The latest news on the conference daily in English, Spanish and FrenchJune 15-22

38th FAO CONFERENCE ROME 2013

MONDAY, 17 JUNE 2013

Nigerian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Akinwumi Adesina holding the FAO award recognising outstanding progress in fighting hunger. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

Thirty-eight countries were recognised for the first time on Sunday by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation for cutting in half the prevalence of people suffering from undernourishment, one of three targets

under the first Millennium Development Goal. Of those countries, 18 also achieved the tougher World Food Summit Goal of halving the absolute numbers of hungry people: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cuba, Djibouti, Georgia,

Ghana, Guyana, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Nicaragua, Peru, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Venezuela and Vietnam.

(more on p. 2)

Ending Hunger Is Possibleby Claudia Ciobanu

IN THIS EDITION REPORT Farmers Buffeted by Climate Change | Page 5 • ENTREVISTA Nicolás Maduro: “Que la FAO monitoree el mercado de alimentos” | Page 3 • REPORT Des semences qui combattent la sécheresse | Page 4 • REPORT Award Spotlights Women Helping Women | Page 8 • REPORT Genes and Gems for Food Security | Page 4 • FEATURE African Farmers Lead the Way | Page 7 • REPORTAJE Frenos incipientes al acaparamiento de tierras | Page 6

REPORT

MONDAY, 17 JUNE 20132

(continued from p. 1)

“You are the proof that when societies decide to put an end to hunger, when there is political will from governments, we can transform that will into action,” FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva told leaders of the awarded countries during the Rome ceremony. “Thank you for showing us that it is possible.”Twenty other countries were recognised for cutting by half the prevalence of hunger (but not yet absolute numbers): Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Honduras, Indonesia, Jordan, Malawi, Maldives, Niger, Nigeria, Panama, Togo and Uruguay.Received with broad acclaim by the FAO assembly during the award ceremony, the new Venezuelan president, Nicolàs Maduro, outlined in brief his country’s path to reducing hunger prevalence from 13.8 percent to 2.4 percent over the last decade, emphasising the core role played by former president Hugo Chavez in this battle. “We are asking the FAO to assist us in creating a system to safeguard a permanent, stable food supply, which would permit us to confront the covert speculative attacks that Venezuela is currently enduring,” he told IPSTV.Caribbean small island state Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is another of the countries acknowledged for meeting both goals. Since the early 1990s, it has reduced hunger rates from 20 percent to 4.9 percent, according to Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, who spoke to TerraViva on the sidelines of the Jun. 15-22 FAO biannual conference in Rome. Gonsalves explained that climate change and pressures from international markets on domestic banana production posed significant challenges to his country in the attempt to defeat hunger. And yet the 120,000-person state seems to have found a working mix of solutions. “We have a history of root vegetables and fruit crops and an accumulated two centuries worth of knowledge resident in the folk which should be mobilised and is

being mobilised,” Gonsalves said.“Secondly, important is the organisation of farmers to engage in cooperative work with the state. Finally, we are implementing targeted solutions such as feeding programmes for school children and the elderly and in general developing a strong safety net”.Georgia, another country recognised in Rome, reduced the prevalence of malnourishment from 60 percent to 25 percent over the past decade, according to FAO figures.

“This was possible because of a number of different measures that we took to generally improve the economy and combat corruption and mismanagement, which allowed us to have double-digit growth for the past years,” Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili told TerraViva in Rome.“Growth was combined with implementing poverty reduction programmes helping families to reach subsistence levels,” he added.

PuBlISheRMario lubetkin

MANAGING eDItORDiana Cariboni

eNGlISh eDItORKatherine Stapp

uN BuReAu ChIeF thalif Deen

JOuRNAlIStSBusani BafanaClaudia CiobanuJulio GodoyStella Paul Mantoe PhakathiSabina Zaccaro

ASSIStANt eDItOR SOCIAl MeDIA MANAGeRKim-Jenna Jurriaans

FReNCh eDItORAli Idrissou-touré

FReNCh tRANSlAtORMehmet Koksal

ARtMauro Fanti-InFabrica

This content has been produced with the financial assistance of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).The content is the sole responsibility of IPS, and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the FAO.

