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Jul 7, 2009

Fixing the Food System

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As the G8 meeting of the world’s most wealthy countries, including Canada, gathers this week in Italy, more than a billion people on the planet will face another day without enough healthy food to sustain themselves. USC is a participant in the Food Security Policy Group – part of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC). The group has issued the following call to action for Canada to take a leadership role in bringing attention to our broken global food system – and suggesting constructive ways to repair it.

Canada Should Take Leadership on Food
By Sheri Arnott & Paul Hagerman,
co-chairs of the Canadian Food Security Policy Group

The upcoming G8 meeting is a perfect time for Canada to remind the world that the global food crisis is far from over. More than a billion people now go to bed hungry, making global hunger and malnutrition one of the greatest but preventable tragedies of our time. It is not that we have failed at food production. There is certainly enough food to feed the world today. Rather, it is the food system itself that has failed, and that is in serious need of repair. With steadily rising food prices, climate change, and a global economy in flux, global citizens and governments must all play our part in building a healthy, vibrant, and equitable food system that serves every human on the planet.

Canada can speak with authority at the G8 – we are already a significant player on global food issues. We are a long time food exporter, and we are the world’s largest per capita donor of food aid. Canada is already setting a great example on food aid, having increased and untied its food aid in 2008, and having moved to a leadership role in the Food Aid Convention in 2009. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) recently announced that food security will be an Agency priority, a positive sign that we are taking global food issues seriously.

As CIDA develops the details of its food security theme, it must focus attention on the needs of small-scale farmers in developing countries, as they make up the largest group of hungry people. CIDA should support farming systems that give these farmers resilience against climate shocks and price fluctuations, through an agro-ecological approach that is based on local expertise on climate and soils. Since most small-scale farmers are women, CIDA must promote policies that strengthen women’s rights – including the ability to own land and to access credit. This will improve the livelihoods of the poorest much more than high-tech seeds and more commercial fertilizer, which are too costly for poor farmers.

Canada must argue that global food security can only be achieved by a comprehensive strategy, which considers the impact of trade, agriculture, and climate policy on food. This whole-of-government approach would direct Canada’s trade negotiators to promote international trade rules that respect the ability of small-scale producers in developing countries to earn a decent living and eat a decent meal. It must see Canada invest in future food security by taking strong action on climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Here’s what we can do: Canadians should let their MPs know that food should be at the top of the agenda when Canada hosts the G8 Summit in 2010. With encouragement and leadership from Canada, other powerful nations could focus more attention on the right of all people to adequate food. In addition to trade and climate issues, we need to examine the role of international finance institutions, to ensure they are helping, not hindering, in the struggle to meet the Millennium Development Goals. We need to reform the international organizations that govern global food and agriculture to ensure they are effective in increasing food security.

There is enough food to feed us all. We can organize our production and trade to make this happen.