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Posted June 02, 2017 16:56:13

Photo: A child’s arm being measured with a band that is used to detect child malnutrition. (Supplied: Francis Muana, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)

Aid agencies estimate around 20 million people are on the verge of famine as conflict and natural disasters wreak havoc on parts of the Middle East and north Africa.

But the battle against global food security isn’t just restricted to this region.

Welfare organisations believe more than 100 million people in 48 countries lack reliable access to food each day.

From inter-clan disputes in South Sudan, to civil wars between the Syrian government and rebels to an immigration crackdown in the United States, the factors contributing to food insecurity are complex.

However, one things all aid agencies agree on is that enhancing agriculture is at the heart of the solution.

Photo: Cattle at the White Nile river in Terekeka, South Sudan. (Supplied: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)

Farmers killed as clans raid cattle

Audio: Brett Worthington reports on the role of agriculture in addressing global food security and combatting hunger

(ABC News)

Like fluffy dark clouds sitting on the ground, smoke billows from the Marial Vek cattle camp in central South Sudan.

But it’s not wood that’s burning, it’s cattle dung.

“So you see people are in the dust,” said Peter Dengmalou, a 25-year-old farmer, or ‘cattle keeper’ as he calls himself.

“It is because of other diseases [and] flies. They want to [send] these things away.”

Mr Dengmalou wishes his biggest nuisance was keeping flies and diseases away from his cattle.

Instead, he’s among the many farmers in a battle just to keep their livestock.

“Some people come and raid your cattle – they steal,” he said.

In recent weeks, aid agencies have reported dozens of people being killed in a gun battle near the edge of Rumbek, a town that Mr Dengmalou grazes his cattle near.

In this region, inter-clan fighting and violent cattle raiding is among the biggest issues cattle keepers face.

It’s a battle fellow cattle keeper, 20-year-old Martha Abel Maker, knows all too well.

“If they know you are from that clan, or from that tribe, they come and shoot you,” she said.

“People fear to cultivate [crops] because they want to protect their lives.

“They will kill you. Even if they find you and you’re not in the field and they find you outside, they will kill you later.”

Photo: A cattle keeper in South Sudan stands with his animals at a cattle camp. (Supplied: Tanya Birkbeck)

Aid agencies report tens of thousands of people have been killed, and about 3.5 million people displaced amid the South Sudanese civil war that has raged for four years.

Famine was first declared in parts of the country in February this year, with crop production hitting its lowest levels since the conflict started.

Countries most at risk of famine

Yemen

Somalia

South Sudan

Nigeria

Source: United Nations FAO

The UN estimates almost 5 million people, or about 40 per cent of the country’s population, face unprecedented levels of food insecurity.

Dominique Burgeon, the director of emergencies for the Rome-based United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (UN FAO), said there were 48 countries with 108 million people who they classify as being in ‘severe-acute food insecurity’.

“So it means that these people do not only have to cut on the quantity and the quality of the meals they take but they have to deplete their source of livelihood to have access to this meagre food,” he said.

“This is a situation of very serious concern globally but within that global picture I would say that we are especially concerned by the situation in Yemen, in Somalia, South Sudan and north eastern Nigeria.

“Basically we have about 20 million plus people on the verge of famine in these countries.”

Photo: Farmers participating in a United Nations FAO program harvest peanuts at a community garden in Dolnoon, Aweil South, South Sudan. (Supplied: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)

The UN FAO works alongside other aid agencies throughout the hardest-hit countries.

They supply aid and emergency relief for people in-need. The organisation also works with farmers to help them access crop seeds, and the technology and resources needed to make them grow.

Mr Burgeon has recently returned from a trip to South Sudan and Ethiopia.

A La Nina weather pattern has led to a severe drought that has lingered since late last year, devastating the livestock sector.

Very little to no rain since last October has slashed crop production, leaving livestock without food.

“I was shocked when I was there by a lady I met with,” Mr Burgeon said.

“She had 200 heads of sheep and goats and due to the drought and lack of pasture and lack of access to feed, 190 of [her] sheep and goat had died.

“In despair she therefore decided to move with her 10 kids to a place where she could get a chance to have access to humanitarian assistance.”

Lives and livelihoods lost amid six years of civil war in Syria

World Vision estimates almost 400,000 people have died since the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011.

A further 11 million have been displaced, including about 5 million that have fled to other countries as refugees.

Counting the cost of war in Syria

All agriculture US$16 billion Crops US$7.2 billion Livestock US$5.5 billion Fisheries US$80 million

Source: United Nations FAO

The United Nations, in its Counting the Cost report, assessed six years of crisis in Syria.

It found the cost to the agriculture sector through damage and lost production was more than $21 billion (US$16 billion), with crop and livestock sectors the hardest hit.

It estimated it would cost more than $23 billion (US$17 billion) to rebuild the agricultural sector within three years.

Video: Syrian crisis and the impact of climate change

(The World)

The UN FAO expects 7 million Syrians will face food insecurity, with another 2 million at risk this year.

“It’s not like we can say Syria has always been a cot case, it hasn’t,” Dr Denis Blight said.

Dr Blight has more than 30 years of experience working with aid projects and is the chief executive of the Crawford Fund, an Australian non government organisation that seeks to raise awareness about food security and the role research can play in combatting it.

“That conflict has had terrible consequences on the ability of the Syrians to feed themselves,” Dr Blight said.

Even if people don’t have an emotional response, aid agencies say there’s a pragmatic reason why people in developed nations should care.

