Speaking at World Food Day last week, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said that Climate Chaos will play havoc with agriculture, reducing food production and creating an extra 100 million starving people before 2030.
A report on Agro-ecology by Friends of the Earth released concurrently echoes these findings while highlighting the role of diversity and small scale farming in protecting food security.
“Government support for agribusiness is most likely blocking rather than aiding the achievement of food security and food sovereignty,” wrote Friends of the Earth publisher Kirtana Chandrasekaran.
We need an agroecological revolution – so why are Governments investing in agribusiness?
Millions Face Hunger by 2030 Without ‘Deep Transformation’ of Agriculture:
Over 120 million people could be forced into extreme poverty by 2030 as a result of climate change on small-scale food producers. Abrupt changes would make adequate adaptation almost impossible with major declines in crop yields and increasingly high and volatile food prices. “In the longer run, unless measures are put in place to halt and reverse climate change, food production could become impossible in large areas of the world.” The report cites diversifying crop production, better integration of farming with the natural habitat, agroecology, and “sustainable intensification” as strategies to help small-scale farmers adapt to a warming world. The report notes that subsidies for fertilizers and pesticides hinder the progress of more sustainable, organic farming.
As our new report shows, investing in agroecology requires a drastically different model than the agribusiness led version many Governments are currently pursuing.
In the rush to expand investment in agriculture, Governments are falling over themselves to sign trade and investment agreements and court agribusinesses.
http://www.foei.org/resources/publications/publications-by-subject/food-sovereignty-publications/agreements-block-agroecology-and-food-sovereignty