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A global conference on food sufficiency

29 April 2009

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Towards sustainable food production and consumption

The world food crisis is a major threat and one of the main political challenges for the coming decades. Famines and subtle hunger spread on a local and regional level, in rural as well as in urban areas. But the causes for the crisis are globally connected and solutions must be found on the local as well as on the global level.

With this conference on global food sufficiency we wish to raise the question how local, regional, national and global food systems can provide sufficient and wholesome food for all. We wish to see how the current concepts of self sufficiency, food security, and food sovereignty can contribute to political and practical solutions in the fight against hunger as well as reduce wasteful food consumption.

The videoconference will simultaneously connect civil society and decision-makers from Asia (regional conference in Manila), Africa (regional conference in Dakar), Latin America (regional conference in Brasilia), and North America (regional conference in Washington DC) with a regional conference in the European Parliament in Brussels.

Each regional conference will provide an analysis on proposals on the key food problems of the region, possible solutions to existing food insecurity and suggestions for common global action. Each region will have a one hour slot to make its points clear with question and answer time from the other regions.

Organisers and venues of the regional conferences:

Africa
Conseil National de Concertation et de Coopération des Ruraux (CNCR)

Réseau des organisations paysannes et de producteurs de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (ROPPA),

at the Representation of the European Commission Dakar, Senegal

Asia
Asian Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Asia (ASIADHRRA)

Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA),

at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila, Philippines

South America
FETRAF (Federaçao dos Trabalhadores na Agricultura Familiar)

at the National Council of Food and Nutrition Security to the Brazilian Government (CONSEA), Brasilia, Brazil

North America
The Institute for Agricultural Trade Policy (IATP)

at the Representation of the European Commission, Washington, USA

Europe
CSA (Collectif stratégies alimentaires), The Greens/EFA in the European Parliament

at the European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium

See :

Regional papers
Action points (coming soon)

The conference will end in common conclusions and proposals for global actions.

The challenge

The World Food Crisis - a major threat

The world food crisis is a major threat. Now almost one billion people go hungry. Most of them live in rural areas or in slums around cities. Lacking land and jobs, they cannot feed themselves. Global food stocks are at the lowest level in forty years. On top of that, climate change will make harvests insecure and the threat of famines will become more severe, mainly in the global South.

Growing populations and competition for land - an explosive mixture

With globally growing populations and emerging consumer economies in China, India and Brazil, competition for land between food and energy production is rapidly growing. Production costs for oil-dependent agriculture increase, while soils, water and biodiversity are depleted in many regions of the world. Adding the current global financial and economical crisis this is an explosive mixture.

No fair share of global energy and food resources

North America and Europe today consume about 60% of the world’s available energy and 40% of the world’s food, representing 19% of the world’s population. In Europe, about 30% of available food is thrown away. Industrial processing, long distance transport between farms and consumers, as well as wasteful production patterns and consumption habits contribute to this extreme loss. This is unethical and unfair.

Challenging the agro-industrial model: enhancing local food security

Furthermore, agro-industrial meat production, based on feedstuffs which are mainly imported from developing countries or emerging economies compete with sustainable, low input local food systems. The recently published world agriculture report of the United Nations (IAASTD) points out that small scale and organic farming is more productive and less resource consuming as compared to agro-industrial production. However, the Common agriculture policy of the EU still promotes industrialised, high input and export-oriented agriculture.

A Green New Deal for global food sufficiency

In order to avoid rising conflicts on access to energy and food, a GLOBAL GREEN DEAL must tackle these unsustainable and wasteful patterns of food production and consumption and support people in changing lifestyles. In order to achieve a sustainable food system and a fair share of global food resources, the growing pressure on natural resources for food, feed and fuel must be substantially reduced.

Beyond food security and food aid - common food sufficiency

Discussing the concept of common food sufficiency will go beyond the often technical debate on global food security, which does not challenge the problems linked to global food trade and food aid. The conference will focus on the human right to sufficient and healthy food, and it will challenge wasteful food production and consumption patterns. It will include the relevant stakeholders and actors from around the world in this debate.

