The growing amount of food insecurity around the world with prices soaring and governments under pressure, even toppling, tells us that we need some fairly radical solutions soon. And there could be one coming from the United Nations.
A new report from the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter tells us that we need to move away from corporate controlled farming. Get the corporates off the land and hand it back to the small farmers, he says.
He writes: "Increasing food production to meet future needs, while necessary, is not sufficient. It will not allow significant progress in combating hunger and malnutrition if it is not combined with higher incomes and improved livelihoods for the poorest – particularly small-scale farmers in developing countries. And short-term gains will be offset by long term losses if it leads to further degradation of ecosystems, threatening future ability to maintain current levels of production."
In other words, we won't solve hunger and stop climate change with industrial farming on large plantations. Instead, the report says the solution lies with smallholder farmers using agroecology systems where they increase soil quality, carbon sequestration and biodiversity over time. Small farmers have been doing that for years.
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