Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture in the Arab Region

Transcription

1 2015 Regional Coordination Mechanism (RCM) Issues Brief for the Arab Sustainable Development Report Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture in the Arab Region

2 Author: Mohamed Aw-Dahir Food Systems Economist, FAO Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa (RNE) with contribution from FAO team: DorianKalamvrezos Navarro, Daniel Dale, Mohamed Barre, Fatima Hachem, Dost Muhammad, Markos Tibbo and Elhadi Yahia Reviewed by: ESCWA Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia UNEP United Nations Environment Programme UNHABITAT United Nations Human Settlements Programme WFP United Nations World Food Programme IFPRI: International Food Policy Research Institute Disclaimer: This issues brief was prepared as a background document for the forthcoming Arab Sustainable Development Report. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations. Document issued as received, without formal editing. 1 P a g e

3 1. Progress towards ending hunger, and achieve food security and nutrition in the Arab Region The Arab region has wealthy but food-deficient countries, as well as poor countries with high potential for food production, making the food security challenges of this region somewhat unique. Similarly, from a poverty/inequality and economic access point of view, the region also holds some very rich countries along with some very poor ones. However, the countries in the Arab region are generally facing enormous challenges to achieve their goals of eradicating hunger and malnutrition while managing and using their natural resources in an environmentally sustainable manner. The persistence of high population growth rates, averaging over Unernourished Prevalence FIGURE 1 NUMBER AND PREVALENCE OF UNDERNOURISHMENT IN MENA percent, and the growing urbanization are putting heavy pressure on the demand for food. Other important factors contributing to food security challenges in the region include social inequality, poverty, protracted crises and complex emergencies; mismanagement of the Natural Resources, various climate related shocks, conflicts and instability. Others challenges include lack of economic growth that benefits the poor and creates jobs, the succession of crises associated with the global food crisis, Arab awakening, and conflicts etc. At the same time, the limited and fragile natural resource base and the declining rate of agricultural productivity growth constitute major limitations to the supply of food. It is estimated that the deficit in cereals, the staple food in the region, will more than double by Trend analysis indicate that by 2022 the share of imports and consumption of Near East and North Africa (NENA) region in the world will increase while the share of production reveal declining trend for most of the commodities1. The State of Food Insecurity (SOFI, 2014) report, shows that in contrast with the positive trend in global hunger reduction, the Arab region has seen an increase of both the number of undernourished and prevalence of undernourishment. The majority of the countries in region suffer from double burden of malnutrition: the persistence of under-nutrition with a rise in overweight, obesity and diet-related chronic diseases with different scales according to the level of economic development. 2 P a g e

4 2. Analysis of the proposed SDG 2 Targets from an Arab Perspective Target 2.1 By 2030 end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round; Food insecurity in the Arab countries is not a problem of food availability but rather accessibility and quality. In the last 20 years the region has witnessed a huge increase in food availability mainly through commercial import. Analysis has shown that the average Daily Energy Supply (DES) in the region stands at 3,045 kcal/capita/day in which is well above the average of developing countries (2,720Kcal/capita/day) as well as the world average (2,840Kcal/capita/day). The same is true for the Energy Supply Adequacy (ESA) 2 which registers an average of 130 percent for the region, which is again well above the level of developing countries and the world 3. No single indicator can account for the many dimensions of food security and nutrition however. The Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), developed by FAO s Voices of the Hungry (VoH) project, represents a different approach to measurement compared to traditional ways that assess food insecurity indirectly, such as FAO s Prevalence of Undernourishment, food security determinants (such as food availability or income), and outcome measures (such as nutritional status) while offering an important complement to such indicators. The FIES is an experience-based metric of severity of food insecurity that relies on people s direct responses to eight questions regarding their access to adequate food. It is expected to make an important contribution to the existing set of food and nutrition security indicators. Used in combination with other measures, the FIES has the potential to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the causes and consequences of food insecurity and to inform more effective policies and interventions. Through the Voices of the Hungry project 4, FAO will provide annual data from more than 150 countries, starting in SOFI 2014 reports a relatively high Prevalence of Undernourishment (PoU) (about 8 percent) which can be attributed to the structural food security challenges as well as the protracted war, conflicts and political unrests that many countries in the region are bearing. The region as a whole will not, therefore, achieve the Millennium Development Goal 1.c target of halving the prevalence of hunger by However, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan and Kuwait have met this target. The key food security challenge facing the Arab region is rooted in scarcity of arable land, the aridity of climate, and the acute scarcity of its water resources as well as policy challenges (e.g. inefficient subsidies), economic growth that does not create enough jobs and reaches the poor. The average renewable freshwater resource per capita in the region stands at just only one tenth of the world average and water resources availability is due to decrease by one third by 2025, because of the population growth and the impact of climate change. Nearly 90% of the region lies within arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. Per capita arable land is the lowest in the world, ranging from as low as 0.01 (WBGS and UAE), 0.04 (Egypt), (0.29) Libya and 0.36 Sudan 5. 3 P a g e