The format

The global video conference experiment
This conference is an experiment which uses videoconferencing in order to connect simultaneous regional conferences dealing with the same issue: How to achieve global food sufficiency. The format will allow avoiding large distance travel. Participants may not be able to communicate as if they were in the same room. But they may better grasp the dimension of the food crisis and agree on possible common action.

With just short time slots for contributions of each region, the conference format demands a high focus on key messages and strict discipline of the participants to respect time limits of their presentations.

The conference will be moderated from the European Parliament in Brussels, but it will offer to the parallel regional conferences in Asia (Manila, Philippines), West Africa (Dakar, Senegal), Latin America (Brasilia, Brazil), and the USA (Washington DC) to manage their one hour input independently.

The one hour slots include 30 minutes for short presentations or internal debates on reasons for food insecurity, possible solutions and suggestions for common global action between the regions.

Themes

The perspective of the Philippines may focus on the question of good governance in the field of food security, the empowerment of small farmers and on the demand for a local and regional stock-keeping system in order to stabilize farm gate prices and agricultural markets.

The West African perspective may demand for the appreciation of alternative food cultures such as family farms, local and regional markets and discuss strategies to make food production systems more sustainable regarding environmental threats.

The European perspective may focus on the negative impact of competitiveness and export oriented EU farm policy and the negative impact of feed imports, as well as on failures in the internal food system – the constant decrease of farm revenues, increased market power of retailers and increased waste of food.

The Brazilian perspective may focus on contradictions and complementarities between family farming based food production and export oriented production of commodities. The assembly of CONSEA on Zero Hunger programme of the government may allow participants to analyse the options for farmers’ organisations and consumers to achieve a fair deal

The North American perspective may wish to discuss internal and external food aid and the role of the US farming sector in a global food sufficiency system. The impacts of the current financial crisis as well as the speculation on food commodities on global food security will also be main points.

Programme

Global Food Sufficiency: Towards sustainable food production and consumption

Wednesday 29 April 2009 9:30-18:30

Videoconference

European Parliament - Room JAN 2Q2 - 60, rue Wiertz - 1047 Brussels - Belgium

09:30 (Brussels 9:30, Dakar 7:30, Manila 15:30)

Welcome by the co-president of the Green Group in the European Parliament Monica Frassoni and Friedrich Wilhelm Graefe zu Baringdorf, Vice-President of the Committee on Agriculture at the European Parliament

09:45 (Dakar 7:45, Manila 15:45)

Key note message from Mamadou Cissokho, farmer leader, facilitator of the Pan African Platform of Farmers organizations

10:00 Manila(16:00)

An Asian perspective on food sufficiency
(With specific comments on food governance, local food stocks, farmers empowerment and rural development infrastructure and environmental sustainability)

10:30 (Dakar 8:30, Manila 16:30)

Comments from Dakar and Brussels

10:45

Feedback from Manila

11:00 (Dakar 9:00)

An African perspective on food sufficiency
(With specific comments on domestic and regional food culture and market; sustainability and sufficiency criteria; food stocks and food supply management including the regional and domestic agriculture and trade policy)

11:30 Comments from Manila (17:30) and Brussels

11:45 Feedback from Dakar (9:45)

12:00 Welcome of the participants from Brasilia

12:00 (7:00 Brasilia)

A Latin-American perspective on food sufficiency
(With specific comments on the "zero hunger" program in Brazil: Challenging the agro-industrial model: perspectives to increase food security from sustainable family farming, how to link urban food sufficiency with family farming and rural development)

12:30 Comments from Dakar (10:30) Manila (18:30) and Brussels

12:45 Feedback from Brasilia (7:45) and final comments before leaving the conference from Manila

13:00 Lunch break

15:00 Dakar 13:00, (Washington 9:00), Brasilia 10:00

Welcome of the participants from Washington
Short summary of results of the morning session

15:15 Brussels

A European Perspective on food sufficiency

(Imports of feedstuff and re-integration of crop and meat production, food sufficiency and agro-fuels, food waste, sustainability and sufficiency criteria for public support; reconnection of farmers and consumers; food stocks, strategic reserves and supply management as agricultural policy tools to manage price levels and volatility)