© 2013 - www.ipsnews.net/fao38/ • www.ipsnoticias.net/noticias/terraviva-fao38/ • www.ipsnews.net • #unfao38

IPS-Inter Press Service is a global news agency that provides news features, analyses and commentaries on the events and processes affecting the development of peoples and nations, especially in the South. A not-for-profit international association of journalists, IPS enjoys consultative status (Category I) with the economic and Social Council of the united Nations. Websites: www.ips.org, www.ipsnews.net, www.ipsnoticias.net

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva meeting with President of Benin h.e. Boni Yayi at FAO headquarters. Credit: ©FAO/Giuseppe Carotenuto

ENTREVISTA

MONDAY, 17 JUNE 2013 3

Maduro recibió el domingo 16, en la sede de la FAO en Roma, un recono-cimiento oficial de la organización por los logros del gobierno venezolano “al haber reducido a la mitad o más el nú-mero de personas desnutridas que se calculaba había en 1990/1992”. Otros 37 países fueron galardonados en la misma ceremonia.En particular, la FAO elogia las políti-cas de distribución de alimentos puestas

en práctica desde el primer gobierno de Hugo Chávez (1999-2013), fallecido en marzo, y considera su red de centros de distribución de alimentos subsidiados “la mejor del mundo”.Además, el país consiguió incrementar en 50 por ciento la ingesta diaria de calo-rías por persona y reducir la mortalidad por desnutrición entre niños menores de un año, de 117 por cada 100.000 nacidos vivos en 1997, a 18 por cada 100.000 en 2010.Venezuela, un país petrolero, importa gran cantidad de alimentos y mantiene ociosas extensas tierras cultivables. En los últimos meses, se hizo notorio el desabas-tecimiento de productos esenciales en su-permercados y tiendas.En una entrevista con IPSTV apenas con-cluida la ceremonia, Maduro reconoció que “tenemos que consolidar, multiplicar y mejorar las políticas de acceso perma-nente al alimento”.

P: Usted ha pedido a la FAO un monito-reo del mercado mundial de alimentos. ¿A qué se refiere exactamente?

R: Nosotros pedimos a la FAO que nos ase-sore para crear un sistema invulnerable de abastecimiento permanente de todos los productos alimenticios, que nos permita enfrentar tanto los ataques especulativos como los ataques de bloqueo económico que sufre Venezuela actualmente.

P: Su país es potencialmente autosufi-ciente en materia alimentaria. Pero una gran parte de la tierra cultivable no es trabajada. ¿Cómo puede la FAO ayudar a superar esa situación?

R: Venezuela dispone de 30 millones de hectáreas de la mejor tierra cultivable, con excelentes condiciones de suelo y agua, pero que no está siendo aprovecha-da. Es que nosotros sufrimos la amputa-ción del sector agrícola, provocada por la cultura petrolera desde hace 100 años. Lo que pedimos a la FAO es que nos asesore para hacer trabajar esa tierra incultivada hoy, con coordinación de todos los aspec-tos del proceso de producción agrícola y de distribución de alimentos.

P: La FAO reconoció al gobierno por ha-ber logrado reducir el número de perso-nas desnutridas que se calculaba había en 1990/1992 en más de la mitad. ¿Qué significa para usted?

R: Hemos recibido el reconocimiento con gran orgullo, pero también con un sentido de compromiso, para continuar los esfuerzos en beneficio de toda la población venezolana. Tenemos que consolidar, multiplicar y mejorar las políticas de acceso permanente al ali-mento.

P: ¿Cuáles son esas políticas?

R: La FAO estima que nuestra red de puntos de acceso a alimentos, que con-siste en 23.000 centros de distribución, es la mejor del mundo. En estos centros atendemos a más de 17 millones de per-sonas, más de 60 por ciento de la pobla-ción. Además, nosotros subsidiamos 70 por ciento de los alimentos. Estas políti-cas benefician a las víctimas de las déca-das del neoliberalismo en los años 1980 y 1990; son políticas para los pobres de nuestro país.

