Transition to Sustainable Agriculture Key to Global ‘Food Security’

For the millions of hungry and underfed people on the planet, food security is not an issue of insufficient production, but is an issue of inadequate access, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

May 30, 2012 | Source: Common Dreams | by

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For the millions of hungry and underfed people on the planet, food security is not an issue of insufficient production, but is an issue of inadequate access, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

In a report release today, and presented with the Rio+20 Earth Summit just weeks away, the FAO argues that the “only way to ensure [global] food security is by creating decent jobs, paying better wages, giving world’s hungry access to more productive assets and distributing income in a more equitable way.”

Calling for a “transition to sustainable agriculture” the report, Towards The Future We Want, says that will entail world governments making “fundamental changes in the governance of food and agriculture and an equitable sharing of the transition costs and benefits.”

The report urges all stakeholders at the upcoming Earth Summit to make firm commitments to eradicating hunger this century, and argues that this could be achieved with adherence to available prescriptions for smarter food systems that are less wasteful and less harmful on natural ecosystems. “Improving agricultural practices is an essential component of the transition to a more sustainable future,” the report says. And, in the future, “Agricultural production systems must ‘do more with less’.”