February 3, 2010
ACDI/VOCA's Guenette Illustrates Threats, Solutions to Global Food Security
The global food crisis is far from resolved, according to ACDI/VOCA's Paul Guenette at a recent conference organized by the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Society for International Development.
"The long-term trend is toward high food prices," says Guenette. "We're going to see climate shocks."
Guenette displayed a map that showed the scale of undernourishment in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia, and noted that poor farmers have been hard hit by both environmental and economic factors, such as price volatility.
"It's not the absolute price that hurts the farmer, but the volatility," he says.
A value chain approach presents a unique method of addressing these concerns, Guenette says. He pointed to ACDI/VOCA's programs in Ethiopia and Kenya as successful examples of this approach.
"Access to markets doesn't just mean sales, it means getting signals from the market," he says. "It's not just living hand to mouth or hand to pocket to mouth, but you have to have some business acumen."
The conference centered on the theme of "Encouraging Regional Trade to Enhance Food Security." Andrew Natsios, former USAID Administrator and Distinguished Professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, led the discussion, which also included representatives from the World Food Program (WFP) and international development company Crown Agents.
"This is not just a food security issue," says Natsios, "it's also a national security issue."
WFP representative Catherine Feeney detailed some of the steps the United Nations aid organization has taken to address food insecurity, including a local purchase program titled "Purchase for Progress." The program works with smallholder and low-income farmers to increase their income while supplying the organization's global food distribution.
"We decided we could try to do things a little bit better and a little bit smarter," Feeney says. "Let's get down to the local farmer and the local markets and see how we can procure from them."
Large-scale programs like the ones described by Guenette and Feeney can be affected by something as simple as a run-down road or an improperly sized shipping container, cautioned Jon Walden, a logistics expert from Crown Agents. He listed several points along a transportation chain that could bring a program to a halt, including different container and vehicles standards between countries and delayed transfers between modes of transportation.
"In logistics, you've got to minimize handling," says Walden.
Guenette agreed with his fellow panelists that none of these issues could be dealt with solely on a country-by-country basis.
"You need regional solutions to regional problems," he says.
Technical Managing Director for Agribusiness Paul Guenette is an economic development management expert with experience in program implementation, agribusiness and trade. Guenette directs the work of headquarters and field staff in project implementation and new business development for ACDI/VOCA’s agribusiness programs.
ACDI/VOCA is a private, nonprofit organization that promotes broad-based economic growth and the development of civil society in emerging democracies and developing countries. Offering a comprehensive range of technical assistance services, ACDI/VOCA addresses the most pressing and intractable development problems.
To learn more about the value chain approach, click here.
Pictured above left, from left to right: Andrew Natsios, Paul Guenette and Catherine Feeney.
