Pope Francis on how we can fight hunger

On 11 June 2015, Pope Francis spoke to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations about hunger. Here are excerpts from his address.

…the number of people who have difficulties  accessing regular and healthy meals is growing all around us. But instead of taking action, we prefer to delegate, and to delegate at all levels. We think that someone else will do something about it, perhaps another country, or some government, or an international organization. Our tendency to “go missing” in the face of difficult issues is human; yet we do not miss a meeting, or a conference, or the drafting of a document. On the contrary, we must respond to the imperative of ensuring access to basic food as a right of all people. Rights do not admit exclusions.

It is not enough to provide status reports on nutrition around the world, although the figures need to be kept up-to-date because they reveal the harsh reality. Certainly, we can console ourselves in the knowledge that those 1.2 billion hungry people in 1992 are now fewer, even though the world’s population is growing. Nonetheless, it is of little use to know the numbers or even project a series of practical commitments and recommendations for implementing policies and investments, if we neglect the obligation to “Eradicate hunger and prevent all forms of malnutrition worldwide” (FAO-WHO, Rome Declaration on Nutrition, November 2014, 15a).

2. The statistics on waste are very worrying: one third of all food produced goes to waste. It is disconcerting to know that a large quantity of agricultural products are used for other purposes, which may be good ones but do not respond to the immediate needs of a hungry person. Let us ask then “What can we do?” or better still, “What am I already doing?”

Reducing waste is essential, as is reflecting on the non-food use of agricultural products, which are used in large quantities for animal feed or to produce biofuels. Certainly, we must guarantee increasingly healthy environmental conditions, but can we continue to do this by excluding someone? We need to raise awareness in all countries on the type of nutrition adopted, and this varies according to latitude. In the southern half of the world, attention needs to be placed on the quantity of food that is sufficient to sustain a growing population; in the north, on the other hand, the key point is the quality of nutrition and food products. But, in both quality and quantity, the insecurity caused by climate, increasing demand and uncertain prices weighs heavily.

Let us try, therefore, to commit more decisively to changing lifestyles, and maybe we will need fewer resources. …

Let us also ask: to what extent does the market, with its rules, affect hunger in the world? The studies that you yourselves carry out show that, since 2008, the price of food has varied in trend: doubling, then stabilizing, but always at higher levels than in the preceding period. Such volatile prices prevent the poorest from planning ahead or being able to count on a minimum level of  nutrition. There are many causes. We are rightly concerned about climate change; but we cannot close our eyes to financial speculation: an example being provided by the prices of wheat, rice, maize and soya, which fluctuate on the commodity exchanges, sometimes linked to income funds, such that the higher their price, the more the fund earns. Here let us also seek another path, convincing ourselves that the products of the Earth have a value that can be considered “sacred”, because they are the fruit of the daily work of people, families and farming communities. A type of work that is often dominated by uncertainties, worries about weather conditions, and anxieties about the possible loss of the harvest.

In FAO’s objectives, agricultural development includes farming the land, fishing, livestock breeding and forestry. This development needs to be at the centre of economic activity, clearly distinguishing the different needs of crop farmers, livestock breeders, fishermen and those who work in the forests. …

There are other critical points in this commitment. Firstly, it is hard to accept a generic resignation or disinterest, and even the absence of so many players, including States. Sometimes one has the sensation that hunger is an unpopular topic, an insoluble problem for which solutions cannot be found within a single legislative or presidential mandate; so the issue does not command consensuses. …

…land use also remains a serious problem. The hoarding of arable land by transnational firms and States is increasingly worrisome, since it not only deprives farmers of an essential asset, but also directly affects the sovereignty of nations. There are now many regions in which the food produced goes to foreign countries, and the local population is doubly impoverished because they have neither food nor land. And what about the women who in many zones cannot own the land they work, with an inequality of rights that impedes the serenity of family life, because they run the risk of losing their land from one moment to the next? Yet we know that most of the world’s food is produced by family farms. So it is important for FAO to strengthen partnership and projects that promote family enterprises and encourage States to regulate land use and ownership fairly. This could help eliminate the inequalities that are now at the centre of international attention. …

If we want to change lifestyles, we must start from our daily life, aware that our small gestures can ensure the sustainability and future of the human family. …

The Church, with its institutions and initiatives, walks with you, aware that the planet’s resources are limited and that their sustainable use is absolutely crucial for agricultural and food development. For that reason it is committed to promoting the attitude change that is necessary for the well-being of future generations. May the Almighty bless your work.