Food Security: ACDI/VOCA’s Newest Yet Oldest Practice Area
While food security was the impetus for ACDI/VOCA’s creation in 1963, not until recently was it declared one of the company’s official practice areas.
From the company’s first large-scale effort, helping prevent food shortages in India, the bulk of ACDI/VOCA’s work has been in agricultural development oriented to poor, smallholder farmers—so much so that food security had become intrinsic to the company’s entire portfolio.
“Since the Kennedy administration’s recommitment to overseas development, we have battled food insecurity and built smallholder farmer capacity in 145 countries,” said ACDI/VOCA President Carl Leonard.
But prompted by last year’s global food crisis, Leonard launched a half-year internal review, culminating in a decision to elevate food security as a distinct company priority. Food security now joins ACDI/VOCA’s other practice areas: agribusiness, enterprise development, community development and financial services.
While staple commodity prices have come down since last summer, and lower oil prices have reduced fuel and fertilizer costs for developing-country farmers, the adverse effects of the food crisis persist. Many predict that worse is to come. This has led to a heightened donor interest in and resource commitments to food security.
Leonard said, “Following years of declining resources, the prospects are now good for a significant increase in funding for agriculture and rural development within the U.S. government’s foreign assistance portfolio. We are encouraged by this recommitment to agriculture. The food crisis starkly illustrated how desperate and how vulnerable poor people are. Since the vast majority of the world’s poor have agriculture-based livelihoods, broad-based agricultural development is the only sustainable road to food security.”
At present ACDI/VOCA’s 150-person food security practice area operates 7 projects with a total value of $94 million. In charge is Senior Managing Director Avram “Buzz” Guroff, who before coming to ACDI/VOCA in 1998, served at USDA as the National Food Security Coordinator.
Guroff said, “We want ACDI/VOCA’s substantial capacity to contribute to food security to be more prominently recognized and promoted. To that end we have performed a needs analysis, hired new talent in both commodity management and health and nutrition, and restructured to be in the strongest possible position to contribute to the effort that will be required.”
USAID defines food security as “when all people at all times have both physical and economic access to sufficient food to meet their dietary needs for a productive and healthy life.” Food security has traditionally been conceived as having three main factors: availability of food, access to food and utilization of food. Another crucial factor—resiliency to shocks—has recently been included in most definitions of food security. These definitions, broadly taken, encompass most of ACDI/VOCA’s current and expected work.
Guroff said, “For operational purposes we are defining the food security practice area as programs that improve access to safe and nutritious food and foster the resilience of vulnerable populations. In our case those programs span direct distribution of rations, monetization of donated commodities in low-income, food-deficit countries with sales proceeds being used for development activities, and use of direct funding to address food security issues among target populations. We are committed to the flexible and innovative use of those programs, including local and regional purchase of commodities where appropriate, to maximize their effectiveness.”
ACDI/VOCA’s food security practice area addresses short-term food security needs as well as the long-term ability of vulnerable populations to manage their own food security. It not only ensures nutritional needs are met today, through improved use of inputs, access to food rations, improved household health and hygiene, and other measures, but also seeks to instill in beneficiaries the capacity to deal with tomorrow's food needs through training and technical assistance.
Food security should not be confused with food aid, which is but one tool in the toolbox. ACDI/VOCA utilizes food aid where appropriate, but also incorporates activities ranging from value chain integration to infrastructure development, from improved community organization and advocacy to market integration and enhanced trade and competitiveness. Access to credit and financial resources, both for emergency preparedness and improved long-term food security, also contribute toward improved resiliency. Within all its activities, even working with those who are most vulnerable, ACDI/VOCA takes a private sector-oriented approach.
To find out more about our work in food security, click here.
To read ACDI/VOCA's food crisis position paper developed by our Global Food Crisis Team, click here.