Our last two news articles addressed the first two days at the CFS 39, held at the FAO, Rome. Centred around the HLPE (High Level Panel Experts) report on Food Security and Climate Change, various meetings took place in assessment of the new documentation. Soroptimist International made it clear that there must be a focus on rural women and children, as they are the ones that suffer most in the midst of climate change.
On the third day SI participated in a meeting for all civil society groups in a smaller and more focused setting. The aim of the meeting was for the NGO’s in attendance to arrive at some conclusions on how to address the Commission on Food Security with regards to the issues that we felt were not addressed strongly enough in the report. The topics included the importance of agro-ecology and the formation of collectives. Panel speakers included Judith Hitmin from Urgency, Olivier de Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Mana Noel Salgado, Maela, Sarjeni Rengan, Panap and Maryaln Rahmanian, Cenesta.
Maryaln from Cenesta started off the panel discussion. Cenesta represent small scale farmers and those who are landless fighting for their right to land. She spoke of the importance of agro-ecology, and defined it as ‘small-scale business which stems from local farmers’ know-how and scientific research in order to develop processes which stem from a social and cultural perspective’. She describes agro-ecology as not being a market-niche, not a way to feed large groups of business people, but a way to feed the small scale consumer. She said many of the people her organisation are fighting for are landless – they are excluded from the land due to constant farming and mining for big business, and the land that individuals are allocated is often useless.
Sarjeni Rengan from Panap focused on the gender perspective. She stated that 60-80% of women look after the land in rural Asia. "Women are responsible for the farming and great burdens rest on them. Climate change is affecting women’s capacity to feed their families. Women are further disadvantaged because their rights are limited in property tenure. Dalit women are further discriminated against because of their caste".
Sarjeni recalls one story of a Dalit woman who formed a collective with other Dalit women in her area. Between them they learnt traditional farming practices and used chemical free farming techniques. By joining together and educating themselves on the best ways to farm they became innovators. They now have a member based collective whereby women can join simply by providing a fistful of grain. "Women are building resilience to climate change but they still need support so that what they are building can’t suddenly be stripped away from them. Also women need access to land, the foundation for farming".
Agro-ecology is a key tool for small-scale farmers communities resilience. In Uganda some women are using cows urine as manure and natural pesticide, chickens droppings are being used to feed the cows, and cassava flour, when cement is scarce, is being used to build. Innovative ideas are being found by women to ensure low waste and ensure that their work can go on, regardless of their resources.
Maryaln from Cenesta states that resilience is a very important topic in the CFS report. However, she states, "how do we move from these small scale farms we are hearing about to a worldwide movement?" This is where the CFS comes in. What the civil society groups, including Soroptimist International have done so far, is ask the UNFCCC to pay more attention to food security, to trade rules and climate change and to genetic resources.
Olivier de Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, stated that agro-ecology is vital because it is related to nutrition and is required for food systems to develop. It is also important so that farmers can adapt to climate change – it will improve the health of the soil and enhance agro-diversity. In 1940 he states, it took 1 calorie of energy to produce 3.4 calories of food, now, it takes 10 calories of energy to produce 1 calorie of food.
Where does International Cooperation come in?
5 obstacles were stated as being needed to be removed for our success:
1. Policy Makers policy is biased towards large-scale farms because it equals big business
2. Agricultural policies have been shaped by requirements of export markets
3. An absence of security of tenure makes it difficult for farmers to plan for the future – until farmers are secure in their access to land they won’t make investments in their land – i.e carry out work to prevent land erosion for example.
4. All major investment has gone into the production of maize/wheat – biotechnology has been invested in but not enough money has gone into agro-ecology because it has not been so ‘rewarding’ to invest in this.
5. Agricultural prejudice against agro-ecology.
The Civil Society groups were encouraged to find multi-stake holders who are willing to take these issues seriously so that cases can be built and so that policy makers take agro-ecology more seriously. International commitment is also needed on the ground showing that agro-ecology and collectives really do work.
What CSO’s can do:
1. Implement the mandate of Rio 155
2. Produce more knowledge on success of agro-ecologies
3. Monitor the use of resources of Ministries of agriculture – ask questions – where does the money go?
4. Be more policy oriented – how are markets shaped to reach the consumers? How is a research agenda shaped? Ask these questions at a national level.
Soroptimist International will keep working with the FAO. We will continue to show our commitment to women and girls and continue to push for their prioritisation in all documentation related to food security and climate change. Soroptimist International support International Cooperatives and Agro-Ecology and we will continue to display the work that we do in order to encourage their great importance.