Poverty and State Of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) by FAO 2015

FAO had released the SOFA in 2015. It highlights the status of agriculture and food in the counties. Through the SOFA, FAO brings out a positive co-relation between social protection measures and eradication of poverty and hunger and agriculture.

Background

• The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) pertaining to reducing poverty have been met by most of the countries. However, many are lagging behind and the post-2015 challenge remains to be full eradication of poverty and hunger.
• FAO noted that a majority of 72 out of 129 of the countries have achieved the Millennium Development Goal target of halving the prevalence of undernourishment by 2015. However, developing regions as a whole are missing the target by a small margin.
• FAO has also noted that 29 countries have met the more ambitious goal laid out at the World Food Summit in 1996, wherein the governments committed to halving the absolute number of undernourished people by 2015. World Bank in 2015 has stated that the share of people in developing countries living in extreme poverty has fallen from 43 per cent in 1990 to 17 per cent in 2015.
• Some 795 million people continue to suffer from hunger according to The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015 stated FAO and almost one billion people live in extreme poverty as noted by World Bank in 2015.
• In 2013, social protection helped lift up to 150 million people out of extreme poverty.

Questions and Answers

Few questions and answers related to this topic are as follows:

• What is social protection?
• What are recommendations of SOFA on Fertilizer subsidies?
• Have MGNREGA and TPDS (targeted public distribution system) done any good to India? In what way can these schemes be harnessed better to reduce rural poverty?
• Social protection Measures can lead to women empowerment. Discuss.
• How the SOFA report points out to Gender differentiation emanating from social protection measures?
• What is importance of Social Protection measures?

What is social protection?

Social protection incorporates those initiatives which provide cash or in-kind transfers to the poor, protect the vulnerable against risks and enhance the social status and rights of the marginalized. The overall goal of social protection remains reduction of poverty and economic and social vulnerability.

The major components of Social protection include:

• Social assistance
• Social insurance
• Labour market protection

It is believed that throughout the developing countries in the world, about 2.1 billion people, or one-third of the population, receive some form of social protection. However, there remains to be variation among regions in receiving social protection and therefore these vulnerable regions live in abject poverty.

What are recommendations of SOFA on Fertilizer subsidies?

The SOFA Report 2015 by FAO has stated that Fertilizer subsidies need complementary interventions in order to effectively promote pro-poor growth. Fertilizer subsidies are no doubt a success story in Asian countries like India, Bangladesh and in fact a necessity to promote agriculture. It is stated that Asian countries spend large amounts of public funds on subsidizing fertilizer as it contributes to rapid growth in food production and the noted Green Revolution.

However, what is focussed is only input subsidies, what is needed is that it is needed to be accompanied by large-scale expenditures on research and development, extension services, irrigation, rural roads and development of fertilizer markets.

Therefore, the need of the hour is that fertilizer subsidies should not be seen as a magic bullet for sustained agricultural growth. Rather, they should be made a part of a package of investments to be effective.

Have MGNREGA and TPDS (targeted public distribution system) done any good to India? In what way can these schemes be harnessed better to reduce rural poverty?

MGNREGA is considered to be the world’s largest anti-poverty programme which is meant to provide adult members of rural households willing to do unskilled manual work a number of days of employment. In 2010-11, the programme covered 55 million rural households.

However, MGNREGA’s performance varies significantly across states. For instance in Bihar, a study has proved that the programme could potentially reduce poverty in the state by 14 percentage points, but that its actual impact was only a meagre one percentage point.

Coming to India’s Targeted Public Distribution System which is an example of food price subsidy, it is noted that the TPDS reached about 45 per cent of the population in 2010–11.

To make such flagship programmes a success, a nationwide commitment is needed accompanied with awareness of the schemes amongst the masses and curbing the loopholes in the system which pose as obstacles for successful delivery of the benefits.

Social protection Measures can lead to women empowerment. Discuss.

It is largely believed that social protection schemes help to empower women and make them self-sufficient. It is largely due to the inclusion of women in the programmes and the monetary assistance they receive. In rural households, women receiving the transfers can play a significant role towards agriculture and other allied activities.

An example can be cited of Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee’s (BRAC’s) CFPR-TUP (Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction—Targeting the Ultra Poor). This programme targets poor rural households and provides women in these households with productive assets, primarily livestock.

In this programme, the rural households are provided with savings services, weekly home visits and training on as to how to use assets, health and hygiene matters, basic skills and literacy, as well as general support and counselling which includes how to handle gender violence, early marriage and dowry pressures.

How the SOFA report points out to Gender differentiation emanating from social protection measures?  

The SOFA report has pointed out the differences of social protection gender wise wherein the women and men use social protection transfers differently. It generally is observed that social protection programmes target women because the report believes that when a women is receiving the social protection transfer, she is in better position of controlling household expenditures and would invest the transfers on food, health, education, children’s clothing and nutrition, which ultimately would improve overall human resources.

Also, the report has highlighted that transfer programmes have unexpected impacts that vary with gender. For instance, men and women may not invest in the same type of livestock. While women generally seem to prefer small livestock such as goats, sheep, pigs and poultry, men prefer larger livestock such as cattle, horses and camels.

What is importance of Social Protection measures?

The SOFA 2015 has pronounced the importance of social protection in order to reduce poverty and improve agricultural productivity. Its importance is summarised below:

• Social protection programmes help to reduce poverty and food insecurity if it is accompanied by effective targeting and adequate transfers.
• Social protection stimulates investment in agricultural production and other economic activities.
• Social protection enhances nutrition, health and education, with implications for future productivity, employability, incomes and well-being.
• Social protection gives beneficiaries greater choice, and many shift time previously dedicated to casual agricultural wage employment of last resort to own farm work or non-agricultural employment.
• Social protection has an impact on local communities and economies. Public works programmes can provide important infrastructure and community assets and, when designed and implemented properly, contribute directly to the local economy.
• Cash transfers increase the purchasing power of beneficiary households.

Looking Forward

The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) 2015 advocates the need of social protection measures in order to break the cycle of rural poverty and vulnerability. However, it will be a success when combined with broader agricultural and rural development measures supported by political commitment.

A national vision is needed of how agriculture and social protection can gradually move people out of poverty and hunger. National vision and commitment, supported by permanent domestic resource mobilization, must support coordinated action at the national and sub-national levels.