The Global Food Crisis Can Be Reversed – OpEd
The global food and nutrition crisis is looming large. Around 733 million people faced hunger in 2023, equivalent to one in eleven people globally, according to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) Report, published by five United Nations specialized agencies.
The food crisis adversely affects human growth and productivity; it triggers a large scale migration, increases crime rate, unrest and violence across the world. The economic growth, culture and social life suffer due to food and nutrition shortage; it erodes people’s purchasing power. It is not the scarcity of food but unsustainable farming practices to maximize profit, has let the crisis blow out of proportion.
Over decades, the greed for amassing wealth has pushed the world into the mono culture trap; it has caused massive erosion of agriculture diversity. Aggressive mono culture has brought harmful pests, reduced biodiversity and wiped out bio-agents; it has increased the use of pesticides and herbicides, contaminated soil and groundwater. Mono culture has increased the resistance in pests to fight chemicals. The soil has lost its fertility, nutrients, friendly bacteria and microbes etc. Farmers over-used chemical fertilizer and pesticides to artificially boost production; their effort has erased the natural composition and the water absorption capacity of the soil; the over exploitation of ground and surface water has created a far bigger drinking water crisis.
Biodiversity loss has increased crop diseases and pollination. The economic loss was immense. At the time of crop failure due to drought or pest attack, there is no food back up left for the farmers. Crop diversity once formed the food back up during natural calamities. When farmers replace a variety of crops with mono crops, they buy food grains from the market at a higher cost for their own consumption. It erodes their surplus income.
Agriculture analysts have pointed out that the global food system is broken; today more than 800 million people were experiencing chronic hunger in 2020 and 3 billion were unable to afford a healthy diet. A third of food produced in the world is wasted. The cost of the total damage has been estimated at $ 12 tn a year which is more than the value of the food produced.
Since 1980s, American farmers have been committing suicide due to debt burden, low farm productivity and mental stress. In the Midwest, over 1500 farmers have taken their lives since the 1980s. In Australia, a farmer commits suicide every ten days; in the United Kingdom, one farmer a week kills himself; and in France it is one in every two days. In India, nearly 300000 farmers have committed suicide since 1995. No amount of subsidy and loan waivers has so far helped farmers.
According to the United Nation’s report, almost 90% of the $540bn in global subsidies given to farmers every year are “harmful.” This agricultural support damages people’s health, fuels the climate crisis, destroys nature and drives inequality by excluding farmers with small land holdings, many of whom are women. Politicians and planners should address the root cause of farmers’ problems which are visible only from a close distance. Soil, water, crop diversity, skills, transparent marketing facilities and appropriate technologies sustain farming. There is on use of giving subsidies to farmers after destroying the basic requirements of farming. But who will stop the subsidy mess?
Under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the European farmers will receive approximately €387 billion in subsidies over the 2021-2027 period for increasing farm income, for rural development, climate action, and natural resource management etc.
Farm sector critics observe that a significant portion of these funds benefits larger farms. A report presented before a UN Food System Summit on 23 September, says repurposing the subsidies to beneficial activities could “be a game changer” and help to end poverty, eradicate hunger, improve nutrition, reduce global heating and restore nature. Good uses of public money could include supporting healthy food, such as vegetables and fruit, improving the environment and supporting small farmers.
What is the use of advancement of science, economic growth and advanced research if it pushes people to suicides, hunger and malnutrition? In fact it is human greed which blurs the vision. This is more a psychological issue than an economic one. Human greed is the main cause of the global food crisis.
As per a folklore, an old lady was keeping a hen which laid a golden egg daily. The old lady was greedy and one day she tore apart the belly of the hen with a knife to get all the golden eggs. She got nothing after killing the hen. Many countries have ripped apart nature for wealth and ended up in ruins. This has happened to farm yards also. Food sufficiency of a country is the foundation of economic, social and cultural growth. Without which the countries will have to pay huge food bills to meet the food need of their citizens. The food bill is going to be bigger and bigger to breed multiple problems in the countries.
Achieving food sufficiency is simple. Each country has to scientifically document the biodiversity, water bodies, rare crops, indigenous agriculture skills, innovations, storage methods and the low cost environment friendly farming technologies etc. The countries should build dedicated seed banks and adopt sustainable farming practices. Utmost transparency should be maintained in the delivery of bank loans and government subsidy to farmers. It is not the volume of credit but the effective end use of credit and subsidy that will help the farm sector.
Transparent marketing network for farm products and proper input management will boost food production of the countries. It is very essential for each country to evolve country specific agriculture policy. Nearly 3.83 billion people across the world depend on agriculture. If the sector is properly managed, it would generate income and employment on a sustainable basis. Peace, stability and inclusive growth will reign supreme.
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