Extremely expensive

Last Thursday human rights organisation Lao Hamutuk told Union of Catholic Asian (UCA) News that the Government's budgeted US$12 million is out of line with the country's extreme poverty.

Among the provisions within the budget is an altar costing US$1 million.

A researcher at the Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis is concerned about the imbalance between the amount budgeted for the papal visit and the amount budgeted for food production.

Far from the millions the Government has set aside for the two-days Francis will spend in East Timor, it has earmarked only US$4.7 million to increase food production the researcher says.

Such a "really low" budget will contribute almost nothing to increasing East Timor's food production sustainability or to agricultural development.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation is concerned about the Southeast Asian country.

It says East Timor is facing major challenges in terms of food security.

In addition, the United Nations organisation says high inflation and weather changes have reduced grain production.

Right now, about 364,000 people (27 percent of the population) are currently suffering from acute food insecurity.

Families evicted

The location chosen for the papal Mass is also garnering criticism.

It will be held in Tasi-Tolu, an open area on the coast about eight kilometres from Dili - East Timor's capital city.

To create the space needed for the Mass, the Government has seized 23 hectares of land.

Human rights activists say the confiscation will displace the 185 families who live there.

A Land Network coordinator says the Government hasn't offered the families - who are all poor - any alternatives.

"They are still waiting for compensation" the coordinator told UCA News.

" The date of their eviction is constantly changing. The lives of these families are uncertain at the moment, they don't know where to go."

Catholic majority

Like the Philippines, East Timor has a Christian majority.

Almost 98 per cent of the population is Catholic.

About 700,000 of East Timor's 1.3 million population are expected to attend the papal Mass.

Source

• katholisch.de

"We must not forget that 735 million people are in a state of chronic hunger and more than 2 billion are in a state of food insecurity, while we produce enough to feed the entire planet."

So says French researcher Sébastien Abis, associated with the Institute of International and Strategic Relations.

He's also the author of the just published book Do we want to feed the world?: Crossing the food Everest in 2050 (Veut-on nourrir le monde?: Franchir l'Everest alimentaire en 2050) to understand what part of the future of the world is at stake.

"The equation is all the more delicate as we are in an unstable geopolitical context that also risks increasing the cost of food and restricting access to it," he told La Croix's Camille Richir in a recent interview.

La Croix: In recent weeks, we have witnessed significant protests from the agricultural sector. What does this say about the relationship between society and those who feed it?

Sébastien Abis: The issue of food has been neglected politically for too long and needs to regain strategic attention.

"Among the claims made by the agricultural world, few are completely new. They primarily reflect a lack of mutual trust. On one side, farmers feel that neither the state nor the European Union trusts them; at the same time, they themselves are wary of the ability of leaders and consumers to be consistent.

"The tensions are also related to the lack of consistency in policies.

"Agricultural time is a long time: when experimenting, it takes several months before results are seen and lessons can be learned, then tests must be conducted differently the following year.

"When new regulations are constantly introduced in the meantime, creating uncertainties, these standards are very poorly received.

But given the climate emergency and the rapid erosion of biodiversity, transitioning our food systems appears to be a necessity. Is a dialogue on the subject possible?

"The challenge will be to unite in order to change. While we are fortunate to be in a democracy, we struggle to accept disagreements and diversity of opinion.

"Those who defend the environment are accused of not believing in human development and the economy. And those who emphasise the issue of production and food security are labeled as enemies of the environment.

"would benefit from bringing these worlds together. We have lost a lot of time in recent years opposing systems and models. It's a constellation of solutions that needs to be implemented.

"The need to unite is also true at the European and international levels. Yet since the Covid crisis, then the war in Ukraine, and facing the climate challenge, we have entered an era of "every man for himself."

In your book, you warn of the risk of retrenchment at a time of a triple demographic, climate, and food security crisis.

"We must not forget that 735 million people are in a state of chronic hunger and more than 2 billion are in a state of food insecurity, while we produce enough to feed the entire planet.

"In the 21st century, humanity is challenged to reconcile ecology and food security, as demographic growth will reach an unprecedented peak in the second half of the century. The UN anticipates the population will grow from eight to 10.4 billion people on Earth by 2086, all of whom will need to be fed.