5 Target 2.2 By 2030 end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving by 2025 the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under five years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, and older persons; The majority of the countries in region suffer from double burden of malnutrition: the persistence of undernutrition with a rise in overweight, obesity and diet-related chronic diseases with different scales according to the level of economic development. This complex situation is further exacerbated by the wide range of shocks the region is facing from slow-onset hazard (e.g. drought) to trans-boundary animal and plant pests and diseases (e.g. Locust or HPAI) or social and political instability (e.g. Arab spring or Syria crisis). Somalia Yemen Mauritania Comoros Sudan (former) Egypt Djibouti Tunisia Morocco Iraq Syria Oman Algeria Saudi Arabia Libya Lebanon Kuwait Qatar Jordan West Bank and Gaza Strip Present FIGURE 2 COMPARISON BETWEEN THE STUNTING RATES, AMONG CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF FIVE, IN ARAB COUNTRIES DURING THE NINETIES AND THE MOST UP TO DATE FIGURES SOURCE: SOFI 2013 Chronic malnutrition among children under the age of five, as measured by stunting, stands 22.4%, which is considered of medium severity according to WHO standards6. Variations also exist between countries and subregions, with the Mashreq countries registering a rate of 20.4%, the Maghreb countries, 15.0%, the GCC 8% and LDCs (eg Yemen, Somalia, Djibouti and Mauritania ) the very high rate of 43.4%. In 2008, the Lancet has listed Egypt, Iraq, Sudan, and Yemen among the 36 with the highest burden of stunting in the world. Studying the Coefficient of Food Consumption and the skewedness of habitual caloric consumption distribution for the region, a study7 has found the distribution of habitual caloric consumption for most countries of the region is more uneven than it is in both developing and developed countries and the world as a whole, and that 4 P a g e FIGURE 3 THE PREVALENCE OF OBESITY AMONG MEN AND WOMEN IN ARAB COUNTRIES IN 2010.

6 it is more skewed than it is in both developing and developed countries. This explains to a large extent the persistence of undernourishment and malnutrition among children despite the abundance of calories in the region. On the other hand, overweight and obesity have been increasing at an alarming rate among the population of the Arab countries. The regional average of obesity stands at 23.6%, whereas the world average is 11.7%. Variations among countries are very big, with women consistently experiencing higher levels of obesity than men. FIGURE 3. THE PREVALENCE OF OBESITY AMONG MEN AND WOMEN IN ARAB COUNTRIES IN SOURCE: Five countries from the region figure on the list of the top ten countries in the prevalence of obesity in the world. This is accompanied by the persistence of micronutrient deficiencies in vitamins and minerals in most countries; iron in particular. One third of the population in the Region is anemic, with especially high prevalence among children, pregnant women and women of child bearing age. There has been very slow progress in reducing the rates of anemia among children from the nineties up till present. Ratios vary from 24.2% in Lebanon to 70.7% in Mauritania among children under the age of 5 years of age. 5 P a g e

7 Yemen Somalia Egypt Oman Syria Morocco Bahrain Libya Tunisia Kuwait Lebanon FIGURE 4 COMPARISON OF THE PREVALENCE OF ANEMIA AMONG CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF FIVE IN ARAB COUNTRIES. (REFERENCE: SOFI 2013) Target 2.3 By 2030 double the agricultural productivity and the incomes of small-scale food producers, particularly women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets, and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment FIGURE 5 CEREAL YIELD IN THE ARAB REGION (TONNES/HA) 6 P a g e