“We all should care because these crisis’ are of human dimensions of great proportions impacting on our fellow humankind,” Dr Blight said.

“But we should also care because of the consequences of those crisis’, as is evident by conflict and insecurity and [the] massive immigration impact [it has] on all of us to greater or lesser extents.”

Immigration crackdown threatening US farm workforces

Amid accusations that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons on his citizens, United States President Donald Trump announced missile attacks on the country’s air bases.

Back home, Mr Trump was pursuing an immigration crackdown, that would limit new arrivals of people fleeing their countries.

The crackdown included a spike in arrests of illegal immigrants.

In May, official figures from US Immigration and Custom Enforcement showed there had been an almost 40 per cent jump in arrests compared to the same time a year ago.

Mr Trump and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue have reportedly told farm lobby groups behind closed doors that the immigration raids wouldn’t target their sector.

However, Kristi Boswell from the American Farm Bureau said that had done little to ease farmers’ concerns.

“There’s a lot of anxiety all across the country within our workforce,” she said.

“[They are] unsure about where they will sit, if they’re going to be part of a detainment action or enforcement action. They are concerned.

“Our farmers in turn are concerned because they rely on these workers.

“We have never shied away from the conversation that over half of our workforce is gaining employment by using fraudulent documents.”

Last year, Californian farmers reported up to a quarter of some crops were dying in fields unharvested because farmers couldn’t recruit enough workers.

Famers say US needs an overhaul of its visa programs to allow them access to a stable workforce.

Californian Democratic senators Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein last month proposed legislative reforms to shield farmworkers illegally in the country from deportation and create a path to citizenship.

Democratic senators from Colorado, Vermont and Hawaii have backed the measures but it appears unlikely to gain any traction with Republicans.

It’s this stalemate that infuriates the American Farm Bureau – it wants immediate action so farmers can secure a stable workforce.

“The time is now. It really is a crisis situation for our farmers and ranchers,” Ms Boswell said.

Photo: A cattle keeper in South Sudan stands with his animals at a cattle camp. (Supplied: Tanya Birkbeck)

For US farmers, their issues require a political fix. For farmers in northern Africa and the Middle East, it’ll need a more complicated solution.

Aid agencies hope supporting farmers who remain within conflict zones will offer a solution.

Despite the civil war, agriculture remains one of the major drivers of the Syrian economy, producing around a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product.

Keeping farmers on their land despite turmoil and conflict lies at the heart of a global bid to eliminate global hunger by 2030.

While it’s ambitious, Mr Burgeon of the UN FAO remains hopeful it can be achieved.

He holds onto the fact that while Syria used to produce up to 5 million tonnes of cereal crops, it still produces around 1.5 million tonnes.

“You can see the glass as half full or half empty,” he said.

“If you see it half full you say ‘well after more than five years of conflict it is still producing 1.5 million tonnes of cereals’.

“It is clear that the agricultural sector, within a country that is devastated with conflict, the agricultural sector is therefore still there.

“People still farm, people still depend on agriculture.”

Photo: Young boys head home after fishing for a day in the swamps of Nyal, South Sudan. (Supplied: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)

Helping small-scale farmers prepare for natural disasters

There’s only so much aid agencies can do to support farmers in war-torn countries.

Video: Ensuring regional food security

(The World)

The target of the global effort to eradicate hunger is on the 2.5 billion small-scale farmers, who regularly battle crippling natural disasters like droughts and floods.

The UN says it’s these farmers who need a greater capacity to absorb climate and conflict shocks because without that, it concedes eliminating global hunger by 2030 is unlikely.

In Australia, grain growers continue to overcome droughts.

The skills they have developed to maintain their yields is what Dr Blight says they can teach the world.

“We want to encourage economic growth,” Dr Blight said.

“Economic growth is one of the factors that, overall, has a negative impact on numbers of refugees flowing.

“The countries with strong economic growth tend to have fewer refugees out migrating.

“What is true is that economic growth enhances the prospects of countries importing goods and services from abroad.

“Australia, because we have high-quality products and services to offer, will be able to take advantage of that.”

With a growing population, Dr Blight says maintaining current levels of agricultural production won’t be enough to feed everyone.

He remains adamant that agricultural research is the crucial element to prevent conditions deteriorating.

“Unless we maintain this never-ending increase in agricultural productivity of 1 or 2 or 3 per cent a year, we’re going to face serious consequences globally.”

Photo: A boy with a baby goat stands among a herd of cattle at a cattle camp in South Sudan. (Supplied: Tanya Birkbeck)

Young farmers shaping South Sudan’s future

Martha Abel Maker and Peter Dengmalou have travelled from their homes to be in Juba.

They’ve come to South Sudan’s capital for training with the UN FAO, learning skills to take back to their villages.

They both agree their future relies on education and an end to conflict.

“If the fighting is not stopped, there [will be] no change,” Ms Abel Maker said.

“If fighting is stopped, in this rainy season, we will cultivate crops because [what] stops us from cultivating is the fighting.”

“The gunmen should make disarmament,” Mr Dengmalou adds.

“Just collect the guns and tell the people to go to school [and] to farm in the field.”

Topics:

grain,

agricultural-crops,

livestock,

beef-cattle,

poverty,

famine,

south-sudan,

melbourne-3000,

canberra-2600,

united-states,

syrian-arab-republic

2 June 2017 | 6:56 am

Brett Worthington

Source : ABC News

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