15:45 Comments from Washington 11:30 and Dakar 13:45 Brasilia 10:45

16:15 Feedback from Brussels
16:30 (Washington 11:30)

A US-American perspective on food sufficiency
(With specific comments on promoting a multi-functional approach to agriculture, commodity regulation, competition reform and aid reform)

17:00 Comments from Brasilia 12:00, Dakar 15:00, Brussels

17:15 Feedback from Washington
17:30 Towards a global action plan to achieve global food sufficiency

Final round of debate with regional conference participants

18:15 Conclusions
18:30 End of video conference

Simultaneous interpretation will be provided in English, French, Portuguese.

Who is behind the video-conference?

In the Philippines

AFA - Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development

Since 2002, AFA has organized for its members, 15 regional and 13 national consultations on agricultural trade liberalization, mainstreaming sustainable agriculture, climate change, regional economic integration; 4 training workshops on leadership, organizational management, advocacy: 3 farmers’ exchange visits on farmers’ organizing, agrarian reform, sustainable agriculture technologies, farmer-led marketing and trading, agricultural processing; 7 issue papers translated in eight Asian national languages; participated in 48 gatherings organized by UN, FAO, IFAD, ASEAN, key CSO coalitions.

www.asianfarmers.org

AsiaDHRRA - Asian Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Asia

Both AFA and AsiaDHRRA are part of the Solidarity for Asian Peoples’ Advocacy (SAPA) which looks at policy advocacy and engagement of key intergovernmental bodies at regional and global levels, where AsiaDHRRA is a member of the Steering Committee and co-convener of the Rural Development Working Group (RDWG) under SAPA. Both are members of the ASEAN-Working Group which engages ASEAN on its three community pillars towards integration (Political and Security, Economic, and Socio-Cultural).

www.asiadhrra.org

In West Africa and Senegal

CNCR - Conseil National de Concertation & de Coopération des Ruraux

CNCR was created in 1993 and contributes to the development of peasant farming in Senegal through the organisation of the various rural actors. It promotes communication and cooperation of its members and of the political dialogue with political decision-makers of the region of West-Africa.

www.cncr.org

ROPPA - Réseau des organisations paysannes et de producteurs de l’Afrique de l’Ouest

ROPPA, created in 2000, is the network of the national FOs (see Annex 1.c for the list of members) from twelve[1][1] of the fifteen ECOWAS countries and maintains regular coordination with some of the largest national organisations from the other three countries – namely Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone. It represents about 45 million small producers, cattle farmers and fishermen, to whom the national organisations deliver advice, support and diverse services for the promotion of their activities and profile.

ROPPA’s objective is to strengthen the capacities of African FOs to defend the interests of their members and to influence the policies linked to agriculture, rural development and food security. It aims at this through (i) promotion of values of competitive and sustainable agriculture based on family farming and agricultural producers; (ii) support to the formation and structuring of producer organisations in each country; (iii) training and informing the agricultural socio-professional organisations based on the experiences of their members and those of other development actors; (iv) promoting inter-African solidarity and (v) representing the farmers’ organisations and agricultural producers in sub-regional, regional and international levels.

ROPPA is actively advocating the interests of small-scale and family farming in the sub-region and in international level, aiming to promote agricultural and commercial policies that would benefit all producers. It has a fundamental role in supporting national organisations’ initiatives and in strengthening their capacities. ROPPA has also taken up a coordinating role in various pan-African activities undertaken jointly by the African regional FOs networks.

www.roppa.info

In Brazil

FETRAF - Federaçao dos Trabalhadores na Agricultura Familiar

FETRAF is a trade union and movement of family farmers. FETRAF-SUL is a regional organization based in the southern Brazilian states of Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul. FETRAF-SUL has 100,000 members and works with 300,000 union and non-union families.

