Ruminations: Why is it so hard to solve agricultural probems in the world? Problems seem to at least be beginning to be recognized. I thought this posting from Helsinki (below) was excellent. I am just beginning to read Holistic Management: A New Framework for Decision Making by Allan Savory in preparation for a meeting of our road residents with the new Weed Supervisor. How do you get the disparit political entities of this earth to do effective holistic management? I am just beginning to try to understand paradigms and change. This may be exactly what has made my relationship with the Weed Board so difficult. There are a lot smarter and more experienced people in this BDNow group. Should I just give up political action, insist that we buy a cow (though my husband is against having animals and I probably can't convince him (family politics?) and cut down a bunch of trees to plant my own grain against the time when wheat will be genetically engineered? It's hard to be far-sighted enough. Or is my time best spent chipping away at the presently accepted weed control paradigm at the Weed Board and organizing a neighborhood organic weed control project and just trying to keep using BD compost and sprays on our own land?
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Agriculture and Trade ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Posted: 02/11/2002 By >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > ============================================================ > > For more information, please contact: > > Miia Toikka > KEPA - Kehitysyhteisty�n Palvelukeskus ry (Service Centre for Development > Cooperation) > S�rn�isten rantatie 25 A > 00500 Helsinki > Tel: +358-9-584 23 243 > Fax: +358-9-584 23 200 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Food Policy Principles of Kepa (The Service Centre for Development > Co-operation, Finland) > Approved by the Kepa Board, 10th December 2001 > > Everyone has the right to food > > Sufficient, nutritious food is essential to life and a fundamental right of > every person as defined in the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the UN > Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The world�s nations > confirmed this right and bound themselves to eradicate hunger and bring food > security to all at the World Food Summit in Rome in 1996. In practice, > realising the right to food is barely underway. > > Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and > economic access to the production and consumption of sufficient, safe and > nutritious food to meet their dietary needs for an active and healthy life. > Hunger is usually caused by poverty - around 1,2 billion people are > estimated to be living on less than a dollar a day. More often than lack of > purchasing power, poverty in the Third World is exclusion from the means to > produce food ? land, water, seeds, equipment, financial credit, and skills. > According the UN Organisation on Food and Agriculture (FAO), > 826 million people worldwide suffer from hunger and malnutrition, the vast > majority of them women and children in rural smallholding families in > developing countries. Relevant questions to food security are who is > producing food, where and by what means it is being produced, and who has > the means necessary to produce it. > > The world�s overall food production has grown at an unprecedented rate in > recent decades, faster than world population growth. Regionally, locally, > within households or for individuals, hunger may be caused by many factors > such as conflicts, corruption, national policies, environmental problems, > discrimination, lack of resources, or deficient hygiene and health. > International trade decisions and the conditions applied to development > grants affect the economic structure of developing countries and steer their > food production. Trade policies affect the food security of the world�s > poorest citizens. > > The Service Centre for Development Co-operation Kepa wishes to take part in > the work creating the best and most sustainable international food, > agriculture, and economic policies for alleviating hunger, malnutrition, and > poverty. > > Kepa feels that Finland should actively further policies improving food > security on all international fora, such as the European Union, at > international financial institutions, the UN, and the World Trade > Organisation. In 2002 and 2003 important ongoing processes affecting food > security include the re-negotiations on the WTO agriculture and TRIPS > agreements, development of structural adjustment programmes and debt relief > initiatives, the UN Conference on Financing for Development, the World > Summit on Sustainable Development, and the Worl Food Summit: five years > later. > > Towards locally produced food > > For food security and ecological sustainability, the most sensible solution > would be to produce as much of the required food as close as possible to > where it is consumed. Locally produced food is production and consumption of > local raw materials and use of processing opportunities that benefits local > economies and employment. It is unnecessary to attempt to define strictly > the geographical scope of �locally grown� - it may be a municipality, > county, or economic region. If one�s own region lacks the desired food > product or its raw materials, these should be chosen from as close by as > possible, from the same or neighbouring country, or further afield. In > choosing, weight should be given to the use of sustainable production > methods. > > International trade negotiations such as those of the World Trade > Organisation (WTO) treat agricultural produce as a commodity destined for fr > ee trade just like any other, such as oil, coal, or cars. However, > agricultural produce, particularly staples, are different from other > commodities in two important ways: they are essential to human wellbeing, > and their production is based on biological processes uncontrollable by Man. > In most developing countries food production and