Tag Archives: Biodiversity

Africa is not spending enough on food

Posted on by
2

This piece was posted by Hilde Faugli, Communications Intern at Find Your Feet. 

70 percent of people in Africa live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for food and income

While most talk about Africa these days centers on the World Cup in South Africa, sobering facts about the continent’s food situation have been presented in an International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI) paper entitled Public Spending for Agriculture in Africa: Trends and Composition. According to the paper insufficient spending on agriculture Africa means that the continent is “now facing the same type of long-term food deficit problem that India faced in the early 1960s.

 
70 percent of people in Africa live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for food and income. Spending money on food production is therefore critical. Regrettably, only eight African countries have reached the target adopted by the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) in 2003. Back then, the continent committed to allocating 10 percent of their budgets to agriculture. The countries to reach the 10 percent target are Niger, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Mali, Ghana, Senegal, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

 As a result of the inadequate investment in the African agriculture sector, the continent is vulnerable to frequent food crises and countries are dependent on emergency food aid and food imports. The paper argues that governments and donors in the past have devoted more resources to emergency aid than to long-term agricultural development, which further undermines the countries’ ability to generate economic and agricultural growth. “Consequently, poverty and hunger have persisted and threaten the likelihood that some countries will meet the MDGs”.  The authors recommend increased investment in what they call the prime movers – human capital, technology and institutional innovations – to increase farm production and accelerate agricultural growth. As climate change is likely to have an adverse effect on the continents food production, increased government spending will probably prove even more important in the future.

Meanwhile, donor funding for agriculture in Africa has dropped dramatically – from 15 percent in the 1980s to 4 percent in 2006- but the amount countries allocate from aid to food production also varies quite considerably. In 2007 Botswana and Nigeria spent less than 1 percent of all aid received on agriculture while Burkina Faso in 2006 spent 8 percent of its total aid on agriculture.

To be able to improve their food deficit, and stand strong against climate change, African countries will need to spend more of their budgets on developing their agricultural sector. However, just as important is that the agriculture is developed in a sustainable manner. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs), increasing use of chemical fertilizers and intense industrialized agriculture are, by some actors, seen as the solution to the food crisis.  This approach to agriculture brings with it not only possible health risks, it is also likely to lead to a loss of biological biodiversity.

It is important to remember that this type of agriculture is not the only way to go. In Malawi, a return to age-old, chemical-free farming techniques is improving crop harvests for many poor farmers. Agriculture is the life blood of many small communities, and should be supported accordingly. The conservation of biological diversity that sustains agriculture is essential, and should be put at the heart of any national or local strategies to improve food security. Read more about Find Your Feet’s approach to agriculture.

Download the paper Public Spending for Agriculture in Africa: Trends and Composition.

And if you’d like to read about a global campaign to promote More and Better aid to agriculture, click here.

Sustainable agriculture and conservation of biodiversity will prove important in improving food production in Africa.

Bring Back the Bees

Posted on by
1

Beekeeping Group, Rumphi, Malawi

“My group and I know the importance of honey in our daily lives. Honey can be sold to generate an income. It also acts as a source of food, has medicinal values, and we can use the wax to make candles.” Said Gondwe, Rumphi District.

“The Vanishing of the Bees.”

As the ‘buzz’ (bad pun – sorry!) in the news has highlighted recently, bees are vital to our food security. The documentary “The Vanishing of the Bees” stated that 80% of all fruit, veg, nuts, seeds, herbs and flowers rely on the bee – meaning that they play a role in one in every three mouthfuls of food we eat. The decline of the bee has therefore triggered alarm that our food supply could be in jeopardy.

And, ironically, fingers have pointed at intensive farming as the main culprit for the decline in the bee populations. The modernising of farming included extensive monoculture. The pesticides needed to keep monoculture going are thought to be having unexpected negative effects on honey bees. In addition to this the land clearance associated with intensive farming has destroyed much of the natural habitat of wild pollinators.

Bees in rural India and Malawi

Beekeeping, Uttarakhand, India

“We know very well that bees not only act as a source of income but also sustain the forest. You find that where bee hives are hung and bees have colonized people do not cut down the trees.” Said Gondwe.

Our partners in India and Malawi are providing people in rural areas with training and equipment so that they can start beekeeping. As Said highlights, this often runs in parallel to important conservation and reforestation efforts – restoring the natural habitat of wild pollinators and helping to reverse some of the negative effects of intensive farming.

It costs £13 to provide training and equipment so that a farmer in Malawi can start beekeeping, providing them with an additional source of income and improving their food crop yields. Support our important work. Donate now.

