There has been a recent revival of the Malthusian Myth. In brief, the myth states that the world does not produce enough food for its six billion people.
Causes of the Food Crisis.
Inappropriate neo-liberal development models.
The spread of liberalized markets in which small and medium-sized producers cannot compete with highly subsidized and capital intensive agriculture.
Intensely growing demand for agrofuel..
Development models are usually spread by world financial powers. On one side, we are seeing increased gaps between north and south. This is due to the ever increasing richness and the level of life and development in industrialized countries. We must contrast this with the increased poverty of marginalized communities in the South. From a developmental perspective, this model has been shown to be a failure.
The spread of liberalized markets. Industrial, monocultured models have not taken into account the needs of small scale farmers. Many farmers in India have been sent away from their lands. Some people even commit suicide in farming communities when they lose their land. There is then a serious problem of adjustment to this model. Not everyone can feel the supposed gain of market growth.
Demand for agrofuels. We call them agrofuel and not biofuel, because biofuel has to do with something agricultural, and thus not alive. Agrofuels are genetically modified, so they do not have the key elements of organic or biological plants or crops. Their purpose is to produce fuel for transport.
The importance of agrofuel plants like sugarcane or corn.
These crops are mainly genetically modified, are resistant to weather and pests, and can be harvested over three or four times a year. They are reproducible, and with a low content of material, are easy to crush during processing. The crops are modified to respond to certain standard processes. These fuel crops annot be eaten. They are thus not multipurpose.
All of these GMO mutations have been produced by big corporations. There are now extensive fields and lands devoted soley to these crops. You need a lot of agrofuel crops to make one liter of fuel. They are not the solution to the lack of fossil fuel or energy sufficiency of a single country. Plenty of studies and research points out that GMO agrofuels are not the solution as well.
Some GMO’s such as Monsanto’s Round Up Ready are resistant to weeds and to weed killer. This GMO crop even has a “suicide” gene in it. A corn farmer was recently sued by Monsanto for using their Round Up Ready variety without permission. This was because his field had been crosspollinated by his neighbor's GMO corn.
As you can only plant GMO seeds once, this causes issue in the farmer’s market. Farmers become totally dependent on corporations, and ust buy seeds and fertilizer directly from them.
These crops are mainly genetically modified, are resistant to weather and pests, and can be harvested over three or four times a year. They are reproducible, and with a low content of material, are easy to crush during processing. The crops are modified to respond to certain standard processes. These fuel crops annot be eaten. They are thus not multipurpose.
All of these GMO mutations have been produced by big corporations. There are now extensive fields and lands devoted soley to these crops. You need a lot of agrofuel crops to make one liter of fuel. They are not the solution to the lack of fossil fuel or energy sufficiency of a single country. Plenty of studies and research points out that GMO agrofuels are not the solution as well.
Some GMO’s such as Monsanto’s Round Up Ready are resistant to weeds and to weed killer. This GMO crop even has a “suicide” gene in it. A corn farmer was recently sued by Monsanto for using their Round Up Ready variety without permission. This was because his field had been crosspollinated by his neighbor's GMO corn.
As you can only plant GMO seeds once, this causes issue in the farmer’s market. Farmers become totally dependent on corporations, and ust buy seeds and fertilizer directly from them.
Causes of Food Crisis 2.
Rising fossil fuel prices.
Changing food consumption patterns.
Climate change.
Financial speculation.
World failure to address gender disparities.
The market for meat is increasing in Argentina, and most Argentine meat is exported. Meat consumption has increased, so the meat industry has increased in Argentina to keep pace. The problem is not sustainable industry at this level because livestock needs land, and livestock produces waste and methane gas, which contributes to climate change. The biggest carbon producer in Latin America is Argentina, due to livestock.
Climate change has led to thechanging livelihoods of farmers in the southern world, and in Italy. Exponential heat and cold has led to the changed nature of modern agriculture. We are seeing financial speculation in agriculture. In this time of financial crisis, the only companies that have not lost profit are the big corporations. These are the corporations that produce seed, fertilizers, and chemicals. They also move huge stocks of cereals all around the world. They have not been affected as they invest in hedge funds and futures, and speculate on the price of food. This playing with prices leads to bad results in other countries. If bread is expensive in Italy, it is not as bad for the people as it is in China.
A failure to address gender disparities is especially important in developing countries. Women are the ones that run much of food production. We are seeing a lack of participation in these countries in efforts to secure women's rights, and a lack of attention given to women's real needs. It is often taken for granted that women are addressed in development schemes, but this is often not the case. They are not considered as “essential”. 75% of women in developing countries deal directlywith food and agriculture. The world problem today is a failure to see women as a main protagonist of agriculture. The gender aspect is seldom mentioned in policy.
Climate change became a global policy issue via the Stern Review. An economist was assigned from the UK government three years ago to develop a record of how climate change impacted nature and the environment. The economist produced a table, showing the effects of climate change on food, water, and the ecosystem. Slide from yellow to red means the intensity of the problem.
Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" created global awareness that climate change is caused by humans and we can affect it. The movie prompted a rise in demand for agrofuels, via European Union policy.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, 20% of global energy is to come from renewable sources, including agrofuels, by 2020.
Agrofuels are a false solution, and contribute to biodiversity destruction.
The Agrofuel Industry
Biotech giants like Sygenta and Monsanto are introducing GE crops. These include maize with a built in fermentation enzyme to have lower lignin content, fast growing trees as feedstock, and a biodiesel derived from genetically modified algae.
It currently takes up to six gallons of water to make one gallon of corn based ethanol.
The Jatropha Case
Jatropha is an agrofuel plant. It is a drought resistant and inedible plant needing little to no input. It is harvested up to three times a year. India has earmarked 14 million ha of wasteland for jatropha. A German consortium wants to buy 13,000 ha of jatropha in Ethiopia including portions of an elephant sanctuary for the same purpose.
With the forced implementation of Jatropha, people reduce the amount of land devoted to their own sustenance.
Jatropha in Mozambique
Jatropha in Mozambique
The government in Mozambique is promoting the plant in 4 provinces of the country, including national park buffer zones.
Jatropha plantations encroach on traditional grazing lands, drain groundwater supplies, and increase resource conflicts.
Jatropha leads to increased pressure on “marginal” lands, which provide key subsistence functions to rural poor.
What Are Responses to these Issues at the Global Policy Level?
Mainstream WTO trade and Agricultural policies.
The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
The Global Patent Trade
Bill Gates, the Rockefeller Foundation, and others are seeking implement AGRA. This is another way of saying, “Okay, let’s go for agrofuels. Let's support big monoculture plantations with corporate control of seeds and planting. There will still be corporations and governments intent on finding an agreement by which they can continue to screw up small scale farms. There is, as you can imagine, a lot of frustration implicit in these big meetings!
The Green Revolution
To prevent the spread of communism in Africa and Asia, America and the West supported industrialized agriculture in developing nations during the 50’s. The developed world essentially said, “This is how you do modern agriculture. Here are the seeds.”
The "green revolution" disrupted traditional systems and caused lots of damage from the 60’s to 80’s. There was a lot of critique of this approach. Most said the supposed "revolution" was just reinforcing the same approach. Second generation crops were used, but old industrial systems were still in place.
To prevent the spread of communism in Africa and Asia, America and the West supported industrialized agriculture in developing nations during the 50’s. The developed world essentially said, “This is how you do modern agriculture. Here are the seeds.”
The "green revolution" disrupted traditional systems and caused lots of damage from the 60’s to 80’s. There was a lot of critique of this approach. Most said the supposed "revolution" was just reinforcing the same approach. Second generation crops were used, but old industrial systems were still in place.
Th quantity of food grown is not the real issue in world hunger. Food distribution and income inequity are the cause of the current rise in prices.
Via Campesina is an international alliance of organizations of peasants, farmers, and indigenous people and landless peasants. They have developed a comprehensive alternative proposal, for restructuring food production and consumption.
The Food Sovereignty Concept
Food Sovereignty is a human rights based approach.
It uses human rights standards and principles derived from the Universal Deceleration of Human Rights, as well as other international human rights instruments.
Principle:
The development of capacities of the duty bearers to meet their obligations, and of the rights holders to claim their rights.
The development of capacities of the duty bearers to meet their obligations, and of the rights holders to claim their rights.
Key elements of a rights based approach to the food crisis:
A rights based approach creates a linkage between rights, accountability, participation, empowerment, non-discrimination and attention to vulnerable groups.
A rights based approach entails integration of norms, standards, and principles of human rights law into plans, policies, and processes of development.
The normative ground in a rights based approach is in international standards, and the operational aim is in promoting and protecting human rights.
Food Sovereignty Versus Food Security
The food sovereignty concept developed as a reaction to the misuse of food security.
Food security means, simply, "Everyone has enough to eat". It does not tell us where the food comes from, or who produced it.
Food sovereignty promotes community autonomy, cultural integrity, and environmental stewardship.
The Via Campesina Manifesto:
The establishment of public sector budgets, floor prices, credit, other forms of agragian reform.
The implementation of land reform to rebuild peasant and family farm sectors.
The establishment of export controls.
The design of bioenergy policies adapted to local conditions and needs. Bioenergy strategies should be integrated into wider rural development strategy, ensuring longterm protection of natural resource base.
To protect national food production against the dumping of cheap food and against food imports.
The inaugural Terra Madre gathering in 2004 launched the network in Torino, and on ahuge scale. The first edition brought together 5000 producers from 120 countries and shone media attention on the world food crisis. The second edition in 2006 attracted another 1000 cooks. Also in attendance 400 researchers and academics. It is one of Slow Food's biggest successes and should prove to be a seminal event in food sovereignty activities in the future.
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