Earth Equity News

‘Right to Food,’ Sustainable Farming Marked on World Food Day. AFP, 10/16/10. “The UN top official on the right to food called for wholesale changes in farming methods to safeguard the environment and ensure everyone has enough to eat. Olivier De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said in a statement to mark World Food Day [October 16] that there is currently ‘little to rejoice about’, and ‘worse may still be ahead’. ‘Current agricultural developments are... threatening the ability for our children's children to feed themselves,’ he said…

“De Schutter said the emphasis on chemical fertilizers and a greater mechanization of production was ‘far distant from the professed commitment to fight climate change and to support small-scale, family agriculture.’ In addition, ‘giving priority to approaches that increase reliance on fossil fuels is agriculture committing suicide’, he said. ‘Agriculture is already directly responsible for 14% of man-made greenhouse gas emissions -- and up to one third if we include the carbon dioxide produced by deforestation for the expansion of cultivation or pastures.’ As a result of climate change, the yields in certain regions of sub-Saharan Africa are expected to fall by 50% by 2020 in comparison to 2000 levels. And growing frequency and intensity of floods and droughts contribute to volatility in agricultural markets.’... ‘Low-technology, sustainable techniques may be better suited to the needs of the cash-strapped farmers working in the most difficult environments,’ De Schutter said. ‘They represent a huge, still largely untapped potential to meet the needs and to increase the incomes of the poorest farmers.’”