‘Feeding Africa’ – Find Your Feet in The Guardian

Posted on by
Reply

FYF Director Dan Taylor was asked to write a comment on an article in The Guardian ‘Feeding Africa.‘ Visit the comment for a fascinating debate on the future of agriculture in Africa.

In the Guardian’s editorial (Feeding Africa, 29 July) the suggestion is made that, without improved seed varieties and fertiliser, African agriculture is a lost cause. This cannot go unchallenged. Farming in the UK elicits a peaceful picture of sheep grazing on green pastures, large fields of crops, and tractors. This image is far from the reality of the farms that produce the majority of Africa’s food. The average African farm is less than a hectare, the farmer is normally a woman and her main implement of cultivation is the hand hoe – this situates African agriculture in a very different context.

The editorial cites “subsidised seed and fertiliser” as the reason for Malawi’s farming transformation, “more than doubling productivity in a single year”. More than 25 years of working in rural Africa has taught me that this is an oversimplification of a very complex set of structural constraints and one that lulls us into a false sense of security. The suggestion is that if you get modern seeds and fertiliser to farmers then Africa’s food insecurity is solved. This modernist assumption that the industrial model of agriculture can solve Africa’s problems simply returns us to the failed policies of the 1960s and ignores the deleterious environmental impact of high input agriculture.

This puts Malawi’s “success” story in a different light. Malawi’s over-dependence on maize for national food security is short-sighted. Input subsidies do not target the poorest and the strategy depends on continued donor support, thereby raising questions of affordability in the face of growing fertiliser prices. Since the scheme is subject to state patronage, it breeds farmers’ dependence on the state.

In attributing the success of the Malawian scheme to farming inputs alone, your leader pays insufficient attention to the optimal rainfall that Malawi experienced over the past agricultural seasons. Droughts and floods in Africa have put paid to best intentions; at some time in the future crops will fail again, at great cost to Malawi’s farmers.

The conclusion that “growing more food … is the part that matters most” is unhelpful since it overlooks the question of longer-term sustainability. Hunger is an abomination, but alleviation in the short term is merely food aid in a different form. A permanent solution is required. We need alternatives to monocultures and fossil fuels. My organisation, Find Your Feet, promotes agroecology – agricultural systems that more closely mimic the natural ecosystems that have served African farmers for millennia. These resource-conserving approaches reorient attention from single crops to diversified risk-reducing strategies that mitigate the effects of climatic unpredictability, and return control to Africa’s farmers.

Business as usual is not an option: new solutions to new problems are needed and science and technology must play a role. Agroecology challenges us to acknowledge the perspicacity of Africa’s farmers and resist the inclination to transfer to Africa more of the same old package – the technologies, market freedoms and mindsets – that created the food crisis in the first place.

Sowing Autonomy: Gender and Seed Politics in semi-arid India

Posted on by
Reply

“Over the last five decades, seeds have slipped out of farmers’ control by gradually becoming the prerogative of breeders, genetic engineers, commercial seed growers, registered seed dealers and bureaucrats in charge of seed market regulations. Commercial seeds are developed against a background of technological control, economic efficiency and rational management. The commercialisation and adoption of new crop varieties is undermining women’s roles in the realms of seed and crop management, and has serious implications for the maintenance of agro-biodiversity.”

Carine Pionetti, Sowing Autonomy. Published by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

International Seed Treaty

Posted on by
Reply

This Statement was made at the Third session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture on behalf of the Global Community-based Biodiversity Conservation and Development (CBDC) Network, of which our in-country office FAIR Malawi is a member.

Agenda Item 13: Implementation of Article 6, Sustainable use of PGRFA

Agenda Item 14: Implementation of Article 9, Farmers’ Rights

Thank you Mr. Chairman

My Name is Teshome Hunduma from the DF, Norway

I am speaking on behalf of the global Community-based Biodiversity Conservation and Development (CBDC) Network.

I would like to thank for the chance we as a CBDC network are just given to speak on the implementation of the article 6.

The global CBDC network consists of CBDC Africa, CBDC South East and South Asia and Meso-American Participatory Plant Breeding Programme. The global CBDC Network seeks to promote and strengthen farmer-led conservation and sustainable utilization of agro-biodiversity at community level for purposes of ensuring food security and food sovereignty.

Mr. Chairman, we have seen that community-led conservation and sustainable utilization of agro-biodiversity is working and it is the best way out of the current food crises and secures local food production.

Mr. Chairman, we note with concern that the proposed funding strategy requires voluntary contributions when it is known that voluntary commitments will not materialize as was the case with the FAO Global Plan of Action of 1996.

Therefore:

1. The Governing Body should emphasize the implementation of article 6, which is on sustainable use of PGRFA as a priority area under the funding strategy.