"At the same time, agriculture will have to face increasingly severe and frequent shocks related to climate change... The equation is all the more delicate as we are in an unstable geopolitical context that also risks increasing the cost of food and restricting access to it.

"In parallel, agriculture will have to decarbonise. It has its share of responsibility in climate change since it represents about 20% of greenhouse gas emissions.

"The challenge goes beyond the simple issue of CO2! For example, half of the agricultural soils are in a degraded state."

What are the implications in terms of free trade? Food production is extremely globalised, and these imports weigh heavily on our carbon footprint.

"During their mobilisation, European farmers were right to raise the issue of imports and free trade agreements. It's normal to import commodities that are not produced on European soil, otherwise, we wouldn't have coffee or chocolate!

"However, facilitating the importation of products with lower environmental and social standards than in the European Union is incomprehensible to farmers who are pushed to do better.

"Once again, it's a question of coherence! Leaders must understand that free trade agreements, like the one being negotiated with Mercosur countries, are no longer politically acceptable in this new context of fighting climate change, whereas they might have been a decade ago.

"At the same time, we also benefit from free trade. We export wine, cheese, cereals, and even milk powder... to the point of being accused of competing with certain local industries.

"That's why the answer is more complex than simply retreating into ourselves. In France, exports also allow some sectors to remain competitive at the national level.

"In the future, geopolitical and climate shocks will be such that we may sometimes have to rely on each other for food supplies. Europe cannot be in a bubble, separate from the rest of the world.

"When we consume imported products, let's not forget that we are also creating economic and social development abroad, provided that the supply chains are fair.

You also alert in your book to the necessity of thinking about the future of agricultural employment.

"I'm tired of hearing that farmers should be assured of a "minimum."

"Why such a miserabilist discourse? Farmers are entrepreneurs and must earn their living. If they do better, they should earn more, which seems to be taboo.

"Then, we must question what we want in terms of agriculture: we have lost 100,000 agricultural holdings in ten years.

"Should we replace all of them and find the necessary labour? Or accept having larger, more mechanised, and more competitive farms capable of producing on a large scale? Once again, the solution lies in the diversity of models."

Faced with climate change, what choices will the sector have to make? For example, will it be necessary to give up part of the yields to reduce emissions related to fertilisers, or reduce pressure on biodiversity?

"Agriculture has already made tremendous progress. Practices are modernising, technological innovation is advancing... Of course, there will be choices to make, such as which crops: what we can grow today in some regions may not be possible tomorrow.

"That said, we have already put a lot of pressure on the transition of the sector compared to others."

But the reduction of agriculture's emissions remains low, around 13 percent in thirty years, and is mainly due to the reduction in cattle stock. How to think about a real transition of the sector in this context?

"Agriculture cannot be compared with other economic and industrial sectors.

"In the environmental transition, we need to think in terms of priorities: is it better to have an industrial production - albeit partly decarbonised - of certain "unnecessary" products? Or a production of food, a bit more emitting, but vital?

"That being said, farmers are well aware that the sector needs to work on decarbonisation. But faced with the very ambitious objectives set at the European level, they note that they have neither a roadmap on how to get there, nor the means."

What is the responsibility of the consumer?

"It's an important lever: we cannot ask farmers to decarbonise if the demand is not there.

"Yet the inconsistency of consumers strikes the agricultural world. Neither the prices practiced nor our food expenses are in coherence with the values and injunctions we advocate in Europe.

"Ultimately, food inflation has had a positive aspect: it has given value back to food, and made people aware of the investment it represents. Even if at the same time it raises a real social issue."

What lessons can be drawn from the demonstrations of recent weeks, in the face of the challenges that await us?

"was missed in the narrative in recent years. The transition must be made with the farmers, not against them. We must be clear about the difficulties but continue to cultivate enthusiasm!

"Faced with the challenge ahead, we cannot afford to be fatalistic. Because food is an ecological issue but also one of pleasure, health, and, I insist, human security."

• First published in La Croix International. Republished with permission.
• Camille Richir is a journalist at La Croix whose focus is on the environment.

