How to get from economic malaise to food security?

Credit: Google

Food security in the Horn of Africa hinges on greater investment in ICT infrastructure and capacity building. In large part, this will depend on the transfer of technology. But experts note that even a modest increase in technology transfer and information, through the agriculture value chain, could improve yields, distribution and ultimately strengthen food security.

The World Food Program (WFP) backed an initiative in March this year that is a step in the right direction. WFP provided US$45, 000 worth of ICTs for a Food Security Graduate Program at Addis Ababa University. The ICTs provided the institution with the tools and facility needed to boost efforts to develop a local hub for knowledge generation and dissemination for food security. A weak policy and financial environment has led to inadequate research, a lack of appropriate technologies and weak dissemination of existing smart tools. So, lowering food insecurity in the region requires greater effort.

Improving food security is a key development challenge for the Horn of Africa, the world’s most food insecure region according to the FAO. Over 45% of the 160 million strong population remain food insecure, higher than the average even for Saharan Africa. The World Bank says the region must attain a 4% expansion in GDP and similar growth in agricultural expansion, along with lower population growth rates, to become food secure in the medium-term. This all seems like a catch-22 situation for an already difficult political and economic landscape. Where do we start?

According to USAID’s analysis, The Magnitude and Causes of Food Insecurity and Prospects for Change, improving the economic policy environment—and a host of other structural problems such as security— is key. So, while ICTs can help to improve the region’s precarious food security situation, much more must be done to create an ICT enabling environment— further evidence that ICTs are merely tools.

One structural challenge is the cumbersome nature of intra-regional trade. ICTs, particularly logistics technology and applications used to speed up cross border movement, could help to better move food surplus from country to country (and region to region). At various points in recent time countries in the lower part of the Horn of Africa, including Kenya and Tanzania, have been in a position to shift their surplus to neighboring Ethiopia, and other northern states that are perennially food insecure.

However, the food security and ICT discussion in this region, as I have contended, is very complex. One must consider all the systemic domains and even broad issues of income distribution, which slants the distribution of food in Kenya and Tanzania, even in times of food excess on a national scale, in the favor of a few.

August 9, 2011/by actualize

Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Where’s the Famine App?

Credit: Google

The international response to the ongoing famine in the Horn of Africa has been deemed too slow by a host of observers and some people on the ground. However, the relief effort is gradually improving. One indication of this improvement is the ingenious ways in which ICT is being used to bring attention to the disaster and enable people from around the world to contribute to the relief effort.

Here’s a round-up of some ways in which ICT is being used to aid the response.

The launch of Kenya4Kenyans, an indigenous campaign built around an app which allows Kenyans (and others) to learn about the gravity of the famine gripping the region, and donate via mobile payment, enabled by m-pessa. It is user-friendly with only a couple of screens and few links to click. The reviews for this app suggests that it works well despite its very basic features.. Kenyans4Kenya is backed by m-pesa, Safaricom Foundation, KCB Foundation, Kenya Red Cross and Media Owners Association… an all Kenyan line-up. Learn more about Kenyans4Kenya here.

More about Kenya4Kenyans

There has been a Twitterfest, too. Africans have been mobilizing like never before, asking for the international community to send aid, and even prescribing what kinds and where to send it. The International Business Times says more than twenty tweets per minute regarding the famine is being produced. The leading hashtags are #HornOfAfrica, #Famine, #Drought, #Somalia, #Kenya and #Ethiopia.

The World Food Program’s (WFP’s) social media initiative, WeFeedback, which allows you to donate in a fun and meaningful way, has also taken off tremendously. Learn more about WeFeedback here.

40 Hour Famine 2.0 for iPhone/iPod Touch. This is World Vision Australia’s official famine iPhone application, a mobile companion to the 40 Hour Famine website. Here’s a detailed description provided by the developers “… allowing you to monitor your progress towards your 40 Hour Famine target, to access a secure iPhone formatted donation website so you can collect donations straight from your iPhone, and to mail your friends from the app, or let everyone know you’re doing the 40 Hour Famine on facebook, twitter and myspace. You can even access the 40 Hour Famine stories, videos and facts about the Global Food Crisis and the focus countries of the fundraiser.Our 40 Hour Famine goat helper will encourage you along the way, with important messages and encouragements leading up to, during and after the 40 Hour Famine weekend.It’s free, and it’s a great way to track your progress and fundraising in this year’s 40 Hour Famine.Our 40 Hour Famine goat helper will encourage you along the way, with important messages and encouragements leading up to, during and after the 40 Hour Famine weekend. It’s free, and it’s a great way to track your progress and fundraising in this year’s 40 Hour Famine.”