Food security in relation to health status

In 2003, 3 to 5% of the population was undernourished in nine CWANA countries, 6 to 10% in six, 23 to 37% in five; in Tajikistan, 61% of the population was undernourished (FAO, 2006d).

Infant birth weight provides an indicator of nutritional status. The percentage of low birth weight infants varies in CWANA. It ranges from less than 10% in Algeria, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan and United Arab Emirates, 15 to 20% in Sudan and Afghanistan, to 25% in Pakistan. High infant mortality rates of 92 to 154 per 1000 live births are recorded in Mauritania and Afghanistan. These rates are almost twice the average world rate, 57 per 1000 live births. Most of the remaining CWANA countries had values lower than the world average.

Among countries of the region and excluding Afghanistan and Iraq, for which data are tenuous, only Tajikistan and Yemen recorded very high food insecurity in 2001- 2003. About 61% of the population of Tajikistan suffered undernourishment and more than 33% of the Yemeni population was chronically undernourished. Pakistan, Sudan and Uzbekistan face serious food insecurity; the prevalence of undernourishment is about 25% in each of the three countries. Ten CWANA countries, such as Jordan and Morocco, show an increase in both prevalence and in absolute number of undernourished people between the baseline period and 2001-2003. The most alarming figures are in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, where the proportion of the undernourished has increased sevenfold and the number increased more than fourfold.

On the other hand, 12 other CWANA countries, such as Egypt and Syria, succeeded in reducing the prevalence of the undernourished in 2001-2003 compared with the baseline period. However, only four countries are on track toward achieving the Millennium Development Goal target. The most successful were Kyrgyzstan and Kuwait. Both started from a relatively high prevalence of hunger, but have cut the number of undernourished by at least two-thirds. In 1993-1995, Armenia had the highest prevalence of undernourishment (52%) in the region. It halved its number of hungry people, but at 29% the prevalence remains disturbingly high.

The lowest dietary energy supplies occur in countries with the lowest GDP per capita, such as Armenia, Pakistan, Sudan, Tajikistan and Yemen (FAO, 2006c). Capital stock in agriculture per worker is highly correlated to the agricultural value added per worker according to nourishment (Figure 1-3). It means that the value added per worker increases as the capital stock per worker increases. Countries where the percentage of undernourishment is more than 35% have the lowest value added per agricultural worker and the lowest capital stock per worker. Capital stock per worker and value added per worker are appropriate for assessing undernourishment.

1.3 Status of Agriculture

The proportion of arable land in CWANA is less than the world average and varies considerably among countries. Most, 62%, of the arable lands in CWANA are in Iran, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Pakistan, Sudan and Turkey. With Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia

and Uzbekistan, these countries have over 90% of the arable CWANA land. The remaining 18 countries have 10% of the arable land of the whole region.

1.3.1 Agricultural livelihood strategies

1.3.1.1 Production systems

A major characteristic of agriculture in CWANA is that it combines traditional subsistence farming with large-scale agrobusinesses. Traditional farming systems rely on labor, use few chemicals and pesticides, and use local landraces. Most traditional farming systems can be considered organic farming. However, production from of traditional systems is low compared with large-scale farming. Some small initiatives in Lebanon, Palestine and Tunisia focus on promoting organic farming, but labeling, certification and marketing need further development. In the future, demand for organic farm products is expected to increase. This might open a new window of opportunity for such products if they have proper labeling, certification and marketing. Indigenous farming relies on mixed systems at a small scale. The second farming system relies on big investment and monocropping. Corporate business farming is expanding at the expense of the small-scale family farm system. It is accompanied by a shift from traditional farming into business farming and uses intensive cropping and agrochemicals. This shift results in a loss of indigenous knowledge and biodiversity and increases water pollution, land degradation and loss of livelihood.

Most CWANA people live in hyperarid to semiarid zones. Population densities are generally less than 1 per km2 in the hyperarid zone, except in Egypt, less than 5 per km2 in the arid zone and about 10 per km2 in the semiarid zone. About 72% of the population depend on agriculture, 7% on livestock and 21% on the urban areas for their livelihood. Rural people living in CWANA can be roughly classified into nomadic, seminomadic, transhumant and sedentary populations. Nomadic people are found in pastoral groups, which depend on livestock for subsistence and, whenever possible, farming as a supplement. Following the irregular rainfall, they migrate in search of pasture and water for their animals. Seminomadic people are also found in pastoral groups, which depend largely on livestock and agricultural cultivation at a base camp, where they return for varying periods. Transhumant people combine farming and livestock production during favorable seasons, but might migrate seasonally along regular routes when forage for grazing diminishes. Sedentary farmers practice rainfed or irrigated agriculture.

Land use is often a form of agroforestry or agrosilvopastoralism, as in western Sudan where the gum arabic tree, Acacia senegal, is cultivated along with sorghum or millet and raising small ruminants. Often, there is little distinction between a farmer and a pastoralist. People living in drylands take into account the local limitations and adapt to suitable and feasible land use in seeking a livelihood. However, the delicate balance achieved through traditional farming and livestock production is easily upset; this is shown by a general deterioration of grazing lands in drylands. A main cause of this deterioration-often referred to as desertification in its most severe form-is the overpopulation of