Although fewer people are dying in crises as a result of food insecurity and malnutri-tion, the responses of humanitarian emergencies have not improved as much as might be expected. A full assessment of progress is overdue for the sector as a whole.
The lack of progress towards more equitable development and more sustainable liveli-hoods for the most vulnerable groups is the big obstacle to overcome. Since the 2009 G8 summit in Italy, there has been a growing consensus on the need to significantly increase international assistance to address hunger and food security issues globally – reflected in the G20 meetings in 2010, for example. This is a much-welcomed response to a problem that has been largely neglected for a number of years. But while there is mention of ongoing food security crises, the main objective of recent initiatives, such as the US Feed the Future programme, is on agricultural technology and marketing to address production constraints and improve food availability. While a comprehensive strategy for addressing hunger has to take into account the issues of production and food availability, it also must address the short-term (and, increasingly, longer-term) crises of food access.
So far, these two goals of an overarching strategy to reduce food insecurity and mal-nutrition still seem to be separated by a deep gulf. Of 22 countries noted by FAO and WFP in 2010 as being in protracted crisis, only six are on the list of countries (20 in total) targeted by the Feed the Future programme – the US’s flagship food security and agriculture initiative. The implication is that, for the time being at least, humanitarian
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