"To establish a legal framework that confronts hunger in Nicaragua, we need a concerted force from the Parliament and civil society."

After the World Food Summit, held in 1996, initiative was taken by Dora Zeledón, member of the National Assembly, together with various organizations of the civil society and the backing of several Nicaraguan Parliamentary members concerning the need to formulate a national law in Nicaragua that could apply the commitments made in Rome. A bill for Food and Nutritional Security was proposed at the National Assembly. Following a long process of study and preparation, in which the Thematic Group on Rural Development and Food Security RDAFS supported and assisted Assembly member Zeledón, the final text of the bill was presented in January 2001.

In this interview, Dora Zeledón explains to the Network why this law is necessary in her country and how the civil society, the institutions and the agencies of co-operation must co-ordinate their efforts in the fight against hunger.

The Bill of Food and Nutritional Security in Nicaragua This bill, which refers to the 1996 Rome Declaration on World Food Security (specifically to the commitment of applying policies that are aimed at eradicating poverty and inequality as well as to improving the physical and economic access of all persons at all times to sufficient, appropriate and safe foods and to their effective use), is structured under four headings: Heading I lists the ends and principles of food-security policy, through terms such as equity, access, participation, integrality and efficiency. Heading II establishes the objectives of this policy and enumerates a series of lines for its application: elimination of custom duties on importation of agricultural machinery; land legalization, prioritizing the small farmer; provision of credits for agricultural investment; establishment of a system of food information; bolstering of technical capacities, etc. Heading III details the organizations in charge of implementing the policy and strategy of food security: the National Food Commission, a technical committee of food and nutritional security and various regional and local committees. The first is conceived as the organism to execute the law. Heading IV foresees the creation of a National Food Fund, the result of national production and employment, which seeks to diminish the dependence on foreign aid for emergency situations.

What facts of Nicaraguan reality made you propose the need for a Bill on Food and Nutritional Security?

Some 70% of the population of my country live below the poverty threshold and have no resources for the intake of 2,155 calories that specialized institutions such as the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have deemed necessary. Nicaragua is undernourished. On another front, the country is highly vulnerable to natural disasters, which affect production within the country. Nicaragua is continually threatened by floods, earthquakes and volcanoes. There is a lack of public strategies and policies to confront this reality. At present, there is a Food and Nutritional Security Policy which worked in parallel with the bill, but is not being applied. To this problem, we have to add a crisis in food production, primarily in basic grains, which forces an increase of imports to the detriment of national production and employment. Our deficit in production of basic grains exceeds one million quintals annually, aggravating the situation of malnutrition among the most vulnerable groups within the population. The production deficit is 49,000 metric tonnes of maize, rice and beans per year. All this has led me to mark the urgent need for a legal framework that would guarantee what was established in Article 63 of the constitution of the republic: that the Nicaraguan citizens have the right to protection against hunger.

At what point in the ratification process is the bill at the moment?

Right now the proposed Food and Nutritional Security Bill is in the parliament being examined by the Commission of Production, Distribution and Consumption and by the Commission of Economy, Finances and Budget. These commissions jointly have to pass judgment on the bill, but, despite all the efforts that we have been making, until this moment it has not constituted a priority for most of the parliamentary members that make the decisions in the country. In this direction, we need to work hard during the coming months. Food security must become a priority in the country, and we must establish a legal framework that obligates governments in turn to implement the Food and Nutritional Security Policy to escape the political ups and downs that beset the country.

What obstacles up to now have blocked the ratification of the law?

There is a problem of lack of political will. The law should already have been passed. I prepared it consulting both the civil society as well as the different state institutions related to this matter, which gave their support. The pressure now has to come from Parliament, from the members, and from members that support the bill, as well as from the organizations in civil society that work with this issue, which in Nicaragua are abundant.

Which for you are the key points of this bill? Are some measures such as land legalization and credit for investment in agricultural technology the foundation of the entire project?

I believe that these points form part of the larger scaffolding that the National Council of Food and Nutritional Security will have to construct when establishing a national plan for coping with Food and Nutritional Security. These are important elements but inseparable from the rest of the bill. All are important pieces because each has been envisioned with the others and were formulated carefully so that, in a harmonious and overall way, the resolution of the problem of Food and Nutritional Security advances in the country.