The report, Nga Tukunga Iho - The Things We Inherit, offers an annual assessment of the country's social progress - this year especially -

• children and youth
• housing
• crime and punishment
• social hazards
• work and incomes

Lt-Colonel Ian Hutson, The Salvation Army's Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit director, notes the new government has inherited a mix of successes and obstacles from its predecessor.

He emphasises the impact current policies will have on future generations and the responsibility to foster a better living environment for all New Zealanders.

While the report acknowledges significant progress has been made in recent years - reductions in child poverty, an increase in social housing units, sustained low unemployment - it also points to worrying trends.

These trends include the deepening cost-of-living crisis hitting lower-income households hardest. Rising rental costs are outpacing inflation and there are overall increases in food insecurity and financial hardship.

The State of the Nation report is unequivocal in its call for the new Government to take decisive action.

Hutson stresses the need to build upon the progress achieved and to adopt successful strategies to navigate the challenges ahead.

Concerns for Maori wellbeing

One of the report's key findings pertains to Maori wellbeing.

Persistent inequities affecting Maori in education, housing, employment and the criminal justice system need to be addressed, it says.

To achieve this, the report advocates for the importance of resourcing kaupapa Maori approaches to enhance well-being for whanau, hapu and iwi.

Children and Youth

The report's Children and Youth section has both positive and negative news.

On the plus side, it rates child poverty reduction as a significant achievement.

However, it also notes poverty's disproportionate impact on Pasifika, Maori, and children living with disabilities. It stresses the need for targeted efforts to meet Government poverty reduction targets.

The report also states that young people continue to tell of high levels of mental distress.

Housing

The report's Housing section paints a grim picture of unaffordability and homelessness. This is exacerbated by a decline in new housing consents and a surge in inward migration, it says.

The report calls for an urgent increase in public housing supply to address the growing backlog.

Crime and Punishment

In terms of Crime and Punishment, the report indicates an overall increase in reported and unreported crime and notes that violent offences are increasing.

Enhancing access to housing, employment, education and social services would be more effective in reducing crime than implementing harsher punishments, the report suggests.

Social Hazards

The Social Hazards section notes a positive decline in alcohol and drug consumption.

At the same time, it points to rising gambling losses and signs of increased financial hardship. One such indicator is the increasing number of calls for early KiwiSaver withdrawals on the grounds of financial hardship.

Work and Incomes

Under the heading Work and Incomes, the Salvation Army State of the Nation report highlights the continued high levels of employment but raises concerns about the rising unemployment and the persistent wage inequality affecting women and ethnic minorities.

It says high inflation is putting pressure particularly on low-income households. Furthermore, food insecurity for households with children has increased.

Source

• Supplied: The Salvation Army
• The full report is available from the Salvation Army.

Social Supermarket General Manager Jeremy Neeve said they see roughly 130 clients through the door a week, however that's on the rise and numbers are growing every week.

"We know the cost of groceries generally is going up, we see that reflecting in the number of people coming to us for assistance. The increase we're noticing is quite dramatic," he says.

They're even building a new office and accommodation building which will house a replacement social supermarket to cope with the extra volume. Read more

It has written an open letter and launched a petition, demanding a meeting with incoming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon before Christmas.

CPAGs health spokesperson and former paediatrician Professor Ines Asher says they're calling for the meeting because none of the parties forming the new Government have policies to reduce child poverty.

She says it's "alarming" that there has been a "surge of babies admitted to hospital" with preventable diseases.

"Most of these babies become so sick because of their inadequate living conditions which enable bugs to thrive ...".

Asher says there's not enough for the basics; homes are cold and overcrowded, unhealthy and mouldy.

The nutrition is poor and stress levels are high.

Policies can be created to intervene to ensure these families can access the "basics" which she says will reduce hospital admissions.

Food accessibility, affordability and availability should be included in the policy, Asher says.

She adds that we had policies like this in the 1980s but they have all eroded now.

CPAG wants more help for low-income and benefit-dependent families, more state houses, better legislation about housing standards and help particularly with food adequacy.

For children, this means the food must be of a quality that enables them to be healthy - which is "manifestly" not the case at present, she points out strongly..

The extent of the problem

Almost half a million New Zealanders rely on food handouts each week, CPAG notes.

