From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec

4 RISK AND VULNERABILITY HUNGER AND FAMINEexample by reforesting land or building irrigation canals to poor andmarginalised villages. The bill represents a triumph of public action,and is discussed in more detail in the case study on page 217.Some African governments are following India’s example in fundingjob and social protection programmes. Governments have also recognisedthe benefits of involving civil society and international agenciesin anticipating and dealing with food emergencies. VulnerabilityAssessment Committees (VACs) in Southern Africa, made up ofgovernments, UN agencies, and NGOs, monitor harvests, markets,and incomes to provide early warnings of impending problems. Theassessment from the Malawi VAC for the 2005 food crisis resulted intimely donor and government intervention. When hunger strikes, thereflex response in rich countries is often to send food. But as Part 5explains, food aid often arrives too late, in the wrong form, or stiflesthe recovery of local agriculture. As noted above, except where marketsare not functioning, sending cash for the purchase of locally producedfood is a much better option.People’s capabilities can be strengthened during and immediatelyafter food emergencies, for example by supporting seed fairs toencourage the planting of traditional crops best suited to the environment,in order to kick-start local food production. Oxfam has foundthat giving farmers vouchers to buy seeds at fairs offers them greaterchoice than simply handing out seed packages. Oxfam held 37 seedfairs in partnership with local organisations in Masvingo andMidlands provinces in Zimbabwe in 2004–05, bringing togetherproducers, seed merchants, extension agents, and local people, whowere given vouchers to pay for their own choice of seed.At each fair, hundreds of local farmers crowded in to see what wason offer. The rich diversity of 21 crops and 51 varieties includedgroundnuts,sorghum,cowpeas,maize,soybeans,sesame,rice,sunflower,and pearl millet, as well as a range of vegetable seeds, some of whichwere previously threatened with extinction. Many of these traditionalcrops are cheaper and more tolerant of marginal conditions thanhigh-yielding varieties. Some 23,000 households benefited directlythrough buying seeds.When people are in danger of starving, talk of rights and citizenshipmay seem like a luxury. Nothing could be further from the truth.229