GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES | Second Quarterly 2013 – North America ...

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES - SECOND QUARTERLY 2013
would have been made than is talked about now. Some
progress has in fact been made, however, and anybody
committed to a “half full” and not a “half empty” approach
would note this, with some degree of satisfaction.
Cuba, whose economic difficulties following changes in the
former Soviet Union received much adverse comment, is
one of 16 countries that have fulfilled an important task
relating to what can accurately be described as the “food
security MDG”: halving hunger.
The importance of meeting this goal has been emphasized
by the targets attached to it. These are:
Target No. 1 – Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion
of people whose income is less than one dollar a day.
Target No. 2 – Achieve full and productive employment
and decent work for all, including women and young people.
Target No. 3 – Halve between 1990 and 2015, the proportion
of people who suffer from hunger
The other 15 who have met the “halve hunger” goal are
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Chile, Fiji, Georgia, Ghana, Guyana,
Nicaragua, Peru, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Thailand,
Uruguay, Venezuela and Vietnam. Their achievements will
be acknowledged and they will each receive a Certificate of
Recognition at the FAO Conference.
Representatives of all these countries will no doubt be
elated, as well they should be. Although he is in poor health
and does not call the shots in his nation, for Cuba’s Fidel
Castro there will no doubt be special joy in this development.
During his years of authority, Castro was perennially interested
in food security issues both at home and abroad.
Castro will be pleased at his country’s achievement not
only because of this but also because his words of wisdom
uttered close to two decades ago will be formally adopted
as policy by FAO at its June conference. In deference to
Castro’s interest in food security issues, his contribution to
Cuba fulfilling a key task of the “food security MDG”, and
his prescience, FAO’s Director-General Graziano de Silva
sent him a “heads up” on this in a personal letter of commendation
in April.
Views Vindicated
So, consider this: At the time of the FAO World Food Summit
of 1996, Castro urged that total eradication of hunger,
and not a halfway approach, was imperative. He was, some
observers said at the time, outraged that the food summit
was satisfied with adopting a tepid approach to ending
hunger. In his letter of congratulations to Castro and the
Cuban people Graziano reminds him of this: “They say that
in the press conference that followed the summit you said
that even if the target (halving hunger) were achieved we
would not know what to say to the other half of humanity if
it would not be freed from the scourge of hunger. “
With Castro’s foresight on the record, Graziano writes,
sharing a point of triumph with Castro and offering him the
ultimate vindication: “I have the great pleasure to inform
you that the decision of its members and for the first time
in its history, the FAO Conference to be held next June in
Rome, take the total eradication of hunger as the number
one goal of our organisation.”
The proposed approach is similar to what Ismail Serageldin,
currently the Director of Egypt’s showpiece Bibliotheca
Alexandrina, articulated as chairman of the Consultative
Group on Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
Pointing out that slavery was abolished under the leadership
of abolitionists, he urged that a group of New Abolitionists
was required to combine their efforts on ending all
hunger. Nobody will quarrel with the goal of eradicating
global hunger, but what is the appropriate path towards
that goal?
Broad Impact
Agriculture, primarily recognized as a source of food, is
also an important aspect of development, overall. The agricultural
dollar spreads across the countryside creating
wealth as it moves. This, of course, has an impact on income,
health and nutrition, education, the environment,
and empowerment.
Re-emphasising agriculture so that it helps to meet the
goal of universal food security while also serving as a catalyst
of development involves a range of issues including
productivity, crop diversity, natural resources management,
biodiversity protection, capacity building, institution
strengthening, national laws and policies, and international
trade. Effective agricultural research, to strengthen and
expand agricultural knowledge, the basis of new technologies,
is essential. Supporting agricultural research, it has
been said is like putting money in the hands of the poor.
The tasks of agricultural research are more complex than
at the time of the green revolution. Agricultural knowledge
has grown and so has knowledge about agriculture. The
ecological imprint of agriculture is so great that the late
Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug called for a “blue revolution”
that will combine “water-use productivity” with
“land-use productivity
To achieve these goals, the world needs broad and effective
partnerships – involving farmers, civil society, researchers,
policymakers, and politicians -- committed to reinvigorating
sustainable agriculture. Some South-South partnerships
exist. Brazil’s Agricultural Research Corporation (EM-
BRAPA) is a leader in this field. India’s Department of Agricultural
Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture
(DARE), as well as several private research foundations,
collaborate with partners in the neighboring region and
also in Africa. China has similar programs, with an emphasis
on collaboration with African partners.
Strong national research organizations in the South could
serve as research hubs, creating networks of collaboration
to create and share knowledge and research-based technologies
for agricultural development. If the need to move
ahead from theory to practice is ignored – if the poor remain
forever condemned to a harvest of words, and no
more – the results over the long term will be human tragedy.
[IDN | June 6, 2013]
- 5 -