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Naomi Hossain, Participation Team IDS, based on work with partners in BRAC Development Institute, Rural Community Network, SMERU, Oxfam GB, University of Manchester, University of Sussex, and colleagues and partners in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya, Northern Ireland, Jamaica, Yemen, the UK and Zambia, funded by DFID, Joseph Rowntree Foundation &Oxfam GB Presentation to Future Agricultures Consortium workshop Financial Markets and Food Price Volatility February 6 2012, IDS What FPV means, why it matters and for whom: what we have learned from qualitative crisis monitoring since 2009

Naomi Hossain: What FPV means, why it matters and for whom

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Page 1: Naomi Hossain: What FPV means, why it matters and for whom

Naomi Hossain, Participation Team IDS, based on work with partners in BRAC Development Institute, Rural Community Network, SMERU, Oxfam GB, University of Manchester, University of Sussex, and colleagues and partners in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya, Northern Ireland, Jamaica, Yemen, the UK and Zambia, funded by DFID, Joseph Rowntree Foundation &Oxfam GB

Presentation to Future Agricultures Consortium workshop Financial Markets and Food Price Volatility February 6 2012, IDS

What FPV means, why it matters and for whom: what we have learned from qualitative crisis monitoring since 2009

Page 2: Naomi Hossain: What FPV means, why it matters and for whom

Qualitative ‘crisis’ monitoring, 2009 -

- Initial aim: to gather evidence of the human impacts of the FFF ‘crisis’

- Approach 2009-11:- Selected community ‘listening posts’, repeat visits to 8 since 2009 (2

each in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya, Zambia)- Not only poorest communities- Qualitative & participatory - Focus on social impacts (neglected

by quantitative measures) - From 2012

- 10 countries with Oxfam’s GROW campaign- sharper FPV focus- sharper focus on impacts on

informal social protection & unpaid care

Research participants in Notun Bazaar, Dhaka and Bekasi, near

Jakarta

Page 3: Naomi Hossain: What FPV means, why it matters and for whom

Some headline reflections on FPV:

Food price spikes more of a ‘shock’ than the financial crisis - although second round financial crisis impacts were felt- & people felt the effects of commodity price falls

Living with FPV is the distinctive new mark of the globalisation of poverty

The numbers lie because people on low incomes adjust, but poverty and nutritional estimates ignore

- the decline in people’s wellbeing - the increased effort needed to provide nourishment - because this is (mainly women’s) unpaid care work & adjusting to food crises is just part of women’s natural altruistic instincts ...

FPV has had incredibly powerful effects on popular politics

Page 4: Naomi Hossain: What FPV means, why it matters and for whom

Rubber farmers in South Kalimantan in Indonesia have

been enjoying high rubber prices

Food shopping(recall food basket method)

February 2010

2011

February 2011

Dhaka

Lower right: In 2011, Mrs Banu’s weekly food shop contained no lentils or soap, less tasty fish, but more rice. The 2011 basket cost her Tk 185.50 (US$1.56); the same items in 2010 would have cost Tk 134 (US$1.13). But if she had not adjusted her weekly food shop, her 2010 food basket would have cost Tk 280.50 (US$3.85) in 2011 prices.

Page 5: Naomi Hossain: What FPV means, why it matters and for whom

FPV matters to all, but take particular note of:

The urban poor, who are rapidly growing in number globally- time to revisit questions of urban bias?

Unpaid workers in the care economy - what does FPV mean for women’s empowerment?

Informal sector workers- formal social protection fails this group in particular

Low-paid formal sector workers - hence all the industrial unrest

Who benefits - ?- no evidence that small farmers benefit- widespread popular perception that speculators and

grain dealers do well because they hoard and profiteer

Page 6: Naomi Hossain: What FPV means, why it matters and for whom

Why FPV matters:

Some enduring poverty, nutritional and human development impacts, more so when prices remain highBut also unmeasured effects of volatility per se: on- The burden of the unpaid work of nourishing hhs

- Women work longer, harder hours with a range of knock-on effects- It is only ‘resilience’ because women don’t complain or show up in the

official statistics- Social cohesion, sociality, social support- Raised stress levels, loss of pleasure in everyday life- The sense of social mobility, of making progress

All of which combines to build:A powerful popular grievance against Governments that fail to protect people against food price volatility