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The Securitisation of Food Security in Colombia, 1970–2010

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 November 2013

ENZO NUSSIO  and
CORINNE A. PERNET
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Abstract

After the world food crisis of the early 1970s, food policies became a ‘national priority’ for Colombian development. Colombia was the first country to implement the multi-sectoral approach proposed by international organisations. However, in the past 30 years Colombian governments have presented nutrition as a minor health issue. During the recent world food crisis, the government insisted that Colombia was one of the most food-secure countries in the world. In seemingly similar circumstances, why was food policy made a priority in the 1970s and not in the new millennium? We address this question with the help of securitisation theory. We argue that in the 1970s, the government successfully securitised the food issue in the context of a reduction of external food aid and a failed land reform. Recent national governments (as opposed to some local governments) have had little interest in a securitising move since the related food sovereignty discourses threaten their free market policies.

Spanish abstract

Tras la crisis mundial de alimentos de principios de los años 70, las políticas alimentarias se hicieron una ‘prioridad nacional’ para el desarrollo colombiano. Fue el primer país en implementar un enfoque multisectorial propuesto por organizaciones internacionales. Sin embargo, en los últimos 30 años los gobiernos colombianos han visto a la nutrición como un asunto de salud de menor importancia. Durante la reciente crisis alimentaria mundial, el gobierno insistió que Colombia era uno de los países con mayor seguridad alimentaria. Con circunstancias aparentemente similares, ¿por qué las políticas alimentarias fueron una prioridad en los 70 y no en el nuevo milenio? Abordamos la pregunta con la ayuda de la teoría de la securitización. Sostenemos que en los 70 el gobierno logró securitizar el tema de la alimentación en el contexto de una reducción de la ayuda exterior alimentaria y de una fallida reforma agraria. Gobiernos nacionales recientes (al contrario de algunos gobiernos locales) han tenido poco interés en retomar esta tendencia ya que los discursos relacionados de la soberanía alimentaria amenazan sus políticas de libre mercado.

Portuguese abstract

Após a crise mundial de alimentos do início da década de 1970, políticas relacionadas a alimentação tornaram-se uma ‘prioridade nacional’ para o avanço do desenvolvimento colombiano. A Colômbia foi o primeiro país a implementar a abordagem multi-setorial proposta por organizações internacionais. Contudo, nos últimos trinta anos, os governos colombianos têm encarado a nutrição como um problema de saúde secundário. Durante a recente crise mundial de alimentos, o governo insistiu que a Colômbia era um dos países com maior segurança alimentar. Em circunstâncias aparentemente parecidas, por que a política alimentar foi tratada como prioridade no início da década de 1970 e não no novo milênio? Trataremos esta questão com o auxílio da teoria da securitização. Propomos que na década de 1970, o governo securitizou a questão alimentar com êxito no contexto de uma redução na assistência alimentícia internacional e de uma reforma agrária fracassada. Os governos nacionais recentes (ao contrário de alguns governos locais) têm demonstrado pouco interesse em dar um passo em direção à securitização, devido ao fato de que os discursos relacionados à soberania alimentar ameaçam suas políticas de livre mercado.

Keywords

food securitysecuritisationfood sovereigntyColombiaseguridad alimentariasecuritizaciónsoberanía alimentariaColombiasegurança alimentarsecuritizaçãosoberania alimentarColômbia
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 45 , Issue 4 , November 2013 , pp. 641 - 668
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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References

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35 DNP, ‘Plan Nacional de Desarrollo 1974–1978 “Para Cerrar la Brecha”’ (Bogotá: DNP, 1975). Another study conducted by the ICBF includes similarly alarming numbers: see ICBF, El problema nutricional y alimentario de Colombia (Bogotá: ICBF, 1974)Google Scholar. See also García, Jorge, ‘¿Es importante la seguridad del suministro de alimentos en Colombia?’, Planeación y Desarrollo, 11: 3 (1979), pp. 129–75Google Scholar.