Presidente Nicolás Maduro entrevistado por IPStV Crédito: Diego Cutilli/IPS

“Que la FAO monitoree el mercado de alimentos contra la especulación”Julio Godoy entrevista a NICOLÁS MADURO, presidente de Venezuela

El presidente de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, pidió a la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura (FAO) que monitoree el mercado global de alimentos para contrarrestar la especulación con productos agropecuarios y los bloqueos alimentarios.

MONDAY, 17 JUNE 20134 MONDAY, 17 JUNE 2013

Smallholder farmers, in particular, usually have a diversity of crops in their fields to manage risk and ensure food security, says Linda Collette, secretary of the Commission on Genetic Resources

for Food and Agriculture. “Especially now when biodiversity is under threat from many factors, including climate change.”The world should be worried about the future of food, Collette says, if no action is taken to conserve the genetic resources contained in crops, trees, marine and animal species.Genetic diversity is being lost at an alarming rate due to factors such as climate change, loss of natural habitats, environmental degradation and population growth.Reducing some genetic resources also reduces their genetic pool that provides resilience, Colette says.

As climate change stalks global agriculture, researchers should collaborate with smallholder farmers to diversify crops that use water differently and more efficiently to ensure food security, says Dr. Emile Frison, director-general of Bioversity International.Indigenous food plant species can contribute to beating malnutrition and poverty in Africa, says Kenyan horticultural researcher Prof. Mary Abulutsa Onyango.“They can withstand harsh climatic conditions,” she says, “and are highly nutritious in terms of vitamins and minerals.”

Lorsque le ciel s’assombrit, c’est un signe qu’il pourrait pleuvoir, et Happy Shongwe, une petite agricultrice de la région rurale de Maphungwane, dans l’est du Swaziland, n’est pas tout à fait contente.A l’intérieur d’une structure sans toit faite de blocs de ciment, sont posés différents types de légumineuses - arachides, haricots jugo, des haricots mungo, des doliques à œil noir et des arachides.“Si je ne couvre pas les semences, la pluie les abîmera et elles ne répondront pas au test au laboratoire”, indique Shongwe. Cette structure inachevée est l’endroit où elle garde sa récolte pour le séchage. Petite agricultrice primée qui ne cultive que des graines de légumineuses pour la plantation, Shongwe affirme que les cultures sont résistantes à la sécheresse et poussent bien dans les régions arides du pays.“Je surveille toujours le temps parce que le peu de précipitations que nous recevons dans cette partie du pays suffit pour faire germer les graines”, déclare-t-elle. “Il vous suffit de connaître votre temps pour que vous plantiez au bon moment”.“La FAO a fait une tonne de commande

d’arachides à partir de cette récolte que nous sommes censés fournir d’ici à septembre”, souligne Shongwe.Il y a environ 10 associations de femmes qui font un travail similaire, portant le nombre d’agriculteurs dans ce projet à plus de 100, tous originaires de la région de Lubombo frappée par la sécheresse.“C’était habituellement très difficile pour les agriculteurs de trouver des semences de légumineuses parce que ce sont des cultures marginalisées”, estime Khanyisile Mabuza, représentante assistante de la FAO.La FAO avait demandé au ministère de l’Agriculture de former des agricultrices dans la production de semences et l’esprit d’entreprise dans les années 1990 lorsque la sécheresse avait commencé. En 2008, la FAO a introduit les Foires de commercialisation des intrants, au cours desquelles les fermiers pauvres recevaient 72 dollars en bons auprès de la FAO pour acheter des intrants agricoles.“Les femmes constituent également la majorité des agriculteurs et il est raisonnable de s’assurer que les femmes ont suffisamment d’intrants pour pratiquer leur agriculture”, explique Mabuza.

Genes are Gems for Food Securityby Busani Bafana

Des semences qui combattent la sécheressepar Mantoe Phakathi

REPORT

linda Colette, Secretary, Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

happy Shongwe, une petite agricultrice de la région rurale de Maphungwane dans l’est du Swaziland, montre ses semences. Crédit: Mantoe Phakathi/IPS

What can global financial market traders learn from humble smallholderfarmers in developing countries? Risk management in the face ofclimate change.