What will be the function of the National Commission of Food and Nutritional Security that you conceive of in your proposal?

It would be the executor. Its function would be to direct and co-ordinate the entire theme of Food and Nutritional Security in the country. It would have to undertake a series of short-, middle- and long-term actions. Each year, it would have to work out an annual plan of objectives to be pursued and then seek the corresponding funds. In addition, it should formulate a five-year plan, because what is established in the bill, as you well know, cannot be achieved in one year. The provisions of the bill are to be implemented gradually, responding to the priorities such as the most vulnerable actors and the generation of projects that inject dynamism into food production and guarantee food access and quality.

How has the Thematic Group of Rural Development and Food Security (RDAFS) participated in the formulation of the bill?

It has been very important at the level of consultation and assistance. It provided me information during the preparation process. The bill has passed through various stages for its technical improvement, and a great number of people have participated and worked on it. In this way, it reflects the opinions and positions of diverse sectors of the government and of the civil society that work on this theme: the Secretary of Social Action, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of the Family, as well as organization of civil society, such as the speculation-proposal group, the communal movement, basic grain merchants, etc. During the process of studying the bill, we had the help of UNICEF, the FAO and UNDP. We made a study entitled "Food Security: Basis for a Food and Nutritional Security Bill", which was financed by UNICEF, and afterwards the FAO supported us by providing two consultants to review the more technical part of the bill and to make specific revisions. In short, we have been consulting all these actors, asking for their opinion, and we now have unanimous backing and a consensus on the need for this bill. What has happened is that, because in this country there is no real agricultural policy, there is no predisposition on the part of the government to invest in food production, in the countryside or in the city, in health, in education or in anything social requiring structural adjustments. Therefore, this bill has not been made a priority until now. Currently, we have a new president of the Commission of Production, Distribution and Consumption who is supporting this bill, and we hope that this contributes decisively in its ratification.

Have economic calculations been made on how much it would cost to implement the bill?

This would be one of the tasks of the National Commission of the Food and Nutritional Security, to establish how much resources would be needed to generate credits, to boost the levels of production, and so forth, year after year. We will have to see which priorities the government establishes during the first year after the ratification of the bill. The resources needed for implementation would come from the government, organizations of co-operation that will help us in this, and the activities themselves which, with the support of the government, can be initiated by the private sector and municipal governments.

The section dedicated to the National Food Fund speaks of redefining food aid according to national models. What exactly does this redefinition consist of?

We believe that the strategy must be changed: instead of this country surviving thanks to all the food donations following the crises of natural disasters, we believe that it is necessary to create the conditions to establish a national food fund, derived from national production itself and according to projected needs. In this sense, we have to create a capacity to store and distribute food reserves without depending on emergency situations. The necessary infrastructure must be created so that, logically, this system can be complemented by donations from other places, whether material, human or financial resources, with the awareness that, beyond the fact that they send us food, the crux is to create the conditions to generate employment. As they say here, we do not want them to give us a fish, but rather that they show us how to fish. This means creating production abilities in fishing, agriculture, livestock raising and industry. Strengthen national production, which in turn will strengthen employment and will begin to lift the country out of poverty. Investment in food production, in the countryside and in the city foments employment and invigorates the economy. This poverty cannot be resolved by donations.

When do you believe the bill might be ratified?

If there are no major setbacks, I believe that it should be passed in the first half of this year. So long as they give it priority in the parliamentary agenda. This will require the pressure that we have been talking about all along.

Besides the ratification of this bill, what potential do you see for RDAFS to work in Nicaragua?

I believe that it could become more visible. It could play a highly important part as it succeeds in making itself visible as a collective entity before the government and before the co-operation agencies. It has to focus on macro problems that exist in the country. And one of the tasks that it has now is to encourage this bill so that there is a legal framework to fulfil what was established in Article 63 of our constitution. RDAFS can offer the knowledge that it has in order to formulate integral proposals so that this bill is applied. And, once the bill is ratified, RDAFS must become involved in the follow-up work, and must verify that the government is executing the law as it should. It is a big job. It must start now. I place myself, from this moment on, at your disposal to work with them.