Developing the Agroecological Alternative

Right to Food: "Agroecology outperforms large-scale industrial farming
for global food security," says UN expert

BRUSSELS (22 June 2010) - "Governments and international agencies
urgently need to boost ecological farming techniques to increase food
production and save the climate," said UN Special Rapporteur on the
Right to Food, Olivier De Schutter, while presenting the findings at an
international meeting on agroecology held in Brussels on 21 and 22 June.

Along with 25 of the world's most renowned experts on agroecology, the
UN expert urged the international community to* re-think current
agricultural policies* and build on the potential of agroecology.

"One year ago, Heads of States at the G20 gathering in Italy committed
to mobilizing $22 billion over a period of three years to improve global
food security. This was welcome news, but* the most pressing issue
regarding reinvestment in agriculture is not how much, but how*,"
Olivier De Schutter said .

"Today, most efforts are made towards large-scale investments in land -
including many instances of land grabbing - and towards a 'Green
Revolution' model to boost food production: improved seeds, chemical
fertilisers and machines," the Special Rapporteur remarked. "But scant
attention has been paid to agroecological methods that have been shown
to improve food production and farmers' incomes, while at the same time
protecting the soil, water, and climate."

The widest study ever conducted on agroecological approaches (Jules
Pretty, Essex University, UK) covered 286 projects in 57 developing
countries, representing a total surface of 37 million hectares: the
average crop yield gain was 79%. Concrete examples of 'agroecological
success stories' abound in Africa.

In Tanzania, the Western provinces of Shinyanga and Tabora used to be
known as the 'Desert of Tanzania'. However, the use of agroforestry
techniques and participatory processes allowed some 350,000 hectares of
land to be rehabilitated in two decades. Profits per household rose by
as much as USD 500 a year. Similar techniques are used in Malawi, where
some 100,000 smallholders in 2005 benefited to some degree from the use
of fertilizer trees.

"With more than a billion hungry people on the planet, and the climate
disruptions ahead of us, we must rapidly scale up these sustainable
techniques," De Schutter said. "Even if it makes the task more complex,
we have to find a way of addressing global hunger, climate change, and
the depletion of natural resources, all at the same time. Anything short
of this would be an exercise in futility."

The experts gathering in Brussels identified the policies that could
develop agroecological approaches to the scale needed to feed the world
in 2050. They based their work on the experiences of countries that have
pro-agroecology policies - such as Cuba or Brazil - as well as on the
successful experiences from international research centres such as the
World Agroforestry Center in Nairobi, and on the programmes of La Via
Campesina, the transnational peasant movement, which runs agroecology
training programmes.

"We can scale up these sustainable models of agriculture, and ensurethat they work for the benefit of the poorest farmers. What is needed
now is political will to move from successful pilot projects to
nation-wide policies," the UN Special Rapporteur said. In conclusion, he
announced that he would ask the Committee on World Food Security - what
should become in time the 'Security Council' for food security - to work
during its October session on the policy levers to scale up agroecology.
"This is the best option we have today. We can't afford not to use it."

(*) The international seminar "The contribution of agroecological
approaches to meet 2050 global food needs" was held in Brussels on 21
and 22 June. Convened under the auspices of the mandate of the UN
Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Prof. Olivier De Schutter, it
brought together agroecology experts, decision makers at national and
international levels, and representatives of farmer organizations.
http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=10178&LangID=E>