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	Bamako-Mali: A need for an improvement in urban food security by Awa Mangie Achu Samba Pambazuka News & agencies African Union   Awa Mangie Achu Samba outlines a policy for urban food security in Bamako, Mali, based on participatory governance, community gardens, and improved agricultural technology.   Food insecurity has been in the lamp light for decades. About 1.02 billion people suffer from food insecurity in the world with about 800 million living in Africa (FAO, 2009).   According to the World Food Summit organized in Rome in 1996,[…] food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (UN, 1996).   The urgency and importance of all humans having a right to food security was spelled out by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights stating that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food..."   Inhabitants of Bamako, Mali do not yet benefit from these rights. Mali is amongst the one of the poorest countries in the world. With a population estimated at about 1, 8 million people, Bamako the largest city and capital of Mali and it is currently believed to be the fastest growing city in Africa (Zijlma, 2010).   Bamako is situated on the Niger River floodplain; the city is relatively flat with a hot and humid Sahelian climate which is very hot on average all year round (N''Djim & Doumbia, 1998). Average temperatures each month are estimated to be over 30 degrees Celsius, with the hottest month being May and the rainiest months between July and September (N''Djim & Doumbia, 1998).   About sixty percent of its population lives in poverty; the main source of livelihood is agriculture with main agricultural products being cotton, millet, rice, corn, vegetables, groundnuts, cattle, sheep, and goats (Zalle, Meite, & Konate, 2005). According to the Food and Agricultural Organization, over eighty percent of dietary energy consumption is from cereals, twenty eight percent of Malians are undernourished. Malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies are common; in 1996 thirty three percent of children suffered from stunting and 25% from wasting.   The UN has projected that the population of Mali could increase by forty nine percent between 1996 and 2015, which will further strain already deficient resources (USAID, 2008).   Food insecurity has been on the increase with several factors causing this. This paper then looks at the cause of urban food insecurity in Bamako, it also brings out some elements of what is being done and what needs to be done to curb this trend.   According to the United Nations World Food Program, Mali has exhibited strong developmental potential in the educational, agricultural and health sectors. While many of its neighbouring countries have experienced political turmoil, the political stability allowed the Government to develop strong national policies and programmes such as the ALO (Agricultural Law of Orientation), the Rice Initiative, an upcoming national school feeding programme, and a national protocol on fighting malnutrition (UNWFP, 2009).   These initiatives are not adequate enough to end the wide spread of food insecurity in Mali on the whole and Bamako in particular. Several factors account for this.   Climate variation   Mali on the whole is located on the southern edge of the Sahara desert. Urban agriculture is faced with extreme dry conditions and extensive climate variability - features impacting food security greatly. Butt et al, 2004 in their article “The economic and food security implications of climate change in Mali”, reported that climate change projections from the Hadley Center Coupled climate Model (HADCM) and Canadian Global Coupled Model (CGCM), suggest that by year 2030, Malian average temperatures may increase by 1 degree centigrade to 2.75 degrees centigrade, with precipitation declining slightly… this climate change would likely impact agricultural yields negatively as it would cause reduced soil moisture, faster depletion of soil organic matter, pre-mature drying of grain, and increased heat-stress. Changes in yields, all other things held constant, would lessen food production and consumption, worsening food security conditions.   It is believed that extreme meteorological events, such as spells of high temperature, heavy storms, or droughts, disrupt crop production. Temperature change, drought, floods, loss of land and desertification are all elements impacting agriculture.   Climate change will modify rainfall, evaporation, runoff, and soil moisture storage. Changes in total seasonal precipitation or in its pattern of variability are both important. The occurrence of moisture stress during flowering, pollination, and grain-filling is harmful to most crops and particularly so to corn, soybeans, and wheat.   Increased evaporation from the soil and accelerated transpiration in the plants themselves will cause moisture stress (Rosenzweig, 1995).   According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Niger River also is an important source of fish, providing food for riverside communities; the surplus--smoked, salted, and dried--is exported. Due to drought and diversion of river water for agriculture, fish production has steadily declined since the early 1980s (USAID, 2010).   * Visit the link below for more details. 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	Middle East: Focus on domestic workers’ rights by IRIN / International Labour Organization   Nov 2010 (IRIN)   The UN International Labour Organization (ILO) is encouraging the drafting of labour legislation to provide foreign domestic workers (FDWs) in the Middle East with legal protection.   Arab trade unions agreed on a statement of principles, including the right to decent wages and union representation for FDWs, after meeting in Beirut, Lebanon, early in November.   “This was an important landmark,” Simel Esim, a gender expert at the ILO in Beirut, told IRIN. “There are some bylaws, decrees and standard unified contracts out there, but specific labour legislation for domestic workers that extends legal protection in a systematic and comprehensive manner is needed.”   Esim said the growing number of FDWs, and the recent high-profile cases of abuse that had led some governments to ban their citizens from seeking domestic work in the Middle East, had focused attention on the issue.   “The phenomenon [FDW] has taken off in recent years as family networks are taking on workers to help with social care, such as caring for elderly parents, people with disabilities and children,” said Esim. “But because domestic labour is in the home it has been largely unseen, or viewed as a private matter.”   In 2009 Lebanon"s Ministry of Labour drew up a standard unified contract for domestic workers, stipulating a maximum 10-hour workday and the right to six days of annual leave, among other conditions. In March 2010 Syria introduced a law specifying that only employment agencies registered with the government could operate. Only Jordan has comprehensive labour legislation covering FDWs.   Apart from regional responses, a proposed ILO Convention to cover domestic workers worldwide is due to be debated in June 2011.   Domestic labour is used worldwide but is especially widespread in the Middle East, where the ILO estimates there are 22 million FDWs, a third of whom are women. FDWs originate mainly from Asian and African countries, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Ethiopia.   A Human Rights Watch report in April 2010 said FDWs in the region faced a wide range of abuses. Many experienced poor working conditions, such as needing permission to leave the house, a lack of leave days, having their passports taken away and, in some cases, physical and emotional abuse. The report also noted that access to justice was limited.   Experts said the recruitment system – known as kafala – in which an employing family sponsors the domestic worker, was the first issue that should be tackled.   “The current system makes the worker entirely dependent on the employer, increasing the vulnerability of the worker to labour abuses,” said Esim. “The live-in arrangement for domestic workers is a challenge to monitoring what is going on in the workplace, often the employer"s home.”   Advocacy for the rights of domestic workers has been weak, and the fact that many came from abroad posed a further challenge because they often did not have a national representative body and were not proficient in the language of the receiving country.   “Today, temporary and precarious work is becoming more common, and this especially hurts women and migrant workers,” said Özen Eren, a labour expert at Texas Tech University in the US. “In a globalized world, political will to address the problems is often missing.”   The ILO is also working with governments on other initiatives, including awareness literature, hotlines for FDWs, communal housing that would offer domestic workers an alternative to living in the employer’s home, and government bodies rather than private agencies to manage recruitment.   “Governments, trade unions, and other civil society organizations in both the countries of origin and destination need to be more engaged,” said Esim.   “Private employment agencies are making a profit out of workers who are coming to the region to take care of the social care needs of households here. These … needs should be a part of social policies and programmes of the countries’ governments, rather than being left to private households.” Visit the related web page
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