Lorsque le ciel s’assombrit, c’est un signe qu’il pourrait pleuvoir, et Happy Shongwe, une petite agricultrice de la région rurale de Maphungwane, dans l’est du Swaziland, n’est pas tout à fait contente.

MONDAY, 17 JUNE 2013

The main culprits are natural disasters, including droughts, floods and desertifi-cation. These pressures have now reached critical levels, with climate change expec-ted to worsen the situation, according to the FAO’s annual report The State of Food and Agriculture, released here.At the 38th session of the FAO conferen-ce, currently underway in Rome, three of the major issues to be discussed include the high levels of undernourishment, vo-latile food prices and sustainable agricul-tural productivity.The United Nations says up to 12 percent of Africa’s agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) is being lost due to envi-ronmental degradation, with figures for countries in Latin America varying from

six percent in Paraguay to about 24 per-cent in Guatemala.“Business as usual is no longer an option,” says UNCCD Executive Secretary Luc Gnacadja.“Desertification, land degradation and drought are key constraints to building social and environmental resilience, achie-ving global food security and delivering meaningful poverty reduction,” he adds.According to Mohamed Adow, global ad-visor on climate change at the UK-based Christian Aid, “Climate change remains the significant challenge facing food security.”With just the current 0.8 C rise in glo-bal temperatures, the world is suffering from increased hunger, disease, floods and sea level rise, he says. “And this is predicted to worsen given the abysmally weak climate pollution targets in develo-ped countries.” One of the key reasons for the existence of the U.N. climate convention is to ad-dress the inevitable impacts that climate change and increasingly erratic weather will have on food production, according

to Teresa Anderson of the London-based Gaia Foundation, which advocates secure land, seed, food and water sovereignty.“To deal with these multiple challenges [brought on by climate change], farmers ur-gently need support to increase the diversity of seed varieties that they can save and grow, while improving soil health,” says Anderson.“Climate projections will always have a degree of uncertainty, but we need to stop using uncertainty as a rationale for inac-tion,” says Sonja Vermeulen, of the Con-sultative Group on International Agri-cultural Research (CGIAR’s) programme on climate change, agriculture and food security.In a recent report, CGIAR encourages a broader approach to agriculture adapta-tion that looks beyond climate models to consider the socioeconomic conditions on the ground.These conditions, such as a particular farmer’s or community’s capacity to make the necessary changes, will determine whether a particular adaptation strategy is likely to succeed.

5

REPORT

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has long warned that a quarter of the world’s farmland is “highly degraded”.

South African farmer Geoffrey Ndung’u adapted to a prolonged drought and now earns a living growing watermelon. Credit: Isaiah esipisu/IPS

Farmers Buffeted by Climate Changeby Thalif Deen

REPORTAJE

MONDAY, 17 JUNE 20136

El “land grabbing” (en inglés), o acaparamiento de tierras, se hace sentir desde 2007 con inversiones millonarias en compra o arrendamiento de grandes extensiones cultivables en África, América Latina y Asia, en el que convergen corporaciones transnacionales, elites nacionales y fondos de inversión controlados por distintos países.En América Latina, Argentina y Brasil son los más afectados. Una serie de estudios realizados en 2011 por la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura (FAO) en 17 de países de la región, halló distintos grados de acaparamiento en México, Chile, Colombia, Nicaragua,

