Global forum on food security and nutrition

Maïmouna Soma from FIAN Burkina, Burkina Faso

[ Original message in French]
Chers membres;
Malgré la volonté affichée de la communauté internationale à réduire la faim dans le monde, (OMD 1 : réduire de moitié le nombre de personnes souffrant de faim dans le monde d’ici à 2015), nous observons que le nombre de personnes souffrant de faim et de malnutrition ne cesse de s’accroître de façon exponentielle. Cela est inquiétant et doit amener la communauté internationale à changer de méthodes de lutte contre la faim.
Ainsi, nous proposons ceci :
1) En ce qui concerne l’Afrique qui est le continent le plus touché par la sous alimentation, nous proposons la création d’une instance de gestion alimentaire au niveau de l’Union Africaine. En effet, l’instance de gestion alimentaire devrait avoir pour mission, la répartition des disponibilités alimentaires en fonction des besoins nutritifs des populations. Cela implique de faire des évaluations annuelles les plus exactes possible, des productions et des stocks alimentaires disponibles et des besoins alimentaires dans chaque pays. Après l’évaluation, on connaît les pays à excès ou à déficit ou à autosuffisance alimentaire. Ensuite l’Union Africaine, à travers son instance alimentaire s’acquiert le surplus des pays à excédent  alimentaire par achat ou par donation qu’elle mette à la disposition des pays à déficit alimentaire au moment de la soudure par vente, donation ou crédit en fonction des nécessités et des ressources. De cette manière, les pays africains trouverait principalement une solution africaine à leurs problèmes alimentaires et leur éviterait de s’embourber excessivement  dans le fonctionnement pernicieux du système alimentaire mondial actuel.       
2) Les structures de l’ONU compétentes devraient  travailler beaucoup plus avec les groupes locaux et les ONG de défense du droit à l’alimentation et de lutte contre la faim plutôt qu’avec l’Etat qui devrait se résumer à guider le financement de ces structures internationales).
3) Les Institutions de Breton Wood devront diriger plus leurs financements vers les cultures vivrières, surtout dans les pays en développement pour permettre l’autosuffisance alimentaire de ses pays.
4) Stopper l’accaparement des terres et redistribuer la terre aux paysans et aux paysannes ; cela permettrait à ces paysans de produire de la nourriture pour leur autosuffisance alimentaire.
5) Tenir compte des femmes dans l’attribution, la distribution et la gestion de la terre parce qu’elles participent considérablement à la production agricole dans le monde et encore plus en Afrique Sub-Saharienne.
Cordialement
Maïmouna SOMA

FIAN Burkina

[translation in English]
Chers membres,
Despite the willingness of the international community to reduce hunger (MDG 1: halving the number of people suffering from hunger by 2015), we observe that the number of hungry and undernurished people continues to grow exponentially. This is disturbing and must lead the international community to change their methods of fighting against hunger.
Thus, we propose that:
1) With respect to Africa, which is the continent most affected by under nurishment, we propose the creation of an effort for managing food at the African Union level. Indeed, the management body should be mandated the distribution of food supplies based on the nutritional needs of the populations. This involves making as accurate as possible annual assessments of production and available food stocks and food needs in each country. After such evaluations, we would know which countries are in food surplus or deficit or self sufficient. Then the African Union, through its authority acquires the food from surplus countries by purchase or donation and makes it available to countries with food deficits at the time of supply shortfall by sale, donation or credit according to the needs and resources. In this way, African countries find primarily an African solution to their food problems and avoid getting bogged down excessively in the functioning of the pernicious current global food system.
2) The relevant structures of the United Nations should work much more with local groups and NGOs on the right to food and on the fight against hunger rather than with the Governemts which should be guiding the funding of these international structures.
3) The Bretton Woods institutions should direct more funding towards food crops, especially in developing countries to ensure food self-sufficiency of these countries.
4) Stop the land grab and redistribute land to peasants and farmers; this would allow these farmers to produce food for their self sufficency
5) Include women in the allocation, distribution and management of land because they are highly involved in agricultural production in the world and even more in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Cordially
Maïmouna SOMA

FIAN Burkina

Helga Vierich from Canada [3^rd contribution]

I would like to pass on the following to the members of our forum:

What must we do?

Published by Future of Food Conference (Washington Post) on Wed, 05/04/2011 - 08:00

Original article: http://washingtonpostlive.com/conferences/food/archive

by Wendell Berry

The hummingbird successfully crossing the Gulf of Mexico is adapted mile by mile to the distance. It does not exceed its own physical and mental capacities and it makes the trip exactly like pre-industrial human migrants, on contemporary energy.
For humans, local adaptation is not work for a few financiers and a few intellectual and political hotshots. This is work for everybody, requiring everybody's intelligence. It is work inherently democratic.
What must we do?

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  First: we must not work or think on a heroic scale. In our age of global industrialism, heroes too likely risk the lives of places and things they do not see. We must work on a scale proper to our limited abilities. We must not break things we cannot fix. There is no justification ever for permanent ecological damage. If this imposes the verdict of guilt upon us all, so be it.
  

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  Second: We must abandon the homeopathic delusion that the damages done by industrialization can be corrected by more industrialization.
  

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  Third: We must quit solving our problems by moving on. We must try to stay put and to learn where we are - geographically, historically and ecologically.
  

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  Fourth: We must learn, if we can, the sources and costs of our own economic lives.
  

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  Fifth: We must give up the notion that we are too good to do our own work and clean up our own messes. It is not acceptable for this work to be done for us by wage slavery or by enslaving nature.
  

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  Sixth: By way of correction, we must make local, locally adapted economies based on local nature, local sunlight, local intelligence and local work.
  

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  Seventh: We must understand that these measures are radical. They go to the root of our problem. They cannot be performed for us by any expert, political leader or corporation.
  

This is an agenda that may be undertaken by ordinary citizens at any time on their own initiative. In fact it describes an effort already undertaken all over the world by many people.

It defines also the expectation that citizens who by their gifts are exceptional will not shirk the most humble service.