Here is the text of the statement that I shall be inputting into the Policy Round Table on Food Waste and Loss in the constext of Sustainable Food Systems in a few minutes: Calling for a paradigm shift, Jose Graziano da Silva recently said that todays main challenges are to lower the use of agricultural inputs, especially water and chemicals, in order to put agriculture, forestry and fisheries on a more sustainable and productive long-term path. This paradigm change also holds true for how to reduce food waste and loss and build truly sustainable and resilient food systems. Per Pinstrup Andersen, in his opening remarks this morning stated “`There can be no food security without sustainable food systems”. An unsustainable system can not be made more sustainable by tweaking it here and there: sustainability either is or it is not. The paradigm shift needs to take into account the fact that many aspects of the paradigm civil society wishes to see incorporated into this policy document already exist, and can indeed by no means be considered marginal: Peasant-led agroecology which is often used in Community Supported Agriculture and peasant farming in general is no longer perceived as esoteric, as witnessed by the recent FAO conference on the subject and the intervention on behalf of the French Minister a few minutes ago. When consumers know how their food is produced, and buy it directly from producers at farmers’ markets and through various other direct or short distribution systems such as cooperative bulk buying that uses no packaging, they value it highly, and waste little if anything. The key aspect here is the reconnection of local producers and consumers: people value and respect the food when they know and see how it has been produced, combined with a substantial reduction in packaging. Local Authority involvement in Local Food Policy Councils and similar specific bodies for the governance of local food systems are already widespread in the USA and Canada and spreading fast to Europe; they provide a means that ensure highly effective ways of building coherent local food systems and ensuring that food sovereignty, as expressed by the government of Venezuela a few minutes ago, is implemented. This is equally true for Local Authority involvement in guaranteeing solidarity-based social inclusion of those whose right to food is most precarious. There is much good practice that illustrates how this can be done. Civil society welcomes the recognition of Local Authorities as the competent decision-making bodies in many areas of this policy document, and also the decision to convene an inclusive process to share existing good practice. Collective local governance of Local and Regional government Public Procurement processes and meal provision for the public sector that includes small-scale producers are all means of avoiding food loss and waste in the first place. While the policy document does include mention of the importance of public procurement, we feel that it is essential to include small-scale local producers in the collective tendering process, as is already the case in Brazil in the Zero hunger policy for schools, and in some areas in France. All of the above also have additional benefits, such as reduced impacts of climate change by limiting food miles, higher nutritional value of healthy fresh local food from direct and short distribution systems and contributing to building resilient, sustainable local economies and food systems. Civil society is happy to make our amendments available to all States and the Chair. Some copies of these amendments are available from the Civil Society Mechanism Secretariat. Thank you.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 09:42:20 +0000