agriculture are the > foundation of the national economy, responsible directly or indirectly for > employing the majority of the population. Agriculture is a way of life in > both the South and the North; communities� land stewardship as well as > horticultural and animal husbandry methods reflect local culture, > traditions, and beliefs. > > These specific characteristics mean that agriculture should not be subject > to the same demands for international competitiveness as other forms of > production. At the Rome World Food Summit a wide forum of NGOs proposed > replacing agricultural and trade polices with the principle of food > sovereignty. Food sovereignty means the right of all, from nations to local > communities, to decide their food policies for themselves. When decisions > concerning food production are made locally, agriculture can take account of > local and regional features related to the prevailing natural, > socio-economic, or business conditions. > > The guiding principle of agricultural and food policies should be the > favouring of locally produced foods. Agricultural production for the world > market must not take away the capacity needed for producing national > staples, and imports of food products must not obliterate local production. > > Decisions concerning food and agriculture should be made openly, > democratically, and as close to the affected regions as possible. > International trade policies on food and agriculture should leave more room > for local production decisions at national, regional, and local community > levels. > > The WTO Agreement on Agriculture and other trade agreements must make a > clear difference between food and other agricultural products. The > possibility should be considered of completely removing staple foods from > the WTO mandate. A suitable forum for agreeing on international food > policies should be looked for under UN auspices. > > Developing countries have the right to develop and protect their own food > production industries > > The WTO�s Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) aims to increase trade in > agri-products by easing their access to markets. Access to markets is > usually regarded as a basically positive factor for developing countries. > The principle is simple: when industrialised countries lower their import > duties, developing countries will have an easier task to sell more produce > on a richer market and so boost their economic growth. However, the > requirements of structural adjustment programmes applied in developing > countries have compelled them to allow access to their markets and ease > import restrictions, so that the current situation has in fact favoured > exports of the industrial rather than the developing countries. > > Agricultural products are an important source of export earnings for many > developing countries, and access to industrial countries� markets is > important to them. From the perspective of food security, however, giving > access to Third World markets is fraught with problems. In many developing > countries, monocultures of export crops on large farms with foreign > ownership, separate the agricultural export sector from other > agri-production. Agri-exports may increase the nation�s earnings, but this > money ends up in the hands of a few major producers and landowners, even > foreign owners, and does not develop the nation�s agriculture sector as a > whole. The food security of the poorest may in fact decrease further, as > production for export competes directly for land, water, and labour against > production aimed at national markets. > > The EU should continue to ease access onto its markets of products from > developing countries, to require this also of other industrialised nations, > and to support the increased processing of agricultural produce in > developing countries by lowering or removing its import tariffs on processed > goods. The EU should also move to actively develop fairer international > trade regulations for producers of staple goods. Promoting and expanding > so-called fair trade schemes is one way to carry out such work. > > Developing countries have the right to develop their own agricultural sector > and protect it from imports. The conditionalities of development financing > should not prevent this. The special provisions for developing countries in > the WTO Agreement on Agriculture must be developed into more concrete ways > of deviating from the agreement. Developing countries must have the > opportunity to choose which agricultural products are to be governed by the > AoA, and to re-evaluate their import tariffs on agri-products. The minimum > market access requirement of 4 per cent of national consumption levied on > developing countries� should be removed. One proposed solution to devising > special provisions for developing countries under the WTO�s AoA is the > so-called Development Box. > > Agricultural support in industrialised nations must not lead to dumping of > food products on developing countries� markets > > One of the most difficult questions to resolve during agricultural trade > negotiations has been the fate of domestic and export subsidies paid by > industrialised nations to their national food production sector. Developing > countries regard these subsidies as encouraging excess production and the > dumping of this excess at artificially low prices on their markets. Domestic > subsidies artificially lower the prices of exported products and so weaken > the market position of Developing Countries� producers. The EU defends the > need for subsidies as part of preserving the multifunctional nature of > agriculture, and balancing the prevailing discrepancies in cost levels: > without support the EU claims European agriculture would be in danger of > disappearing. Agriculture in areas such as Finland in particular is > dependent on support mechanisms for survival. > > Preserving agriculture in all countries, both North and South, is extremely > important for food security, employment, environmental, and