Good Governance effecting food security

Power and resources are concentrated in and around Khartoum, and outlying states are neglected and impoverished. Members of the ruling party tightly control the national economy and use their wealth to buy political support. There is little respect for private property, and the legal framework is severely hampered by years of political conflict. Therefore, the city of Khartoum is very well fed compared to the outlying areas of Sudan. The government ignores the other states, affecting food availability. The government spends near $6 billion on imports, while only receiving roughly $4 billion from exporting goods. The food quality suffers because the country lacks the funds to bring in nutritional items for dispersal among its people.

Effect of Good Governance on the typical family: The government pays little to no attention to areas outside of the capital city of Khartoum. They go ignored, therefor suffering in every aspect of their life because there is no government assistance of even presence in any areas other than Khartoum. They get no medical help, nutritional help, shelter/housing help, etc.


Present Status of Government: A federal republic with an executive, judicial, and legislative branch. Government spending accounts for ALL of the country's GDP. All rule focused over capital city and next to none focused on other areas. (See "How good governance affects food availability and quality" ^)


Trends for Sudanese government: "Freedom of corruption" is a 9.3 on a scale of 100 and currently lowering. Government spending is above 90 on a scale and currently increasing. Fiscal Freedom is at an 85 on the 100 point scale and maintaining at that level. Business Freedom, Labor Freedom, and Monetary Freedom are all in the range of the 50's and decreasing. Trade freedom, investment freedom, and financial freedom are all at very low levels and show no sign of going up and down. Therefore, the Sudanese government shows signs of continuous deprivation or maintenance, and no signs of improvement.

How improving the government would benefit Sudan: If the government were to undergo a dramatic improvement, the country of Sudan would be benefited in multiple ways. The most relevant to this project would be food security and providing food for Sudanese citizens. If more attention was given to the areas outside Khartoum and food was dispersed more evenly, malnutrition would not be near as much of an issue. Although, dramatic changes would be required.

How other major issues affect government: Climate volatility: the changing climate of Sudan is difficult for the government to adapt to. Things such as the unpredictability of rainfall, the frequent droughts, cattle raiding, etc. It provides difficulties for the government to administer agricultural growth. (http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/country/home/tags/sudan) Population growth: population growth in Sudan is a steady 2% which is decently high, as the average family has 4 to 6 children. This creates more people for the government to eventually have to try to accommodate for, though they usually just ignore the areas where so many kids are born. (http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.GROW) Water Scarcity: Water is hardly available to the areas that need it the most, and 97% of water is provided to agricultural needs. This makes it difficult for the government to administer and manage because the economy relies on agriculture, yet the people of the country are neglected in their need for water. (http://thewaterproject.org/water-in-crisis-sudan) Energy Demand: Sudan produces and consumes very little energy. They do not have the infrastructure for producing and consuming large amounts of energy.

Additional cites: http://www.heritage.org/index/country/sudan
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/su.html

Recommendations addressing governance to improve food security

Recommendations for addressing "Good Governance" to improve food security for the typical Sudanese family: Shift the amount of government spending. I am not positive about what the government is currently spending all of it's money on, but it is obviously not food and it is not beneficial to the starving people of Sudan. Find out what the money is being spent on, and spend more on nutritional meals and transporting them to malnourished people.

One local project in Sudan that could be scaled up successfully: "the water project" working to provide food and water to African countries in need (national/global project). More local than that is the Food Bank of Iowa.

Suggestions for the appropriate role of communities, national government, and organizations in implementing recommendations: The role of communities could be (in Sudan) to possibly come together and organize a way to raise food for themselves, not for sale, since their whole output of the country is agricultural products. Worry about raising food for themselves, not raising food to sell and get money for. The National Government comes in to play largely in my topic, because the Sudanese government is quite corrupt, and if things were organized and spending was transferred to the people in need things may be much better off. Organizations could provide food for the Sudanese people that are malnourished all throughout the country. (Such as "The Water Project")

How the typical family can be involved in implementing my recommendations: As I see it, the typical family needs to fend for themselves. If they are currently farming and then selling that food to make a profit, they need to farm for themselves and consume the majority if not all of their food. If that is not the case, and they can not even farm enough for themselves, then they need to reach out. If they are truly helpless in their own abilities, they must find away to alert the government or other agencies of their extreme hardships and find someone who is willing to do something for them. They must not back sit back and remain helpless.

Typical Subsistence Farm/Family in Sudan

Typical Family: In rural areas, three generations of males and their spouses typically live in the same household. Large families, six of seven children are common. A man's social status is equal to the amount of wives he has or can support. In more urbanized communities, three or four children is the average. The typical father is very disciplinary, and the father is in charge as they generate the majority of the income and the women are in charge of cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children.

Family Size: Three generations of males and their spouses often inhabit the same household. In rural areas, there are usually six or seven children per household. In urban communities, there are usually three or four children.