República Dominicana y Uruguay.De la mano va la expansión de cultivos que son insumos en la tríada agropecuaria alimento-forraje-combustible, a menudo orientada a la exportación.Saturnino Borras, autor de uno de esos estudios, explica que “la convergencia de crisis alimentaria, energética, financiera y climática es el factor más importante de la actual fiebre global de tierras”.“Otro aspecto es la fusión de los sectores de alimentos y energía, que se aprecia de varias formas, como la aparición de cosechas que pueden utilizarse indistintamente como alimento, como forraje o como biocombustible: caña de azúcar, maíz, soja o palma aceitera”, dice Borras, profesor de la Universidad Erasmo de Rotterdam.No siempre el acaparamiento implica extranjerización, pero los gobiernos de Argentina, Brasil y Uruguay han aprobado o anunciado leyes para evitar inversiones extranjeras masivas.En diciembre de 2011, Argentina

promulgó la ley 26.737, según la cual, “los extranjeros en su conjunto no pueden poseer más de 15 por ciento de la tierra agrícola nacional”, dice el representante permanente de ese país ante la FAO, Gustavo Infante, en los pasillos de la 38a conferencia que se está celebrando en Roma.De ese 15 por ciento, empresas e inversionistas institucionales del exterior no pueden adquirir tierras que juntas sumen más de 30 por ciento. Y cada compañía e inversor individual no puede poseer más de 1.000 hectáreas. “Con base en esta ley, estamos modernizando los registros de propiedad de las provincias de la república federal, homologándolos para hacer un registro nacional”, agrega Infante.Uruguay anunció en mayo una legislación para impedir la compra de tierras por parte de estados extranjeros.Pero no está claro que sean otros países los que estén adquiriendo tierras uruguayas a gran escala. Según datos oficiales, en los últimos 12 años, se realizaron operaciones de compra y venta de siete millones de hectáreas, casi 43 por ciento de la superficie del país, y el valor de la hectárea se multiplicó por nueve.Mediante la reinterpretación de una ley de 1971, Brasil prohibió en 2010 que empresas extranjeras, inclusive mediante subsidiarias locales, adquieran más de 50 módulos de tierras, entre 250 y 5.000 hectáreas, según la región.Y en 2011 prohibió que inversionistas extranjeros adquieran o se fusionen con empresas locales que posean tierras cultivables.Pero la organización no gubernamental Grain, que promueve el uso sostenible de la biodiversidad agrícola, señala que tales legislaciones son insuficientes.Las restricciones dejan abiertos muchos flancos, como el acaparamiento indirecto, o ignoran realidades habituales en la región, como el peso que siguen teniendo en las grandes propiedades las elites económicas locales. “Limitar la inversión directa en tierras no es algo malo”, apuntÓ Grain en un informe de febrero. “Pero sería preferible un enfoque más integral: Que se replantearan las nuevas políticas de tierras como parte de una más amplia reorganización de las estrategias de desarrollo agrícola y rural”, concluyÓ.

terrenos que antes eran bosques amazónicos quemados para dar lugar a la ganadería en Acre, Brasil. Credit: Mario Osawa/IPS

Frenos incipientes al acaparamiento de tierraspor Julio Godoy

Algunos países de América del Sur afectados por el acaparamiento de tierras comienzan a tomar medidas para contrarrestar el fenómeno.

MONDAY, 17 JUNE 2013

7

Speaking to TerraViva at the opening of the weeklong 38th conference of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome on Saturday, Mayaki stresses that two-thirds of Africa’s population depends on agriculture, and it should therefore be placed at the centre of the multi-sectoral approach towards development.“Trade, infrastructure and human capital development are all essential for agriculture development,” he says. “That is why NEPAD as a development agency for the African Union needs to take that multi-sectorality on board in its thinking, planning and interventions.”Agriculture and food security are at the heart of the discussions in the Italian capital, where FAO member states are gathered at the biennial conference. According to the 2013 edition of FAO’s flagshipreport The State of Food and Agriculture, Africa leads the world with the highest prevalence of undernourished people, at nearly 23 percent of the population.Liberian Ministry of Agriculture official Dr. Charles McClain attributes the high number of hungry people in Africa to national budgetary constraints.“Our revenue as a continent is not where it should be so that we’re able to adequately invest in agriculture,” McClain says.

