sergipe: situação atual e perspectivas. Embrapa, Brasília. 56 p. Disponible in: https://www.embrapa.br/en/busca-de-publicacoes/-/publicacao/1085370/map….

Improving animal welfare in agricultural development can make a significant contribution towards the achievement of food security; and the production of safe, healthy, nutritious food. Higher-welfare systems are needed in order to safeguard and develop local production/consumption systems and to ensure future sustainability, food safety, and human health. The High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition mentions the importance of animal welfare in its 2016 report stating that “Animal welfare is linked to economic development and the education, cultural practices, religious beliefs and knowledge of farmers. Improving animal welfare can contribute to both resilience and resource efficiency.”[viii]

For these reasons, World Animal Net has for several years been engaged with a multi-stakeholder partnership along with the World Bank, Wageningen University and Research (WUR), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). This project is called the “Wageningen process”, and its goal is to develop “Good Practices for Animal Welfare in Development”. These will support the broader development and cooperation community in assisting Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) with the effective implementation of good animal welfare practices for the sustainable development of the agricultural sector. The project provides practical guidance and promotes the implementation of good animal welfare practices in agricultural development activities. Currently, guidelines for implementing good animal welfare practices for pigs are nearing completion. Work is slated to begin in September 2019 on a set of guidelines for working equine welfare and a set of guidelines for broiler chicken welfare.

The introduction of industrial animal agriculture systems in developing countries can result in increased food insecurity. This is because such systems are concentrated in the hands of a small number of major commercial interests, which mainly produce for more lucrative export and urban markets. They compete unfairly with local, small-scale producers and often put them out of business or integrate them as contract producers—incrementally eliminating sustainable, local production. They are also import and technology dependent, which can increase insecurity, especially due to factors such as: lack of plant maintenance, technical expertise and equipment supplies (especially in cases where there is lack of expertise and experience with modern systems and technologies, and where there is not a culture or tradition of regular maintenance); insecure power supplies; and volatile global trade/market and currency fluctuations.

Industrial animal production systems decouple animals from the land by relying on feed inputs like grains and soy, also grown intensively and which could otherwise be used to directly feed humans. According to the World Economic Forum[ix], this means that up to 20% of calories produced per person today are lost to feeding animals. More people could be fed, using less land, by reducing the amount of grain fed to animals rather than humans. The sheer scale of the losses entailed in feeding cereals to animals means that this practice is increasingly being recognized as undermining food security. The UN FAO states that further use of cereals as animal feed could threaten food security by reducing the grain available for human consumption[x].

Furthermore, these close-confinement animal systems and crop monocultures are particularly vulnerable to disease and accidents, increasing food insecurity and health risks. Various pharmaceutical and chemical inputs are used, including antibiotics, to keep such systems functional in the short-term, but these have detrimental impacts over the longer term (in terms of sustainable food security; as well as health, environment and animal welfare).

Animals only contribute to food security when they are converting materials that people cannot consume – such as grass, crop residues, and unavoidable food waste – into food that we can eat. This is what happens in small-scale, high welfare, agroecological production. Such systems provide local food security; and do so in a manner which replenishes and protects natural resources and the soil for the benefit of future generations.

Good animal welfare includes the use of agroecological systems, such as raising animals on extensive pastures and rangeland and integrated crop/livestock production. These systems restore the link between animals and the land, enhance sustainability and contribute to food security. One example is silvopastoral systems for cattle that, alongside pasture also provide shrubs (preferably leguminous) and trees with edible leaves and shoots. Such systems do not need synthetic fertilizers, produce more biomass than conventional pasture and hence result in increased meat and milk production.[xi]

Good animal welfare also includes improved healthcare and nutrition for the animals through better disease prevention and management, which results in increased livestock productivity and quality. This will improve smallholders’ purchasing power, making them better able to buy the food that they do not produce, further supporting food security.

World Animal Net’s joint project with the World Bank and other partners is ultimately contributing to creating a more food-secure, Zero Hunger planet and is shedding light on how animal welfare and the SDGs are inextricably linked.

 

[i] https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld Para 9.

[ii] http://worldanimal.net/world-animal-net-blog/item/411-first-african-reg…

[iii] http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/cfs/Docs1516/cfs43/CFS43_Report_…

[iv] http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/themes/animal-welfare/aw-abthegat/aw-whai…

[v] http://www.oecd.org/agriculture/a-new-oie-and-oecd-collaboration-to-fac…

[vi] https://www.iso.org/standard/64749.html

[vii] https://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/67013c8046c48b889c6cbd9916182e35/IF…

[viii] HLPE. 2016. Sustainable agricultural development for food security and nutrition: what roles for livestock? A report by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security, Rome.

[ix] World Economic Forum. Can eating less meat really tackle climate change?

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/11/can-eating-less-meat-really-tack…

[x] Food and Agriculture Organization. 2013. Tackling climate change through livestock, Rome Italy. http://www.fao.org/docrep/018/i3437e/i3437e00.htm

[xi] http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S1516-35982017000800683&script=sci_…

Dr. Dalva Mota

Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa)
Brazil

Brazilian Food Purchase Program promotes food security to traditional communities

This work is about the experience of a group of women in the commercialization of gathered wild fruits through the governmental Food Purchase Program (in portuguese PAA) in the Brazilian State of Sergipe. The analytical framework is associated to the debate on poverty and specific public policies for traditional communities in rural áreas and theirs consequences to food security. The women hold a collective identity as the mangaba gatherers, based on their use of common pool resources with low environmental impact. They mobilize themselves through the Movimento das Catadoras de Mangaba - MCM (in english, Mangaba Gatherer Women´s Movement). Although they have recently been recognized as having specific legal rights, they are experiencing the dwindling of the resources they gather, as well as difficulties in commercialization of the fruits due to their seasonality and the unpredictability of access. The experience was carried out between 2008 and 2011 and involved direct and participant observations and open-ended interviews. In addition, negotiations were conducted with the institution responsible for the PAA for improve on the price of the fruit. The main results show that the PAA has contributed to increased income, increased consumption and variety of food and self-esteem. There was a re-arrangement in their way of participating in the program, meanwhile some of their traditional practices were relegated. The program rules were re-signified and adapted locally. While growing solidarity has been observed among the gatherers, competition for the fruits has also increas.

For more information:

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-20032014000300003&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=pt

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0103-20032014000300003 

 

"Organic farming to achieve SDG#2"

Our main research area is agricultural food security for environmental conservative in accordance with the UN agenda for sustainable development 2030 .Mission of Topic # 2 Zero Hunger supports the operations to achieve the goals.  Which we believe that if the main factors of which used in the cultivation are no toxic contamination.  Food production for human will be saved, including to the environment as well.

By the organic farming concept to improve the soil quality, it’s can be solved by agricultural nature as organic way in rotation crop and seeking the healthy plants , of which for food safety and friendly environment.  Moreover for solving the other soil problems of which, we continue to conduct research to be the comprehensive and innovative, meet international criteria, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.