Mr. Sall is the Executive Director of the Reseau Africain pour le Développement Intégré in Senegal and we are very grateful to have him with us today. He shared with the group a very powerful message about the development progress and food insecurity in his country.
To summarize, he highlighted that the fact that the objective to reduce is hunger by half 2015 is not often. We need to go further. Economists are often too often too far from the realities that exist on the ground.
In Senegal, the government has yet to solve issues of improving agriculture in the country. If we are to address poverty, you must address the question of agricultural since it is the rural populations that experience poverty and food insecurity. The market may be full of food, but if people don’t have the money to access this food, then the market is ineffective. People have the right to choose their own food, which is why food sovereignty is so important. And the G8 needs to consider this solution, especially the context in the Global South and the local experience of the people. The politics in the North can create solutions but it can create problems, as well. We need to work to minimize the problems.
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Thank you for reminding us of the importance of food sovereignty and of empowering people in the south to be the dreamers of their own destiny.
ReplyDeleteDebbie
Thunder Bay
I believe we need to go back not more than 100 - 125 years ago where a great number of populations held the decision of food sovereignty in their hands more powerfully. We need to examine what worked and what didn't work at that time; and go through the evolutionary process to examine what went wrong. In most cases I would think we would find that governments, economic greed, and the need of the upper to middle classes drove those less fortunate into drastic circumstances. This is why a political ombudsman is necessary at all times; and a serious review of world economics have to be reviewed and changed in meetings like the G8 and G20 ongoing. Thanks for your insightful talk Mr. Sall
ReplyDeleteLearning about food sovereignty (as opposed to food security) has been inspiring for me this year. It is a message that seems to resonate with a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteFrank St Catharines
Thankyou Mr Sali!
ReplyDeleteIt's all about the power 0f the Corporation.
who determine how much can the country can be exploited.