ONLINE ZEF Colloquium: Successfully addressing Food Security in Global Supply Chains: The ‘Food Security Standard’

June 25, 2020 | 13:30 h - 14:30 h

Presenters:

Dr. Tina Beuchelt (ZEF) and Dr. Rafaël Schneider (Welthungerhilfe)

Background:

Sustainability standards address risks and problems in international agricultural supply chains. Despite certifying agricultural goods that are produced in food insecure countries, most standards do not particularly address food security. A consortium of ZEF and the NGOs Welthungerhilfe and WWF therefore developed the ‘Food Security Standard’ (FSS) which includes a set of criteria and indicators that can be integrated into any sustainability standard. The FSS was tested on medium-sized and large plantations and in smallholder settings. We worked in six countries in Africa, Asia and Latin-America (Bolivia, Guatemala, Kenya, Zambia, Indonesia and Malaysia) and with different crops: sugar cane, coffee, cotton, palm oil. We will present the approach, results and outputs of the transdisciplinary project and show its future applicability.

A small outlook on the results: Respecting the Right to Food remains a challenge for many certified farms, though large plantations are often better positioned compared to smallholders. The FSS with its various tools can be easily integrated into a normal audit of a sustainability standard and is able to reliably capture the food security situation of workers, farmers and communities. It is expected to positively impact the Right to Food of workers, farmers and communities as far as it is the responsibility of the certified producer. Producers and exporters show interest in the FSS but usually condition its use on a demand by international markets and higher prices. Though the FSS enables international buyers to prove their human rights due diligence regarding food security, stronger regulatory frameworks are needed to stipulate all supply chain actors to take their internationally assigned responsibility and level the playing field.

About the speakers:

Dr. Rafaël Schneider, Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e. V.

Rafaël Schneider is a geographer and has been working since 2007 for the Deutsche Welthungerhilfe, a private organisation acting in the area of development cooperation and humanitarian aid. He is currently in charge of the overall coordination of the Food Security Standard Project. As deputy director of the policy division he addresses development policies related to global food security, rural development, agriculture, nutrition and the Human Right to Food. Before, he has been coordinator at the German Development Service in Chad and senior advisor in a DED-GTZ-Program on rural development in Benin.

Dr. Tina Beuchelt, ZEF, University of Bonn, Germany

Tina Beuchelt is a senior researcher at ZEF. She leads the accompanying research and development of food security assessment tools in the ‘Food Security Standard’ project. Her current research addresses food security and sustainable development within the emerging bioeconomies, the impact of sustainability standards as well as human rights and social inclusion in global agricultural supply chains. Before joining ZEF, she has worked for several years as an agricultural economist on sustainable agricultural intensification, climate change, gender and food security in Latin America, Asia and Africa at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico and at Food Security Center of the University of Hohenheim, Germany.

Details on Zoom connection:

Theme: ZEF Colloquium: Successfully addressing Food Security in Global Supply Chains: The ‘Food Security Standard’
Time: 25.Jun.2020 01:30 - 2.30 PM Berlin
Join the Zoom-Meeting:
https://uni-bonn.zoom.us/j/92328998488?pwd=ODRBMTZXVXA4SkpVekE1S1ozOHNwdz09

Meeting-ID: 923 2899 8488
Password: 428184

Look for your local dial-in numbers (via phone):

https://uni-bonn.zoom.us/u/adjhWTHXJa

Meeting-ID: 923 2899 8488
Password: 428184