Turning tables on hunger SDG NO.2 - ZERO HUNGER |25 November 2016

Actions on ending world hunger have become more pronounced since the world community set the millennium development goals (MDGs). It has been seen that the most effective way to end world hunger is to transform the way the world does development. Such a pressing matter needs to be tackled in unity and it is therefore the reason why the UN put it as a Sustainable Development Goal as SDG 2: NO HUNGER.

SDG 2 aims to end world hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition and also to promote sustainable agriculture. By 2030 the UN aims to:

• Make all people, especially people in vulnerable situations including infants have access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round;

• • End all forms of malnutrition, including achieving internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under five years of age and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating woman, and older persons;
• • Double the agricultural productivity and the incomes of small-scale food producers, particularly women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets, and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment;
• • Ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters, and that progressively improve land and soil quality;
• • Maintain genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants, farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at national, regional and international levels, and ensure access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge as internationally agreed.

Why is SDG 2 important to the world?

Out of 795 million people (roughly 1 in 10) people suffering from chronic hunger¸ 98 percent live in the developing world. Unlike famine that can be alleviated from, for example, emergency aid, chronic hunger is a constant day to day condition.

Hunger, poverty and food prices are inextricably linked. Not every poor person is hungry, but almost all hungry people are poor. Millions live with hunger and malnourishment because they simply cannot afford to buy enough food, cannot afford nutritious foods or cannot afford the farming supplies they need to grow enough good food of their own. Hunger can be viewed as a dimension of extreme poverty. It is often called the most severe and critical manifestation of poverty.

Why is SDG 2 is important to Seychelles?

Nutritional intake in Seychelles mainly comes from animal products and imported crops. Wheat, rice, maize and sugar make up 54.5 percent of the average daily calorie intake, while animal products provide an additional 16.6 percent. This heavy reliance on importation of goods can prove to be unhealthy. Seychelles is an island country comprising an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, and has a total area of 460 square kilometres. In other words it is very small and has limited power on the ability to influence trade routes. SDG 2 may play a role because it promotes the growth of small scale farmers. Thus, if an issue were to arise as seen by the pirates in 2010 where trade routes may be cut off, Seychelles would be self-reliant and in a better situation to sustain itself i.e. increased food security. If it does not adopt these policies, Seychellois could find themselves in a situation where they lack access to 71.1 percent of their nutritional intake.

What actions are being taken by Seychelles towards this SDG?

It is very important that Seychelles adopts a self-sustaining attitude towards production and consumption of food due to limited control on external factors. We should aim to promote and adopt schemes such as home gardens and also help local farmers to produce sufficient and affordable goods.

Some of the projects taken on nationally to end hunger in Seychelles are outlined below:

• Farmers association address hunger by producing food
• The social security services provide income supplements to vulnerable people in the society e.g. unemployed, disabled persons, elderly persons, etc.
• S4S is an NGO that encourages people to grow fruits and vegetables in their homes
• The CLISSA (Competitive Local Small scale Agriculture) project funded by IFAD (International Fund for Agriculture) teaches people how to keep backyard gardens.
• STC is a government run organisation that has the mandate to supply basic food commodities at reduced prices to ensure access by lower income households.

These efforts have been successful to quite an extent as it is important to note that Seychelles does not in fact have any cases of chronic hunger.

What you can do to help?

1. Educate: The first and most important step to get involved in solving world hunger is to educate yourself and others about the problem. There are literally thousands of charities out there, some better run than others, offering initiatives to put food on the table for those in need

2. Volunteer: The task to end world hunger may sound like a daunting one but one must remember that the smallest actions also have impact and therefore individuals should try to take on simple tasks/challenges to change someone’s life today. These small tasks have the potential to have a great effect collectively.

3. Donate: How can we stop world hunger with money? It is food that we need. Well, yes of course, but rather than sending a few tins of sweetcorn to families in Bangladesh, larger organisations may undertake projects to build sustainable solutions. Working collaboratively helps to build sustainable farms and greenhouses. This approach is to put the power of cultivation into the hands of local farmers.

Join the global conversation. Use the hashtags #sey4sdg , download the SDG Action app, visit globalgoals.org – help make the SDGs famous and tell the leaders of the world that this is what we want.

You can also visit http://www.globalgoals.org/take-action/ and choose an NGO to get involved with: Global Citizen, Save The Children, UNICEF, UNDP – the choice is yours.

Contributed by Reza Moustache