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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9788193759134 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | VIJ Books |
| Publication date: | 09/30/2018 |
| Pages: | 286 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.81(d) |
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
FOOD SECURITY – BACKGROUND AND FUTURE CHALLENGES
After the end of Cold War, the concept of international security has undergone a change. Earlier, states used to focus on military threats emanating outside their territorial boundaries. In the post 1991 security concept, factors other than military are also being seen as threats to national security. Food, water, energy scarcity and climate change too pose threats for nations across the world. These threats are interlinked, have a transnational character due to globalisation and nations need to work out strategies together to deal with them. However, since every nation is trying to protect its own population against such threats, this also leads to resource competition where the poor nations are marginalised while the powerful and wealthy have an advantage. Due to global food crisis which took place in 2007-08, food security has emerged as a foremost challenge that nations face amid increasing resource competition and population. The world population is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050 and to feed these people, food production should increase by 50 percent. However, climate change is likely to play spoilsport and could decrease crop yields by 25 percent (World Bank 2015). Achieving this challenge is going to be very tough if we have a look at the history. At the World Food Summit in 1996, the signatory nations had resolved that they would halve the number of hungry people by 2015 from the 1990-92 level. Hence, the goal was to reduce the number of hungry people to 497 million by 2015 (the number stood at 994 million in 1990).
However, this target was not be met as 805 million people were undernourished in 2014 (World Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics 2015) while in 2016, the number rose to 815 million. In 2009, following the global food and economic crisis, the number of undernourished people had crossed one billion for the first time in human history, as shown in the figure 1.1. As the figure shows, while the number of undernourished people has increased in past, there has been considerable decrease in flow of food aid and number of hungry people fed by organisations like World Food Program. This shows the struggle between increasing population and food resources. The poor are most vulnerable sections in case food prices rise. Figure 1.2 shows the impact of 10 percent increase in food prices on the rural and urban households. In almost all the cases, the poorest 20 percent are the worst hit by a food price rise.
Former Executive Director of UN World Food Programme, Josette Sheeran in 2008 had referred to hunger as a 'silent tsunami'. She said that there are 250,000 deaths due to hunger in every ten days and it is equivalent to death toll caused by Asian tsunami in 2004 (World Food Program 2008). The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said that there is need to increase food production else there will be social unrest and conflict in future. The predictions for increase in food demand in future have come at a time when the investment in agriculture research is decreasing in the world (Russia Today, March 10 2014). According to Fred Davies of US Agency for International Development (USAID), food related conflict could start by 2050 as the technical advancements that would increase food production are unlikely to reach the poor and small farmers, who need them the most (Wall 2014).
Tajikistan is a Central Asian country that faces problems to its food security. It is landlocked and shares borders with Afghanistan in south, China in east, Kyrgyzstan in north and Uzbekistan in north-west (CIA World Factbook Website), as shown in map 1.1.
Tajikistan faces a number of challenges in its pursuit for ensuring food security of its citizens. Mountains dominate Tajikistan's geography and form 93 percent of its terrain, stretching from west to east (Baransky 1956). Only 7 percent of the total available land is arable in Tajikistan, which limits its agrarian potential and food production. Mountainous terrain makes Tajikistan one of the least accessible countries in the world, facing problems in communication, transport, industry and agriculture (World Bank Country Partnership Strategy 20102013). In 2016, 30 percent of Tajikistan's population was suffering from poverty which hinders their access to food. Present day territory of Tajikistan came under the Tsarist Russian rule during second half of the 19 century. Tsarist Russia replaced grain cultivation by cotton cultivation in Tajikistan and foodstuffs were supplied to Tajikistan from Moscow. These policies were continued by Soviet authorities and Tajikistan never attained food self-sufficiency under Soviet Union. After it gained independence, Tajikistan suffered a civil war which decreased food production in the country. Hunger and starvation prevailed and the international community sent food aid to Tajikistan in order to avert a major humanitarian crisis. Tajikistan still lacks food self-sufficiency and imports around 50 percent of its food, which exposes it to fluctuations in international grain market. Factors like climate change and population growth could worsen Tajikistan's food problems in future if they are not sustainably handled.
