Vatican City, 11 June 2015 (VIS) –
The right to food, the problem of waste, the impact of the market on
hunger, the primacy of agricultural development, water issues, land
grabbing, and dependence on external aid were the central themes of
the address given this morning by Pope Francis to the 450
participants at the 39th Conference of the FAO (Food and Agriculture
Organization), whom he received in audience in the Clementine Hall of
the Apostolic Palace.
“Faced with the poverty of many of
our brothers and sisters,” said the Pope, “sometimes I think that
the issue of hunger and agricultural development has now become one
of the many problems in this time of crisis. … Our tendency to
'defect' when faced with difficult issues is human,” but “we must
respond to the imperative of access to necessary food is a right for
all. Human rights permit no exclusions. Certainly, we can take
comfort knowing that the number of hungry persons in 1992, 1.2
million, has been reduced even though the world population has grown.
However, there is little point to noting the numbers or even
projecting a series of concrete commitments and recommendations to be
implemented in policies and investments if we neglect the obligation
to 'eradicate hunger and prevent all forms of malnutrition in the
world'.”
“Many are worried about statistics
regarding waste: a third of food produced is included under this
point,” observed the pontiff. “ Reducing waste is essential, as
is reflection on the non-alimentary use of agricultural products,
which go in large amounts to animal feed or to produce biofuels.
Certainly we must ensure increasingly healthy environmental
conditions, but can we keep excluding some?It is necessary to raise
the awareness of all countries regarding the type of nutrition
adopted, and this varies depending on the latitudes. … But, both in
quality and quantity, the situation of uncertainty determined by the
weather, by increased demand, and price uncertainty weigh down the
situation.”
“We must also ask ourselves: How
much does the market, with its rules, impact world hunger? Of the
studies you have made, it has been shown that, since 2008, the price
of food has changed trends. It doubled, then stabilized, but with
higher values than the previous period. Such volatile prices impede
the poorest from making plans or keeping a minimum nutrition. The
causes are many. We are rightly concerned with climate change but we
cannot forget financial speculation. An example is the prices of
wheat, rice, corn, soy, … sometimes linked to performance funds and
therefore, the higher the price the more the fund earns. Here as
well, we must take another path, convincing ourselves that the
products of the land have a value that we can all 'sacred' because
they are the fruit of the daily labor of persons, families, and
communities of farmers.”
“The purpose of the FAO includes the
working of the land, fisheries, livestock, forests,” recalled Pope
Francis. “This development must be at the center of economic
activity ...this means supporting effective resilience, specifically
reinforcing communities' capacities to cope with crises―natural
ones or those caused by human action―and
paying attention to the different needs. Thus it will be possible to
pursue a decent standard of living. This commitment includes other
critical points. First, it seems difficult to accept the general
resignation, disinterest, and even absence of so many, even of
states. A times there is the sense that hunger is an unpopular topic,
an insoluble problem that can't be dealt with in a legislative or
presidential term and therefore can't guarantee consensus. The
reasons that lead to limiting the contributions of ideas, technology,
expertise, and funding lie in the unwillingness to make binding
commitments seeing that we hide behind the question of the world
economic crisis and the idea that there is hunger in all countries. …
But then it is forgotten that, if poverty in one country is a social
problem that can find solutions, in other contexts it is a social
problem and social policies are not enough to address it. This
attitude may change if we put solidarity at the heart of
international relations, transposing the vocabulary of policy options
to a policy of the other.”
The Pope also noted the needs of
educating persons regarding a proper nutrition... “We know that in
the West the problem is high consumption and waste. In the South,
however, it is necessary to encourage local production to ensure
nutrition. In many countries with 'chronic hunger', [local produce]
is replaced by foreign food, perhaps initially through assistance.
But emergency aid is not enough and does not always reach the right
hands. It creates a dependence on large producers and, if the country
lacks the financial means, then the population winds up not eating
and hunger grows.”
“Climate change also makes us think
of the forced displacement of populations and the many humanitarian
tragedies caused by lack of resources, particularly water, which is
already a source of conflict that is expected to increase. It isn't
enough to assert that there is a right to water without making the
effort to achieve sustainable consumption of this good and to
eliminate any waste. … Besides water, land use also remains a
serious problem. Ever more troubling is the seizure of arable land by
transnational companies and states, which not only deprives farmers
of an essential commodity, it also directly affects countries'
sovereignty. There are too many areas where the foods produced go to
foreign countries and the local population is impoverished twice,
since they have neither food nor land. … We know that the world's
food production is largely the work of family farms. Therefore it is
important,” the Pope concluded, “that the FAO strengthen its
partnerships and projects in favor of family businesses, and
encourage states to equitably regulate land use and ownership. This
may help eliminate the inequalities that are now at the center of
international attention.”
