Hi, I have 3 of my classmates’ posts. I need you to respond to each one separately. Also, one source at least for each one of them. Don’t write about how good their posts or how bad. All you need to do is to choose one point of the post and explore it a little bit with one source support for each response. The paper should be APA style.

The question was: Choose a country in the 2019 Global Report on Food Crises (Review each other’s posts and each student choose a different country). Review the drivers of food insecurity for your selected country and provide an overview.

Choose one of the drivers and discuss method(s) for addressing this driver. Be realistic in your approach and remember to think about linkages to the drivers that could be addressed.

The term “driver” is discussed in the article and is essentially the underlying cause(s) of food insecurity. For example, conflict is a major driver of food security around the world. Linkages to this particular driver could be cultural, geographic, or political. The idea is to discuss the root causes and associate factors that drive and perpetuate food insecurity.

This is the first classmate K post need to respond:

The existence of prolonged inter-communal conflicts within South Sudan is the cause of the humanitarian crisis. In fact, it set the stage for the displacement of millions of people from their homes. Thus, they abandoned their farms, leading to an acute decline in the proportion of agricultural produce which the country managed to produce for the endeavor of meeting the soaring demand of its citizens. As a result of the persistent warfare within the nation, humanitarian agencies could not efficiently penetrate the country (Food Security Information Network, 2019). Hence the outcome was that a few proportions of the population accessed the aid presented. The result was that many died due to starvation.

Climate change is another cause exacerbated the humanitarian situation was the climate shock. It is apparently accurate to highlight that due to the existence of moderate rainfall levels in South Sudan, the country recorded low yield output. As a result, the quantities failed to meet the prevailing demands of the people. also, during the rainy periods, the humanitarian organizations experienced a great deal of difficulty in making their way from one place to another. Therefore, the situation made it somehow challenging to access the entire population. And so, only a few ratios were obtained, leaving the country’s larger portion uncovered and subjected to food insecurity.

It is essential that this factor has had a major impact on the economy. Such that contributed to the occurrence of low supply of the much-needed commodities of trade. In reaction to these manifestations, consumer prices have increased almost three times (Food Security Information Network, 2019). The facet of insecurity was always in the lead for interrupting the probably growing trade projects of both local as well as foreign businesses within the region. Ultimately, food insecurity has become a vital concern in the region. And as inflation was the main issue, the value of the local currency depressed as it became weak by each day. It negatively affected other stakeholders interested in trading with the country.

Reference

Food Security Information Network (2019) Global Report on Food Crises. JOINT ANALYSIS FOR BETTER DECISIONS

Sarkar, A., Sensarma, S. R., & VanLoon, G. W. (Eds.). (2019). Sustainable Solutions for Food Security: Combating Climate Change by Adaptation. Springer.

This is the 2nd classmate Z post need to respond:

Choose a country in the 2019 Global Report on Food Crises (Review each other’s posts, and each student choose a different country). Review the drivers of food insecurity for your selected country and provide an overview.

Burundi is a small country in Central East Africa near Tanzania, The Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda. While from the 2017-2018 the number of food-insecure people has decreased, there is still significant a number of people affected by food insecurity. The drivers of food insecurity for Burundi include climate shock, conflict, and economic shock. Climate shock refers to inconsistent rain patterns, invasive species, and low crop production. Conflict has been in the country for years, causing deaths, strain on community resources. Economic shock is felt as a consequence of the prior two drivers; low crop yield means less money, war equals fewer people to work.

Choose one of the drivers and discuss method(s) for addressing this driver. Be realistic in your approach, and remember to think about linkages to the drivers that could be addressed.

Majority of the drivers stem from the countries search for independence in 1962 (FBI, 2018). Since then, political violence and non-democratic transfer of power have resulted in this continuing conflict. Every election is corrupt, causing more tension to build in the country. To address this driver would consist of a complete restructuring of the government and building out the necessary branches focusing on the areas of need in the country. For example, a sector that focuses on food insecurity, another that focuses on climate change, etc. It’s not entirely impossible for this country to re-developed itself post-colonization. Some of Western influences may remain, meaning that they could request outside help in this restructuring without disrupting the culture too much. Once the people elect the president that they want, that person would have to be dedicated to the reorganization of the nation. Electing the “right” candidate is the cornerstone to addressing all of the drivers.