Food security is one of the main challenges faced by Tajikistan and the government under President Emomali Rahmon has declared it as one of the three strategic goals Tajikistan would try to achieve in future. The other two goals are energy security and breaking the communication deadlock faced by Tajikistan. The food security in Tajikistan has been mainly dealt with 'economic' focus in studies conducted till now while the political factors have received less attention. There is lack of a comprehensive study that puts the food security problem of Tajikistan in historical perspective and also deals with the relationship between nature of state and food crisis in Tajikistan. This book deals with issue of food security in Tajikistan keeping its focus on the role of state in ensuring food for its citizens. Eradicating hunger has been accepted as the primary function of a state. The role of state is more prominent in ensuring availability and access to food and state can intervene directly as well as indirectly to achieve food security (Vyas 2000). Investing in agricultural research and development, land reforms and infrastructure development have indirect but significant impact on food security in a state. So, this book aims to study the role and response of state to food problems in Tajikistan. The cotton-monoculture has been widely cited as one of the reasons for food problems in Tajikistan. This work will look into the political and social factors that are behind the continuation of this trend in Tajikistan. In the post-Arab Spring world, the concept of food security has again acquired significance, especially for 'weak' states like Tajikistan. Food problem in Tajikistan is not a stand-alone challenge and this book will also focus on the food-water-energy nexus that gets severe during winter. It also aims to study institutional framework available in Tajikistan for ensuring food security. Another highlight of the book is it also explores links between food security and political stability in Tajikistan. There have been examples when political instability led to food shortages in Tajikistan but there has been no study which explores possibility of political instability in Tajikistan triggered by food insecurity. This study deals with this aspect and brings out the potential outcome of food insecurity for political stability in Tajikistan. It also analyses role of international community in alleviating Tajikistan's food security and how different donors and international non-government organisations are providing Tajikistan financial and technical resources to deal with future challenges to food security.
The book has been divided into six chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the theme.
Chapter 2 is titled 'Food Security: A Theoretical Framework'. This chapter situates food security in international security studies. It also deals with history and meaning of food security as a concept. The chapter also explores linkages between food security and political stability.
Chapter 3 is titled 'Agriculture and Food Security Situation in Soviet Tajikistan'. The chapter starts with the reasons behind the conquest of Central Asia by Tsarist Russia in second half of the 19 century. It also highlights political, economic and social aspects of emirate of Bukhara as most of the present day Tajikistan's territory was part of the emirate. The impact of First World War and Russian revolution on Bukhara and its agriculture has also been brought out. The struggle between Basmachis and the Soviet Union has been analysed and their efforts to use food as a strategic weapon are also highlighted. Other themes that are discussed in this chapter include – the social, economic and political impact of Stalin's collectivisation drive on Tajikistan, agriculture situation in Soviet Union during the Second World War, nature of uneven economic development in Soviet Union and its impact on Tajikistan, the relationship between demographic changes and agriculture in Tajikistan and impact of Gorbachev's political and economic reforms on Tajikistan's economy, society and food security.
Chapter 4 is titled 'State Response to Food Security Problem in Post-Soviet Period'. This chapter starts with the socioeconomic and political milieu in Tajikistan after the breakup of Soviet Union. It briefly analyses reasons for civil war in the country and also describes impact of the war on Tajik economy and food production. State response to food insecurity has been analyzed by assessing land reforms in Tajikistan. The institutional and legal framework in Tajikistan available for food security is also included in this section. Impacts of food insecurity on society in terms of migration, health and gender issues and demographic changes are also detailed. Other important issues discussed in this chapter include – impact of 'transitional nature' of state on food security in Tajikistan and various challenges to Tajikistan' food security like natural disasters, environmental degradation, climate change, transport problems and cotton-grain dilemma faced by Tajik farmers have been analysed. Lastly, this chapter explores the linkages between food security and political stability in Tajikistan.
Chapter 5 is titled 'International Response to Food Security in Tajikistan'. It deals with the role of international financial institutions like World Bank and Asian Development Bank. Next, role of different UN agencies like United Nations Development Program in alleviating Tajikistan's food security is discussed. Role of international non-government organisations like Mercy Corps and Welthungerhilfe or German Agro Action has been discussed as well in this chapter. The foreign aid to Tajikistan from different countries and mechanisms to ensure aid coordination and their drawbacks have been analysed as well.
Chapter 6 concludes major findings brought out in the book.
CHAPTER 2FOOD SECURITY: A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
INTRODUCTION
State has played a central role in providing food security to its citizens, as control and usage of land has always been a political phenomenon. There has always been a struggle in human societies to ensure that all people have enough food for living a healthy life. Food security as a concept started developing only during 1970s; however, the issue has been finding importance in international politics since the beginning of 20 century. There has been revival of interest and research on food security after 2007-08, when increasing food prices led to food riots in many countries. Food prices were also one of the grievances that led to the Arab Spring that started in 2010 with revolution in Tunisia. In some cases, there were serious political consequences. The government in Madagascar was overthrown by a coup in 2009 as it was negotiating to lease big amount of arable land to a South Korean firm (Brinkman and Hendrix 2010). Food security forms an integral part of human security in international security studies. Before delving into the concept of food security, let us see how it fits in international security studies.
