`Food insecurity due to socio-economic inequity'

By G. Venkataramani



Chennai May 14. ``Food insecurity is the direct result of the prevailing socio-economic inequity characterised by the breaking and loss of cultural diversity and traditional forms of food production, massive poverty and unequal access to land and food. Any strategy to address food security that does not tackle the root-causes of hunger head-on will only deal with the symptoms and will have no durable positive effect.''

This is one of the major conclusions of the Salzburg Seminar 398 on ``Achieving Food Security through Community-Based Food Systems'', held from May 1 to May 8. About 55 participants, drawn from 28 countries, were engaged in the brainstorming sessions dealing with the most complex, socio-political issue burdening several developing and developed countries across the globe. The seminar was organised in partnership with W.K. Kelloggs Foundation in the U.S.

``Although food insecurity and hunger are a global phenomenon, the reasons, dimensions and severity and the solutions to the problem are fundamentally different across regions. Hunger in the South is directly related to over-abundance in the North, the corporate control of the food system and inappropriate development imposed by international agencies such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR),'' the participants said.

Food security at the local-community level is largely determined by macro as well as micro-level factors. However, action must be directed at both levels with the active participation of the community, especially women and youth, to achieve meaningful results.

Several grass-roots level successful case studies of food security through community-based food systems in different parts of the world were presented and discussed in the working groups during the eight-day seminar. The groups emerged with well-informed and imaginative presentations at the concluding session.The successful food security initiatives, which have flourished in spite of the existing macro-economic policy order, represented ``spaces of hope'' for the communities involved. Such initiatives are important examples of grass-roots innovation. Basic agro-ecological and social principles derived from the systematisation of such initiatives can provide useful guidelines to promote food security in other communities when diffused through farmer-to-farmer networks.A common thread of the initiatives was the focus on local skills, technologies and resources, avoiding risks and creation of permanent dependency, empowerment of local communities and conservation of the natural resource base. Scaling up of successful strategies is necessary to expand the beneficial impact of such local food security ``beacons'' in order to benefit larger numbers of communities covering broader geographical areas, according to the participants.

For true scaling up to meaningful levels, it is necessary to foster collective community action, which must be linked to broader social movements. Such movements should deal with the root causes of food insecurity, and demand basic rights such as food sovereignty, access to land, respect for cultural and biological diversity and political representation, concluded the seminar.