8 Agricultural productivity can be measured in a variety of ways, each having advantages and disadvantages. Output or production is usually measured in constant international dollars, or in terms of food mass or energy content. Using production mass as the output, FAOSTAT provides data on yields for a variety of agricultural products. Taking cereals as an example, we can see that agricultural productivity more than doubled between 1990 and 2013 in the Arab region, albeit with strong fluctuations 8. The trend compares marginally favorably to the world average, nonetheless indicating that there is still considerable space for improvement for both small and larger-scale farmers in the region, particularly in those countries where yields are still very low FIGURE 6 WORLD CEREAL YIELD (TONNES/HA) Nonetheless, target 2.3 deals with small-scale food producers in particular, and not agriculture in general. Given the lack of a universally applicable definition of smallholders however, it would be necessary for an indicator on productivity and incomes to measure performance for the two lowest quintiles of countries farm size distributions. With this method, it should be possible to compute the value of food production per hectare, as a measure of productivity as production of food (crops and animal produce) per unit land. It should also be possible to compute the value of agricultural production per labour unit as a measure of farm labour productivity, which, in absence of data on net farm incomes, may be used as a rough proxy for smallholders incomes. LSMS conducted by the World Bank and other household surveys are presently available for about 80 countries. Using data from these sources, FAO is developing a set of indicators on small-scale producers characteristics, including these two indicators. Preliminary data are currently available for nine countries in the world, but none from the Arab region as yet. Similarly agricultural productivity (e.g. measured by yields) is still quite low in many Arab countries; hence there may be some potential for improvement for both small and larger scale farmers. Intensifying data collection efforts in this regard would thus be a priority. 7 P a g e

9 Target 2.4 By 2030 ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaption to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters, and that progressively improve land and soil quality. Crops and Livestock Production Crop production has been constrained by limited arable land and scarce water resources. The region struggles to ensure local production of fresh and nutritious foods to satisfy a large part of domestic demand. Despite constraints in production and marketing, the crop and livestock sectors make a significant contribution to the rural economies. The intensity of these constraints vary by production system, the pastoralist systems could be affected most because of the rangeland degradation, loss of biodiversity, a decrease in carrying capacity. The system could be the most resilient if their mobility and access to grazing lands are ensured. With population growth and subsequent increases in food demand, traditional systems of farming will not be adequate to meet regional needs. This calls for more efficient use of agricultural resources: water, fertilizers, exploitation of plant genetic resources to develop improved types and varieties of cereals, fruits and high yielding vegetable seeds adapted to climate change and suited to marginal areas. Together with intercropping field and fodder in orchards, rotating leguminous crops with cereals and vegetables will help control insects and diseases while maintaining soil fertility. The use of integrated pest management and off-season organic vegetable production could enhance crop diversification and production sustainability. Despite the constraints it has faced, crop production has increased considerably over the past decades. The graph below illustrates the long term cereal production trend in the Arab region. As a whole, the region has achieved a 5.73 percent average annual growth rate for cereal production. This compares favorably to a 4.1 percent average annual growth rate for the world FIGURE 7 CROP PRODUCTION LONG TERM TREND IN THE ARAB REGION (TONNES) 8 P a g e

10 Similarly, livestock production has increased from 23.4 million tonnes in 1961 to 144 million tonnes in 2012, registering an average annual growth rate of 9.9 percent. This is double the average annual growth rate for livestock production in the world as a whole, at 4.48 percent 9. Climate Change FIGURE 8 TOTAL EMISSIONS FROM AGRICULTURE IN THE ARAB REGION (TONNES CO2 EQ.) Climate change impacts 10 are being felt leading to degradation of pasture and rangelands; climate change will further exacerbate the negative trends mentioned below, and that some extremes are already being observed, especially intensity and frequency of certain hazards including decline in livestock productivity from reduced availability of feeds, disappearance of fragile ecosystems in desert, arid- semi-arid areas; shifting of arable land into more arid rangelands; increases in importation of animal feeds and increases in the interdependence of countries for genetic resources. 9 P a g e

