Wednesday 22 February 2012

Can localised food systems be a silver bullet for some globalised humanitarian problems?

Cornucopia with which people in developed countries are endowed since mid-twentieth century results in collective complacency about food security. Along with irresistible commercial advertisements and health consultations, we have been ‘brainwashed’ to believe in the credendum of a globalised, trade-dependent food system and industrial agriculture as the solution to food demands worldwide while derogating local agricultural productions. Our global food system[1]  today is characterised by an unprecedented scale of centralisation, intensification and concentration. Its record-high food yield is supposed to suffice the mouths of six billion and, thus, make optimistic progress towards the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of halving the proportion of undernourished people by 2015.[2] Nonetheless, we are even very far from the World Food Summit (WFS) target aiming to halve the number of hungry people.[3]