Nairobi, 21 September
2022 – Agriculture
is dependent on biodiversity, just as DNA is the essential genetic material for
humans. Biodiversity is an essential component of the agricultural landscape
and a cornerstone of food and nutrition security, climate change adaptation,
and sustainable livelihoods. Agricultural biodiversity includes crops,
livestock and fish, soils and pollinators, and agricultural landscapes, among
others, which are the basis for human food.
African
CSOs Biodiversity Alliance (ACBA) in collaboration with China’s Civil Society
Alliance for Biodiversity Conservation (CSABC) hosted a webinar which brought
more perspective on protecting Agricultural Biodiversity
and Constructing Scientific Food System Security on the 21st of
September 2022. This webinar aimed to promote multi-stakeholders to
contribute to the conservation of agricultural biodiversity in communities and
grassroots organizations at the practical level. The webinar attracted over 60 participants and the main outcomes were a common
understanding on the importance of relationship between agricultural
biodiversity and food system security. The webinar can be accessed here.
During the
webinar the first speaker ZHU Chunquan, who is the head of the Nature Initiatives of Centre for Nature
and Climate from the China, World Economic Forum Beijing Representative Office
highlighted about how there is inequality in the global food system.
It is important for innovations that have improved food production and
consumption to benefit people globally, especially at the global level.
Addressing the distribution issue will be beneficial to everyone. From the
global perspective, the resources needed for food production, there are natural
disparities based on climate, etc. The global food system should also be of
service to these parts of the world, so international trade is an important
complement to strengthening local value chains.
Following Mr
ZHU was Linzi Lewis who is the research and advocacy officer at the African
Centre for Biodiversity (ACB). Linzi reported that food security has many
aspects. She said “The focus on production and quantity is a part of the
problem. Distribution is also an issue, as farmers have greater incentive to
produce large quantities and engage in monocropping, than to for instance, to
address the food needs in their local environment. Additionally, local value
chains are weakened. All in all, the food system is the overarching issue, and
production by itself will not address this.”
A she
continues she highlighted that “in many cases, local value chains have the
capacity to meet the local needs for food consumption. The challenge is arising
from the lack of incentive for markets that can meet their own needs to do so
sustainably for production needs and maintaining biodiversity. Many of these
markets are becoming over-reliant and dependent on importing across the value
chain: from importing feed to the food products themselves”. Concluding Linzi
mentioned that “it is essential to address this distortion, because this shapes
how the global food system delivers solutions.”
Jiang
Gaoming, the researcher at the Institute of Botany in the Chinese Academy of
Sciences spoke of how the current patterns of industrial production in China
are unsustainable and cost-prohibitive, and it’s important for the agricultural
sector, especially farmers, to consider the future. The cost of maintaining
these patterns is the rights of both farmers and people. He emphasized that
Biodiversity loss and climate change have had an impact on agriculture, and
this needs to be accounted for as success in agriculture is defined: what would
be the levels of production if biodiversity and climate were stable? Promoting
organic farming is integral to restoring agricultural biodiversity, and its
potential to enhance food security. He added that alongside this promotion is
countering misinformation that deters sustainable agriculture, is unscientific
and harmful to biodiversity: farmers told that if they don’t kill pests e.g.
moths, their yields will be lower – this kind of misinformation and
oversimplification has consequences.
To his
talk he mentions “the indiscriminate use of pesticides, fertilizers and other
chemical products is one of the vulnerabilities of the food system. Research
shows that the use of these products hasn’t resulted in proportionate gains in
food production. In China for example, the use of pesticides to manage weeds
and pests, has in some instances, heightened crop vulnerability to both.
Organic farming and other sustainable agricultural practices are therefore
important to address the challenges of today’s production and consumption
patterns. They present a successful model for more productive farms that
maintain biodiversity. They minimize reliance on chemical products whose
impacts are not always well known to the farmers using them, especially in
terms of their relationship to biodiversity loss, promote circular economy, and
strengthen local value chains.”
Important
it is to note that “when agriculture is evaluated, the focus tends to be on
quantity, that is production” said Mr Jiang. The question of fair and equitable
distribution of food is always left for “the future”. “One of the issues with
China’s food system is waste, which can be considered across 2 dimensions –
land and food itself. This waste results land degradation, biodiversity loss,
and can be linked to food-related deterioration of human health, including lifestyle
diseases. The proliferation of weeds and pests in China’s modern era points to
a food system issue: the pesticides and other chemical used in the agricultural
sector are arguably the results of working against biodiversity. Food
production has suffered as a result – dealing with 8 main pests/weeds to over
739 disrupts productivity.”
His closing remarks where on how organic agriculture is not just about crop productivity. It’s about ensuring that farming practices designed in an integrated and scientific manner for circular agriculture: it is possible on one farm to produce crops, generate fuel for energy, have organic manure, and so forth.