Through its organizing, FETRAF-SUL has developed networks of economically autonomous farmers (union and non-union) building on-the-farm agro-industries. The farmers add value to their farm products with the agro-industries, taking the transformed products all the way to market. In addition to this, FETRAF has negotiated as a union with the government for credit, housing, and education. (Click here to read an interview with Altemir Antonio Tortelli, general coordinator of FETRAF-SUL).

www.fetrafsul.org.br

CONSEA - National Food and Nutritional Safety Council

The CONSEA is an instrument of articulation between government and civil society for the proposal of guidelines for action in food and nutrition safety. Installed in 2003, the Council is consultative and advises the President of the Republic in the formulation of policies and definition of guidelines so the Country secures the human right to food. CONSEA encourages society to take part in the formulation, execution and monitoring of the Food and Nutritional Safety policies and regards the organization of society as an essential condition for social conquests and definitively surmount exclusion.

www.consea.mg.gov.br

In the United States

IATP - The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

IATP works locally and globally at the intersection of policy and practice to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems. The Trade and Global Governance program promotes democratic institutions, human rights, a healthy environment, and fairer global rules in food and agriculture. IATP supports the notion of food sufficiency as a means to frame a new model for agriculture that strengthens the Right to Food and promotes concrete policy reforms to support resilient, local food systems and sustainable agriculture.

www.iatp.org

In Europe

CSA - Collectif Stratégies Alimentaires

CSA is a Brussels based development NGO specialized in agricultural and food policy issues. The organization works in three main areas: Organizing dialogue between NGOs at local, national, European and international levels; Supporting the organisation of national, regional and international farmers’ movements and Advocacy work on agricultural and food policies. The organisation’s approach involves simultaneous efforts to: a) Develop consultation with different types of NGOs (development, environment, consumers) and farmers’ organisations. B) Create direct links between farming and rural organisations in the South and farmers’ organisations in the North (plus South-South and North-North connections).

www.csa-be.org

The Green/EFA group in the European Parliament

For many years The Green/EFA Gropup has been running the Green Food Campaign ("Join the Food Revolution") putting pressure on policy makers and European Institutions to reform the European Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) in order to move away from industrialized and export oriented factory farming and to reconnect farmers with consumers to achieve fair farm gate prices and reasonable consumer prices, to sustain the diversity of European family farming and to promote sustainable food production and consumption systems.

www.greens-efa.org

Regional papers

Europe redefines its agro-food policies

What is the European piece of the problem?

The European Union is a global player in production, processing, consumption and trade of food. However, its 27 member states are all together net- importers of farm and food products. A very high percentage of feedstuff consumed in the EU is imported. Based on these imports and on various forms of subsidies, exports of processed meat, milk and cereals are encouraged. Feedstuff imports and subsidies both favour specialization and concentration of production in just a few areas of the EU. The food system of the EU is therefore not sustainable. It highly depends on imports and public aid, it splits rural regions and farmers into a few winners and many losers and it undermines the food systems in other regions of the world.

Even though the historic objectives of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) of the EU stressed food security for consumers and sufficient income for farmers, the EU food system is today dominated by the principle of global competitiveness of its agro-industry. As a consequence, the biological and economical diversity of small scale farming systems, slaughter house facilities and dairy industries which can offer local food supply disappears. An increasing part of food consumers buy is processed. Ever increasing food miles between farm gate and plate disconnect farmers from consumers. This allows retailers and supermarkets to accumulate market power and increase their share of value added to food. On top of this, up to 30 % of food is wasted- although the number of hungry people increases even in Europe.

What are possible European contributions to the solution?

The sufficiency principle would set the priority in a sustainable farming and food distribution system which provides enough and wholesome food for all citizens, a fair income for farmers, and which includes the best possible management of water, soil, biodiversity and landscapes. Reform of the CAP due to be prepared before 2013 therefore must include environmental, employment and public health criteria into the food system and integrate new challenges like climate change into policy objectives and instruments.

On the global level the EU must use its weight in multilateral negotiations like the Kyoto process, trade negotiations and biodiversity convention to go for more ambitious goals to establish global food sufficiency systems. Non-trade concerns like environmental and social standards as well as food sovereignty of the states must be included into these negotiations. Standards for qualified market access, CO2-saving methods in food production and consumption must be promoted both in research and daily practice. Export subsidies have to be abandoned immediately and replaced by efficient and flexible internal demand orientated systems of supply management.

