The global food crisis

What can be done?

The ongoing global food crisis is the result of a dysfunctional food system.

On the one hand more than a billion people are encouraged to consume too much of the wrong foods and become obese - while on the other, there is a scourge of hunger and nearly a billion people are severely malnourished.

This should be an easily solvable issue, but how can it be done?

Presently, there is theoretically enough food on the planet to provide each person with 3,500 calories per day, which is 1,000 calories more than necessary. But the problem is distribution; monumental waste of food that is discarded in the fields or at sea, or is thrown away by rich consumers; the diversion of human food to livestock feed; and the burning of good food as biofuels for cars and so-called ‘green energy’. And all of this industrial commodity production is carried out at the expense of the environment and the livelihoods of people who depend on the land and coastal waters.

Indeed it is a dysfunctional food system in which few profit at the expense of the majority.

Africa can feed itself

Many people in better off countries believe the myth that African countries cannot produce enough food to feed their people and that their lands and waters are mostly unproductive. This is clearly not the case. Many of their governments are encouraging the wholesale grabbing of land to produce even more food and biofuels for the rich. Fertile, well watered tracts of Africa are being sold for a song to wealthy countries and corporations.

African smallholder farmers, pastoralists and fishers know better. They know how fertile, biodiverse and productive their continent is; they have the knowledge of how to use it sustainably. Their rallying cry is “Africa can feed itself” – and produce more for the market, if they can be protected and supported. Having the tools to do this in a way that reduces toil and drudgery is much in demand.

Practical Action has first-hand experience of their ability to grow enough food for themselves, their communities and provide excess for the market. They say their priorities are:

• to have protection of their rights to grow food and to use their seeds and livestock breeds;
• to access their land and to use the water they need for their crops and livestock;
• to access their coastal fishing grounds, which should be protected from industrial fishing boats.

They want these rights guaranteed.

Business as usual is not an option

Practical Action was able to ensure these concerns were examined in the landmark scientific assessment of agriculture, sponsored by the World Bank and the United Nations. This study by 400 scientists over four years found that industrial methods of food provision are unsustainable and very damaging. ‘Business as usual is not an option,’ they concluded and said that it is necessary to support the more ecological production methods of small-scale producers, especially women.

These sustainable, ecological methods can provide more than enough food to feed everyone in the world’s growing population. It is the most efficient method – ensuring that every local environment and ecosystem can be as productive as possible, while sustaining the environment, and that the food produced can be delivered as locally as possible.

To do this, small-scale farmers, livestock keepers and fisherfolk need support to cultivate their land, raise their animals and nurture their fishstocks and to be able to distribute their fresh and stored produce efficiently. Their proposal of ‘food sovereignty’, which embodies all these aspects of a sustainable and healthy food system, would ensure there is enough food for everyone in all regions of the world.