11 FIGURE 9 TOTAL GHG EMISSIONS FROM AGRICULTURE IN THE ARAB REGION (TONNES CO2 EQ.) -PROJECTIONS While target 2.4 captures the issues and the aspiration well, the goal post/threshold to be achieved is not clear. For the sustainability of food systems in the face of climate change, FAO proposes to monitor the growth of absolute levels of emissions in relevant sectors and sub-sectors as well as emissions of greenhouse gases per hectare of land and per unit of output, separately for crop and livestock sectors, where output can be measured in terms of calories for crops and protein for animal produce, or in terms of value, though changes in prices could cause problems of comparability over time. For climate change mitigation, it is important to monitor not only the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions, but also their absolute levels, as the two components do not necessarily move in parallel. Massive investments are also needed to make food systems more robust, yet diverse and flexible to better cope with higher climate variability, extremes and increases in temperature/decreases in precipitation. For absolute levels, FAOSTAT already provides data on emissions of methane and nitrous oxide produced from agricultural activities, as displayed in the two graphs above and to the left 11. The first of these illustrates the upward trend that emissions have experienced over the last two decades. The second graphically represents current projections on the level of emissions for 2030 and 2050, and it is of particular concern that the rate of growth of emissions does not seem to decline much over the projected period. On the intensity of emissions, the graph below shows an increasing trend over the past two decades in terms of emissions of greenhouse gases per unit of land. In 2011, 3.3 tons of GHG (CO2 equivalent) were being produced per 1000ha in the Arab region, compared with 3.85 tons/1000ha for the world as a whole. These figures, as well as a number of other indicators on intensity of emissions, will soon be directly available on FAOSTAT s agrienvironmental indicators section. 10 P a g e

12 Tons CO2 equivalent/1000ha FIGURE 10 INTENSITY OF GHG EMISSIONS FROM AGRICULTURE IN THE ARAB REGION Secure and equal access to land Women make essential contributions to agriculture; yet across many of the world s regions, women consistently have tenure rights that are often less secure 12. Their reduced access to land, other productive resources and inputs thus hampers their productivity, undermining the food security of the region 13. Apart from equal access to land ownership between men and women, the issue of land ownership and tenure system in the region continue to be a bigger hindrance in terms of land development and agricultural productivity in the longer run. 11 P a g e

13 Countries by region Census year Agricultural holdings operated by civil persons Headed by Shares Total Male Female Male Female (units) (units) (units) (%) (%) Algeria % Egypt % Morocco % Jordan % Lebanon % Saudi Arabia % Tunisia % In order to capture secure and equal access to land, we can measure the percentage of female agricultural holders out of total agricultural holders. However, this indicator it does not give any indication of the ownership status or the relative size of these holdings. The most updated values for this indicator are provided by FAO s Gender and Land Rights database (GLRD) 14. The FAO/ESS World Census of Agriculture (WCA) compiled this indicator only for the 2000 round 15, but continues to collect the questionnaires and reports for the current round (WCA 2010), allowing the GLRD to regularly update the statistics. The data available on a limited number of countries in the region paints a worrying picture of women s secure and equal access to land, suggesting that major efforts should be undertaken in this area. LAT Indicator Morocco Tunisia Indicator 1 (Constitution Gender-based discrimination): The Constitution prohibits gender-based discrimination. Indicator 9 (Property rights Gender equality): The law recognizes gender equality in the right to own or control property regardless of the type of marriage. Score 0: Absence of the indicator Score 3: The indicator appears in primary law Score 0: Absence of the indicator Score 4: The indicator appears in multiple legal instruments To complement the aforementioned indicator, one would ideally also measure the distribution of landowners by sex and the incidence of landowners by sex. These are two complementary indicators that should be used together. The first is useful in terms of framing differences in ownership in the population of interest (landowners), whilst the second gives a sense of how frequent land ownership is generally in the country, not only out of holders or owners. FAO plans promoting the collection of this indicator under the FAO/WB Global Strategy. Data availability is currently low, so establishing a baseline can be difficult. DHS, LSMS, and other 12 P a g e

