Status: 01/21/2023 5:48 p.m
In the future, food should be made available, affordable and safe for everyone worldwide. Agriculture ministers from 64 countries have agreed on this. In Berlin, thousands demanded a rapid turnaround in agriculture.
At the Agriculture Ministers’ Conference in Berlin, representatives from 64 countries agreed to reform the food industry. “We commit to promoting sustainable, inclusive, efficient and resilient food systems,” the meeting’s closing statement said.
Right to food for all
The host, Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir, believes that the declaration sent a “clear signal to the world”: The ministers “want to work together to transform the agricultural and food systems in order to realize the right to food for everyone in the long term”.
The climate crisis, global biodiversity loss and the war against Ukraine are mutually reinforcing in the worst possible way, he explained. More than 800 million people are starving worldwide, and more than two billion have no secure access to sufficient food.
“The crises don’t stop at the borders,” Minister of Agriculture Özdemir
tagesschau24, 5:00 p.m., 21.1.2023
Özdemir: Grain silos instead of grain sacks
Humanitarian aid is essential, but it only helps in the short term, Özdemir said. “While war and climate crisis cause great damage in the blink of an eye, it takes time to till fields. That’s why agricultural development must be strengthened worldwide. “Build grain silos instead of sending grain sacks – that’s what it’s all about.”
More support for small farmers
Practical solutions and more support are needed, especially for small farmers, said Özdemir. For the globally agreed goal of ending hunger by 2030, there are only eight harvests left. Agriculture can only successfully contribute to food security if it preserves the planet at the same time. Countries in the Global South also have a right to healthy ecosystems.
Among other things, the resolution provides for making working conditions in agriculture more humane and reducing waste. The regional cultivation of food is also to be promoted.
Measures for climate protection
According to the declaration, agriculture should be better adapted to climate change. To this end, CO2 emissions from land use and animal husbandry should be minimized. Fertilizers and pesticides should also be used more efficiently in order to reduce soil and water pollution.
Overall, the agricultural and food sector should be enabled to “produce sustainably, adapt to new circumstances, improve its risk management skills, reduce existing inequalities and recover quickly and more comprehensively from crises,” says the joint statement.
No common condemnation of the Ukraine war
The participating States also addressed the war in Ukraine – but did not condemn it together. The statement said most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine, “emphasizing that it is causing immense human suffering and compounding existing vulnerabilities in the global economy.” It is “deeply concerned by the increasing and ongoing conflicts in the world, which have serious consequences for food security and quality,” it said.
Thousands demonstrate for agricultural turnaround
Around 10,000 people who followed the call of the alliance “We’re fed up” also demonstrated for a fairer and more sustainable agricultural policy. Farmers, environmental and animal protection associations from all over Germany came to the Brandenburg Gate – including 55 tractors. Among other things, the alliance demands fair producer prices, the preservation of farms and social benefits that make ecological consumption possible for everyone.
“We expect significantly more from Minister of Agriculture Özdemir and the federal government, that was not ambitious enough, too discouraged and too slow,” said alliance spokeswoman Inka Lange, looking ahead to a year of agricultural and food policy in the traffic light coalition.