Food SecurityPutting fish (back)

on the agenda

Dr. Chris BénéDecision and Policy Analysis

OECDGovernance Body Meeting

Cooperative Research ProgrammeParis, 30 Nov 2015

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Contribution of fish to food security and nutrition

Focus of the presentation Contribution of fish to food

security and nutrition Why we missed the

opportunity so far Recommendations

How does fish fit in thecurrent debate on foodsecurity and nutrition?

Objective of the presentation

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Sources Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture for food security and nutrition. A report

by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition,commissioned by the Committee on World Food Security, Rome, 119 p.

Feeding 9 billion by 2050 – Putting fish back on the menu. 2015 Food Security7(2): 261-274.

Contribution of fisheries and aquaculture to food security and povertyreduction: assessing the current evidence 2016 World Development in press

Contribution of fish to food security and nutrition

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Current contribution of fish to food security and nutrition

Fish production / supply Multiplied by 8 (1950-2010) 20 mill tonnes → 160 mill tonnes 2010: half fisheries; half aquaculture

Fish consumption Multiplied by 3 (1950-2010) Currently 18.3 kg per capita / year

Contribution of fish to food security and nutrition

cattle chicken pig sheep fish

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2 times the production of chicken3 times the production of beefFISH =

Fish – largest source of animal protein in the world

Contribution of fish to food security and nutrition

3.0 billion people : 20 % 4.3 billion people : 15 % Gambia : 62%; Indonesia : 54%

Fish – largest source of animal protein in the world

Contribution of fish to food security and nutrition

Lipids (unique composition) LC-PUFA (fatty acids) beneficial effects for adult health

(NCDs) and child development

Micro-nutrients vitamins D and B, A, minerals

(calcium, phosphorus, iodine,zinc, iron and selenium)

contribution to address multiplemicronutrient deficiencies indeveloping countries

Fish – beyond protein…

Contribution of fish to food security and nutrition

Critical source of livelihood150 million peopleSource of income for 660 to 820

million people (workers and theirfamilies) ≈ 10% world population

Majority living in developing andemergent countries

Fish and people

The importance of womenFish processing, fish tradingAbout half of the labourUnrecorded, undervalued, and

invisible in national statistics

Contribution of fish to food security and nutrition

Sustainability of global fisheries and food security

The ‘World Fisheries Crisis’

Recognition of the severity of thefisheries situation at the global level

Tools and methods to estimateimpacts of global drivers on foodsecurity are still missing

Mainly ecological/economic- notframed so far in terms of FSN

Current situation - only partially dueto overfishing

Dividend for FSN would depend notonly on stock recovery but on accessto and distribution of the harvest.

Contribution of fish to food security and nutrition

Aquaculture contribution to FSN

Contribution of fish to food security and nutrition

Issues / concerns Environmental unsustainability Fishmeal Competitions for resources (water, land)

Aquaculture as a way to fill the gap Availability: critical role to balance the

demand/supply Access: prices effect (pushing down

the overall fish price)

Aquaculture as an efficient system Protein conversion efficiency

1kg protein beef <= 61 kg grain 1kg protein pork <= 38 kg 1kg protein fish <= 13.5 kg

Lower carbon footprint per kilogramof output

Aquaculture contribution to FSN

Contribution of fish to food security and nutrition

Issues / concerns Environmental unsustainability Fishmeal Competitions for resources (water, land)

Aquaculture as a way to fill the gap Availability: critical role to balance the

demand/supply Access: prices effect (pushing down

the overall fish price)

Aquaculture as an efficient system Protein conversion efficiency

1kg protein beef <= 61 kg grain 1kg protein pork <= 38 kg 1kg protein fish <= 13.5 kg

Lower carbon footprint per kilogramof output

Beef: 38-48 MJ/kg-1

Pig: 16-18 MJ/kg-1

Chicken: 12 MJ/kg-1

Pangasius: 17-20 MJ/kg-1

Tilapia: 18-27 MJ/kg-1

The Environmental unsustainabilityof aquaculture? Conversion of mangrove / paddy rice Disease, environmental pollution,

salinization of land/ground water Social impact Old story, bad memories ?

Fishmeal Used to be a major controversy Essentially small pelagic fish

species Carnivorous and omnivorous

farmed fish and crustacean species– exported to Europe/US

Decreased from 30% in the early1990s to 11% in 2012

Contribution of fish to food security and nutrition

Contribution of fish to future food security and nutrition

Modeling future supply and demand

World Bank/FAO/IFPRI (2014)

OECD/FAO (2013)

Rice and Garcia 2011; Merino etal. 2012, Barange et al. 2014

Contribution of fish to food security and nutrition

Data source: FAO FishStat and IMPACT projection model

Enough to maintain18 kg pc / y

Contribution of fish to future food security and nutrition

Contribution of fish to food security and nutrition

Data source: FAO FishStat and IMPACT projection model

Enough to maintain18 kg pc / y

Caveats:

Huge disparity across regions – Africa willlose (down to 5.6 kg pc/y in 2030)

the capture fisheries to be exploitedaccording to sustainable principles;

reduce fishmeal dependency and improvethe overall efficiency of aquaculture;

discards, waste and losses to be drasticallyreduced

Contribution of fish to future food security and nutrition

Contribution of fish to food security and nutrition

Fisheries experts and advocacygroups focused on the ‘Tragedyof the Commons’ and unable toframe the fishery sector in apositive FSN discourse

How does fish fit in the currentdebate on food security andnutrition?

“fish is strikingly missing from strategies forreduction of micronutrient deficiency, preciselywhere it could potentially have the largestimpact” (Allison et al. 2013: 45)

The invisible component?

Food security and decision-makers generally unaware of thepotential of fish

Aquaculture experts andtechnical advisors focused onfarm-gate economic/technicalefficiency

Contribution of fish to food security and nutrition

Recommendations Need to better appreciate and incorporate

fish in nutrition programmes Need to improve the evaluation and

monitoring of fish contribution to globalfood security and nutrition

Change in Narrative Move away from ‘crisis’ narrative and technical

issues Build a new image based on food security and

nutrition contribution

Support the growing role of aquaculture Tackle the fishmeal issue Continue the pressure on the need for

sustainable operations Gender as a key entry point to fish and

FSN

Contribution of fish to food security and nutrition

c.bene@cgiar.org