14 national household surveys are potential sources of data, and these will continue to be collected which means data availability could be improved. The values for this indicator will be provided by FAO s Gender and Land Rights database (GLRD) 16, which is being expanded to include these indicators as well. In addition to these indicators, FAO proposes to monitor qualitative indicators on secure and equal access to land, including inheritance. While law in itself cannot generate gender-equitable land tenure, national policy and legal framework provides a crucial foundation for gender equality it provides an authoritative framework for its realization. FAO s Gender and Land Rights database has a Legislation Assessment Tool for Gender Equitable Land Tenure (LAT) built around 30 legal indicators, divided under 8 clusters of key elements for targeted policy intervention: 1. Ratification of human rights instruments; 2. Elimination of gender-based discrimination in the Constitution; 3. Recognition of women s legal capacity; 4. Gender-equality of rights with respect to nationality; 5. Gender equality in property rights; 6. Gender equality in inheritance; 7. Genderequitable implementation, dispute mechanisms and access to justice; 8. Women s participation in national and local institutions enforcing land legislation. The LAT relies on these sources to determine the scores to assign to each of its legal indicators in a scale from 0 to 4. Indicators for 15 countries are currently available and it is envisioned that the LAT assessments will be expanded for the totality of the GRLD 83 countries by Among the current 15 countries, there are two Arab region countries: Morocco and Tunisia. The table below provides a sample of these two countries scores for two out of 30 indicators. Resilience Algeria Djibouti Egypt Iran (Islamic Republic of) Iraq Israel Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Libya Mauritania Morocco Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia Somalia Sudan (former) Syrian Arab Republic Yemen (excl. UAE) FIGURE 11 MOVING 25-YEAR STANDARD DEVIATION OF CEREAL CROP YIELDS IN THE ARAB REGION COUNTRIES 13 P a g e

15 Measuring the segment of target 2.4 that relates to resilient agricultural practices is not easy. In particular, it is very difficult to determine an output-level indicator for resilience. A possible approximation of resilience can be found in the standard deviation of crop yields, where desirably the trend would be for a declining standard deviation that would reflect a growing stability of crop yields. Even though this is a crude measure with several weaknesses, including that it tells us nothing about the sources of instability, we can nonetheless discern rising crop yield instability in the region since 1996, suggesting that the region needs to make more efforts to implement resilient agricultural practices FIGURE 12 MOVING 25-YEAR STANDARD DEVIATION OF CEREAL CROP YIELD IN THE ARAB REGION Land/soils Soil is a non-renewable natural resource, and soil erosion threatens the capacity of future generations to meet their needs, compromising sustainable agriculture, food security and the provision of ecosystem goods and services17. In the Arab region, land and soil degradation takes place in different forms and over 45 percent of land suitable to farming is exposed to various land degradation types which include soil nutrient depletion, salinity and wind and water. Competition over natural resources and climate change contribute to natural resources degradation and reducing the resilience of production systems. Innovative approaches are needed across the agriculture sector to increase productivity, conserve natural resources, and use inputs sustainably and efficiently. Such approaches will require the participation of smallholders, women, indigenous peoples and marginalized groups. For a more detailed assessment of the area of land/soils according to a typology of degradation of ecosystem benefits, it is possible to use GLADIS FAO s Global Land Degradation Information System18. Other data sources include the LADA-WOCAT mapping tool (World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies) and forthcoming Soils Statistics and Information (ITPS World Soil Resources Report, 2015). Also ICARDA has done a lot of work on soil degradation which could be a useful reference. 14 P a g e

16 Target 2.5 By 2020, maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at the national, regional and international levels, and ensure access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, as internationally agreed Genetic Diversity The use of a limited number of crops and a narrow genetic base within crops enhances the vulnerability of agriculture systems and puts food security and nutrition at increasing risk19. However, there is currently no established method for large-scale measurement of in situ biodiversity of crops, whereas with regards to animals, there is a lack of data on diversity at the genetic level. For crops, FAO therefore suggests to use ex-situ crop collections as a measure potential availability of genetic diversity and thus as a partial indicator. Data sources include the WIEWS 20 and the World Information Sharing Mechanism on PGRFA 21 as well as USDA- GRIN 22, GENESYS 23 and Eurisco 24. With regards to animals, due to a lack of data on diversity at the genetic level, the global status of animal genetic resources is currently assessed in terms of the extinction risk faced by the world s livestock breeds. We can thus measure the number/percentage of local breeds at at-risk, not-at-risk and unknown levels of risk. Data for this indicator is available from the DAD-IS 25 (Domestic Animal Diversity Information System) database maintained by FAO on behalf of the Commission for Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The table below provides figures for most Arab region countries in terms of breed risk levels. Breed Risk Level Extinct Critical Endangered Not at risk Unknown Egypt Algeria Djibouti Iran (Islamic Republic of Iraq Israel Jordan Lebanon Libya Mauritania Morocco Oman Somalia Sudan Syrian Arab Republic Tunisia Yemen P a g e