European stakeholders go for global action

We should put our own house in order - while working globally on a food system which is sufficiency based. Food should be carried as a common good and value by producers and consumers. Food prices should internalise all externalized social and environmental costs. Local markets should be the main provider of food. International trade should be based on a fair and climate-friendly organization.

L’Afrique à la recherche d’une agriculture productive, créative de richesses, de revenus et durable

Les particularités

L’Afrique dispose encore de superficies utiles, de ressources naturelles diversifiées mais ne produit pas assez pour satisfaire à son Alimentation. 20 milliards d’importations alimentaires par an. L’agriculture africaine est portée par deux systèmes de production :

Les exploitations familiales constituent plus de 85% des productions agricoles. En majorité de taille moyenne, les exploitations familiales sont multifonctionnelles et produisent pour l’autosuffisance alimentaire des foyers, les marchés locaux mais approvisionnent également les marchés d’exportation (coton-arachide-banane-huile de palme-etc.).

Majoritairement analphabètes, les millions de paysans africains sont dispersés sur le continent et mal organisés. Producteurs d’aliments dans des conditions difficiles, les paysans forment le lot des pauvres et en insécurité alimentaire (40%) de la population totale. L’ajustement structurel des années 1980-1985 a compliqué la situation de vie en milieu rural, en imposant aux Etats la privatisation et la libéralisation de l’économie par le démantèlement des sociétés de développement !

Cette situation a évolué dans un contexte de sécheresse et de crise économique (1973-1984,…). Les zones rurales ont souffert d’un manque d’investissements publics, de prise en compte des modes de vie des populations dans les programmes en leur faveur. Les jeunes ont quitté les terroirs pou grossir les villes et traverser les océans. Ils sont devenus les pourvoyeurs d’assistance aux paysans, leurs parents.

Les fermes pour l’exportation (café-cacao-bananes-ananas-maïs) occupent des surfaces assez importantes dans quelques pays seulement (Kenya, ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzanie, plusieurs pays d’Afrique centrale). Elles emploient de la main d’œuvre salariée mal payée et utilisent la mécanisation.

Depuis une dizaine d’années, d’importants changements

Les paysans ont créé et structuré des groupes, des villages au niveau des pays, aux sous-régions. Les Etats ont redynamisé les organisations sous-régionales avec pour ambition de mieux s’intégrer. L’agriculture revient en priorité dans les politiques et programmes de développement. L’OUA devient l’Union Africaine et s’engage dans la définition et la mise en œuvre du NEPAD dont l’agriculture est une priorité. Les négociations de l’OMC et des APE offrent des espaces aux paysans pour interpeller et mieux renforcer leurs structures. Le changement climatique devient visible en plus de la flambée des prix et des crises alimentaires. Les réseaux d’organisations paysannes s’allient avec des mouvements sociaux pour défendre la souveraineté alimentaire, le respect des modes de vie, la gestion de l’offre et la régulation des marchés.

Nos responsabilités dans nos problèmes

Exiger la redevabilité des élus à tous les niveaux, bâtir des politiques agricoles et agro-alimentaires consensuelles pour défendre les cultures des terroirs et développer les valeurs culinaires. Construire des marchés sous-régionaux protégés. Investir dans l’agriculture, l’élevage, la pêche, la foresterie. Maîtriser la gestion durable des ressources naturelles. S’engager dans les alliances avec les mouvements sociaux qui défendent les mêmes valeurs. Développer l’autocritique et préparer nos propres stratégies de développement.

The challenge of Food self-sufficiency in Southeast Asia

Global Food Sufficiency: The Asian Perspective

Agriculture continues to contribute to the engine of growth for the economy of the countries of ASEAN. With rice being the common staple food for the people of ASEAN, the sector is closely linked to food security situation in the region.

