Focus on food
07 April, 2012
Food, glorious food.
A woman in Sekong Province, Laos. With Australian support, NGO CARE is working with the community to help them grow coffee, cardamom, rice and other produce. Photo: Josh Estey/CARE
For most of us, food is available whenever we want. For dinner, we open our
fridge, select an array of nutritious and delicious foods (hopefully from a few of
the healthy food groups) and prepare a bountiful meal. If we're lucky, someone
else has even prepared the meal for us and neither option is going to send
us broke. In Australia, good food is readily available. It's relatively cheap and
easy to access—simply head to your nearest supermarket or local takeaway.
Thanks to sound economic policies and successful agricultural production, the
majority of Australians would be described as 'food secure'.
Many poor people
in developing countries are not. Many can’t afford the food they need because
they don't earn enough and the food they can afford is often of insufficient
nutritional value. A lot of farmers in developing countries can't grow enough to feed their families let alone access the markets where they could sell
surplus crops to make a living. The Australian Government is working to make
people in developing countries more food secure.
In this edition of Focus, we look at how Australia is working to make people in developing countries more food secure. From providing emergency food assistance to prevent the poorest from going hungry to improving livelihoods, access to markets, and agricultural production through research.
Nearly a billion people go hungry every day. Read about Australia's strategic approach to making the poorest food secure.
The removal of landmines and unexploded ordnance in Laos is helping people to grow and access the food they need.
A look at the global food system and how trade and economics factor into this.
With more than 50 per cent of Fiji's population living in urban settlements, Australia is helping people grow fruit and vegetables in their own backyards.
An Australian Government-supported livelihoods program in Zimbabwe is helping to set up functioning markets so that farmers can sell their produce for a fair price.
A look at the importance of agricultural research to improving the crops of poor smallholder farmers.
A program in Sub-Saharan Africa is helping people to prevent Newcastle disease from affecting their chickents—a vital source of income and nutrition.
Examples of how Australia is supporting agricultural research to help developing countries to grow more and better food.
Australian Tony Rinuado is helping people of the Sahel region of Africa to regenerate their environment through Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration.
The World Food Programme, with Australian support, is helping to feed the five million Burmese who don't get the food they need and, at the same time, encouraging children to go to school.
The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative on Food Security and Nutrition, Dr David Nabarro, explains how the international system is working to build food security.
In Bangladesh, the Chars Livelihoods Programme is helping one of the poorest and most vulnerable groups in the world—those living on the chars.
The Svalbard Seed Vault is a vital extra step in preservng global seed collections and strengthening global security.
Last Reviewed: 16 June, 2011