Discussion: training manuals on food security

Contribution by Achyut Das from Agragamee, India

Dear All,

The Food Security Scenario in 2050 is easily imaginable. It will have the same or worse the situation compared to the present one unless we take note of the following:

1. 
   We read Susan George's How the Other Half Dies and contain the policies and practices of the Multi-nationals and Agri-busenss Corporations. The Food and related Policies should be determined by ordinary farmers and should not be driven by the forces of Globalisation.
   
2. 
   We read books Food First and Twelve Myths of Hunger by Frances Moore Lappe and act.
   
3. 
   We accept Gandhi's famous statement - Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. ....His book Gram Swaraj should be the Guiding Principle for our Agril. Production.
   
4. 
   We ensure Land Rights, Water Rights and Livelihood Rights for all. The land meant for agriculture must not be diverted for bio-fuel or for urbanisation.
   
5. 
   We adopt strategies with local modifications in the line of Cuba's drive for Organic Farming and Chinese approach described in Feeding  a Billion published by MIchigan Sate University Press.
   
6. 
   We place our small and marginal farmers in the central stage of farming and emulate what Latin America is doing - Campesino a Campesino.
   
7. 
   From Presidents and Prime Ministers to common man, all should have one hour of compulsory Food Production. Our history has shown that our late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri had demonstrated this which was a step forward for food self-sufficiency.
   
8. 
   The science and technology involved with Agriculture should address the basic issues - improve soil fertility, maintain agricultural bio-diversity, optimise water conservation. It is time to act on what Lester Brown has said with emphasis - Rethinking Food Production for a World of Eight Billion.
   
9. 
   The defense budget of each country should be slashed by half and the amount be diverted for food production and processing. What is needed most is a political will to make the World Hunger Free.
   
10. 
    The population should be controlled. 
    

I am sure there will be much more debate on the subject.

With best wishes,
Achyut Das

Contribution by Violet Mugalavai from Moi University, Kenya

Dear all,

This is unimaginable. If at 6.5 billion we have not done so well in the developing world, how much more of a nightmare shall it be with 9.1 billion? Political will and workable policies will be required so as to reach the most vulnerable of populations, especially those in difficult areas, the elderly, the landless, the poor, the displaced, the jobless, the orphaned, PLWHAs (People Living With HIV/AIDS)-the list is endless.

Those in leadership positions will have to walk and act their sweet talks by putting in place workable contextual structures that can benefit vulnerable groups, especially those who live on less than one dollar/day, with secure livelihoods to enable them to have better purchasing power. This is because the world systems will be more food product oriented, with inevitable food price spikes in a scenario of fast diminishing shared resources.

To avoid wastage of manpower among the poor, community mobilization and concentrated knowledge sharing and dissemination initiatives will be paramount. Small scale infrastructure to keep the vulnerable in each cluster busy using capitals such as social, cultural, and human, which they use best through networks of sharing, connection and communication should be encouraged and recognized amongst other capitals that are financially oriented, which will require better local government management systems so as to reach more needy people. This will enable the vulnerable to feel more useful as they participate in their own development towards food and livelihood security.

The food situation may become more delicate as fragile climate systems threaten bio-diversity. Indigenous knowledge systems, especially of those practices that can be used for adaptation to climate change should be harnessed and documented for use now for now and the future. Gene banks of fast diminishing, easy to grow crops should be domesticated and the ignored nutritious crops brought back into the production sphere more vigorously. High-yielding, fast-maturing plants and animals and bulk plants will be very essential for feeding the 9 billion. Flexible food habits will be a welcome initiative for communities to borrow from each others’ global food experiences and expand their food basket. Desperation among the poor may also lead to further exploration of food and natural resources and requires government intervention through extension education.

Steps and plans of action towards climate change mitigation will be necessary to enable people to change their systems of production to fit into the present. Simple affordable technological innovations will be required for use among the vulnerable.  Communities will need to be capacitated more aggressively with knowledge, skills, and infrastructure for agricultural development. More sustainable use of available water resources through use/reuse of rain and grey water, and better watershed management systems are paramount, together with organic enrichment of soils.

Urban agriculture cannot be ignored in feeding the world in 2050, and on the other hand, there will hardly be an urban-rural hedge. The world is fast being urbanized and building systems and architecture will have to shift so as to enable maximum implementation of creative innovations. Food should be successfully produced from just anywhere, including any rooms in a house that are not in maximum use. There should also be no idle rural or urban land and policies should be implemented to that effect.

Good governance of available resources, ownership of projects by communities, simple, immediate and adaptable plans of action, will be paramount so as to enable continuity and sustainability of any food production value chain. For the poor, community development small scale cluster models may be the way forward.
Dr. Violet K. Mugalavai, (PhD).

Senior Lecturer, Head of Dept,

School of Agriculture & Biotechnology, Moi University,

Kenya