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45 Dudley, Leonard and Sandilands, Roger J., ‘The Side Effects of Foreign Aid: The Case of Public Law 480 Wheat in Colombia’, Economic Development and Cultural Change, 23: 2 (1975), pp. 325–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Later Colombian literature points in the same direction – for example, Valderrama, Mario, ‘Efecto de las exportaciones norteamericanas de trigo en Bolivia, Perú, Ecuador y Colombia’, Estudios Rurales Latinoamericanos, 2: 2 (1979), pp. 173–97Google Scholar. In the early 1960s, the impact of the ‘Food for Peace’ policy on the Colombian economy was still seen as favourable: see Goering, Theodore J., ‘Public Law 480 in Colombia’, Journal of Farm Economics, 44: 4 (1962), pp. 992–1004CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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54 The argument that better nutrition was needed for higher productivity of workers had been used in Latin America at least since the 1920s and was discussed in the publication of the Pan-American Sanitary Bureau. For a summary see PAHO, ‘Problemas relativos a la alimentación correcta’, Boletín de la Oficina Sanitaria Panamericana, 8: 9 (1929), pp. 968–70Google Scholar.

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61 Favourable developments in terms of food security were registered in the comparison of the 1972 and 1981 nutritional studies: see Uribe, Tomás, ‘Revaluación de la inseguridad alimentaria en Colombia’, Coyuntura Económica, 17: 1 (1987), pp. 157–96Google Scholar. But for urban populations, the results of a 1984–5 study indicate reduced consumption of fundamental nutrients: see Córdoba, Rosario and Uribe, Tomás, ‘La inseguridad alimentaria urbana en Colombia entre 1984 y 1985’, in Minagricultura, (ed.), La agricultura y las políticas sectoriales (Bogotá: TM Editores, 1994)Google Scholar.

62 Escobar, Encountering Development.

63 Interview with Absalón Machado, technical director of the human development report on rural development and land in Colombia at the UNDP and former PROSEAN/FAO official, 22 Dec. 2010.

64 Uribe, ‘Limitations and Constraints’.

65 Machado, Absalón, ‘Seguridad alimentaria: problemas y desafíos para un país en desarrollo’, in Machado, Absalón and Montañez, Gustavo (eds.), Desarrollo rural y seguridad alimentaria: un reto para Colombia (Bogotá: Universidad Nacional, 2002)Google Scholar; UNDP, Colombia rural: razones para la esperanza, Informe Nacional de Desarrollo Humano (Bogotá: UNDP, 2011)Google Scholar.

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72 Uribe, ‘Limitations and Constraints’, 68.

73 Ministerio de Salud, ‘Taller intersectorial de nutrición y seguridad alimentaria’ (Bogotá: Ministerio de Salud, 1984), emphasis added.

74 See, for example, Perry, ‘La inseguridad alimentaria en Colombia’.

75 FAO, ‘World Declaration and Plan of Action for Nutrition’ (FAO and WHO, 1992); UNDP, Human Development Report 1994; FAO, ‘Rome Declaration on World Food Security’. For a response to the Rome Declaration in the Colombian context, see Rivera, Carlos Fernando, El pan nuestro: problemas de la seguridad alimentaria (Bogotá: IICA, 1998)Google Scholar.

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77 Interview with Ana Mercedes Cepeda, former sub-director for nutrition at the ICBF, responsible for PNAN and CONPES 113, 17 May 2011. At first the DNP was in charge of the PNAN, but from 1998 the execution moved to the ICBF.

78 Ortiz, María del Rocío, Álvarez-Dardet, Carlos, Ruiz, María Teresa and Gascón, Encarna, ‘Identificación de barreras a las políticas de nutrición y alimentación en Colombia: estudio por el método Delfos’, Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública, 14: 3 (2003), pp. 186–92Google Scholar; Ortiz, María del Rocío, Ruiz, María T. and Álvarez, Carlos, ‘Análisis de la política de nutrición en Colombia’, Revista Salud Pública, 8: 1 (2006), pp. 1–13CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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81 Interview with Ana Mercedes Cepeda, 17 May 2011. As an example of misunderstandings and poor coordination, an author of an FAO study who was a former consultant of the ICBF wrote a public policy document without indicating that its ideas were the result of work led by the ICBF. See FAO, Propuesta de estrategia e instrumentos para mejorar la seguridad alimentaria en Colombia (Bogotá: FAO, 2004)Google Scholar.

