David Nabarro: “Progresses and Paradoxes in Africa on Food Security”

From the crisis in Horn of Africa to climate change, through G20 and the contrast between humanitarian aid and long term development programmes on food and agriculture, David Nabarro, UN Special Representative on Food Security and Nutrition comments on the challenges faced by Africa on food security and nutrition in this exclusive interview with Afronline.org and a partnership of African newspapers including Addis Fortune (Ethiopia), Sud Quotidien (Senegal), Les Echos du Mali (Mali), Fraternité Matin (Ivory Coast) and Le Républicain (Niger).

Appointed to his position by the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in 2009, David Nabarro, special representative for food security and nutrition, has brought over 30 years of experience to the world body. Qualified as a physician, he has worked in Iraq, South Asia and East Africa. Aside from serving in the Department of International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom as director for human development, he has led the World Health Organization’s (WHO) humanitarian response initiative for three years.

The United Nations has been dedicating itself to development issues for 40 years but food security has continued to be a major problem. How do you judge the success of the UN system in terms of ensuring food security in drought prone countries such as Ethiopia and its role in their development?

Food security is a challenge for national governments and what we in the United Nations do is work with governments to help them address the problem. We don’t force them to do anything, it’s a partnership between the UN, the government and often regional organisations to addresses difficult issues. In the case of Ethiopia we believe that there has been extraordinary progress, mostly because of the strong relationship between the Ethiopian government and the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), and also between Addis Ababa and development partners like the World Bank and the UN. We are seeing real progress in food security in Ethiopia, partly because there are improvement in food production and availability of food, and partly also because the Safety net programs have helped to ensure that people who are poor get access to food. There are also important results in nutrition. However, with the government, the people of Ethiopia and other countries in the Horn of Africa, we are still working hard to try to ensure that the resilience of farmers, particularly small-holder farmers, is improved; events such as the current drought in the region must lead to more attention to food security in the future. So yes, food security has remained the major problem for the last forty years, but there have been significant improvements thanks to action taken by the government, regional organisations and the support of development partners and the full engagement of civil society.

Food insecurity is increasingly becoming a challenge for the world and it affects the African continent most of all. Following the food crisis that hit countries in the Sahel in 2009, now it’s  the Horn of Africa’s turn. The region is affected by the worst food shortage in the world and   yet it is a forgotten crisis. In these situations the International Community only mobilizes once the situation has deteriorated. What justification or explanation can there be for the slow reaction of donors?

In the last ten years there have been some extremely worrying trends that have affected food security in the Horn of Africa. Firstly, we had a situation where the volatility of food prices created real problems for the local community. Secondly, we had a number of adverse weather events which had serious effects on the pastoral community in the Sahel and  the rest of Africa. Thirdly, we had a situation in terms of governments not always being able to respond with safety nets and with programmes for sustainable livelihoods, particularly in Somalia, but also in Niger and the Eastern part of Sahel, where the political environment is not always a straightforward one.

It is correct to say that in the United Nations we had received warning signals of an impending crisis both in Sahel and in the Horn of Africa many months before the major response came through. This is a major and difficult challenge. Secondly, when the response does come through is always strong on humanitarian assistance, but less strong on activities required to create long term resilience. There is more to be done, and that’s one of the reason why this year, discussions in the G20 have looked very hard at alert systems and response mechanism, and has come out with proposals to improve them. Donors are constantly being challenged to make sure that they are more able to respond early.

I can’t explain why it hard for them to respond, I think it may be because they need to be sure of  the severity of a crisis and the means for mobilising resources, but I think we need to do better, in particular in terms of long term capacity building rather then short term life saving. We need a comprehensive approach.

During the food crisis in Niger in 2009, the national government accused UN agencies operation on the field of making a business out of starvation. What is your reaction to that kind of accusation?

I haven’t heard of any humanitarian organisations ever making a business of famine, I don’t understand what this means. In my experience, the humanitarian organisations I have been working for are 100 per cent dedicated to responding to food insecurity. In the Eastern Sahel region, in 2010 and five years before then there was extreme food insecurity and there was a major humanitarian response. Now, one of the points that governments sometimes make is they wish to have greater control over humanitarian organisations.

From our  point of view,  all operations promoted by humanitarian organisations should be undertaken in cooperation with the government, we also recognise that for internal rules procedure these organisations sometimes have to take the total control over their resources. The welcome news is that as the new government of Niger has become more established, the pattern of assistance from the International community tends to support the the national government rather than sending external resources independently.

Getting back to the Horn of Africa, don’t you think that Somalia and Ethiopia, which are clearly countries at risk of starvation, are reason enough to force the International community to find other solutions that go beyond indignation and compassion?

I understand the problem you want to raise. But what we had in the case of the current Horn of Africa food crisis, or the flood in Pakistan,  or the situation in Sahel, is a very well organised and efficient response. Operators that can come into play as soon as the money is available, so we certainly go much further than indignation and compassion. In fact our main job is ensuring that lives and livelihoods are saved.

Now, of course there are those who will say that we should do things differently, but our way of working is always to try to partner with the national authorities and support them in their strategies and programmes. There is no alternative, even when the national authority is not strong. In Somalia we are able to work with national authorities in most of the country, where we can’t, we try to find other partners.

Download here the full interview
Interview coordinated by Joshua Massarenti (Afronline.org) in collaboration with Addis Fortune (Ethiopia), Sud Quotidien (Senegal), Les Echos du Mali (Mali), Fraternité Matin (Ivory Coast) and Le Républicain (Niger).