Donal Brown: “Consumers expect food to be very cheap and that was never sustainable”

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Why have we stopped valuing food?

Why are we so unwilling to pay more for those that, clearly, will be healthier for our body?;

How do our relationship with food and the prices we pay for it directly affect the living conditions of millions of people who live in rural areas?

According to reports from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), in developing countries, “80% of women, children and men living in extreme poverty live in rural areas.”

What has led us as a society to keep this population, on which the production of 30% of global food depends, marginalized?

In an interview with América Futura, Donal Brown, assistant vice president of IFAD's Program Management Department, issues a strong warning: we need to think about other food systems, systems that are not only sustainable over time and respectful of the planet, but, above all, Everything, allow us to re-evaluate all the processes and work behind bringing fresh and healthy food to the table.

Ask.

What do we have to change as a society to resolve the paradox that keeps the millions of people who grow our fresh food in poverty?

Why haven't we been able to give them the dignity they deserve?

Answer.

We are in a global situation where consumers expect food to be very cheap and that is not sustainable.

It is not sustainable for the planet to continue producing food as we do.

The environmental degradation of the food production system we currently have destroys the soil and its fertility.

In the short term you can put more fertilizers and inorganic products but that was never sustainable and will not be sustainable in the next 15 years.

That is why we have to start talking about food systems more than food, we have to find a new system.

Furthermore, we are witnessing a profound lack of knowledge and a devaluation of what it means to produce these foods.

We have to go back to the times when we valued food and were willing to pay for it and that is where we connect with producers.

If we pay a fair price for what they grow, then they will not live in poverty.

Q.

You insist a lot on making rural areas attractive.

Why do you think this can represent a change for the rural areas of our countries?

A.

Unless we make rural areas more attractive, we are not going to keep people in the countryside.

If they do not have good internet and do not have information about how much is a good price to sell their products in the city, they have to depend on an intermediary who is the one who keeps all the profits that should go to the growers.

So rural areas need infrastructure, social and economic infrastructure.

Additionally, another important element to consider is that the food system begins with production, but then there is everything that has to be done to get that food to the consumer's plate and most of the profits in the food system come from processing and marketing.

So, if the farmers are expelled from these moments of the chain, they will never have a good payment.

If you can organize some growers into a cooperative, they can have their own processing plant and reap the benefits.

Youth may not want to plow the land, but they do want to work in a processing plant, and so they are not only in production, but as part of the entire process.

That is why at FIDA we do a lot of work in the value chain and adding value to food.

Donal Brown, during a visit to the community of San Juan Cuauhtémoc, in the State of Puebla (Mexico).Courtesy

Q.

After decades of experience working with rural areas in various places around the world, what would you say are the projects that really have an impact and are really worth funding?

A.

First, before focusing on the projects, you have to focus on the Government's policies, because if the policies are not correct, they have big problems with the projects.

The project will be successful if it influences the Government's policies.

Second, when you design a project, you need to know what the exit strategies are, because for anything to be sustainable over time, you have to understand what you are doing, and what you need to do so that, when the project is gone, you continue. its effects on the territory.

Another front that is very important in rural areas is making sure that you are building the best and most appropriate infrastructure.

Even though the project is focused on agriculture, you may realize that the real problem is that farmers do not have access to financing, you may be focusing on technical issues, when these may be easy to solve, But if a farmer cannot acquire credit to invest or does not have a road to get his food, it does not matter what you do on other fronts.

An additional and very important factor is to involve the beneficiaries in the project because, if they do not feel ownership of that project, they do not value it.

On the other hand, if it is their project, they will continue even when the project is over.

You need to have that level of ownership and that is achieved by understanding what their priorities are, whether it is better for them to build a road or a local market.

Finally, you need projects that are inclusive.

People have an idea that agriculture is for men, but that is very wrong.

Many women are producers and are invisible in Latin America, Asia and Africa, so we need women to not only be part of the projects, but also the decisions of those projects.

Q.

You mentioned how crucial it is to work with government policies.

From his perspective, what is the state of those policies today, how willing are governments to address these issues?

A.

For many years we tried to get governments to take the sustainability of the food system seriously and it had been a losing fight.

However, with Covid and the global supply chain crisis, governments became serious about food, because it was not an issue that affected only Africa, we were all, Mexico, the United Kingdom, we all had problems getting food .

So we are in a very interesting moment and we are witnessing a good period of Governments focused on this.

The big elephant in the room is climate change, but again, there's a growing recognition that you can't have a food chain without recognizing what's happening with the climate.

Small producers in rural areas produce 30% of global food, they are the most vulnerable, because they basically depend on water for their production.

The big chains will adapt, but if you can't count on the production of that 30% because they can't adapt, then we will be in serious trouble.

Q.

How do we make consumers more aware of the role they play in recognizing and paying a fair price for the food they eat?

A.

We have to work on educational campaigns that show what bad food does to health.

Those foods may be cheap, but they are not healthy.

If a tomato looks very good, it is because it is full of insecticides. The tomatoes that don't look so pretty are perhaps the best and perhaps they are the best priced because no one wants them, people have to know that.

Since the covid crisis, we began to have a great movement that began to link more with local markets and invest more in quality food.

We have to strengthen that.

If people have no idea where their food comes from, you can't ask them to pay for certain processes they don't know about.

Tourism has also been a great ally, because the more the reality of these areas and local productions is seen, the more willing the consumer is to support them.