Transcript Zurich Presentation Dec 08

Farmers, Herders and Fisherfolk:
Securing Food Futures
2010 Environment Day Conference
at Redcliffe College, Gloucester
6 March 2010
Patrick Mulvany
Patrick Mulvany | 2010 Environment Day Conference | 6 March 2010 | 1
"Modern man talks of
the battle with nature,
forgetting if he ever
won the battle he
would find himself on
the losing side"
Fritz Schumacher
Founder ITDG
(now rebranded Practical Action)
Patrick Mulvany | 2010 Environment Day Conference | 6 March 2010 | 2
Status of Agriculture:
Characterized by Disconnects, both in the
developed and developing world
•Disconnects between agriculture and
the environment;
•Disconnects between consumers and
farmers or land and cities;
•Disconnects between policies and
expectations.
Patrick Mulvany | 2010 Environment Day Conference | 6 March 2010 | 3
Who feeds us?
Patrick Mulvany | 2010 Environment Day Conference | 6 March 2010 | 4
Context
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•
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•
•
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Agricultural Biodiversity
Soils
Water
Climate change / Greenhouse gases
Agricultural development Aid
Human population
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Productivity of Biodiverse
Agroecology
•
•
•
•
•
Yield increases of more than 30% - 100%
frequently result due to the combination of:
Organic matter accumulation and nutrient cycling
Increased soil biological activity
Natural control mechanisms (disease
suppression, biocontrol of insects, weed
interference)
Resource conservation and regeneration
(including soil, water and germplasm)
Enhanced agricultural biodiversity and synergies
between components.
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‘Problem’: Pests and Weeds in
East African Maize Crops
Maize - a staple crop for many smallholder
farmers – is regularly attacked by:
• Stemborer Moths, which lay eggs in the
Maize stem and the larvae then devour it,
and
• the weed Striga, which weakens Maize
roots and kills the plant (also affects
sorghum and millet)
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‘Solution’: Push-Pull technology
Stemborer
moths
Stemborer
moths
Striga
Napier
Maize
Desmodium
Maize
Napier
Stemborer moths pushed away by intercropped Desmodium
and pulled towards bordering Napier grass (Pennisetum
purpureum) which kills larvae. Maize root attacking Striga
seeds controlled by Desmodium root interaction.
Patrick Mulvany | 2010 Environment Day Conference | 6 March 2010 | 8
The ‘Problem’: Drought-Induced Crop Failure
in the Caribbean
Climate Change + Intensive + Lack of
= Successive Harvest
Temp rise 0.5 0
Agriculture Finances/Fuel
Failures
Drought 2002-06
60% soils eroded
Reduced
irrigation
systems
40% low water
retention
45% low fertility
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In one Province in 1 year:
•3,000 wells dried up
•2,000 livestock deaths
•400,000 litres milk lost
•Staple Maize not sown
The ‘Solution’: Participatory Development of
Rainwater Harvesting and Conservation Strategies
Actions:
• Increase farmer
knowledge on water
cycles, salinisation and
water management
• Experiments with
drought-tolerant
varieties, rainwater
capture, soil
improvement and cover
crops
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End of Year 1: Results in 4 communities,
RAPID RESULTS
£15,000 LOW COST
• Increased farmer capacity to experiment and work
COMMUNITY
YIELD INCREASES
together
ENGAGEMENT
• Increased crop diversity, yields, and production
• Livestock corralled for manure collection
• Uptake of biofertiliser inputs
CARBON
MANAGEMENT
SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY
• Improved soil-water retention capacity
• New local vegetable market
• New local seed market
MARKET
DEVELOPMENT
POVERTY
ALLEVIATION
FOOD &
NUTRITION
SECURITY
• Increased family income and nutritional availability
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‘Problem’: increased disease
‘Solution’: improve yield stability
through a variety mixture
120
Wakelyns Agroforestry
2000
2001
2002
Relative yield (%)
110
100
90
80
70
60
Hereward
Malacca
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Shamrock
He/Ma/Sh
Low Carbon, Biodiverse, Resilient
Ecological Food Provision
Develops
culturally
appropriate
technology
Improves
gender
equity
Strengthens
institutional
capacity
Conservess and
regenerate
natural
resources
Improves
food security
and food
sovereignty
SOCIAL ECONOMIC
ENVIRONMENTAL
Diversifies
production
systems –
resilience to
Climate Change
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Improvess
livelihood
security and
local markets
Sustain
Agroecosystem
Functions and
Agricultural
Biodiversity
Raising Productivity through
Ecological Food Provision Methods
Food Provision
C
per unit Land / Water
A = industrial,
simplified,
high external
input
production
B = current
productivity levels
C = (Agro)ecological,
diverse,
low external
input production
A
X
B
Low-----------------------DIVERSITY / RESILIENCE ---------------------- High
High-----------------------------------CARBON COST-----------------------------Low
High------------------------CORPORATE CONTROL---------------------Low
Low--------------------------FOOD SOVEREIGNTY--------------------High
Low--------------------PEOPLE/LOCAL KNOWLEDGE----------------High