Stats NZ's most up-to-date Consumer Price Index information shows that, in addition to groceries, food, meat, fish and poultry prices saw an eight per cent increase on the previous year.

It doesn't matter where you live, North or South, people are lining up for assistance with the basics.

Rotorua Salvation Army foodbank corps officer Hana Seddon says the organisation had always been "an important part of a community response to the needs out there".

This year, people with jobs and mortgages struggling to feed their families are also turning to the food bank, she says.

Invercargill-based Salvation Army Major Murray Sanson says they also now see "the working poor".

He says rising rents are putting pressure on families, and extreme weather events in the North Island are creating food insecurity.

A similar story is being reported from the Tauranga Community Foodbank.

Manager Nicki Goodwin says they're seeing "record demand". As is the case elsewhere, homeowners, people working full-time and double-income households are looking for food support.

This year, the food bank has helped 22,298 people within 8213 households. This included 11,797 children she says.

Community help

Communities have developed many innovative ways to help support their food banks, from radio appeals to street collections.

Invercargill's current drive is seasonal and involves "reverse adventers".

They set out to "flip the script" on advent calendars, by collecting donations rather than receiving advent calendar gifts.

Each reverse adventer fills a box or a bag and adds a non-perishable food or toiletry item daily. After collecting 24 donations, the bag is taken to the Salvation Army's food bank.

Source

• Rotorua Daily Post
• NZ Herald
• Stuff
• RNZ

It comes after The Post reported a pre-Budget Treasury report was highly critical of the programme after finding as many as 10,000 lunches a day are left over, and recommended against the programme being permanently funded until improvements could be seen.

The programme, which launched as a pilot programme in 2019, provides more than 220,000 lunches to 995 schools each day and was given an extra $323 million in this year's Budget to keep it running until next year.

KidsCan chief executive and founder Julie Chapman says food insecurity is a growing issue across many of the school it works with. Continue reading

"The more hungry we are, the more we will see unrest," says Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson.

"Thousands and thousands of us just don't have enough money for food."

She should know. Over the past 10 years, demand for City Mission food parcels has risen each year.

"It's gone from 9,000 to 65,000. That's a huge number of people suffering food insecurity.

"Food prices rose 12 percent in the year to April. That's the largest increase since 1987."

Robinson had hoped last week's Budget might help.

So had Susan St John, economist and Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) spokesperson.

It didn't.

CPAGs view

The Budget is policy makers' biggest opportunity, says St John. They can change the systems that lock whanau into poverty. They can also opt to keep the status quo.

"Budget 2023 was short-sighted," she says.

"It didn't give money to families struggling to meet basic living costs. It's terrifying it didn't address food insecurity's rise.

"This budget should have delivered a reformed and effective Working for Families.

"It is tiresome to hear that 'allowing low-income families to have sufficient income to feed their families would be inflationary'. It would not - in fact, it would make the economy work better," the economist says.

"Poverty is stealing families' dreams and there was little in the Budget to change this."

Changing policies can work

St John's recommendations to immediately alleviate the problem involve two things:

• The in-work tax credit (IWTC) being folded into the Family Tax Credit, to form one payment for all low-income children.

This would be a targeted and very efficient way to reduce child poverty, she says. It offers a higher level of support only to those who currently do not get the IWTC.

St John says it would cost about $500m per year.

Her other suggestion addresses poverty traps for middle- and low-income families in paid work:

• income assistance abatement thresholds must be raised and rates of abatement cut from 27 percent to 20 percent.

At present they face impossible "clawbacks", she says.

For each dollar they earn over a very low threshold, they may receive only a few cents. This is because income assistance abates (reduces) so quickly in several domains that it keeps them in poverty traps.

Victoria University's Kate Prickett is also concerned about the Budget's failure to make systematic changes for families.

She's the Director of the Roy McKenzie Centre for the Study of Families and Children.

Targets to lift children out of poverty aren't being met, Prickett says.

"We're not going to make further dents in child poverty without implementing bold support for those families being left behind."

She suggests helping:

• working families teetering on the poverty line
• Pacific families who may be less likely to qualify for support because they don't have residency status, despite contributing to the economy and their communities
• families unable to work, or whose work may be limited due to care needs (eg for whanau with disabilities)

This week's Budget feels woefully inadequate, she says.

