November 9, 2009

Hunger should not be

"Hunger would not have to be – this is not a new finding. The World Food Report confirms this statement in spite of the alarming findings it has to make. Not later than after the arousing hunger revolts two years ago, the shameful hunger problem should have disappeared from the globe. Instead the number of hungry people has not shrunk but has drastically increased. At the same time, the report shows a way out of the crisis: Reinforcement of the food supply on a local basis, observing all at once the regional conditions, the ecological handling of the resources and among others the unrestricted access to seeds.
An essential aspect relating to the question of such an unrestricted access is the question of the reusability of the applied seed sorts: People must be able, independently from the industrial producers of seeds like Monsanto or Syngenta, to cultivate its own food. Sovereignty of food is a fundamental right, it must be a fundamental freedom of mankind".

Read more A Crisis-Proof Agriculture for the Fight against Hunger and Poverty
by Reinhard Koradi, Switzerland

1 comment:

Mr. H. said...

From the article:

"Peasant agriculture is the most effective answer to the problem of hunger in the world. This requires unimpeded access to soil, water, seeds and knowledge for all people and organizations involved in the production, processing and distribution of food. It is equally necessary to elicit the actual needs of the local population and to accept the knowledge of men and women about their local farming."

It really is that simple. It is heartening to see that some progress has been made in this area. You can't just give out rations, you have to allow people to produce their own.

Of course the biggest problem in many of these areas of hunger is the peoples own political environment. Until that changes, in places like Rowanda, it is almost impossible for the "peasants" to become farmers.

And like you said, obviously the creation of worthless seeds and agricultural practices from the likes of Monsanto and Syngenta is of no value to anyone. Unfortunately this is not obvious to everyone.

Thank you for keeping us updated with all of this excellent thought provoking information.