by Barbara Stocking, Chief Executive, OXFAM GB

The High Level Conference on World Food Security that took place in Rome on June 3-5th 2008 was an important milestone in tackling the food crisis.  Recognizing you have a problem is the first step toward solving it. Many leaders have acknowledged the seriousness of the situation and the importance to act, including through investment in and aid to agriculture after 25 years of neglect. Some have pledged money, or promised action. It was important in these times of uncertainty that the Conference reaffirmed the World commitment to tackle hunger and achieve the Millennium Development Goals and the World Food Summit objectives. The Conference did not however call for the radical policy changes that are needed in a world of tremendous power imbalance. Oxfam wants to see not only immediate and concrete action following the commitments the world leaders made at the conference but also clear shifts in the economic and trade policies, which have led to the current situation.

I had the honour of chairing the Civil Society Organisation / Non-Governmental Organisation Forum as part of the High Level Conference on World Food Security on June 3rd 2008. The Forum gathered a number of representatives from farmer groups and NGOs from all continents, who all expressed their views on the crisis and the way forward. The first consensus in this forum was that farmers and other rural peoples had not been heard in the past, which explains some of the failure of past policies to address hunger and poverty. Yet it was strongly felt that the voices of small-scale farmers, fisherfolk, forest dwelling peoples, pastoralists, indigenous peoples, and above all, women, were still not well represented in the current discourse and negotiations. As well as an economic, nutritional and ecological crisis, the current situation was described as a human rights crisis, which requires applying the perspectives of the human right to food.

Oxfam believes like all speakers in the forum that food production and agriculture in developing countries should be given the highest priority by decision makers. How this is going to be done is critical to find appropriate and sustainable solutions to hunger. Much attention has been given in recent debates to the potential of science and technology to achieve productivity increases. However, enhancing agricultural production in a way that brings sustainable development to the world’s poorest people will take more than a ‘technology fix’. For technology to be appropriate, farmers need to be involved in its development; extension and training services need to reach the poorest rural constituents. Female farmers benefit from only 5 per cent of agricultural extension services worldwide, despite the fact that women are responsible for the majority of household food production on most continents. The formulation of the policies and strategies of response at country level will have therefore to integrate the views of the small-scale holders and rural poor, especially women, who are not only the most affected by the current crisis, but also those who bear the solution. It is now widely recognised that it is at their level that lies the highest potential for production and productivity gain in agriculture.

Having listened to the world leaders in Rome, the world needs them to start listening now.