Source

• 1News
• The Spinoff
• RNZ
• Voxy

The continent is facing a looming food crisis caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In better times, between 2018 and 2020, Africa imported 44 percent of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine.

"A striking phenomenon is the link between food insecurity, violence and climate change," says Secretary General of Caritas Internationalis, Aloysius John.

"They are interlinked. When people find themselves in extreme conditions and highly vulnerable, survival becomes the motivation for any kind of activities and often ends in violence and conflict."

The situation is worst in the Horn of Africa and the arid Sahel region, John says.

"In the Sahel region, more than 12.7 million people are exposed to a highly vulnerable situation of hunger as well as exile from their rural homesteads," he says.

Caritas - a confederation of Catholic relief and development agencies - is concerned about Africa's reliance on food imports.

"Africa has been the dumping site for the surplus of large-scale industrial production of food," says John.

"It's destroyed food supply chains and local traditional farming - and needs immediate and quick attention."

Of the 160 million people living on the Horn of Africa, 45 percent will be affected by food insecurity, he says.

The formerly "fertile land of the Nile" is worst affected by severe drought and scarce rainfall.

Violence and conflict in the region compound the problem.

One percent of the land is irrigated. It's "totally insufficient" to feed the population.

People are on the move.

They and their livestock have been forced to leave their traditional homelands in search of humanitarian aid or any means to sustain their survival.

"A recent Caritas report calls for "the implementation of just food systems - from production to consumption" as "key for the development of global South nations".

Food injustice has been meted out in different forms, John says.

Traditional agriculture has been destroyed and replaced by vested interests. Market-oriented, large-scale agriculture is suffering today due to climate change and droughts, he says.

In some parts of Africa, cheap industrially-raised imported chicken, milk and meat are endangering locally raised produce.

Restoring justice to the global food systems means stopping using Africa as a dumping site.

Promoting and socialising local communities to water harvesting, natural fertilisers and pest control is also vital.

The Ukraine-Russia war shows how the global South needs to take ownership of its own food chains, John says.

"It is important to develop local agriculture, traditional farming, identify local food habits and mainstream them into development projects.

"A community-oriented and community-based development paradigm which takes integral ecology into account needs to be developed.

"This will help promote local food systems and supply chains leading to food independence," he says.

Source

• Crux Now

Its low priority is just one of the changes Delphina Soti, General Manager of the St Vincent de Paul food Hub in Auckland is seeing.

Covid has a long tail and there are many layers of need in the community, she says.

"There's a lot of talk about things coming back to normal but in reality recovery takes a couple of years."

What is not normal is the spiralling cost of living leaving people struggling to keep their heads above water. Fixed costs come first.

"Food is becoming so expensive that it has become a discretionary item. People opt to pay for housing and amenities before food," says Soti.

She notes some families are juggling three or four jobs that don't pay as well as the jobs they had pre-Covid, observing many are industrial type jobs to pay the bills, the work is harder and takes a toll on family members.

Soti says the 'new normal' is also impacting many young Pasifika and Maori who are opting to work rather than taking up tertiary education.

They need to help pay for housing, rent, debt-servicing, food and petrol, she says.

Soti also points out Covid's 'cost' on people's mental health is "a big concern".

About a third cannot work - reasons include health or mental health issues, and very young children. Many are business owners. Many have families to support.

With money tight and mental health fragile, food banks are frantically busy, says Soti.

She says that when the pandemic began to escalate in 2020, Vinnies Auckland expanded its operation from a 200 square metre warehouse to one of 1100 square metres with a drive-through system allowing people who have already registered to come at an allocated time to pick up their food boxes.

"Hundreds of boxes are pre-packed by staff and volunteers throughout the week.

"On pick-up day, it's like a drive-through takeaway service," says Soti.

"We had to figure out a way to meet the huge demand and keep it safe, dignified and non-contact."

Vinnies works with networks, farms and food producers to procure nutritious food at cost price.

Soti says the parcels are based on larger family units, are high in nutritional value and make a significant difference to families.

Vinnies Auckland distributes around 500 food parcels a week - but peak demand this year saw 1,200 parcels flying out the door.

Source

• Supplied