Foro Global sobre Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición (Foro FSN)

Este miembro contribuyó a:

    • Brief Comments for improvement of  the draft Gender & Agr guidelines

      i. Overall comment. Lets’ take care not to support the current food systems, which tend to exclude women, by suggesting these very same kinds of  interventions which may worsen their situations. For example, let’s avoid the tendency top think that commercialisation is what will solve all food security and gender problems! Rather let’s promote circular and solidarity local economies.

      ii. 

      3.3.2 Access to advisory and extension services

      Broaden to include self-education opportunities for learning and exposure to innovation and knowledge. Extension services are only part of the agricultural and food education picture. They are also often promoting agricultural policies that are unhelpful and/or counter to women’s needs.

      iii 

      3.3.4 Access to appropriate ICT-based, digital and innovative technologies

      Radio is still the most accessible technology and yet women do not have adequate access to radio sets and programmes.

      Don’t confine this to digital technologies.

      iv

      Investments in technologies, rural infrastructure, transport and women’s specific activities

      (across food systems and along value chains) that support women’s activities, informed by a context analysis that applies a gender lens, and strengthen women’s capacities to DESIGN, DEVELOP and use technologies or methods that reduce their work burden.

      Let’s not bury this under ‘economic empowerment’ Give this its own heading area it is not just about economic empowerment. The appropriate tools and equipment gap is much neglected by agriculture and food projects. Funding for equipment development and design by women for women is in dire need of resources.

      v. & vi.

      84. Problem statement: Women tend to have unsecured land tenure and access, which limits options to sustainably manage and benefit from land. When women do have access to agricultural and, their plots are usually smaller, and of poorer quality than men’s, and often with less secure use rights.

      3.5.2 Access to and control over productive resources

      Add rights to seeds, to wild flora and fauna and landscapes/catchments.

    • Thanks, great initiative.

      The critical contribution of wild/wild harvested plants and animals to nutrition is not strongly profiled in this paper.

      Definitions which could be added- please refine as necessary

      1.Social and solidarity economy (SSE), The United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on the Social and Solidarity Economy (UNTFSSE) considers it an umbrella concept and uses the following: ‘Social and solidarity economy is defined as a concept designating enterprises and organizations, in particular cooperatives, mutual benefit societies, associations, foundations and social enterprises, which have the specific feature of producing goods, services and knowledge while pursuing both economic and social aims and fostering solidarity’ (UNTFSSE 2014: Social and Solidarity Economy and the Challenge of Sustainable Development. A Position paper).

      2.Mindful Markets Concept: Mindful Markets are alternative approaches to shaping food systems based on full awareness of interconnected factors and driven by the principle of “Organic Food for All.” Mindful Markets focus on long term relationships between farmers and consumers by creating channels and building networks which provide access to healthy food and promote well-being for all. Mindful Markets work to develop functioning alternative models and practices. Creating ‘Mindful Markets’ is an alternative model that realizes associative economies on the ground by creating tangible demand for organic agricultural produce.

      In the Mindful Markets, rural producers and urban consumers care mutually for each other’s real needs: care for people, care for food, care for landscapes, care for human habitat, care for culture.

      Van Willenswaard, W. (Ed.), 2015. Mindful Markets: Producer-Consumer Partnerships towards a New Economy, Bangkok: Garden of Fruition publishers https://towardsorganicasiath.wordpress.com/mindful-markets

      3. Participatory Guarantee Schemes

      Participatory guarantee systems (PGS) were reported in many countries, with more sustained development in Latin America and Asia. While most national organic labelling schemes require certification by a third party, PGS enable local sales of non-certified products by adopting a process of farmer and community peer review. These locally controlled guarantee systems keep the costs of certification down for producers and enable a constructive exchange and creation of local markets for consumers and members of the community. All regions urged that PGS be recognized as valid forms of certification at national level. To strengthen these systems, the participants of the seminar in Latin America proposed creating PGS reciprocity mechanisms in the region (Recommendation 9, Brasilia).

      Source: FAO CATALYSING DIALOGUE AND COOPERATION TO SCALE UP AGROECOLOGY: OUTCOMES OF THE FAO REGIONAL SEMINARS ON AGROECOLOGY http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/I8992EN/

      Other definitions, which might be included:-

      4. Inclusive Value Chains

      5. Inclusive Local Green / Short Value chains

      6. Public Procurement Schemes

      7. Wild foods

    • Chickens are one of the main and most common assets of poorer rural households and they are transportable and easily converted to cash in times of extreme risks and temporary migration. Local breeds are the toughest survivors and generally don't need specially grown or purchased feeds.

      One of main challenges to poor rural households who wish to keep chickens is disease, especially Newcastle disease. The vaccination against it is cheap and easily administered. However the most efficient and effective vaccination approach is a collective one whereby whole communities of people collaborate to vaccinate on a regular (usually quarterly ) basis.

      Unfortunately few NGOs, who wish to promote poultry keeping, support this approach but rather distribute chickens (often fragile exotic breeds) to individual households without studying the disease history.

      To impact on rural household nutrition as the primary focus, chicken disease prevention on a geographical and or administrative areas basis can be a very cheap way to facilitate the survival and multiplication of the poultry stock poor rural people already have.

    • Choice of crops - avoiding crops that are not consumed by the grower. When such crops are chosen (e.g coffee, cotton or cocoa), develop a complex multi-tiered agricultural (agro-forestry) system that mimics the environment and facilitates nutrition security by encompassing food crops. Avoid supporting value chain entrepreneurs who restrict farmers to growing monocrops, e.g companies promoting varieties of sorghum for beer in southern africa which do not allow undersowing.