Food security and sustainable development in southern Africa

In the search for a Global Deal at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, which sought to address global economic relationships between the North and the South, a crucial area of debate was food security. Despite impressive developments around food growth in recent decades, resulting in enough food to meet the basic needs of every person in the world, not everyone is food-secure, as exemplified by the acute food shortages in the southern African region during 2002 and 2003. There are many causes of food insecurity, among them macro and micro issues, the roots of which are essentially internal or indirectly caused by relationships with other countries. Examples are political instability, poor economic governance, poverty and a lack of sustainable household income. The issue of HIV/AIDS has added another critical dimension to the search for food security. Strategies for enhancing income diversification and the income-generating capacity of vulnerable groups in urban and rural areas should be a major priority for both the developing and developed world, coupled with genuine commitment to international trade reforms.