As the world population appro-aches nine billion people, the conundrum is how to feed everyone without destroying the planet.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization recognizes that the rural poor face nearly insurmountable challenges because of the effects of climate change, degraded soil and water and dwindling government support for agriculture.
Agriculture and land management practices must undergo fundamental transformations, but it may not happen without serious government funding, Ajay Markanday, director of the FAO’s liaison office for North America, said at an international stewardship symposium held in Calgary July 14-15.
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“Small holder agriculture is just not economically viable, and that is because structurally it cannot do what we are asking. It really needs to have a transformation as it has in developed countries,” he said.
“It is a dismal life, and we should not pretend they have this idyllic life.”
Non-governmental organizations that work with the rural poor see the same difficulties.
“The challenge that we face is that 75 percent of the world’s poor people rely on agriculture as their primary economic activity,” said Laurence Dare of the One Acre Fund, a non-profit agency.
“The problem is, it is not working. It is not a viable model.”
One Acre supplies 300,000 small scale farmers in East Africa with seed and fertilizer through special loan arrangements that improve their standard of living.
“It is a particularly cruel irony that the people who grow the food are the ones who have the least of it,” Dare said.
Agriculture contributes 25 to 40 percent of a developing country’s gross domestic product, but the level of public investment is less than five percent.
“If you look at the international structure for research at the moment, at a time when you should be investing more into it …we are really getting cut back,” Markanday said.
Research findings should move down to the farmers, but that is not happening.
As well, inappropriate government policy has encouraged more cereal grain production while staple crops such as legumes, beans and peas are lost. These crops provided protein for people and helped rebuild the soil.
He said these distortions in agriculture policy mean resource allocation has been inefficient. As well, exposure to natural hazards and disasters is a major cause of food insecurity, which is exacerbated by climate change.
People leave the land if it is no longer productive and become climate refugees.
“Once you have movement of people with no gainful employment because they have lost their livelihoods, it is a source of potential conflict,” Markanday said.
