Richard Heasman
Headed by Olivier De Schutter who over a 6 year period analysed the word’s industrial food production system concluded that the current food system is ineffective in tackling poverty, famine and hunger.
U.N. Food Report - Radical Change Required
A radical report released by the UN on the “Right to Food” focusses heavily on how the current system of food production is non-sustainable and unable to feed everyone. Headed by Olivier De Schutter who over a 6 year period analysed the word’s industrial food production system concluded that the current food system is ineffective in tackling poverty, famine and hunger.
Schutter has called for a drastic change in the production of the world’s entire food system, arguing for a greater focus on local, sustainable farming whereby the lands keepers control what they grow and eat.
"Measured against the requirement that they should contribute to the realisation of the right to food, the food systems we have inherited from the 20th century have failed," he told the UN human rights council. "Of course, significant progress has been achieved in boosting agricultural production. But this has hardly reduced the number of hungry people."
Not surprisingly, this report gained very little attention in the U.S., where the handful of giant corporations who actually own the majority of the world’s food supply are situated.
The World Food Programme currently estimates that 842 million people are still living in hunger. The current unsustainable system relies on companies like ConAgra, Cargill and PepsiCo to produce & distribute the world’s food supply, which is also heavily infused with fertilizers, pesticides and fossil fuels.
Schutters report also encourages the use of market regulation on; fatty foods, trans-fatty acids, sodium and sugar (HFSS foods) to children as well as restrict the marketing of these foods to other ‘at risk’ groups.
Breast Milk Substitutes are also discussed in the report where a greater emphasis on the regulation on the distribution of BMS in poorer communities across the globe should be enforced due to the sharp rise in infant mortality rates associated with them. Nestle, a large distributor of BMS has come under increasing pressure from groups like ‘Baby Milk Action’ who advocate boycotts of Nestle goods due to the ‘aggressive marketing of baby goods in breach of the international marketing standards agency.’
This is due to Nestlé's insistence that their products are better than actual breastfeeding, although reports like this have proven otherwise – even going as far as to suggest that Nestlé are in fact encouraging unhealthy practices in poverty stricken regions of the world.
Continuing in his report, De Schutter suggests a greater emphasis on farmer's rights, supported by something called ‘agroecology’ – a way to improve the resilience and sustainability of food systems. Currently, agricultural farmers in developing nations are reliant on large seed and fertilizer corporations like Dow Chemical who enlist similar pesticide formulas to those used in the Vietnam War – codenamed Agent Orange.
Companies like Dow Chemical sell farmers genetically altered seeds that prevent more seeds being naturally produced. This prevents the farmer from storing seeds for the next harvest – thus manipulating the market to maximise profits – yet retaining the farmer within the same economical conundrum.
Basic human needs like water, shelter and food are, according to De Schutter, entirely monopolized. 'Food sovereignty', a term first coined by pressure groups and now used by De Schutter in his report to the UN, describes the basic human right to control the process and what food you have. ‘Food Democracy’ is essentially what this report strives to highlight.
This does however threaten the business interests of very powerful corporations. The U.N. would be hard pressed to enforce these levels of drastic changes with the enforcement that De Schutter recommends. However, this does raise a degree of awareness and gives ammunition to pressure groups like La Via Campesina (The International Peasants Movement).
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