Despite the Maputo Declaration in 2003, in which African heads of state committed to a 10-percent allocation to agriculture, the continent remains far from achieving food security. Of the 54 AfricanUnion member states, just 10 have met this commitment.“For instance, my country [Liberia] allocated only 2.4 percent [of the budget] to agriculture in the last financial year and it went down to 1.4 percent this year. We’re a country that’s recovering from war andwe don’t have the resources,” McClain says.To make up for the shortfall, Liberia - like many other African countries facing similar challenges – has turned to the donorcommunity.While Mayaki cautions that it will take time for the continent to make genuine progress

on malnutrition, NEPAD’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) is providing countries with mechanisms and policies to realise this goal.“It’s not always about the availability but also the accessibility to food,” he says. “The state has the responsibility to ensure that food is accessible to the vast majority of its citizens.”This could be achieved through empowering small-scale farmers to become entrepreneurs so that they can sell and buy food, he says.Mayaki also called for the empowerment of civil society organisations so that they are able to shape the priorities of the state.

African Farmers Lead the Wayby Mantoe Phakathi

FEATURE

CeO of NePAD Ibrahim Mayaki. Credit: uN Photo/Rick Bajornas

Development in Africa will only be led through agriculture, says theCEO of the New Economic Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD),Dr. Ibrahim Mayaki.

AfrIcA by THE NumbErS

6 Percent of average annual growth in the agricultural sector NEPAD hopes

for by 2015

10 Percent of their national budgets governments have pledged to devote to agriculture

55.2 Percent of the population that earns a living in agriculture

15 Percent of women landholders

Up to 25 Percent productivity could increase if women were given equal access to resources

Source: NEPAD/FAO

MONDAY, 17 JUNE 20138

REPORT

Award Spotlights Women Helping Womenby Stella Paul

“Poor people like us do not have refrigerators, so they store drinking water in the earthen pots that keep the water cool,” says Jassiben, who uses only one name.“This year, the demand has been so high, I am selling at least a dozen pots every day,” she says with a smile. That fetches over 17

dollars - literally a month’s worth of food.Jassiben was born into a potters’ family, but married a landless farmer. About six years ago, her husband started to migrate to the city in the summer as work became scarce due to a water shortage.Left behind with two infants, Jessiben often faced hunger and starvation. She wanted to start making pots to help her family, but found nobody willing to lend her any money. “The nearest market is about 10 kms away, the roads are bad and most pots break while transporting. So everyone thought it was a high-risk business,” she says.Three years ago, she heard of the Shri Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank, which offered micro-loans to poor women to start a business.

Jassiben borrowed 60 dollars, a sum that helped her buy a potter’s wheel and build an extra room to store her pots.“It was a turning point. I discovered that buyers found it equally troublesome to buy a pot in the market and bring it home intact. Now, they can come to my home, choose a pot or any other item they want, and even order one,” she says. “But the best thing is that my husband doesn’t have to migrate anymore. Now he helps me run this business.”Founded in 1974 by the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), the bank initially had 4,000 self-employed women workers. Today it has over 50,000 depositors and a working capital of 174,000 dollars. It functions as a cooperative, in which all the members and customers are self-employed women and policies are made by their own elected board.In recognition to their great contribution to women’s empowerment, SEWA was presented with the Jacques Diouf Award Saturday by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) at its ongoing 38th conference in Rome. “The SEWA Bank has contributed directly in achieving, to some extent, the larger SEWA goals of organising and creating visibility for self-employed women, enabling them to get a higher income and to have control over their own income,” Reemaben Nanavaty, president of SEWA, tells TerraViva.SEWA shares the award with the European Commission, which has also been working to reduce poverty and ensure food security in 50 countries across the world.Other FAO awards handed out Saturday recognised the UK-based Guardian newspaper’s global development team for its reporting on agriculture, food security and poverty; FAO field officers David Doolan, Patrick Durst, and Luca Alinovi; the Kenya Forest Service; and the Organización del Sector Pesquero y Acuícola del Istmo Centroamericano (OSPESCA).

FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva presents the Jacques Diouf Award to Reemaben Nanavaty of SeWA.Credit: ©FAO/Giulio Napolitano.

Jassiben, a self-employed potter from Nana Shahpur village in western India, loves summer despite the heat waves and frequent power cuts, because summer days always mean great business.