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83 CONPES 113, pp. 25, 26.

84 Ibid., p. 3.

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92 ‘Colombia enfrenta una grave crisis alimentaria’, El Universal, 18 March 2011.

93 Ibid.

94 FAO, ‘Nota aclaratoria informe perspectivas de las cosechas y seguridad alimentaria Diciembre de 2010’ (FAO, 23 March 2011).

95 Social, Acción, Sistematización de experiencias y aprendizajes del Programa Red de Seguridad Alimentaria – ReSa (Bogotá: Acción Social, 2007)Google Scholar.

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99 Interview with Absalón Machado, 22 Dec. 2010; and interview with anonymous member of a foundation in Villavicencio, 10 Nov. 2010.

100 Interview with Carlos del Valle, programme officer at FAO Colombia and former official of the Ministry of Agriculture, 14 April 2011.

101 ICBF, Encuesta nacional de la situación nutricional en Colombia 2005 (Bogotá: ICBF, 2005)Google Scholar; and Encuesta nacional de la situación nutricional en Colombia 2011 (Bogotá: ICBF, 2011). In the largest Colombian newspaper, El Tiempo, the search term ‘obesity’ appears in 308 articles during 2010, while ‘food security’ gets 146 entries. The obesity problem has been recognised in different forms: there has been a Law against Obesity from 2009 (Ley 1355 de octubre 14 de 2009), and it is explicitly mentioned as a health problem in the National Development Plan of the Santos government: see DNP, ‘Plan Nacional de Desarrollo 2010–2014 “Prosperidad para Todos”’ (Bogotá: DNP, 2011).

102 Agencia de Noticias UN, ‘Gobierno subestima el hambre’, Bogotá, 29 Aug. 2010.

103 ‘FAO le pide al país un ‘empujoncito’ contra el hambre’, El Tiempo, 22 Oct. 2012.

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108 DNP, ‘Plan Nacional de Desarrollo 2010–2014’, p. 664.

109 Garrett, James, ‘MANA: Improving Food and Nutrition Security in Antioquia, Colombia’, in Garrett, James and Natalicchio, Marcela (eds.), Working Multisectorally in Nutrition: Principles, Practices, and Case Studies (Washington, DC: IFPRI, 2011)Google Scholar.

110 Interview with Eduardo Díaz, former director of the programme Bogotá sin Hambre, former minister of health and member of the Liberal Party, 4 April 2011. For a description of Fome Zero, see Hall, Anthony, ‘From Fome Zero to Bolsa Família: Social Policies and Poverty Alleviation under Lula’, Journal of Latin American Studies, 38: 4 (2006), pp. 689–709CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

111 CEPAL, Hambre y desigualdad en los países andinos: la desnutrición y la vulnerabilidad alimentaria en Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador y Perú (Santiago: CEPAL, 2005)Google Scholar.

112 Interview with Eduardo Díaz, 4 April 2011.

113 Núñez, Jairo and Cuesta, Laura, ¿Cómo va ‘Bogotá sin Hambre’? (Bogotá: Universidad de los Andes, 2007)Google Scholar.

114 Forero, Jaime et al. , Bogotá: autonomía agroalimentaria – diálogos y controversias (Bogotá: Planeta Paz, 2006)Google Scholar.

115 Balzacq, ‘Enquiries into Methods’, pp. 35–8.

116 Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies, p. 184.

117 Interview with Eduardo Díaz, 4 April 2011.

118 Interview with Absalón Machado, 22 Dec. 2010.

119 Maxwell and Slater, ‘Food Policy Old and New’, p. 544.

120 Berg, ‘Nutrition Planning is Alive and Well’, p. 375.