17 Fair and equitable sharing Measuring access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge is very difficult to do at the output level. FAO therefore suggests using two process indicators instead, namely the number of permits or their equivalents issued by Contracting Parties to the Nagoya Protocol and the number of accessions made available under the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The first of these is an indicator for access and benefit sharing (ABS) for States that have ratified the Nagoya Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Such permits or their equivalents can be taken as evidence of the decision to grant prior informed consent and to establish mutually agreed terms, and thus provide for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources with the contracting party providing genetic resources. Permits or their equivalents have to be made available to the ABS Clearinghouse of the Nagoya Protocol (Article 14.2(c)). The second indicator captures ABS for ex situ PGRFA covered by Annex I of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. 2.c Adopt measures to ensure the proper functioning of food commodity markets and their derivatives and facilitate timely access to market information, including on food reserves, in order to help limit extreme food price volatility While price fluctuations are a common feature of well-functioning agricultural product markets, when these become large and unexpected they can have a negative impact on the food security of consumers, farmers and countries. The FAO/GIEWS indicator of price anomalies (IPA) can be used to identify abnormal price changes, relying on a weighted compound growth rate that accounts for both within year and across year price growth. The sole source of price information used in constructing the IPA, is the GIEWS Food Price Data and Analysis Tool (FPDAT) 26, which contains more than 1000 series for 87 countries covering the main food grains maize, rice, and wheat as well as other regionally important staples. Currently 27 (November 2014), of the 22 Arab region countries, Sudan and Somalia have been flagged with a high price warning level as countries where prices of one or more basic food commodity are at abnormal high levels in main markets (as identified by the Indicator of Price Anomalies), which could negatively impact access to food at national level. Apart from the market prices, monitoring of the international trader, subsidies, tariff etc. are also considered as a mean to ensure proper functioning of food commodity markets, and ensuring agriculture growths. Target 12.3 By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses The issue of food losses and waste reduction has emerged as a global priority, including as a pillar of the UN Secretary-General s Zero Hunger Challenge initiative, as well as by governments across the Arab region. Although this target has been placed under proposed Goal 12, FAO believes that it would be equally well placed under Goal 2, in line with a comprehensive approach to food systems as defined by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), which envelops all the elements (environment, people, inputs, processes, infrastructures, institutions, etc.) and activities that relate to the production, processing, distribution, preparation and 16 P a g e

18 consumption of food, and the outputs of these activities, including socio-economic and environmental outcomes 28. The high levels of losses and waste (see figure) are particularly alarming for the Arab region which is seriously limited in its capacity to increase food production due to natural resources scarcity, and which already relies heavily on imports to meet food needs. 60% Consumption 50% 40% Distribution 30% Processing and packaging 20% 10% Postharvest handling and storage Agricultural production 0% Cereals Roots & Tubers Oilseeds & Pulses Fruits & Vegetables Meat Fish & Seafood Milk FIGURE 13 PERCENTAGES OF EDIBLE FL&W (BY WEIGHT) FOR EACH COMMODITY GROUP IN EACH STEP OF THE FSC FOR NORTH AFRICA, WEST & CENTRAL ASIA SOURCE: ADAPTED FROM GUSTAVSSON ET AL, 2011 Not only do food losses and waste exacerbate food insecurity in the region, they are also a waste of scarce natural resources, most acutely water and land. The annual blue water footprint (including surface and groundwater resources) of food losses and waste has been estimated at 250km 3, or 90m 3 per capita, which represents 17% of the global figure despite having only 7% of world s population 29. Regarding land, the equivalent of over 360 million hectares of the region s land is occupied by producing food that eventually been lost and wasted, a figure that is greater than for any other region. Roughly 44 percent of food losses and waste occur during handling, processing and distribution while waste at the consumption stage is estimated to be 34 percent, of which most is generated in urban areas 30. This figure demonstrates that the problem exists throughout the entire value chain for any given food commodity, and highlights the inextricable link between food loss and waste reduction and efficient and sustainable food systems 31. A more efficient food system in the Arab region requires closer integration of producers, food supply chain actors, and distribution systems, as well as better linkages of small-scale producers to domestic and export markets. Arab countries vary widely in terms of productive capacity and level of development of the agro-food sector; this same variation is often seen within the same country where large-scale modern (often exportoriented) operations exist alongside the traditional, small-scale and often informal agro-food actors 32. The 17 P a g e

