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Feminising Food Security
Pedro Alfonso Medrano Rojas has served as the ambassador
and permanent representative of Chile to the Food and Agricultural
Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, World Food Programme (WFP) and
the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). He was
the chairman of the committee on World Food Security and by virtue of that,
he conducted the negotiations that were aimed at adopting the Rome
Declaration on World Food Security and the World Food Summit Plan of
Action. Currently, he is the WFP Representative, Country Director and
Regional Manager, South Asia Regional cluster - Bhutan, India, Nepal and
Sri Lanka. In India, the country programme (1997-2000) focuses on
improving nutrition, the quality of life and household food security
for the poorest and most vulnerable. He spoke to Pragya Joshi:
Emphasis is given to education, health,
industrial development and every other facet of Indian life but basic food
requirements are not met. What is the essential problem you want to
address here?
WFP is the food aid arm
of the UN. It provides food aid to people who are affected by hunger
and poverty. Food is the essence of existence. Seventy percent
of food production is in the hands of women. However, they are the
"ones who eat last". By demonstrating the relationship
between the development of omen and the development of the country, we are
addressing the issue. For instance, weak mothers producing weak
babies make for unhealthy families. Lack of development opportunities
would lead to a further destabilised society which is a threat to world
peace and security. thus by effectively translating it as a national
priority and as a basic necessity, UN-WFP is serving is purpose.
The UN World Food Programme for women has been
functioning since 1963 in India. What have been its achievements?
The WFP supports the Integrated
Child Development Services (ICDS). Everyday around 2.6 million women
and children benefit from this program. By providing food supplements
like vitamin A and folic acid, by ensuring that around 3,00,000 women
receive WFP food for work, and also ensuring their active participation in
village forest protection committees, mahila mandals, encouraging
entrepreneurship among tribal women like ha been done in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh,
supporting income-generating activities like silk weaving, mushroom
cultivation, handicrafts, bead work and other small-scale enterprises
and providing access to micro-credit, has helped women in Bihar and Orissa.
Yet another 'Women's Day' was observed this
year. Do you think we have been able to address the issue of gender
sensitivity in its essential context?
Income in the hands of women
contributes much more to the household food security and child nutrition
than the income controlled by men. That is one reason why investing
in women improves family security. Female literacy is another
important tool in the campaign to end hunger and poverty. As literacy
rates among women rise, birth rates tend to fall, families are
healthier and women have more financial and social resources. As far
as gender sensitivity is concerned, this is obviously the UN's primordial
objective and we are in the process of popularising this thought worldwide
since it requires immediate attention.
What is the significance of WFP's continuing
expertise an specialisation in the aforementioned sphere with reference to
the relevant concept of the neutral indicators used for judgment?
The UN has realised that
the neutral indicators - GNP, growth, per capita income - are not enough
and they have to be supplemented with human indicators which highlight
health , nutrition and poverty. The concept of development has to be
examined in conjunction with both these indicators. As long as
policies are pursued with the knowledge that if the women are left out of
the purview, their practical application will not be
beneficial. Till then progress cannot be legitimised and
ensured. As for the examples, since its founding in 1963, WFP in
Pakistan for instance, gives parents a five-litre can of cooking oil every
month in return for sending their daughters to school. In Bangladesh,
more than eight million women have received food aid that gave them the
freedom to start earning a livelihood. In Cambodia and Angola, hundreds
of girls have been given the chance to get off the streets and learn how to
live a stable life.
What exactly is on the WFP agenda to induce a
change for the better in India?
The enormity of the problem
stems from the fact that India has not linked its agricultural policies
with food assistance programmes. It is not that the country is not
producing enough food grains; it is only a matter of optimising its access
to the 320 million who are considered food insecure consuming less than 80
percent of minimum energy requirements. Out of this huge number,
seven out of ten of the world's poor are women and children. That's
why food is given in the hands of women for it will not be sold to buy
alcohol and cigarettes.
According to the UN's 4th
World conference held in Beijing in 1995, 80 percent of food relief, 60
percent of WFP's resources, 50 percent of WFP's educational resources, 25
percent of the results of food-for-work projects should directly benefit
women to end global hunger and widespread poverty. Access to food
comes before any political, economic, social or human right and in the long
run that is the essence of human sustainability.
Do you think it is easy for singular agencies to
reduce hunger and tackle poverty in this country?
Definitely not. We
cannot function in isolation and it is only a prerogative to take help and
functional support from the government and various NGOs who are adept at
responding to the needs of the people and the various channels to be
adopted. Thus in Orissa, after the devastating cyclone there was a
buffer stock with the government. However, the issue was, but how to
reach it to those affected? Initially, in districts of Jagatsinghpur
and Kendradpara, we worked in constant conjunction with DRDA and the
Panchayati Raj taking continuous help from the NGOs for programmes of
individual rehabilitation, tree plantation and road reconstruction.
Poverty is pervasive but then why is so much
emphasis given to women? Isn't it a 'feminisation' of poverty?
Women are most
vulnerable due to the fact that there is a higher female infant mortality
rate specially up to 35 years, there is imbalance in the sex ratio showing
a steady decline over the years: 927 females per 1000 males, a high
maternal mortality rate of 437, a low literacy rate of 37.7 against 65.5
for males, a lower share of earned income: 25.4 against 74.6 for males and
of course, female economic activity is only 50 percent of men. So, it
becomes only logically obvious that emphasis should be given to them.
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