As part of IFPRI Egypt Seminar Series in partnership with FEPS - Cairo University

1. 2017 Global Food Policy
Report and MENA Region
Hala Abou-Ali
habouali@feps.edu.eg
FEPS-IFPRI Seminar
24 May 2017

2. Outline
• Take home messages
• MENA region / Arab Countries and the report
• Way forward

3. Take Home Messages (1/3)
Food security and Nutrition
• National food security strategies, should be integrated into urban development
strategies.
• Integrating nutrition education into social safety net programs can boost nutritional
outcomes. (Takaful and Karama)
• Policies to help rural small-scale farmers increase productivity and move up to
commercially oriented systems or to participate in nonfarm economic activities are
important.
• Investments in rural areas and less-favored areas can provide win-win outcomes for
both the rural and urban poor.
• Revision of regulations, laws and legislation
• Promoting “reformulation” of processed foods
• Foods available in schools
• Policy action specific to soft drinks

4. Take Home Messages (2/3)
Agriculture value chain
• As developing countries’ economies grow and urbanization takes off, greater
attention on the part of policy makers to the post-farmgate segment of staple-
food value chains is required.
• Thus, emphasis should be placed on enabling the private sector’s involvement
and providing incentives for the sector to support national food security
objectives.
• The indirect role of the governments is important in enabling and at times
providing incentives for the food system transformation.
• As food and agricultural markets develop, quality and food safety standards will
become increasingly important in these growing domestic markets of developing
countries. (Importance of FDAs)

5. Take Home Messages (3/3)
 Informal Food Markets
They are..
• the main source of food for many of the urban poor;
• improves food affordability through both incomes and prices;
• Violent crackdowns on the sector can have serious consequences for urban food security.
To do…
• upgrade or build new marketplaces
• more focus on education and training to improve hygienic behavior and develop best
practices
• Participatory engagement of street vendors and marketers in reforming anachronistic
legislation

6. MENA Region/Arab Countries and the Report (1/2)
• Conflict and security
• Climate change
• Wave of legislative reform to accommodate international conventions
is an important challenge to food security

7. MENA Region/Arab Countries and the Report (2/2)
• Legal frameworks, related to the issue of seed and to rules that
concern access to seed.
• The concept of ‘intellectual property’ and its application to plant
varieties is a new area of law for many developing countries.
• Support or oppose the right to food and other human rights;
whether they are suitable for the agricultural conditions in developing
countries ; and the importance of formal versus farmer-managed
seed systems.

8. Risk
Uncertainty
Monopoly
Seeds
Trade

9. Way Forward (1/3)
Demographic
dynamics and trends
Food diet trends Land availability
Agriculture
production
Climate Change Water Scarcity
Sustainable Safety
Nets given
opportunity cost of
public funds

10. Way Forward (2/3)
• A wide range of policy instruments is available for dealing with food
security, and countries may not have adopted the most efficient ones
at the present time.
• What potential policies that could be implemented on the country level?
• How can we move into a regional integration context suggesting regional
based policies?
• How can MENA countries and the European Union, as neighboring regions,
revive and strengthen their longstanding links?

11. Way Forward (3/3)
• Several aspects can be targeted by policies:
• Trends in food diets and the underlying demographic trends;
• Food waste and losses (post-crop in developing countries, or during the distribution or
processing stages in developed countries);
• Technical progress in agriculture (improving crop yields) in a context of climate change.
• Empirical comparative studies in developing countries that have/haven’t
implemented UPOV 91 is needed to better understand:
• human rights to food impact assessments;
• Farmers’ Rights; and
• agricultural biodiversity.
• How monopolistic behavior affect the agricultural value chain?

12. Thank you