cultural factors > alike. Agricultural subsidies are necessary, but they must not hinder > production in other countries. > > Removing export subsidies as well as lowering and reorganising national > agricultural support levels means structural changes everywhere. In > developing countries it means rising prices to certain products from > industrialised nations, and therefore a bigger bill to countries that are > net importers of food. The founding meeting of the WTO in Marrakesh decided > that these and other poor countries will receive technical, economic, and > food aid as compensation for problems wrought by the AoA. Instead, in the > case of many industrialised nations, development aid in general and aid to > the poorest of the world�s nations in particular has continued to decrease. > > Agricultural support mechanisms should be structured so as not to encourage > overproduction likely to lead to dumping of food products in developing > countries� markets. Export subsidies should cease, and national supports > provided especially to smaller producers and ecologically sustainable > methods of production. developing countries must also be permitted to > support their own agricultural producers according to the same principles. > > Industrial nations must enforce the Marrakesh decision and increase their > development aid. > > Countries to have the right to decide on patenting of genetic material > > The WTO trade agreement system includes provisions for trade-related issues > on intellectual property rights under the TRIPS agreement. The TRIPS > agreement requires that contracting parties permit patents of all > discoveries regardless of the field of endeavour. From the point of view of > food security and the rights of local communities, the worry is that it may > be interpreted as obliging contracting parties to permit the patenting of > plants, animals, plant varieties, micro-organisms, any parts of these, or > the natural processes needed to produce them. Pressure for this stems from > developments in biotechnology and their genetic applications in agriculture. > The TRIPS agreement�s article 27.3(b) lists the exceptions that countries > may make to patenting of life forms during a given transition period. > > Most of nature�s genetic diversity is located in the Southern countries. > Food security in these countries is often dependent on traditional forms of > agriculture, cultural cohesion, and the knowledge and ability of indigenous > peoples and local farming communities on how to use plant varieties and > species. The gathering, exchange, and sale of plant seeds has been the right > and practice of self-sufficient farmers for thousands of years. Such > knowledge has now begun to be studied in laboratories, and plant varieties > are being described and patented. Genetic technology permits the > modification of individual traits and so production of new varieties that > are patented for use by the company in question as an invention. > > The international agreement on the conservation of biodiversity (Convention > on Biological Diversity, CBD) recognises nations� rights to their natural > world and its genetic resources, and requires protection of the rights of > local communities as well as an equitable sharing of benefits obtained by > extracting local natural resources and applying locally acquired knowledge. > > Article 27.3(b) of the TRIPS agreement must be made a permanent part of the > agreement. The article should be expanded to allow each country to decide > freely on the patenting of genetic material, organisms, and biological > processes. The WTO needs to recognise the different systems of plant > protection chosen by countries or groups of countries so as to guarantee the > protection of inventions by indigenous peoples, continuity in traditional > farming methods, and the gathering, exchange, and sale of plant seeds. > > The status of the international agreement on the conservation of > biodiversity (Convention on Biological Diversity, CBD) should be > strengthened in relation to the TRIPS agreement and other economic > conventions. CBD principles should be applied also to legal provisions > concerning international intellectual property rights. > > Care is needed in applying genetic technologies > > Gene technology has been claimed as offering the solutions to the world�s > hunger problem. However, currently some of its manifestations may in fact be > worsening the situation. There is no consensus whether genetically modified > plant variants are suitable to the conditions in which the majority of > developing country farmers produce their food. There is also no consensus as > to whether gene technology is the most effective ? or the only ? way of > increasing agricultural productivity. > > Research into gene technology and its commercial applications should apply > the precautionary principle until its social and environmental effects have > been studied thoroughly. Resources given over to genetic technology research > should not affect financing of studies applying locally suitable farming > methods using cheap technology available and useful to smallholders. > > --- > [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus] > > ============================================================ > How to Use this Mailing List > ============================================================ > > You received this e-mail as a result of your registration on the ag-impact mailing >list. > > To unsubscribe, please send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the body of the >message type: > unsubscribe ag-impact > > For a list of other commands and list options, please send email to >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > In the body of the message type: > help > > Please direct content questions about this list to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Please direct technical questions about this service to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > --- > [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus]