19 latter group faces barriers to innovation and technology adoption, due to small scale and weak linkages to value chains, and is the main target for efforts toward SDG 2. Increasing agricultural productivity and strengthening the food system understood as the entire chain from the production to the consumption of food, as well as the nutrition and jobs it provides offer solutions to some of the many complex and intertwined challenges facing the region. Reducing the productivity gaps in cereal yields, investing in agriculture research and development, improving food safety measures, and giving special attention to the rural poor, could all greatly contribute to reducing the dependency of the region on food imports and the promotion of a more equitable and balanced economic growth. Food loss and waste reduction in the Arab region is not only a goal in itself, but essential for food security and nutrition, for efficient use of scarce natural resources in agriculture, and to reduce the heavy dependence on food imports 33. Governments in the Arab region have recognized the importance of reducing food losses and waste for this reason, and concur that it must go hand in hand with increasing production for achieving food security. FAO s member countries in the region have requested assistance in reducing food losses and waste by 50% by 2024, and have begun by adopting a Regional Strategic Framework for food loss and waste reduction that will feed into national action plans and implementation 34. Some national action plans have been proposed and implementation process will be initiated soon, and some programs related to awareness, food value chains improvement, increased value addition, and improved capacity building are in place in some of the member countries. Other opportunities that exist to improve food and nutrition security in the Arab region include improved grain storage and stock management, subsidy reforms, targeted transfer and other relevant forms of social protection programs etc. 3. Endnotes 1 OECD-FAO annual projections database 2 Dietary energy supply adequacy: Comparison between available dietary energy supplies (DES) and average dietary energy requirements (ADER) 3 Unpublished data : Food Security in the Near East and North Africa Region: Issues and policy options, FAO, FAO Land Portal 6 Severity of malnutrition by stunting: Low (below 20%); medium (20-29%); High (30-39%); very high (>= 40%) 7 Ibid, reference 4 8 Data obtained on FAOSTAT Calculated using FAOSTAT data 10 Tibbo, M. and Van De Steeg, J Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Options for the Livestock Sector in the Near East and North Africa. In: R. Lal, M.V.K. Sivakumar and R. Selvaraju, I.Y. Hamdan (Eds.). Climate Change and Food Security in West Asia and North Africa. Springer Science + Business Media B.V. pp Data obtained on FAOSTAT FAO Post-2015 and SDGs Issue Paper on Tenure Rights 13 State of Food and Agriculture , FAO, IFAD and WFP, Women in Agriculture: Closing the gender gap for development FAO Post-2015 and SDGs Issue Paper on Land and Soils FAO Post-2015 and SDGs Issue Paper on Ecosystem services, biodiversity, genetic resources P a g e

20 HLPE FL&W in the context of sustainable food systems. A report by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security, Rome. 29 FAO Food Wastage Footprint: Impacts on Natural Resources. Technical Report. FAO, Rome. 30 FAO. 2014a. Reducing FL&W in the Near East & North Africa Region. NERC/14/7 Rev.1. Available from 31 HLPE FL&W in the context of sustainable food systems. A report by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security, Rome. 32 Cortas, A., M. S. El-Habbab, and A. Idriss Agribusiness and agro-industrial strategies, policies and priorities for achieving pro-poor economic growth in the MENA region. Food and Agriculture Organization, Cairo. 33 FAO. 2013a. Expert consultation meeting on FL&W reduction in the Near East region: Towards a regional comprehensive strategy. Food and Agriculture Organization, Cairo. 34 FAO. 2014a. Reducing FL&W in the Near East & North Africa Region. NERC/14/7 Rev.1. Available from 19 P a g e