If something cannot reach you physically you will certainly not be able to touch you.
False.
Whenever hunger in the world is called into question, a space is created where a feeling of distance is infiltrated.
True.
Yet speaking of food rights today is a priority. Why? We asked Giulia Anita Bari , media officer for ActionAid, an international organization that fights for human rights in the world.
Born in Venice, she studied violin at the Conservatory of her hometown and International Relations in Padua and Florence. His motto is an African proverb: "If you want to go fast, run alone. If you want to go far, run with the others". In the work he has chosen he puts all his desire to run with the others. An important interview, which we invite you to read in full, even if only to understand in which direction you should but you are not going.
Why is talking about the right to food a priority today?
Hunger is one of the most serious humanitarian emergencies in the world. In 2010, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ( FAO ), 925 million people suffer from hunger. Almost three quarters of these are farmers, yet small farmers, the majority of whom are women, produce about half the food in the world. In particular, women produce up to 80% of food products in Africa but possess only 1% of the land, receiving only 1% of agricultural credit and 7% of agricultural training courses.
That's why ActionAid believes that supporting local farmers to increase their production is fundamental to global food security.
What are the factors that today undermine the right to food?
There are many causes that make access to food and the means to get it more and more difficult . Among these, surely, the limits in access and control over natural resources by the poorest and the unequal distribution of food.
This demonstrates the unsustainability of the currently dominant model of large-scale industrial agriculture that penalizes small producers to the benefit of privatization policies and control of agriculture and food by multinationals that often do not respect the rights of workers and local communities .
These factors are joined by phenomena such as speculation on foodstuffs that leads to an increase in price volatility and the use of land for purposes other than agricultural, such as the production of biofuels to meet growing energy needs.
Finally, of course, climate change and environmental degradation continue to play their part in increasing the vulnerability of poor people in rural areas.
From the "bread riots" to the emergency situation in the Horn of Africa. In recent months, we increasingly hear of the impact of rising food security prices. Why?
The increase in prices and volatility of agricultural products is a complex phenomenon determined by different factors: on the one hand there are the structural changes that are taking place in commodity markets, strongly conditioned by the speculative dynamics present in financial markets, as well as by the boost to biofuel production; on the other hand an increasingly increasing climate variability that determines periodic reductions in agricultural supply both nationally and globally.
All this contributes to increasing volatility in a framework of constant price growth estimated for the near future. Without a decisive intervention within the markets, as well as policies and resources to support agriculture, the phenomena mentioned will determine new and increasingly serious emergencies that will have devastating impacts.
These increases in food prices, in fact, have very negative effects in developing countries where the poor spend on average 50-60% of their income on food. The increase in the cost of basic foodstuffs is therefore causing an increase in poverty. Just think that, according to recent estimates by the World Bank, in medium and low-income countries this rise in prices has led to another 44 million people in the spiral of extreme poverty.
The parent tree of food: towards sustainable food
What is the role played by biofuels?
The increase in biofuel production is considered one of the most significant factors in the agricultural price crisis. According to OECD estimates, the objectives set at European level for the production of biofuels - by 2020 use 9.5% of biofuels in the transport sector, 95% of which will be derived from agricultural food products (oilseeds, oil of palm, cane sugar and beetroot, wheat) - could cause, by 2017, an increase of 15% more in the prices of cereals and oilseeds.
For example, in the United States the use of corn for ethanol production has reduced stock levels and caused enormous instability in relative prices on world markets. This will lead to the conversion of forests, pastures, peat for agricultural production, as well as an increasing use of agricultural products to feed cars and not people.
This is why it is important for the G20 countries to commit themselves to ensuring that the production of biofuels does not threaten food security globally.
Despite these risks, the production of biofuels is increasing, complicit not only in the European Union and the United States but also in the emerging powers.
Certainly. Consider, for example, Brazil, the second largest biofuel producer in the world. In the country the production of sugar cane and soy is intensifying deforestation, erosion, soil, pollution, environmental, territorial conflicts and the removal of the families of farmers and indigenous peoples from their lands. The data tell us that the country already has more than 7 million hectares of land dedicated to the production of sugar cane, half of which is used to produce ethanol. An additional 8 million hectares will be added in the next 10 years, due to a very aggressive government campaign for sugar cane production. Added to this is soy production, which covers 21 million hectares and generates more than 70% of the biodiesel produced in Brazil.
The problem is that, often, these lands are taken away from small farmers, with a devastating impact in terms of access to resources and food security. It is therefore necessary to monitor the expansion of biofuels and their impact on the environment, food security and land rights, seeking alternatives for sustainable production and raising public awareness of threats to food, land and climate change from such productions.
Investing in small farmers - especially women - therefore seems to be a fundamental strategy to reduce the number of poor and hungry people.
All the major agencies and organizations that deal with the right to food (and not only) recognize that the increase in the quantity and quality of investments in sustainable small-scale agriculture could have an exceptional impact in reducing the number of poor and malnourished. And yet, the agricultural sector has seen its share of official development assistance reduced from 19% of the total in 1980 to 3% in 2006.
During the 2009 L'Aquila Summit, the G8 countries launched the AFSI ( Aquila Food Security Initiative ), pledging to allocate 22 billion dollars in the following three-year period with the aim of helping States that suffer most from the effects of the crisis through support for agricultural production. To date, however, little has been done in relation to the commitments made and the quality of agricultural aid has proved very low.
