United Nations Radio

G8 Summit 2009

The G8 summit in Italy ended on Friday with world leaders pledging $20 billion in agricultural aid to developing countries over a three-year period. But UN expert on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, believes this is hardly enough to help the more than one billion hungry people world-wide. Dianne Penn spoke on the line to Paris with Mr. De Schutter for his reaction to the announcement.

DE SCHUTTER: I think it's excellent that the world leaders again insist on the need to invest more in agriculture which has been a neglected sector for many years. And it is extremely promising that we go beyond a purely palliative approach to the question of hunger by reinvesting massively in agriculture. This being said, the sums which are announced, which are $20 billion for three years, are not particularly significant in the light of the needs which have been assessed, for example, by the FAO or by the UN High Level Task Force. Both estimate that for agriculture, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, to be effectively revitalized and to compensate for past neglect of this sector, we would need around $30 billion each year and not over a period of three years. And we are still far from this target.

PENN: Even though these sums may not be all that we need, I'm sure they can make some improvement in developing world agriculture?

DE SCHUTTER: Yes, absolutely, although I think we have to realize that the question of hunger in the world today is not simply resulting from a lack of investment or a lack of money, and a lack of production. It is mainly the result of social injustice, discrimination, marginalization of populations, particularly rural areas. And I believe that the most important question is whether the sums which are now going to be committed to agriculture will benefit the small farmers, the marginalized farmers, who often are politically powerless and have been forgotten in past policies. So we should not invest in order simply to produce more; we should invest in order to raise the income of the poorest.

PENN: You mentioned that "increasing food security is a moral imperative under international human rights law". Could you just further expound on that?

DE SCHUTTER: Yes, I think that we have to remember that about 50 % of the one billion people who are hungry in the world today are very small producers: people depending on two hectares of land or less to make a living and who in many cases are unable to feed their families during the dry season between the harvests. And this is a population which has been not supported by the governments because they are not exporting, they are not a source of foreign revenue, they can hardly be imposed taxation, so they are not interesting to support for governments. And for this reason, I think the question is not simply whether we shall be able to produce more to meet the increasing demands, but also whether the production will benefit the poorest. And the question is: who will produce for whom, and whose incomes will be increasing thanks to these efforts?

PENN: Now that the summit is over, do you have any suggestions for the way forward?

DE SCHUTTER: Well I think this summit like, unfortunately, many others in the past, is also a missed opportunity. We are not addressing the structural issues when we simply pour money into developing countries. It's important to help. It is vital to help-and it can save lives. But on the other hand, long-term support for agriculture means also better regulation of the markets for agricultural commodities. It means also the development of stronger social safety nets. It also requires that we take strong measures to regulate abuse of economic power in the food production and distribution chain. There are many structural features which are the root causes of hunger which are not tackled simply by more money being put into development cooperation. So what is happening is extremely welcome and reassuring, but we are still far from addressing the long-term issue of food security.

NARR: Olivier De Schutter is the UN special rapporteur on the right to food.

(duration: 3'30")