IAASTD finds need to increase and strengthen AKST towards agroecological sciences to
CORPORATE CONTROL
FOOD CHAIN
Top 10 Corporations control 67% proprietary seed market
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Adopting Soberanía Alimentaria
the Food Sovereignty Framework
1996
‘Tlaxcala Declaration of La Via Campesina,
Tlaxcala, Mexico  World Food Summit
2002
‘Food Sovereignty: A Right for All’. Forum for
Food Sovereignty’ Rome, Italy
2007
Nyéléni 2007: Forum for Food Sovereignty,
Sélingué, Mali
2009
Forum for People’s Food Sovereignty Now!,
Rome, Italy
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FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
‘Food sovereignty is the right of
peoples to healthy and culturally
appropriate food produced through
ecologically sound and sustainable
methods, and their right to define
their own food and agriculture
systems.’ (Declaration of Nyéléni, 2007)
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SIX PRINCIPLES
Food Sovereignty
1. Focuses on Food for People and Right to Food, rather
than export commodities
2. Values Food Providers and respects their Rights, rather
than squeezing them off the land
3. Localises Food Systems, rather than promoting unfair
global trade
4. Puts Control Locally, rather than remote TNCs
5. Builds Knowledge and Skills, rather than depending
on alien technologies such as GM
6. Works with Nature, rather than using methods that
harm beneficial ecosystem functions, such as energy
intensive monocultures and livestock factories.
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FOOD SECURITY
a co-opted concept?
• Food Sovereignty, including the
Human Right to adequate Food, devolves
power to the people
vs
• Food Security, which keeps control in the
hands of existing powerholders
It is silent on
– Provenance
– Quality
– Control
– Decision
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A new Common Food and
Agriculture Policy
European Food Declaration
12 Values based on Food Sovereignty
To be launched in Brussels
Patrick Mulvany | 2010 Environment Day Conference | 6 March 2010 | 20
The new Common Food and
Agriculture Policy
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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12 Values based on Food Sovereignty
Focus on food;
Equity, social justice, ecological
sustainability;
Healthy eating – more plants less meat;
More local, seasonal, quality products;
Fair prices;
Access to land; Protect soil, water,
agricultural biodiversity free from GMOs;
No agrofuels;
Shorten distances between and ‘reconnect’
producer and consumer; Transparency in
food chain;
Reduce concentration of power;
Develop skills and knowledge by children.
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Urgency
• Change in all regions is urgent and
necessary for People and Planet
• Learning from Farmers, Herders and
Fisherfolk
• Rewrite the rules – economic, political,
social
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International Assessment of Agricultural
Knowledge, Science and Technology for
Development (IAASTD)
IAASTD finds need to increase and
strengthen Agricultural Knowledge, Science
and Technology towards agroecological
sciences to address environmental and
productivity issues
(IAATSD Finding # 7. See www.iaastd.net )
Patrick Mulvany | 2010 Environment Day Conference | 6 March 2010 | 23
Donor policy
“No Development without Environment: DFID
fails the Challenge” – House of Commons
Environmental Audit Committee
“If DFID continues to fail to meet the challenge of
incorporating the environment and sustainability into
its work on a planet where fish stocks are
plummeting, water tables are falling and the pace of
climate change is accelerating at an alarming rate,
the £5.3 billion a year the UK will be spending by
2008 on development will at best result in only
temporary successes.” (EAC Press Release, 16
August 2006)
DFID remains environmentally blind today, - e.g. neglecting
agroecology and ecoliteracy in food and farming. IIED
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Why No Thought for Food?
UK Parliament report Jan 2010
Recommends that DFID implement
Findings of IAASTD
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Agriculture is NOT a business like
any other –
it beats to the drum of biology
Colin Tudge, “So shall we reap”
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“Securing Future Food:
towards ecological food
provision"
UK Food Group Briefing
January 2010
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Commitments of small-scale food providers
• to strengthen and promote our ecological model of
food provision in the framework of food sovereignty.
• to call for a reframing of research, using participatory
methods, that will support our ecological model of
food provision.
• to strengthen our interconnecting rural - urban food
webs, building alliances within a Complex Alimentarius
that will link small-scale food providers, processors,
scientists, institutions and consumers.
Patrick Mulvany | 2010 Environment Day Conference | 6 March 2010 | 28
Thank You
Further info:
more:
www.ukfg.org.uk
foodsovereignty.org
etcgroup.org
ukabc.org
practicalaction.org
Patrick Mulvany
[email protected]
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