Food Security

HIV/AIDS takes its toll on food security in a number of ways. An example is how it decreases work productivity, which is tantamount to less food being brought to the family table. According to Barnett and Whiteside (2006:255), “HIV/AIDS affects food security and impacts household’s ability to have diverse ways of managing its resources and be able to carry out a diverse portfolio of activities which results in the loss of assets and a severe decline in the insurance value of social networks needed to produce and buy food”. They further assert that the sicker a family member becomes, the more money they have to borrow from relatives and friends, and the more they may seek their assistance. In the end, they say ‘We cannot take it any more’ (Barnett & Whiteside, 2006). The family network and other available social capital has often been overstretched due to the widespread poverty in sub-

46

Saharan Africa. Often relatives do not have the wherewithal to dole out to suffering relatives monies, gifts and other financial assistance. The negative impact HIV/AIDS has on food security is very complex and debilitating. FAO report (2004) argues agriculture is the key to food security in many parts of the world and that agriculture contributes to the alleviation of poverty by reducing food prices, creating employment, improving farm income and increasing wages.

Indeed, the food import bills of developing countries grew by 56 per cent over 2007/2008 following a 37 per cent increase in 2006/2007 and especially in Africa, where the aggregate cereal import bill is projected to increase by 74 per cent (FAO, 2008). Ghana’s total food and agricultural imports in 2012 is estimated to reach US$1.2b from about US$1.00b in 2011 (GAIN/USDA, 2012). In 2009, 500,000 metric tons of rice equivalent to US$600,000.00 were imported (MOFA, Ghana, 2011). In Togo, the import of cereals account for the largest share of food imports representing 42% of the total imported in 2009 at a cost of US$3.6b (FAO, 2012).

The question of food security is a critical issue among the rural poor. Indeed, over 850 million people in the world are undernourished (Carney, 1999) and it has become crucial for livelihoods approaches to offer agricultural output and to assist in the increment of access to food by poor people. Rural areas are inhabited by 70% of the world’s poor, and there is a strong correlation between poverty and remoteness from urban areas which is expected to be so until a few decades into the 21st century (Carney, 1999, op cit). 11 per cent of the global population (about 783 million people) is without access to an improved source of drinking water and, at the current pace, probably 605 million people who will be without water by 2015, while over 40 per cent of the population without improved drinking water live in sub- Saharan Africa (MDGs Report, 2012). There are 1.02 billion people who suffer from chronic hunger while 36 million people are displaced (UNHCR 2008) and (FAO, 2011) estimates 1.02 billion undernourished people with extreme poverty looming large as an alarming problem within developing regions of the world.

Food sufficiency has always been on the agenda of the rural food producers. Since the domestication of plants and animals, barter trading and subsistence farming, one of the crucial objectives of rural people is to have adequate food resources to feed on. Thus, in understanding rural poverty, rural livelihoods and food security seem to be at the core of rural

47

people’s efforts to be self-sustaining or food sufficient. In addition, the ability of increasing agricultural productivity of small scale farmers in developing countries has been emphasised, not only to meet market demands, but to reduce rural poverty and raise living standards (Scherr and McNeely, 2003; Scherr and McNeely, 2007). These subsistence farmers face many challenges that often thwart their efforts, either on a daily basis or seasonally. It can be said that in spite of the hard and laborious efforts of subsistence farmers, there is always a food gap (See Pinstrup-Andersen, et al., (1999); Moseley (2001); Ivanic & Martin (2008). Most of the challenges are either internal or external to the rural farmers and often, a few of the problems associated with their livelihood activities (mainly farming) are beyond their control.

The widespread poverty in Sub Saharan Africa does not include only a lack of money, but assets and skills as well. In order to secure basic needs, people undertake certain risky behaviours, such as sexual transaction or commercial sex. As a result, Rugalema, et al., (1999) argue that HIV infection largely affects the poorest, who in fact represents most of those infected in Africa. They further assert that it is not because the poor are unlikely to be reached with relevant information, education, and counselling activities but such messages are often not meaningful and feasible in their specific circumstances. Rural poverty undermines the extent to which relatives can depend and offer assistance to each other, although some individuals/households have better resources than others. Barnett and Whiteside (2006:245) citing De Waal and Whiteside, (2003) mention a recent situation of the HIV pandemic impacting on poverty as a ‘New Variant of Famine’.

The hypothesis of a ‘New Variant Famine’ was the HIV/AIDS epidemic in southern Africa which accounts for many households that are facing food shortages and explains the grim trajectory of limited recovery. Four factors associated with this phenomenon are: a) household level labour shortages attributable to adult morbidity and mortality; b) loss of assets and skills result from increased adult mortality; c) the burden of care is large for sick adults and children orphaned by AIDS and d) vicious interactions exist between malnutrition and HIV. There is, therefore, an inverse relationship between the number of productive family members and the number of dependants. Thus, while the number of productive family members decreases, the numbers of dependants grows, and as households lose adults and take in orphans of dead relatives, this further threatens households food security.

48

According to Boto et al. (2004), compared to urban dwellers, those in rural areas face more devastating impacts either through the loss of indigenous farming techniques, loss in assets, as well as productivity due to more per capita deaths in households. To solve the problems of food insecurity, which include insufficient production in agriculture, unreliable supply in food requirements and unsustainable livelihoods, a country must step up production of food domestically and through this, conserve adequate foreign reserves (Topouzis, 1998) including food not grown domestically for the event of food shortages. Thus the loss of a prime-age adult or “bread winner” on farm labour; where shortages of labour often lead to decline in productivity and in household income, loss of assets, savings and remittances. These factors render vulnerable households chronically food insecure and their household members chronically undernourished. In some situations, the family members have to sell their livestock to finance medical care for AIDS patients. The food security situation in the study area is fluid as it is very slippery.

Citing UNICEF (1990), Loevinsohn and Gillespie (2003:39) argue the pioneering effort of UNICEF in modelling Triple A Cycle (Figure 2.7) below is a useful construct for emphasising the process that needs to be reviewed once relevant actions have been implemented and set in motion. To effectively permit this, reflections/deliberations on HIV/AIDS need to be built into all crucial monitoring and evaluative systems. A triple Cycle applied to HIV/AIDS and food insecurity as seen in the Figure 2.7 will be helpful.

Figure ‎2.7: A Triple cycle applied to HIV/AIDS

Assessment of the degree of possible ravages that can be caused by HIV/AIDS on individuals/households and how it can affect food production should be conducted to get prepared for the shocks and stresses such a situation can cause. A critical analysis of the

49

problems to be faced, the probable interactions and the capacity to mitigate as well as the relevant actions to be taken prior to the severity of the HIV/AIDS and its aftermath such as terminal and final death must be taken care of. Furthermore, how to cope with the situation while dependents abound and be able to use very requisite means to mitigate the negative impacts of the HIV/AIDS, while ensuring a meaningful degree of food security, hence advocating for the Triple Cycle technique, as adapted from UNICEF (1990). An adequate food supply can enhance the quality of life and also sustain well-being of the rural people.