Rice is also the most important crop to millions of small farmers who grow it on millions of hectares throughout the region, and to the many landless workers who derive income from working on these farms. At low levels of income, when meeting energy needs is a serious concern, people tend to eat coarse grains and root crops such as cassava and sweet potato. At that lowest stage of economic development, rice is considered a luxury commodity. With increasing income, demand shifts from coarse grains and root crops to rice. At high levels of income, rice becomes an inferior commodity, and consumers prefer diverse foods with more protein and vitamins, such as vegetables, bread, fish and meat

Call for Food Sufficiency for ASEAN

In this context, and in the light of the food crisis, food security requirements and the issues of climate change, sustainable , organic, ecological friendly agriculture becomes the key strategic response that governments may take, as also emphasized by the report of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science, Technology Development (IAASTD), signed by 60 countries and the World Bank.

With food surpluses being traded at local, national, regional and international markets, trade agreements that should be entered by ASEAN should preserve member state’s capacities to exempt sectors important to food security, livelihood security, rural development and poverty alleviation and ensure the benefit for smallholder producers; as well as provide sufficient safeguard measures and remedies.

We ask ASEAN governments, both at national and the regional level to promote sustainable agriculture by redirecting its agricultural investments, funding and policy focus. Specifically, we ask that ASEAN and their member governments to:

develop a common agricultural policy and action plan that aims to improve access of small poor rural people to land, water and other natural resources, increase their productivity and incomes through sustainable, ecological-friendly agriculture for the benefit of small-scale men and women farmers, fishers and indigenous peoples. The policy and action plan can contain clear objectives, targets, timeframes, and can use participatory processes involving lead agencies and departments and organized groups of small scale men and women farmers, fishers and indigenous peoples. Corollary to this, establish a common agricultural development fund that will help carry out the action plan.

emphasize the promotion of Sustainable agriculture in ASEAN’s SPA-FS and AIFS framework. The development of this Plan can include workshops with various sectors to provide specific details to the SPA-FS.

review / revise the ASEAN Rice Reserve/Food Reserve Scheme to help stabilize rice supply and prices in the region; since the true spirit of economic cooperation and integration should be reflected in the way ASEAN addresses the issue of food security in the region.

regularly consult an advisory council composed of representatives of small-scale men and women agricultural producers (farmers, fishers, indigenous peoples) across the region on policies, programs and initiatives affecting, or has the potential to impact on agriculture.

provide continuing processes and sustain mechanism that will strengthen social accountability towards realizing the vision for a people-centered ASEAN.

Solidarity with global action for food sufficiency

We, as civil society groups working for sustainable rural development, for the promotion of sustainable, ecological friendly agriculture, and the development of small scale men and women farmers, fishers and indigenous people can cooperate with global action for food sufficiency. We can share our own experiences and technical expertise.

Furthermore, we can help study and monitor how much governments allocate for agricultural programs and services benefiting small scale men and women farmers, fishers and indigenous peoples.

The U.S. Charts a New Path

Overview of the U.S. Problem

The U.S. has been a main driver in promoting global food and agricultural markets. It heavily influences the direction of the world market and is host to some of the major transnational agribusiness corporations and commodity exchange markets. U.S. agricultural policy may have created new global markets but it has had certain negative impacts. U.S. agricultural production is based on energy-intensive approaches such as monocropping, confined animal operations, use of pesticides, GMOs and fertilizers, which have been shown to have damaging effects on biodiversity and the environment. U.S. policy has allowed it to dump its products into other countries at below the cost of production. Dumping has led to problems such as food insecurity, unemployment in the rural sector as well unsustainable migration patterns. U.S. investment has prioritized increased food production and new markets rather than more comprehensive long-lasting healthy solutions for food and agriculture. This approach contributes to market volatility and allows U.S. agribusiness to consolidate operations around the world at the expense of consumers and producers.

What are possible U.S. solutions to the problem?