'WIDENING' SECURITY PARADIGM AND HUMAN SECURITY IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
The security paradigm in international relations during the Cold war mainly relied on traditional notion of security, meaning safeguarding the territory and sovereignty of a country by military means. Security was conceptualised mainly in military terms due to the nuclear arms race that characterised Cold War international politics (Buzan 1997). Since the world was divided in to two blocs led by Soviet Union and the US, traditional security dominated international affairs and there was very less space for widening this paradigm to include other types of security. It was only in 1981 that the scholars around the world started thinking about 'widening' the security agenda to include non-traditional security threats like climate change, food security, drug-trafficking and terrorism. One of the main advocates for widening the security paradigm, Barry Buzan has further stated that in 1980s, there was increased "securitisation" of two issues, namely environment and international economy. Earlier, these issues were treated as part of 'low politics' and were not given due consideration. This started the trend where importance given to military and political security issues, seen as high politics, started declining. It was due to the issues such as pollution, biodiversity and global warming that the environment was being securitised in international politics. There was relative decline of American economy and the process of liberalisation was increasing and along with economic rise of Europe and Japan, there was simultaneous securitisation of economy in international relations (Ibid). Apart from these concerns, there was growing focus on security of an individual as a unit opposed to the earlier approach which treated the state as a unit. Middle powers such as Japan and Canada emerged after the end of Cold War and propounded the concept of 'human security' in international relations. The Olof Palme Commission report had put forward the concept of common security way back in 1982. "Security is a process as much as a condition and one in which the participants are individuals and groups – popular and political opinion" wrote Olof Palme in his introduction to the report. One year later in 1983, Richard Ullman wrote about extended or redefined security. Historian E H Carr in 1945 had earlier argued for the individual to be main focus of security (Rothschild 2007).
Those who want to widen the international security paradigm argue that threats to the survival of a state may not be necessarily military in nature and could emanate from environment, social and economic aspects. These threats have been constantly highlighted by scholars in their attempts to redefine security arguing that these threats pose a threat to human well-being across nations. Since these threats are transnational in charter, the need is being expressed to widen the security paradigm to include them as threats to human survival (Tadjbakhsh and Chenoy 2007). Those who argue for widening the security paradigm include Ullman (1983), Ole Weaver (1993) and Barry Buzan (1983, 1991) among others. Attempts are being made to widen the international security paradigm dominated by realists and neo-realists to also include a number of potential threats which could be economic, environmental or even relate to cyber security. The neo-realist theoretical tenets that are being targeted by the 'wideners' are the ways in which security is conceptualised (state centric), how threats are understood to be mainly military in nature and the understanding of anarchy leading to security dilemma (Walt 1991). It is perhaps; little known that one of the prominent faces of classical realism, Hans J Morganthau had called food production as an aspect of national power in his book, Politics Among Nations. He said that states try to ensure better food production levels in order to survive under anarchy in international politics. He further added that a country which is food sufficient does not have to divert its resources for food imports and can keep their masses away from hunger during any war. He referred to regular food deficiency in a country as a sign of weakness in international relations which compel a state to behave as a weak state, since it has to import food from other countries (Morganthau quoted in Stedman 2014).
Human security represents an "ethical and methodological rupture" in the traditional security paradigm. The state assumes less importance than the individuals in human security. Since the main aim of the state is to protect its individuals, it should recognise threats to them beyond violence and military threats. It focuses on well-being and dignity of individuals. Human security does not explain threats but recognises new ones together with their interdependence. These threats include both, unstructured violence like the violence emanating from environmental scarcity or migration as well as violence inflicted by natural disasters, in addition to threats by states themselves (Tadjbakhsh and Chenoy 2007). In 1994, the concept of human security was underlined probably for the first time at international level by the United Nations Development Programme. It advocated safety of individuals from chronic threats as hunger and poverty. The 1994 UNDP Human Development Report recognizes threats to human security in seven areas: economic, food, health, environmental, personal, community and political. The report recognises food security as a part of human security and threats to food security like hunger, famine and poverty as direct threats to human security. It also adds that for too long, security has been shaped by disputes and conflicts among nations while states have been buying weapons to secure themselves. For most of the people around the world, insecurity arises from concerns for job, health, income and food which are emerging as human security concerns (United Nations Development Program 1994). Since human security is a multidimensional concept, it requires adoption of a pragmatic approach on part of state to protect its citizens (King and Murray quoted in Alkire 2003: 15).
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Food Security and Political Stability in Tajikistan"
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Copyright © 2018 Raj Kumar Sharma.
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