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Papers > Tony Barnett and Daphne Topouzis

Mitigation of HIV/AIDS Impacts through Agriculture and Rural Development

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Tony Barnett and Daphne Topouzis

WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW

The impact of HIV/AIDS on a Ugandan rural household 1980-89 T. Barnett and P. Blaikie, AIDS in Africa: its present and future impact, Wiley, London and Guilford Press, NY, 1992. Reduction of output in a household with an AIDS death, Zimbabwe

Crops	Reduction in output
Maize	61% 47%
Cotton	49%
Vegetables	37%
Cattle	29%

Source: Kwaramba, P., “The Socio-Economic Impact of HIV/AIDS on Communal Agricultural Production Systems in Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union and Friederich Ebert Stiftung, Harare, December 1997.

Malawi 2002. Percentage Of Households That Changed Their Crop Mix Source: Shah, M.K., Osborne, N., Mbilizi, T., Vilili, G., Impact of HIV/AIDS on Agricultural Productivity and rural Livelihoods in the Central Region of Malawi, CARE International in Malawi, January 2002. P. 46 Malawi 2002.Percentage Of Households That Left Land Fallow Source: Shah, M.K., Osborne, N., Mbilizi, T., Vilili, G., Impact of HIV/AIDS on Agricultural Productivity and rural Livelihoods in the Central Region of Malawi, CARE International in Malawi, January 2002. P. 47

Kenya: impact 2002 half of the deceased prime-age men were in the highest per capita income quartile in the 1997 survey- a positive correlation between HIV infection and socio-economic status, the prevalence of adult death is concentrated in particular areas - Nyanza Province after the death of a household head or spouse, households unable to maintain household sizes death of a household head associated with 60% reduction in the value of the household’s crop production gender of the deceased adult affects the type of crop suffering a shortfall. Grain crops are adversely affected in the case of adult female mortality “cash crops” such as coffee, tea, and sugar are most adversely affected in households experiencing the death of the male household head. Takashi Yamano. T. S. Jayne, Melody McNeil: Measuring the Impacts of Adult Death on Rural Households in Kenya, April 2002, World Bank, Washington DC, unpublished paper. LIMITATIONS OF HOUSEHOLD STUDIES WHY THIS IS A NEW SITUATION IMPACT ON THE POLICY ENVIRONMENT A Long Wave Event Long wave epidemic Slow, steady depletion of agricultural and rural resources and livelihoods Increasing food insecurity More “famines”, more emergencies, less recovery potential Africa is only the first such epicentre Long Waves and Emergencies These emergencies are not like others We have to recognise that the entire balance between relief, rehabilitation and development work has changed The long wave of the epidemic means that policy, operations and thinking must switch into a new paradigm - we are no longer talking about an emergency-non emergency paradigm The current food shortage in southern Africa is probably exacerbated by the second decade of an HIV/AIDS epidemic This has weakened the agricultural sector’s ability to respond to natural and environmental uncertainty

CURRENT FOOD CRISES IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

SOUND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS ARE RARE Expensive Politically unattractive Have no clear immediate return Submerged by medical dominance Submerged by prevention approaches Methodologically complex “Causation” hard to demonstrate RESPONSES Recovery potential is diminished MOST PROPOSED RESPONSES are repetitions of what has not previously worked under non-AIDS conditions and now have to be shown to work under very changed AIDS conditions THIS IS THE KEY CHALLENGE FOR THIS WORKSHOP A WHEEL THAT DID NOT WORK FIRST TIME? we are once again dealing with familiar problems of adoption and relevance these problems have not been adequately dealt with in non-AIDS attempts at “development” WE SHOULD NOT EXPECT IT TO BE EASIER/SAME IN AN HIV/AIDS ENVIRONMENT CAN WE ASSUME THAT there is a category of things called “what has worked” or that if there were they would work under the changed circumstances OR do we have to consider the possibility that the category of “deliverable” needs to be rethought. It might not be “things” so much as processes which enable engagement with the problems in the newly changed/changing environment. RESPONSE PROBLEMS RESPONSES? WORDS: EMPOWERMENT, MAINSTREAMING, PARTICIPATION, LABOUR SAVING TECHNOLOGIES, STAKEHOLDER DEEDS??? INTIMATIONS OF THE WAY FORWARD? Relief + “development “ladder” approach - Uganda project? combining ARVs with interventions - a necessity? Considering dramatically different solutions: relax auditing requirements, provide ARVs, think long term

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