The U.S. has a responsibility to acknowledge that this approach is not working at home or abroad. It is time to make a change. Moving in a more positive direction, the U.S. should adopt the Right to Food and incorporate it as a guideline for its policymaking. It should create a new Farm Bill in 2013 that is mandated to ensure that all people have access to healthy food, farmers receive a fair price for their production, and that climate-friendly agricultural practices are implemented. It should promote more effective food aid and investment in agriculture. The U.S. should be a leader in addressing market volatility by supporting food stocks and regulations to deter excessive commodity speculation. It should also redirect its trade policy to eliminate dumping practices and allow developing countries to protect their domestic agricultural markets. Finally, the U.S. has a particular challenge to reign in agribusiness from setting national and foreign policy. No tax payer money should be directed to support agribusiness from having any unfair advantage over prioritizing local, resilient food and agricultural systems.

Change we can believe in

The global crises have opened the U.S. public’s eyes to the fact that markets need to be regulated so as to serve social and environmental goals. This, along with the rhetoric and action of the Barak Obama administration to re-engage in the world and to strengthen democracy at home, opens an important window for new rules and actions that meet the needs of the time.

A Brazilian perspective

(In Portuguese)

A segurança alimentar e nutricional está intimamente ligada ao processo de desenvolvimento para qual o sistema agroalimentar, em especial os pequenos e médios produções, cumpre um papel destacado.

Analise situação no Brasil: dois projetos em disputa:

Hegemonia do agronegócio que tem o controle da produção, transformação e comercialização dos alimentos; a alta concentração das terras; contando com incentivos governamentais; monocultura voltada para exportação; padrão tecnológico que degrada de forma acelerada os recursos naturais.

O Brasil rural é também o da agricultura familiar e das populações tradicionais, que buscam afirmar sua especificidade cultural e histórica e que são responsáveis pela maioria absoluta dos estabelecimentos rurais do país, pela dinamização das economias locais, pela produção da maior parte dos alimentos para o povo brasileiro, pela implementação de sistemas de produção mais sustentáveis(agroecologia) e mais solidárias.

Medidas tomadas para melhorar a segurança alimentar:

Programa Fome ZERO, ....

A agricultura familiar obteve importantes conquistas no plano das políticas públicas do governo federal que permitiram viabilizar e fortalecer alternativas que têm potencializado e dinamizado as formas de vida e de produção familiar: ampliação recursos e a diversificação de suas linhas de atuação do PRONAF; criação de programas voltados para a promoção da segurança alimentar e nutricional; implementação de programas voltados para garantir a produção e a comercialização agrícola (seguro-safra e seguro de preços, aquisição de alimentos - PAA); definição de uma nova política de acompanhamento técnico e de extensão rural; lei da Agricultura Familiar e a lei do SUASA. A ampliação dessas conquistas significa uma possibilidade de se avançar na direção do fortalecimento da agricultura familiar.

Posição da Agricultura Familiar e do CONSEA:

Defendemos a posição de que, na construção do projeto de desenvolvimento sustentável e solidário, o Estado deve interferir na economia com todos os instrumentos constituindo demandas e condições para impulsionar o mercado interno.

A agricultura familiar é um elemento constitutivo para pensar uma política de desenvolvimento sustentável e solidário, e de soberania alimentar, e deve receber apoios para se afirmar e garantir o controle de todas as etapas do processo produtivo, valorizando especificamente a produção para o autoconsumo e o mercado interno, estimulando a cooperação entre os produtores e os consumidores, a partir de uma nova matriz tecnológica capaz de responder às crescentes demandas sociais e ambientais, garantindo o fornecimento de alimentos sadios e de qualidade.

Em todas as negociações internacionais incluir e favorecer "as considerações não comerciais sobre a agricultura", garantindo o exercício soberano de políticas de apoio à produção e abastecimento alimentar em detrimento da lógica estritamente comercial.

À exemplo da REAF no Mercosul, criar espaços institucionais internacionais que congregam representantes governamentais e da sociedade civil, com vistas a coordenar a apresentação de proposições de medidas técnicas e políticas, para garantir condições de tratamento especial e diferenciado, como por exemplo as políticas de segurança alimentar e nutricional, a preservação da capacidade de produção de bens e serviços ambientais por parte da agricultura familiar, comunidades tradicionais e povos indígenas.