THRIVE: Key Facts

Poverty

• There are 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty – that’s 20% of the world’s population earning less than $1.25 per day.¹
• Over a 25-year period (1980 – 2005), the poverty rate in East Asia fell from nearly 60% to under 20%.
• The overall poverty rate in Africa declined between 1990 and 2005 by just 7%, from 58 to 51%.
• Since 1990, the the poverty rate has declined by 1/3 in 17 African countries.²
• Sixteen African countries are on track to cut poverty in half by 2015: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, South Africa, Swaziland, and Uganda.³

Malnutrition and hunger

• Nearly 1 billion people in the world do not have enough food to eat.⁴
• Countries lose 2-3 percent of their GDP because of undernutrition.
• Malnutrition is an underlying cause of 1 in 3 child deaths.
• 7.6 million children under the age of 5 die each year.
• 29% of children in the developing world are stunted.⁵
• 38% of children in sub-Saharan Africa are stunted.

ONE’s proposal

• 30 low-income countries have country investment plans (CIPs) for agriculture, of those, 18 have endorsed the UN’s Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement.
• These 30 countries are home to 27% of the 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty and 22 of these are African countries that are home to 90% of the poorest people in sub-Saharan Africa.
• The 18 SUN countries in ONE’s priority countries are home to 24% of the world’s stunted children.
• If funded by 2015, these 30 country investment plans for agriculture could lift 50 million people out of poverty – 31million of who reside in Africa.
• If donors, governments and the private sector manage to reach 100 million young children in these 18 countries with micronutrients, nutrition education, and supplementary feeding, we could improve their lives and save 15 million from stunting – and 12 million in Africa alone.
• The 30 low-income countries with country investment plans are: Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia [SUN countries in bold].

Funding ONE’s proposal

• National governments have only identified 50% of the funds required to implement their country investment plans, leaving a gap of $27 billion that needs to be filled by 2015.
• To reach 100 million children in these 18 SUN countries, $6.9 billion will need to be mobilized by 2015.
• The food industry operating in Africa could fortify and iodize their food products and salt, contributing 7% of needed resources.
• If L’Aquila donors kept funding flat in these countries, but aligned their agriculture investments with country investment plans, these results would become reality.⁶

Agriculture

• In Africa, nearly 2/3 of people are involved in agriculture, which accounts for around 1/3 of GDP 
• Agricultural growth is 2-4 times as effective at reducing poverty as growth in other sectors⁷
• Helping women farmers as much as men could lead to a 15% decrease in hunger globally⁸
• Every dollar of growth from agricultural products sold outside the local area in poor African countries leads to a second dollar of local rural growth from additional local spending on services, local manufactures, construction materials, and prepared foods. ⁹
• Due to a combination of smart policies and aid, increased trade, and investments in agriculture, 87% of people in the world today have enough food to eat and lead healthy lives – up from just 76% in 1970.¹⁰
• The public and private investments in research, irrigation, infrastructure and extension that underpinned the Green Revolution increased incomes and access to food for an estimated 1 billion people.¹¹
• Without investments in agriculture, an estimated 30 million children would have died in poor countries between 1970 and 1990.¹²

Sustainable Agriculture

• Since 2000, around 400,000 smallholder farmers in southern Africa (Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe) have doubled their crop yields by planting trees that improve soil in their fields.¹³
• Sustainable agriculture methods show an average yield increase of 79 percent over conventional methods, and yields can more than double over a period of 3–10 years.¹⁴
• Agriculture consumes on average 70% of the total fresh water used globally.¹⁵
• For every government dollar spent on water management, a country can expect 8 dollars back in averted costs and increases in productivity.¹⁶

Food prices

• According to the World Bank, 44 million were pushed into poverty between June 2010 and April 2011 by rising food prices.
• The World Bank also estimates that a 10% increase in the food price index could lead to 10 million more people falling into poverty, while a 30% increase could lead to an increase of 34 million people.
• People in developing countries spend on average 60 – 80% of their incomes on food, while in the US and Europe, people spend around 10-15%.

Donor funding for agriculture

• As of July 2011, donors had disbursed only 22% of their promised L’Aquila funding.
• International aid dedicated to investment in agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa fell by 72 per cent between 1988 and 2003.

National government spending on agriculture

• Total domestic spending in the African agricultural sector remained stable at around $4 billion in both 1980 and 1990, compared to domestic spending in Asia that exceeded $70 billion in 1980 and rose to $100 billion in 1990.
• Average African national government expenditure on agriculture from 2003 to 2009 was 6.4% of their budgets – roughly one-third of the percentage spent by many Asian countries during the Green Revolution.
• Seven countries spent over 10% of their national budgets on agriculture from 2003 to 2009: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Guinea, Malawi, Mali, Niger, and Senegal.¹⁷

GAFSP¹⁸

• The total amount pledged by donors to the GAFSP as of the end of 2011 is US$1.1 billion. Of that, donors pledged $929m to the public window and $175m to the private sector window). 
• Resources received from donors as of December 31, 2011 amounted to US$612 million, representing 55% of the total pledge. Of that, donors contributed $562m to the public window and $50m to the private sector window).
• GAFSP donors include Canada, Spain, Australia, the United States, the Netherlands, Korea, Ireland, the Gates Foundation and one undisclosed donor.
• GAFSP grants have been made to 12 countries, all with Country Investment Plans for agriculture: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Haiti, Liberia, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tajikistan, and Togo.

Food insecurity in the Sahel

• 15 million people in the Sahel region face food insecurity in 2012, and, as of February 2012, 8 million are in need of humanitarian assistance.¹⁹
• The most affected Sahelian countries include Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.²⁰
• Over 1 million children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, which means they face a much-heightened risk of starvation and disease.²¹
• While regional production is above average, agricultural and livestock production in the poorest areas decreased by 50% from last year, while the price of basic foods increased by around 75% for corn and 100% for dry cereal.²²
• The upsurge in fighting in northern Mali which has caused massive displacement and caused nearly 70,000 people to flee as refugees to neighbouring countries.²³
• There is no joint Sahelian UN appeal for humanitarian assistance – each country’s appeal is separate.

Niger in particular

• Niger has the highest concentration of food insecurity, with over 5.4 million people suffering from food insecurity.²⁴
• As of April 1, 2012, donors have funded $103m, or 45%, of Niger’s humanitarian appeal of $229 million.²⁵
• By funding Niger’s country investment plan for Africa, 2 million people could be lifted out of poverty – nearly 13% of the population.²⁶

Notes

Unless otherwise indicated: ONE, Food Farming Future: Breaking the Cycle of Malnutrition and Poverty (Washington: ONE, 2012).