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Under "Food4Transformation," stakeholders and experts from around the world will still be able to discuss issues and report on topics related to food security, sustainable agriculture and rural development. Four interviews kick off the relaunch, asking the same questions from different perspectives. Mareike Haase and Stig Tanzmann from Brot für die Welt explain why the right to food, inclusivity, agroecology and food sovereignty are the central levers for a successful transformation.
What does the transformation of agricultural and food systems mean to you?
For the ‘Brot für die Welt’ (Bread for the World) foundation, the primary goal in the transformation of agrifood systems needs to be that they ensure the right to food for all people. The transformation should result in a world without hunger, where the human rights of all people are respected.
Existing systems leave over 800 million people hungry and provide 2.4 billion people with insufficient healthy food.
The existing strong inequality and injustice in the agrifood sector disproportionally affects women and girls. This dire situation must be changed as quickly as possible. It should be a high-priority task of feminist development policy.
At the same time, some of the existing systems are massively damaging biodiversity and contributing to climate change. Ultimately, this threatens the livelihoods of all people on earth. For Brot für die Welt, transformation must therefore restore the harmony between humanity and nature so that our way of living does not exceed the planet’s limitations.
For us, a successful transformation needs to be based on the following levers: the right to food, agroecology and food sovereignty.
How do you see your role in the transformation of agricultural and food systems?
We will fight for the transformation of agrifood systems in close consultation with our partner organisations from the Global South, because they also bring the perspective of those affected by hunger and malnutrition into the debate. The negative consequences of the current food production and distribution must be clearly identified. Any potential alternatives must be analysed and elaborated with small producers and those affected, so that the transformation is aligned with their rights and requirements. This is the only way to overcome historical injustices, some of which still have their roots in colonial times.
Our main contribution to the transformation debate is the joint commitment to solutions that were elaborated inclusively, are aligned with human rights and guarantee compliance with these rights.
In order to achieve an agro-ecological transformation, we will present successful examples in our partners’ projects for public discussion. In this context, we consider it instrumental that the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), as the most inclusive body of the United Nations, assumes the leading role in coordinating the transformation of agrifood systems. The CFS offers a series of scientific reports on agroecology, our preferred food production principle, and the transformation of food systems. Other crucial transformation aspects (such as the role of women, pastoralists, youth or fisheries in sustainable food systems) have already been meticulously analysed by the CFS and substantiated with policy recommendations. Brot für die Welt gets involved with its partners as part of the civil society mechanism of the CFS, the CSIPM (Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples Mechanism). The CSIPM’s vision document on transforming food systems continues to guide our efforts. In Brot für die Welt’s view, giving the CFS the leading role in coordinating the transformation processes also means aligning parallel processes with the decisions of the CFS or dissolving them. For example, processes that run in parallel with the CFS inlcude the UN Food Systems Summit, the Global Alliance for Food Security, or corresponding G7/G20 structures.
Furthermore, the German government must align its own structures with the CFS to work towards a common goal and to support it financially, thus supporting the global implementation of the right to food. This is especially directed at the ministries concerned with food issues: Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft [BMEL, Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture] and Bundesministerium für Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung [BMZ, Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development]. The BMEL has already initiated important reforms.
What needs to be done in the future to drive the transformation?
Brot für die Welt’s experiences in Brazil are particularly impressive and topical. The National Council for Food Security and Nutrition (CONSEA) was re-established there in February 2022. The CONSEA is a great example of how the population can be involved by its own government in the social agro-ecological transformation processes. The German federal government should also learn from this approach. At the same time, we see great potential in the federal government supporting CONSEA politically and financially to encourage the implementation of CONSEA recommendations by the Brazilian government. This is especially true for school meal programmes that are closely linked to agroecology and social protection. The BMZ in particular could make an important contribution by financing these programmes.
An important approach to advancing the transformation of agrifood systems is South/South cooperation on transformative concepts.
The BMZ has created an important foundation with the ecological knowledge centres in Africa, which should urgently be expanded and integrated into political processes to promote the right to food. Stronger cooperation or expansion of the knowledge centres to South America can be helpful for this endeavour. It would also help counteract the new bloc confrontation intensified by Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Important negotiations on gender-related topics and agriculture are currently underway at the CFS. This is a great opportunity to address this key transformation issue in the interest of feminist development policy and human rights in general.
Transformation requires strong communication. Therefore, it is necessary to use sensitive terminology in the debate.
The term innovations is highly problematic for many people who are exposed to the current dysfunctional agrifood systems on a daily basis. We know from our partners that for them, innovations often represent a technically advanced economic perception of agrifood systems. Unfortunately, innovations are precisely the reason why they are excluded from these systems. For our partners, innovation concepts like the Green Revolution as well as risk technologies like green genetic engineering or patents often represent (neo-)colonial, reductionist – often male-dominated – thinking that discriminates against their own (feminine and/or smallholder) knowledge bases. A current example is the promotion of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser production based on ‘green’ hydrogen in the global food crisis instead of large-scale support for agroecology and biofertiliser production.
For a social agro-ecological transformation of agrifood systems, it is therefore necessary to challenge the economic innovation concept dominated by technical advancements.
Even more important, however, is inclusive communication based on human rights and discussion of the goals of transformation processes that leave no one behind.