The Role of Social Protection Policies in the Food Security of Farmers and Agricultural Labourers

The role of social protection policies in the food security of farmers and agricultural labourers

Jane Dixon, PhD

Senior Fellow, National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University

Cheap fresh food provokes a conundrum: it can provide higher levels of nutrition security than if the food was more expensive but it can also lead to inadequate and unsustainably low farmer livelihoods. What is good for consumer health, in terms of fresh food availability and affordability, is not necessarily good for agricultural sector worker incomes or health. Farmers now constitute a growing proportion of the world’s poor.  It is in this context that numerous international agencies argue that food security is first and foremost a matter of human security (including income/social protection and universal health coverage). This paper outlines arguments linking food and human security and social protection being made by the World Health Organisation and the Special Rapporteurs on the right to food and on extreme poverty and human rights.   It also describes the wider applicability of The WorldFish Centre’s recommendation that poverty and food security goals become explicit in fisheries sector policy.  The paper concludes that operationalising the links between human security and food security within all agricultural sectors is the best way to ensure the long term survival of agriculture.