The escalating crisis of volatile food prices and food insecurity is the result of an industrial development model based on large-scale, export-orientated agriculture tied to international competition, self interest and stock market speculation. With over a billion people going hungry each day despite a huge surplus of food production, a reorientation towards more localised, smaller scale and sustainable agriculture is urgently required.
Agricultural policies prescribed by industrialised countries
have led to a food system dominated by private interests. But in
the context of achieving global food security, maximization of international
trade and corporate profits should not be the dominating forces, writes Daryll E. Ray.
The common principle of food sovereignty movements worldwide
is the right to democratic participation in the food system. But a prerequisite for realising this right is
a ‘moral universalism’ that may sit uncomfortably with its advocates, writes
Raj Patel.
Implementing global food reserves should be part of a
genuine multilateral response to the food crisis. A new Global Convention on
Food Security could offer an institutional framework for the governance
of food and agriculture, argues a presentation by Robin Willoughby.
The current intellectual property regime – dominated by Northern
biotechnology firms – is threatening the livelihoods of poor farmers and pushing
up food prices in developing countries, says a report from the UN Special
Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter.
Recurrent famine in Ethiopia illustrates
the failure of international food aid policies for the past 25 years. Rather
than prioritising emergency response; governments should encourage production in developing countries, invest in local infrastructure, and empower small-scale
farmers, says a report by Oxfam
International.
Food reserves could play an important role in a longer-term strategy to
achieve universal food security if implemented as part of a new international
framework for trade and agriculture, finds a study released today by Share The
World's Resources.
In the run-up to World Food Day 2009, a number of reports
reveal a global food system in urgent need of reform and call for the ‘right to
food’ to guide the future governance of international agriculture.