Group to Strengthen Policies for Water and Food Security

Avatar for Posted by |1 July 2013

The International Conference on Policies for Water and Food Security in Dry Areas, held in Cairo June 24-26, set out to bring solutions to millions of smallerholder farmers in developing countries who are increasingly at risk from a lack of water, inefficient resource and input use, degraded land and unpredictable climate patterns.

In three days of talks, a group of senior policy makers, researchers and NGOs from around the world formed a set of recommendations and established a partnership to enhance water and food security in dry areas.

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The partnership will promote knowledge transfer, technical solutions and policy options for sustainable productivity growth for the increased efficiency of on-farm water use and improved access to knowledge for small farmers.

Mahmoud Solh, director general of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), said that a lack of effective policies is the main obstacle for delivering solutions for water and food security.

“Policy makers have a genuine interest in improving the situation of smallholders. But due to the complex day-to-day situations they face, they require support from their research colleagues. This partnership helps by providing policy makers with a sounding board to reflect on their situation and to make a link between science and evidence-based solutions, policy options and practical information for farmers,” Solh said.

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“The Near East and North Africa, in particular, with sub-Saharan Africa, is the only region that has witnessed an increase in the prevalence of undernourishment and will likely not meet the Millennium Development Goals,” Ould Ahmed Abdessalam, assistant director general and regional representative for Near East and North Africa, said.

This partnership framework is proposed to be established by ICARDA, FAO, IFAD and IDRC and open to countries and other organizations.

The recommendations the group determined are as follows:

  • Encourage the creation of country strategies for food and water security, highlighting the needed investment, incentives and policy options.
  • Increase investments on rainwater productivity in rainfed farming systems, the major source of food security in dry areas of developing countries – including more public investments and a focus on resilience of rainfed systems
  • Adopt a regional (or basin-level approach) approach to water and food security based on integrated watershed management.
  • Propose policy and institutional measures for water valuation and costing to better manage excessive use of irrigation water and optimize the use of groundwater.
  • Share approaches and policies for groundwater management, including policy options for shifting cropping patterns to less water-consuming crops and sustainable ground water use; explore options for alternative energy sources
  • Enhance country capacities for agricultural policy development, analysis, implementation and monitoring and evaluation. This involves the analysis of trade-offs on use of specific policies and technologies: including assessing the effectiveness of existing agricultural policies.
  • Develop more effective approaches to enhance the dissemination and adoption of water-saving technologies – especially better access to knowledge for small farmers.

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