Countries have been able to shift their countries upward by moving from agriculture to more industrialization. Since climate change is affecting the production of crops, it may be time to venture into a new market. Burundi has an underdeveloped manufacturing sector that can be further built out to help improve the economy. One way to do this is by developing partnerships or relationships with neighboring countries. Surrounding countries are also struggling with similar drivers; meetings can help to create an action plan to address the problems. While also offering different perspectives and solutions. The issue in the past with many countries is pride, not wanting to receive help from other nations. Since these countries are neighbors, they may be willing to listen to each other’s opinions.

Significant work is needed in Burundi; complete restructuring of their governmental system will help to ease the political tensions. Once tensions simmer down the country will be able to focus on building up the areas of most significant concern. This reconstruction will take decades to undo all of the pre/post-colonization issues. Political issues are deeply rooted throughout all of the drivers of food insecurity in Burundi.

Reference

FBI. (2018). The World Factbook: Burundi. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/by.

This is the 3rd classmate AF post need to respond:

Humanitarian assistance has become a major driver in helping people meet their everyday food and water requirements. There are major reasons for food insecurity: conflict and insecurity, climate-related shocks, and economic shocks.

For Ethiopia, conflicts in neighboring countries have resulted in an influx of refugees, mainly experienced in the rural areas of the country which lead to the conflict and insecurity driver. The country does not have many economic opportunities and food prices have been generally high due to which economic shocks have been a driver of food insecurity. Lastly, pastoralists have been adversely affected due to poor rainfall that has led to severe droughts, especially in rural areas of the country.

Being an African country, climatic shocks would be a major driver in the food insecurity that people face in Ethiopia. 23% of people in Ethiopia do not have access to safe drinking water while 186,000 children who are below 5 years of age are acutely malnourished. Even the 2015-16 food security crisis in Ethiopia which led to a severe drought had devastating impacts on the agricultural areas of the country.

The diagram above shows that Ethiopia has the highest number of food-insecure people, 8.1 million, amongst all of the African countries.

Being an agriculturally rain fed nation, irregularity in weather conditions leads to adverse implications on the economy. Considering the fact that their economy is mainly based on agriculture, rainfall has shown to be a major determinant of food insecurity which increases the risk as rainfall levels increase per year. A decline of rainfall 10% below the long-run average leads to a 4.4% reduction in Ethiopia’s national food production. Thus, it is pretty evident that climatic shocks really do impact the food insecurity condition in Ethiopia.

Although the country has a very strong yield growth, that of 7.2%, it is known to be one of Africa’s lowest productivity countries. One of the major factors attributed to this is the over dependence on rainfall as majority of the crops come from rain-fed agriculture. Keeping in mind that the country does not have a good irrigation system, their over dependence on rainfall has contributed to high food insecurity.

Research has shown that increased climatic variation leads to reduced agricultural output and increased agricultural prices. Since Ethiopia’s economy is mainly agriculturally fed, climatic shocks also effect economic growth as their crops are adversely affected by droughts and reduction in rainfall.

On the other hand, floods also have a similar impact on the agriculture productivity of the country. Increased floods lead to decreased productivity as the crops are destroyed. In May 2018, floods and the Sagar cyclone led to destroyed pasture and large amounts of livestock being killed. The unseasonal rainfall in the eastern and central areas of the country caused local production of crops to be reduced. In October-December of the same year, there was a delay in the rainy season which led to droughts and ultimately further reduction in the crop productivity of the country.

In my view significant intervention is needed in Ethiopia; the farmers have to use various methods of preparedness and ways that demonstrate their readiness to any form of drought will help to mitigate food insecurity. Besides that, most of the farmers have comprehended the importance of lessening soil erosion by planting trees to reduce climate change and water management that would benefit them to increase agricultural production. All in all, it can be strongly concluded that climatic shocks have played a major role in the food insecurity crisis that has been witnessed in Ethiopia.

References:

Demeke, A. B., & Zeller , M. (2011). Impacts of Rainfall Shock on Smallholders Food Security and Vulnerability in Rural Ethiopia: Learning from Household Panel Data . Department of Agricultural Economics and Social Sciences in the Tropics and Subtropics , 1.

Guterres, A. (2019). Global Report on Food Crises.UN: Food Security Information Network.

Yalew, A. W., Hirte, G., Lotze-Campen, H., & Tscharaktschiew, S. (2018). Climate Change, Agriculture, and Economic Development in Ethiopia. Sustainability, 1, 14.