Yemen is one of the most food insecure countries in the world. In 2009 31.5% of Yemenis were food insecure, and by 2011 that number went up to just under 45 percent. According to the latest figures from a recent tripartite report on food security, food insecurity over the past three years in Yemen has fallen to around 40 percent, of whom 46% are severely food insecure.
Rural food insecurity is more than twice the food insecurity in urban counterparts and female headed households are more food insecure than their male headed counterparts. Second worst globally, child stunting was still over 41% in 2014, but down from 46% in 2011. Rural malnutrition is higher than urban in 2014 and stunting amongst boys is higher than amongst girls.
Wanting to tackle food insecurity in Yemen, the National Food Security Strategy (NFSS) was developed in 2010 through the joint efforts and collaborations of the Government of Yemen (GoY). Representing the GoY were the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (MoPIC), the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, the Ministry of Fish Wealth, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Health and Population and the Ministry of Social Affairs and labor as well as several other authorities and development funds. International partners were also involved as well as several donor agencies and international development organizations. IFPRI technically led the overall exercise and produced supporting evidence-based research to inform the process. Shortly thereafter, however, the NFSS was discontinued after the 2011 revolution and the ensuing political transitions.
The NFSS was reactivated in the year 2013 in a national workshop under the auspices of H.E. the Prime Minister of Yemen. In this workshop it was agreed that the major findings of the Strategy were still valid despite the time lapse since it was approved in 2010. Representatives of the line ministries and other local agencies, as well as donor agencies that had previously been involved in drawing up the NFSS, elaborated on the major findings of the strategy and came out with a comprehensive list of priority interventions covering all the major sectors of the economy.
These priority interventions were further discussed in another workshop held in mid-2014 in Sanaa. There, representatives of the involved line ministries and major subsectors discussed priority interventions that were then translated into priority food security and nutrition projects.The priority projects (ongoing and new) in turn were discussed and validated in the line ministries and then assigned proposed budgets. The comprehensive list of priority projects together with the analysis of costs estimates is scheduled to be submitted to the National Food Security Council Headed by H.E. the Prime Minister for approval.The line ministries will continue implementing the ongoing projects in food security and will submit the list of new projects to different donors for possible funding.
Now that the NFSS is being translated from a theoretical document into a national workplan it will be critical to be able to monitor its performance. Yemen Spatial, a tool that allows this crucial monitoring process, is organized following a framework whose main objective is to support, monitor and evaluate the implementation of the NFSS. The vision behind the NFSS is that all the Yemeni people have access to sufficient and nutritious food at all times to live an active and healthy life—i.e., all people are food secure. The plan aims to realize food security through a decisive comprehensive and cross-sectoral approach. The two strategic objectives against which NFSS implementation will be judged are, reducing both severe food insecurity and chronic malnutrition. Reducing food insecurity in Yemen will entail cutting calorie deficiency by 30 percent by 2020, and reducing calorie deficiency to 10 percent of the population by 2025. In order to reduce chronic malnutrition, child stunting needs to fall by 7 percentage points by 2020 and then by at least 12 percentage points by 2025.
The road is steep, however, with the correct vision and the appropriate tools and strong partnerships and commitment, reducing food insecurity in Yemen can follow a well chartered path drawn by the country’s NFSS.
Photo Credit: IFPRI
