Policy coherence for development to reduce world hunger

Paradoxically, it is farmers producing food who have most difficulty feeding themselves. Eighty percent of undernourished people in the world are those whose role is to produce food. The cause of this situation is not that there is not enough food in the world - it is poverty that prevents the victims of undernourishment from buying the food that they need because the food that they produce is often unattainable and/or unaffordable for them.

How can we understand food and the means to have it? A distinction between food security and food sovereignty must be made. While food security deals with access to food, food sovereignty has to do with the means to attain food security. Food security exists when all people at all times have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (source: FAO). Food sovereignty is a right that allows countries or groups of countries to establish agricultural policies best suited to their populations without having a negative impact on the populations of other countries. It does not oppose international trade but recognises that all regions of the world specialise in specific products they can trade. However, this trade cannot allow food security to depend on it. In all regions, basic food should be produced locally for as much as possible. Therefore, all regions should have the right to protect themselves against low-cost imports thay destroy their domestic production (source: Via Campesina).

According to "The European Consensus for Development", EU non-development policies should assist developing countries`efforts in achieving the MDGs. Frequently however, the incoherence of European policies weakens efforts to fight hunger. They may even contribute to rising undernourishment in the developing world. An analysis of EU agricultural, trade and development policies calls for urgent actions as the European Union`s interests often reign over realising the right to food and the Millennium Development Goals.

European policy coherence for development is a legal obligation under the Lisbon Treaty. Article 208 of the Treaty states that: "Union development cooperation policy shall have as its primary objective the reduction and, in the long term, the eradication of poverty. The Union shall take account of the objectives of devcelopment cooperation in the policies that it implements which are likely to affect developing countries."

With its protections from the world market and support for the modernisation of farming, the European Union`s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) helped Europe to reach food independence. However, in the race for the greater (EU) good the following problems tend to be overlooked:
 inequitable distribution of aid between large and small farms causing the latter to disappear,
 promotion of production-oriented agriculture that is not environmentally friendly,
 foreign trade harmful to agriculture and domestic production in developing countries (e.g., export subsidies to manage the European agricultural crisis).

Development is the official ultimate goal of the trade negotiations undertaken in the framework of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the EU and the African, Carribean and Pacific countries (ACP). However, this ultimate goal is often embedded in the EU`s quest for greater openness of foreign markets so that companies become more competitive on the world market. This is explicitly stated in its 2006 communication "Global Europe: EU Performance in the Global Economy" and the most recent "Europe 2020 A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth". Neither really support principles of solidarity and food sovereignty of developing countries or value their own aptitude to fight hunger and poverty.

On 12 April 2010, the EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development launched a public debate on the future of the CAP to be reformed after 2013. As stated above, all EU policies should assist EU`s development cooperation policies - so should the CAP. it is important to highlight links between the CAP and global health, food sovereignty and global solidarity in the right to food.

For more information:

www.cfsi.asso.fr

Via Campesina

CONCORD`s "Spotlight on Policy Coherence"

Evert Vermeer Stichting on "Fair Politics EU"

European Commision on Policy Coherence for Development

EPHA Related Articles:

 Health Aspects of EU Development Policy
 EPHA Briefing: EU Development Aid and Budget Support
 *Updated June 2010* European Council adopts ’2020 strategy’ EU 2020 Strategy launched
 EU2020 ’does not go far enough’ on environment and energy
 18 New MEPs in the European Parliament
 Food security: tackling hunger in developing countries
 Securing a CAP for the Future - securing also health?
 EP hearing on the future of the CAP after 2013