Background

Food insecurity fuels social conflicts and exacerbates tensions across communities and countries and is the common concern of many countries. Food Security is exacerbated by many phenomena, such as droughts in grain producing nations, to rising oil prices which result in increased costs of food transportation and agricultural inputs for producers. The security implications of a lack of food can be seen following the price hike in basic commodities in 2007-2008. Severe food riots occurred in countries across the globe from Cameroon and Egypt, to Bolivia, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh and Yemen.

In 2008-2009 food security problems were masked by the financial crisis - however, as countries emerge out of recession, demand is expected to pick up and another food crisis is expected.

Comparative Analysis

The NEF-Mercator Fund, SRTT and CInI are developing a joint research project comparing the poverty alleviation policies of Brazil and India. This analysis will explore the potential of policies which ensure food security and alleviate poverty to prevent social and economic conflict. In addition the project will conduct a best practice analysis of food security policies to provide lessons learned for both respective countries.

The respective food security and poverty alleviation programmes identified for this project are the Bolsa Familia Project in Brazil and the Mid Day Meal Schemes (MDMs) and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in India. The Bolsa Familia, which has been hailed as a success by international indicators, is an example of a "conditional cash transfer" programme that provides poor families financial aid on the condition that children attend school and undergo vaccination programmes.