Food sovereignty is possible by eating less meat and avoiding waste
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Several countries in the world would be able to independently produce all the food necessary to support their population. This was stated by a study conducted by a group from the University of Leyden, in the Netherlands, which created a forecasting model based on statistical data on food production and consumption provided by the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations).
According to the results of the study, published in One Earth, 51% of the global population lives in nations that would be able to self-sustain, in terms of food, with resources of their own production. Anything would be possible provided that we reduce the average consumption of meat and eat more fruit, vegetables and proteins of vegetable origin, and cut waste. The research has limits, given that it is based on statistical projections, but it indicates that there is much room for improvement also in the agricultural sector.
I study
The study stems from the need to understand to what extent each country is able to become more independent from the global trade network. This is an increasingly desirable and necessary step, especially if we think of epidemics, wars and other national and international emergencies. The researchers, coordinated by Nicolas Navarre of Leyden University, examined data on agricultural production and food habits from 204 countries around the world. The authors wondered whether, on the basis of the agricultural capacities of the single territory, the selected nations have the potential to become self-sufficient in the production of food.
In the model, in addition to using FAO data, they considered a particular diet, considered healthy and sustainable for the environment, defined and proposed by a group of international experts of the EAT-Lancet Commission. This Commission, linked precisely to the journal The Lancet, is made up of 37 scientists from 16 countries. Still under discussion, the “planetary” diet, valid for all countries, is based on the reduction of meat consumption, and favors foods such as fruit, vegetables, legumes and unsaturated fats.
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The results
The results of the study indicate that 86 out of 204 nations – which corresponds to 51% of the global population – could successfully adopt the Eat-Lancet diet and become independent in terms of food. Furthermore, through targeted interventions on crops and changes in consumption, well 95% of countries could autonomously develop a more sustainable system, always based on the Eat-Lancet diet.
The key to autonomy, according to scientists, is based on two pillars: eating less meat and cutting waste. Two thirds of greenhouse gas emissions are in fact linked to cattle breeding, while a third of what we produce globally is thrown away.
In the proposed scheme, the authors indicate to consume meat once a week – or even once or twice more if you can simultaneously cut waste significantly. If intensive farming is reduced and the resources produced are used better, this allows us to rethink the entire system (as well as to reduce, for example, massive deforestation and enhance local production), moving towards national self-sufficiency. Scientists specify that however, the goal is not autarchy, i.e. total independence from markets and imports, an isolation that could be risky in the event of problems.
How independent are we?
The theoretical framework outlined by the research seems rosy, but reality indicates that we are still very far from this goal. The reasons are varied and are being examined by scientists and institutional representatives. “In the face of significant strategic indications, such as the reduction of meat and sugar consumptionHowever, the Eat-Lancet diet has limitations,” he comments Angelo Gentilesnational agriculture manager of Legambiente. “In fact, it does not enter into the merits of the methods and modalities on which agricultural systems are based, for example on theimportance of combating intensive agriculture and reducing the use of chemicals, such as pesticides and fertilizers, primarily those containing nitrogen”. These molecules threaten pollinating insects and put entire ecosystems at risk.
“Food self-sufficiency cannot be achieved without addressing this issue,” Gentili underlines. “Having a complete picture, which also includes a detail on these aspects, is essential to really be able to rethink the agricultural and food system and move towards greater autonomy”. This topic cannot be ignored even at a strategic and operational level: the European CommissionIndeed, he proposed to reduce the use of chemical pesticides by 50% along with the use of the most dangerous pesticides by 2030. But it is also a question of food quality and wholesomeness, according to Gentili, who recalls the data in the Legambiente document Stop pesticides 2021: as many as 35% of the more than 2,500 food samples analysed, of Italian and foreign origin, contained pesticide residues, albeit within the limits of the law.
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Towards food sovereignty
The topic dealt with in the study on One Earth it is very similar to the concept of “food sovereignty”, at the center of the political and economic debate also in Italy, where a special ministry was recently created – or rather renamed -. The concept of food sovereignty was not born today, but more than 25 years ago from an international movement of farmers, who focus on the right to “healthy and culturally appropriate food”, as stated in the “Nyéléni Declaration” of 2007. The idea is that food is obtained within agricultural and food systems that protect the environment and enhance local activities conducted by farmers and families, with a view to promoting environmental, social and economic sustainability. All this is therefore in contrast with the process of globalization in production.
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But how do you go from theory to practice? “In the national and European context food sovereignty goes hand in hand with agroecology“, clarifies Gentili, “a set of agricultural methods and approaches that integrate production needs with ecosystem defense, for example cutting the use of chemistryharmful to biodiversity and the environment”. The point of view of agroecology, continues the expert, is enhance the territory and reconvert agriculturewhich after the green revolution has been intensified excessively, towards a more sustainable system.
But we are far from significant results. “Little is still being done”, underlines Gentili. “One of the switches for change is certainly the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), established by the European Union, which has been providing strong support to the agricultural sector for years. The commitment must be veered in the direction of agroecology, promoting biodiversity and the organic farming and reducing food waste, another fundamental asset on which to act in order to truly rethink the system”.
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