Diet: Largely if not wholly agriculture based. Sorghum, millet, and maize are the three most common staple crops of grain. With areas of more rainfall, cassara, potatoes, peanut butter, and mangoes may be more abundant. The most abundant produce items are guavas, bananas, tomatoes, okra, and carrots. Beef, chicken, and goat are the most common livestock that are consumed. Sheep is prepared on special occasions. Common meals include vegetables prepared in stews or salads. Tea and coffee are common beverages.

Education: Schools lack basic supplies. Schools are supposed to be required for eight years, but that is rarely enforced. The best schools are located in the larger cities such as Khartoum. Those who can attempt to afford education will most often move to Khartoum. Schools are gender segregated. There are many more boys in school than girls, it is often seen as the female's duty to marry a man when they are of age and establish their life in that way. There are universities, and they are supposedly affordable. Almost all of them are located in Khartoum.

Access to Health Care: There is not extensive health care offered. Urban facilities lack supplies and medicine. In rural areas health facilities do not exist. Those who seek health care and can afford it will travel to Khartoum. High quality care is very expensive and rare. International resource agencies provide help to refugees and war torn areas. Malnutrition is wide spread, and clean drinking water is scarce.

Typical Farm: The typical farm is subsistence agriculture, lots of grains, cotton is the primary export, droughts and dry weather cause difficulties.

Farm Size: The typical Sudanese farm is one to four acres large.

Crops/animals: grains (millet, sorghum, wheat, barley) cotton, peanuts, gum arabic, dates, sesame, etc. Cotton is the primary export. Sudan is the world's largest primary supplier of gum arabic. Some, but limited livestock.

Agricultural Practices: Subsistence Agriculture. Industrial activities usually center on agricultural processing.

Major Barriers facing the typical family: They have an abundance of children in order for them to develop and eventually help them generate income, but while they do that they also require resources to be provided. Very little jobs outside of agriculture. Education is uncommon, especially for females. Health care is poor to non existent for the majority of the country of which cannot afford it. Food is very scarce and malnutrition is an increasing issue, one fourth of Sudanese people are undernourished.

Barriers to improving agricultural productivity: Very little development among technology within the country and agriculture business, specifically. Unpredictability of rainfall, water shortages and droughts during the dry season, barriers on migratory routes, which lead to disputes between pastoral and and settled communities, or between local communities and commercial interests. 


Barriers to employment at a living wage: Unfair share of value; poor distribution of money that is produced and where it is ending up. Absence of collective bargaining, and organization of wages and a body of employees. Inadequate minimum wage.
Barriers to accessing food markets and adequate nutrition: Poverty and the lacking of funds among a family to purchase the food necessary to feed their whole family. The climate in Sudan is hot, dry, and not exactly ideal for growing your own food or food to sell, yet it is their only way of life. Lack of development could play a role. Unstable markets within Sudanese communities.

Selecting Key Factors and Countries

The first step in beginning to establish an idea for my research paper was selecting a key factor that affects food security. I began by selecting the three items of which I am the most passionate about and interested in. Those three items were "Human Diseases" "Human Rights" and "Good Governance" although one stood out among those to be the topic of most interest, and that was good governance. Government is a very interesting topic that I enjoy discussing, and I could see easily relating to food security. Therefor, good governance became my topic. It states "Reducing corruption by promoting the rule of law, government accountability, demographic principles and transparency." I then began to research countries that were high on the list of political corruption. I took into consideration India and Afghanistan, but the more lists I looked at, the more I saw the name "Sudan". I then decided to research countries with the highest percentage of malnutrition, starvation, etc., the "hungriest" countries on the Earth. Sudan is the fifth "hungriest" country on the planet, as twenty-five percent of Sudan's population is undernourished. Therefor, it became quite obvious that corrupt governance and undernourishment are two issues that are very severe in Sudan, and will become the topic of my research paper. Sudan seemed to be the perfect country to construct this research paper around.

Introduction

               The topic that I plan to cover for this class is the issue of good governance and how it is related to/can lead to food security issues or food scarcity in Sudan. I want to research this topic because I am interested in studying government and expanding my knowledge on the topic. There is an abundance of corruption among the government in the country of Sudan, and I feel that this would make a good case study to spend the semester researching and developing a paper on. What I hope to gain from this class is: an expanded knowledge on government in other countries, because government is to me a very interesting topic, and with all of the unrest that occurs in Sudan through their government, I would be fascinated to know the wrongdoings of their leaders that causes this corruption. Also, I hope to gain skills in making connections and drawing conclusions to make an executive decision, as it seems that the goal of this paper is to conclude with a proposal of my own on what could be executed differently within the Sudanese government to increase the amount of people that are being nourished and decrease the amount of deaths by starvation and lack of a basic necessity of life among such an immense amount of people within a single country.