{"id":13335,"date":"2015-12-05T05:57:06","date_gmt":"2015-12-05T05:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=13335"},"modified":"2015-12-05T05:57:06","modified_gmt":"2015-12-05T05:57:06","slug":"turning-food-into-mutual-endless-exploitation-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2015\/12\/05\/turning-food-into-mutual-endless-exploitation-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning food into mutual, endless exploitation tool"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Malawians exiled the Union Jack to Britain in 1964, the country did not have laws safeguarding the right to food. 51 years down the line, not much has changed. RICHARD CHIROMBO explores this and other issues in the second of a three-part series on the right to food and food security in Malawi. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Dorothy Nanthulu, 48, is old enough to know that first impressions last. She, therefore, wears a smile as she welcomes us at Nankumba Extension Planning Area (EPA) offices in Mangochi.<\/p>\n

In a way, Nanthulu\u2014 from Makokola Village, Traditional Authority (T\/A) Nankumba, in Mangochi\u2014 can be said to be a leader of leaders. She is the leader of a group of fellow lead farmers such as Stephano Elesoni from Kasiya Village and Chrissy Davison from Mvumba Village, both from T\/A Nankumba.<\/p>\n

However, all semblances of hospitality disappear from her face, which now wears an odd emptiness, once a question is thrown in-between the niceties of a warm welcome.<\/p>\n

Why do you eat?<\/p>\n

\u201cTo feed my family and generate income after selling some of the produce,\u201d Nanthulu says.<\/p>\n

Not because you have a right to food?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. I have never heard of anything like that. If we don\u2019t eat, we die. We, therefore, eat to survive,\u201d answers Nanthulu.<\/p>\n

Have you ever heard of the term right to food?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Elesoni and Davison also admit that they do not recognise access to food as a right; claiming that food is a means of survival. Davison adds that she does not even know if Malawi has laws promoting access to food and food security issues.<\/p>\n

This, in short, is the irony that surrounds right to food and food security issues in Malawi.<\/p>\n

Yet, everyone\u2014 politicians, technocrats, policy makers, ordinary citizens\u2014 talks of food.<\/p>\n

Just that many say it with their lips, but few\u2014 very few\u2014 are willing to translate their seemingly great love for food into laws. Take the country\u2019s political parties as a typical example.<\/p>\n

In the run-up to the 2014 tripartite elections, food security was one of the issues on the lips of every political party leader.<\/p>\n

The then Democratic Progressive Party spokesperson, Nicholas Dausi, told The Sunday Times of March 16, 2014 that the DPP would ensure that \u201cPeople have food to eat and even more food to store\u201d.<\/p>\n

Not to be outdone, the then ruling People\u2019s Party deputy spokesperson, Ken Msonda, told the same publication that, if re-elected, the party would \u201cpromote food security through farmer clubs, which will help farmers access farm inputs on loan through clubs\u201d.<\/p>\n

Umodzi Party president, John Chisi, also indicated that attaining food security was his party\u2019s preferred route to food security, indicating that \u201cParty will focus on hectares, and what we will be doing is to ask traditional leaders about the land they have and provide bags of, say, maize, based on the number of farmers on a piece of land\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Malawi Congress Party expert on agriculture issues, Felix Jumbe, was waxing lyrical about the need to re-invent the Farm Inputs Subsidy Programme (Fisp) wheel and focus on farmer clubs. Today, as chairperson for the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, he stands his ground on Fisp.<\/p>\n

\u201cFisp, in its current format, cannot work well as a food security tool in the country. At the moment, only 1.5 million farmers are targeted and, yet, the country has 3.5 million smallholder farmers. This means 2 million farmers have been left out of the programme and this will automatically negatively impact on food security in the country,\u201d Jumbe says.<\/p>\n

Therefore, while political leaders and policymakers seem to have deep interest in food issues, it is evident that they all are steeped in their own sense of self importance, and cannot spare a minute to reflect on the relevance of entrenching the right to food and food security in the country\u2019s statutes, unless the issues relate to their own interests.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the end, it is as if policymakers and politicians want to keep Malawians in a condition of mutual, endless exploitation, in order to sustain their political motives.<\/p>\n

Skeletal framework <\/strong><\/p>\n

A report titled \u2018The Human Right to Food: Report of an International Fact-Finding Mission\u2019, which is based on findings obtained in Malawi between April 17 and 23, 2006, indicates that hunger is prevalent in Malawi.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe majority of Malawians living in rural areas have faced repeated seasonal food shortages for the past decade, often compelling them to supplement incomes through work for food programmes or for cash. Low agricultural productivity, poorly developed markets, and limited access to credit and productive land are additional factors that contribute to hunger and poverty in rural communities,\u201d reads part of the report.<\/p>\n

It further observes that, since 2002, Malawi has faced at least two serious droughts, citing 2002 when drought and \u201cpoor management\u201d of strategic grain reserves brought about \u201cthe worst famine in fifty years\u201d. It adds that, in 2005, following a prolonged dry spell which affected crops at the most critical growing stage, \u201cMalawi was confronted by yet another hunger crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n

As if these droughts have not been enough, Malawi faces yet another hunger crisis this year. President Peter Mutharika announced on September 21 that Malawi needs up to US$146.4 million (K 84 billion) to cater for people who face hunger between October this year and March 2016.<\/p>\n

The Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC) indicated in July that 2.8 million people face hunger in 24 districts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis maize will be used to stabilize the price of the commodity on the market through ADMARC [Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation] across the country. The Strategic Grain Reserves has maize in stock and it continues to be replenished. The government is, therefore, ready to roll out food relief to food insecure households during the lean period from October 2015 to March 2016, as recommended by MVAC,\u201d Mutharika said in his announcement.<\/p>\n