2. The Community-based Biodiversity Conservation network also proposes a Global Fund for farmers which will be used for capacity building, technology transfer, information exchange, and sharing of other benefits by small-scale farmers for them to sustainably manage PGRFA.

Mr. Chairman, we also note the substantial funding for ex-situ conservation but very minimal funding for in-situ and on-farm conservation and sustainable utilization of plant genetic resources by small-scale farmers. We wish to remind delegates that ex situ conservation can not substitute the dynamism and diversity provided by on farm conservation which is the basis of agro-biodiversity to date. We therefore call upon the Governing Body to support on farm conservation of genetic resources and promotion of best practices that can be financed under the Funding Strategy.

The Treaty provides for access to PGR through the Multilateral System for CGIAR, but we note with concern that there are no frameworks and mechanisms designed for small-scale farmers to access and get back materials collected and stored under national, regional and international gene banks. We call upon the Governing Body to explore and develop separate but appropriate structures and institutional linkages with farmers’ organizations which are necessary to facilitate access by farmers to genetic resources of their choice which is under the CG system.

In order to promote effective implementation of the ITPGRFA at national level, we propose that the GB should integrate farmers, farmers’ organizations, civil society organizations at national, regional, and international levels as active sources of information for the proposed Compliance Committee.

We also call upon the Governing Body to establish concrete and specific mechanisms and frameworks for cooperation with small-scale farmers, farmers’ organizations, civil society organizations, which are actively working on issues related to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture in a sustainable manner.

Mr. Chairman, Allow me to extend my special thanks to the delegates from Ecuador speaking on behalf of GRULAC for supporting the in-situ conservation of PGRFA in particular and the implementation of the Treaty as a whole.

Thank you!!

World Water Crisis

Posted on by
Reply

“Mixed cropping is the best method. Every crop does something to the soil and helps others to grow, either by providing safety against insects or enriching the soil with leaf fall. Further, we feel secure in the thought that if one crop fails there others to sustain us.

The best thing about this method is that our traditional crops are very hardy and can survive under hostile conditions.” Gangwar, a 70 year old woman supported by DDS, India

Professor John Beddington, the Government Chief Scientific Advisor , was on the BBC’s Today programme this morning.

He warned that a “perfect storm” of food shortages, scare water and insufficient energy resources mean that the world is facing imminent major upheavals, with things coming to a head in 2030. He placed a particular emphasis on the problem of water scarcity but remained relatively non committal on certain possible solutions to the crisis, even when John Humphrys pushed him to comment on the fact that GM had not yet delivered on its’ promises and on the need for a revision of our consumption patterns.

Water is, according to UNESCO’s Koichiro Matsuura the “principal medium through which climate change will affect economic, social and environmental conditions. There is an urgent need to strengthen capacity – especially in the poorest countries – to cope with more frequent and intense water-related disasters caused by climate change.”

So, if GM is failing to deliver on its promises, what are the alternatives?

I was pleased to come across an Inter Press Service article today, posted on the Agricultural Biodiversity weblog, about the Deccan Development Society, a partner we worked with for seven years. The article states that in Zaheerabad, dalit (the broken) women forming the lowest rung of India’s stratified society, now demonstrate adaptation to climate change by following a system of interspersing crops that do not need extra water, chemical inputs or pesticides for production.

GM Crops – Should we believe in them?

Posted on by
2

Tales of intimidation

My colleague Olivia recently came back from a rather disturbing GM Freeze talk by Percy Schmeiser.

Percy, is a farmer from Bruno, Saskatchewan in Canada, whose Canola (rape seed) fields were contaminated with Monsanto’s Round-Up Ready Canola. He became involved in a high-profile legal battle with Monsanto, lasting many years, during which time he claims he was subjected to 24-hour surveillance of his house and threatening phonecalls. He also claims that Monsanto bribed his neighbours, tried to enforce gagging orders making him agree never to take Monsanto to court again and employed gene police to encourage neighbours to report on each other.

His story is not, it seems, an isolated case. As a GM Watch ‘quiz’ posted on Food Democracy asks “What is the annual budget that Monsanto devotes to harassing, intimidating, suing – and in some cases bankrupting – American farmers over alleged improper use of its patented seeds? ANSWER: 10 million dollars.”

What is going on?

GM crops are patented crops which means that ownership accrues to the holder of the patent or Intellectual Property Right or ‘breeder’. Seeds used therefore have to be purchased year on year or a royalty payment must be made if seed is recycled. Since most crops entering the market are bred by private companies, ownership accrues to the company holding the patent – normally a small number of large corporations.
As a result “Patents and genetic modification mutually reinforce each other. Patents provide the commercial monopoly that enables companies to control markets and maximise profits.” (GM Freeze)

Since GM crops can never co-exist with non-GM crops of the same species without the risk of contaminating them, the indigenous seeds that farmers have developed over centuries are at risk. Meanwhile farmers with contaminated fields could end up being forced to pay royalties to companies that own the patents on the GM crops that contaminated their fields.

