2013 ACHIEVING FOOD SECURITY

  

DATES: JUL 22 - AUG 2, 2013    




TUITION: $3950    
 
   

 

 

 

Overview

The right to food has been recognized since the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights; yet achieving food security remains a challenge. Participants to this seminar will be encouraged to think fundamentally about the topics selected for discussion, and in particular to consider how the private sector can be mobilized in the effort to secure long term food security and to increase agricultural productivity - within the context of a strategic national sector plan. The seminar will equip participants with the tools necessary to introduce and improve food security in their respective countries, and to address short and long term obstacles along the way. Case studies will be introduced throughout the seminar. The bulk of the seminar will focus on the selected topics listed under “Implementing and Sustaining Food Security” in the description below.

 

Course Outline

 

 ELEMENTS OF FOOD SECURITY

 

Legal Framework

  • Towards an international legal framework for adequate food security
  • National food security legal frameworks.

 

National Economic and political environment

  • National fiscal situation and macroeconomic environment- price supports, subsidies and other governmental interventions
  • Involvement of international and regional organizations
  • Markets and products, existing and potential
  • State of literacy and education.

 

NATIONAL SECTOR PLANNING


Methodology for developing an effective national sector plan

  • Responsibilities and supervision
  • Participation and consultation with national and local stakeholders (smallholders and farmer organizations, civil society, private sector, other groups)
  • Considerations of institution building and reform. 

 

Role of the public sector and governmental policies

  • Enabling a favorable economic and investment climate
  • Public sector budgets and fiscal capacity
  • Coordinated policies in land use, energy, water and other natural resources, irrigation, food safety and consumer protection, education, employment, trade, investment and competition, subsidies, price supports and other market interventions, infrastructure development, taxation and others
  • Food supply, emergency preparedness and disaster relief.

 

Role of the private sector 

  • Access to technology and to research and development
  • Access to funds and financial technology
  • Enhanced employment
  • Education and training
  • Management expertise.

 

Role of Civil Society 

  • Social, civic and educational non-governmental organizations
  • Labor organizations.
  • Universities, non profits, NGOs
  • Religious, fraternal, civic and charitable organizations
  • Women's, ethnic and minority group organizations.


Role of International Institutions and Regional Organizations

  • World Bank, United Nations, UN Food and Agriculture among others
  • Types of funds and programs
  • Access to funds and programs; management and accountability, coordination with other programs.

 

IMPLEMENTING AND SUSTAINING FOOD SECURITY (SELECTED TOPICS)


Markets and products- implications for market intervention, trade, investment and competition

  • High value crops and agricultural products
  • Innovation and the role of science and technology in agricultural production
  • Analysis of markets and products- value chains; trade; and globalization of markets
  • Role of research and development.

 

Public Private Partnerships and Agricultural Infrastructure

  • Public private partnerships in agriculture
  • Types of critical agricultural infrastructure-public private partnerships and other models
  • Role of the government in bidding and procurement, governance, forms of government support, regulation and standards of service. 

 

Investment, Finance and Insurance

  • Access to finance in the agricultural economy
  • Transaction types and structures- land, facilities, crop production, export and import, operations
  • Participants in agricultural and rural finance- investment funds, banks, international and regional organizations, insurance companies, leasing companies, credit companies, production equipment vendors, microfinance organizations
  • Rural finance in the private sector- role of producer organizations, community organizations, collateral and land titles, negotiable instruments (warehouse receipts) and other financial instruments
  • Investment funds in the agricultural sector- financing of high value and export products, biofuels and other hybrid products, agricultural lands
  • Insurance and risk management in the business of agricultural - government and private insurers, role of international and regional institutions, types of products, other forms of risk mitigation.

 

Education and Training

  • Access to basic education
  • Agricultural education- vocational and technological training
  • Financial education
  • Education in rural areas
  • Gender and ethnic and minority group considerations.

 

Food Safety, Consumer Protection and Quality Assurance

  • National regulation and standards
  • Role of international and regional organizations
  • Best practices and standards
  • Risk assessment and enforcement mechanisms.

 

Energy, Water and Environmental Protection

  • Impact on agricultural economies of soaring prices for mineral fuels and the search for renewable energy resources
  • Considerations of environmental policies and standards
  • Issues surrounding water resources, irrigation and water supply.

 

Social Safety Nets and Emergency Preparedness

  • Alleviating malnutrition and assuring adequate food supplies to the nation
  • Emergency preparedness, planning and disaster relief.

 

Course Advisor

Mr. Martin D. Jacobson is a retired partner in Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, based in New York City. Mr. Jacobson has over 30 years of experience in financial and corporate transactions with a focus on project, infrastructure and aviation finance. He is currently a Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School and is formerly a Franklin Fellow in the Office of the Legal Adviser in the U.S. Department of State. He holds a B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School), an M.B. A. from New York University (Stern School of Business), and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.