It is due to disasters like these that, the Human Right to Food: Report of an International Fact-Finding Mission\u2019 report, which was funded by Rights and Democracy with support from FIAN International, Action Aid, Misereor and the International Food Security Network (a project of the European Union)\u2014 indicates that stakeholders have seen the need to create an enabling legal environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, recognising the need to create a legal framework for the promotion of the right to food and food security, the National Right to Food Network in consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, the Department of Nutrition and HIV\/AIDS, the Malawi Human Right Commission and the Malawi Law Commission, with funding from the Presbyterian World Service and Development, Rights and Democracy and Action Aid International Malawi facilitated the process,\u201d reads part of the report.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Malawi has draft legislation on food security titled \u2018Enhancing the Protection of the Right to Food in Malawi Final Draft Food Security Bill\u2019.<\/p>\n

Among other things, the draft Food Security Bill provides for the protection of the right to food, the establishment of a National Food Security Council and the establishment of the Food Security Fund.<\/p>\n

Food security is described in the draft bill as \u201ca situation when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life; \u201cfood\u201d means safe, edible and nutritious substances, acceptable within a given culture, originating from a biological source and includes water, any beverage, food additive material, in processed form or not, which is fit for human consumption and further includes food additive material, food raw material and other materials used in the processing and preparation of such edible substance or beverage\u201d.<\/p>\n

It describes \u201cfreedom from hunger\u201d as a \u201ca situation where all people, especially the vulnerable, have access to a level of food, capable of meeting the recommended minimum dietary requirements as may be set out by the Minister from time to time\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fulfilling its obligations under section 3, the State shall, depending on the availability of resources, available within and outside Malawi, including through international cooperation and assistance, take necessary measures to progressively realise the right to food,\u201d reads part of the draft bill on the state\u2019s obligation in meeting food security requirements.<\/p>\n

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reports that more than 800 million people around the world suffer from hunger and that the millennium target of reducing that number by half will not be met without stronger commitments and an accelerated pace. FAO cites \u201cgood governance\u201d as a key factor in countries where food insecurity has been significantly reduced.<\/p>\n

Not that the country is short on policies, though. By 2005, the report indicates that Malawi had \u201capproximately 43 different policies\u201d, indicating that what is needed is a law, or laws, regulating the right to food and food security.<\/p>\n

Some of the climate change and right to food-related policies that have been formulated and enacted include Disaster Risk Reduction (DRP) Policy\u2014 approved in February this year\u2014 National Climate Change Policy, Right to Food Bill, and National Agriculture Policy.<\/p>\n

The DRM policy was recently approved by the Government of Malawi and the DRM bill is now being developed. National Climate change policy was developed three years ago but it is not yet approved by the government and the Right to Food Bill, which was developed almost five years ago, is also lying idle without being enacted.<\/p>\n

The other policy is the Food and Nutrition Security Policy adopted by the Government of Malawi in July 2005. Malawi\u2019s Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for implementation of the policy, reporting directly to the Cabinet Committee on Food and Nutrition.<\/p>\n

Regularising food <\/strong><\/p>\n

Diocese of Mangochi Diocesan Catholic Development Commission (Cadecom) secretary, Peter Nthenda, observes that politicisation of issues hampers Malawi\u2019s efforts in creating an enabling legal environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the truth is that food security and right to food are key to an integrated approach to development. Communities can only develop if they are food-secure. [Ancient civilisations] Mesopotamia and Yangtze Kiang developed because they were food secure but we don\u2019t seem to realise this in Malawi, despite the fact that the majority of rural dwellers believe in producing their own food in the country,\u201d says Nthenda, adding:<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to lack of an enabling environment, most farmers don\u2019t generate enough funds to buy all the required inputs; eventually, they opt for low-yield seeds and, technically, they do not know how to manage their land. The situation is worse in Mangochi and Balaka, which are rain-shadow areas and prone to drought.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cadecom, which is which is a relief and developmental arm of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi, is one of the civil society organisations promoting citizens\u2019 right to food through a three-year project known as \u201cIncreasing Food Security and resilience to climate shocks for 1,250 households in Malawi\u201d.<\/p>\n

Right to Food Network Coordinator, Billy Mayaya, observes that the country has a long way to go to meet international human rights standards pertaining to food.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile there are laudable efforts to provide social protection through initiatives such as Fisp, there are gaps in Malawi as a state fulfilling its obligations to respect, protect and fulfill the right to food. The human right to food is a human rights concept which is justifiable. Justifiability refers to the ability by any party to take individuals and the state to court to seek legal redress in terms of proven violations of the right to food. There is currently a draft bill which when enacted will go to great length to fulfill Malawi\u2019s commitments to issues related to Economic Social and Cultural Rights,\u201d says Mayaya.<\/p>\n

Mayaya observes that the situation contradicts constitutional provisions on food.<\/p>\n

Argues Mayaya: \u201cThe Constitution, in Section 30, makes reference to the right to development which is a broad legal reference to the human right to food. However, the draft bill will extend this expansive provision by narrowing it down to a rights based approach to food. The right to food is not about food security alone but, more, importantly, a rights based approach to adequate food.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without adopting such approaches, food may remain a mutual, endless exploitation tool.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Malawians exiled the Union Jack to Britain in 1964, the country did not have laws safeguarding the right to food. 51 years down the line, not much has changed. RICHARD CHIROMBO explores this and other issues in the second of a three-part series on the right to food and food security in Malawi. Dorothy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13335"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13337,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13335\/revisions\/13337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}