Food crisis – opportunity or challenge?

As Daniel Howden , the Africa Correspondent for the Independent, writes in his article Hope for Africa lies in political reforms “the climate crisis was used to boost biofuels, helping to create the food crisis; and now the food crisis is being used to revive the fortunes of the GM industry.”

However the food crisis also presents us with an opportunity to highlight alternatives to the proposed GM ‘solutions,’ especially given the fact that climate change is one of the major factors contributing to the food crisis.

For years African farmers, in the face of inherently unreliable climatic patterns, have made use of different agrecological niches by choosing wetlands and drylands, different soil types and planting cereals, grain legumes and root crops often in the same fields on the understanding that not all crops were likely to fail simultaneously. This diversification of agricultural production minimizes their risk in the face of challenges such as climate change.

FYF empowers Malawian farmers to make sure that these farming skills aren’t lost. By taking control of their farming operation (including by seed-saving from one year to the next) and making sure that their voices are heard at a national level the farmers we work with being empowered to act as ‘Citizens’ in their society. Read more about how we are empowering Farmers as Citizens

Over the coming years this could prove particularly important. As John Vidal writes in the New Statesman “Monsanto espies huge profits in places such as Malawi, where the whole country depends on maize. It’s not legal to sell GM there but even if it were, the chances of…small farmers, 90 per cent of the population, benefiting from it are utterly remote. Malawi is a land of conservative, uneducated and vulnerable farmers. They could not possibly afford the seeds or the herbicide, let alone take the risk. It would be criminal to ask them to.”

Seed Conservation

Posted on by
Reply



Seed Conservation

Originally uploaded by Find Your Feet

After a ride across London in the wind and rain to work yesterday morning, it was good to arrive to a colourful story from one of our partners in India. Being a new member of the FYF team, I love these little sources of inspiration.

Our partner Sabla works in Rae Bareli, (Uttar Pradesh) one of the poorest districts in India. Sabla is empowering 1,500 women in Rae Bareli to bring about lasting changes to their lives by supporting women to organize themselves into self-help groups and to engage in environmentally sustainable horticultural activities which boost their income and increase the food available to their families.

Recently Sabla organized a procession to raise awareness around the importance of organic fertilizer and the conservation of seeds. It sounds like the women had a really great couple of days!

What can be a better way other than a procession on brightly painted bullock carts for creating awareness among the people?

The participants started gathering early for the activity and there was enthusiasm and excitement among us all. We then set off on a two day procession to nine villages in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, talking about the importance of organic fertilizers and the conservation of seeds. Over 600 women joined the procession along the way and over 1500 people came to see the video shows and plays we were putting on.

Articles on the procession were published in national newspapers like Hindustan, Dainik Jagran, Amar Ujala and Aaj.”

I have learnt a lot about sustainable agriculture since I started working at Find Your Feet. Dan, our Director, is an agronomist (as well as an anthropologist.) He recently completed a number of position papers for FYF and I think it might be useful to quote his paper on ‘sustainable agriculture and agricultural biodiversity’ to give a bit of context to the Sabla story:

“Whereas once husbandry methods such as time of planting, crop rotation, field rotation, intercropping or polycultures based on natural biological process were the predominant means of maintaining soil fertility and reducing pest infestation and the spread of diseases, this has been largely replaced by quick response external inputs in the form of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides together with higher yielding crop varieties bred for yield potential.

We have clearly prioritized production potential over systemic resilience with all its concomitant risks.”

In a nutshell biodiversity and the conservation of seeds is vital in ensuring the production of food now and in the future. For smallholder farmers living in developing countries, the loss of local crops represents a loss of choice that further heightens their vulnerability to food shortages.

The Sabla procession does not stand alone. I read an interesting article recently in Pambazuka by Astrid von Kotze: ‘The world food crisis: a ‘silent tsumami?’
“There has has been nothing silent,” she writes, “about environmentalists’ and farmers’ vigorous protests against the ‘green revolution’ with its dwindling of crop-biodiversity, against corporate agriculture based on GM technologies that prevent farmers from saving seeds for future years, against the partnership of Monsanto and Cargill as they began to control seed, fertiliser, pesticides, farm finance, grain collection, grain processing and livestock production.”

Clearly there are voices that need to be heard in the debate about responses to the world food crisis. Which is why it is maybe apt that I have kicked off this blog with an awareness raising procession involving 600 marginalised Indian women…!