Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “The Holy See wants to demonstrate with its presence, the appreciation it has for the work that FAO carries out along with other governments in the fight against hunger and malnutrition, supporting with her essentially ethical perspective, those political and social options capable of providing a concrete and coherent response to current needs,” said Msgr. Renato Volante, Holy See permanent observer to the FAO, in his speech during the FAO’s 30th Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean held in Brasilia (Brazil), on 17 and 18 April. “It is clear that the lack of adequate nutrition not only impedes the full development of the personality of men and women, but also constitutes an evident negation of their rights, beginning with the fundamental right to life, of which nutrition is an indispensable component.” “This conference,” Msgr. Volante said, “shows how the main requirement is to transfer to the human dimension those forces ... which technology and new scientific research make it possible apply to agriculture and, hence, to food production. The commitment is to use the most inclusive strategies elaborated on a global level in order to eradicate poverty.” Going on to refer to one of the central questions being examined at the meeting, that of food security, the permanent observer indicated that “for many countries in the region, this involves considering not only the difficulties in agricultural production provoked by environmental and territorial factors, but also those deriving from unfavorable trade policies…for many countries, the economic situation depends almost exclusively on the export of a limited number of typical products, while their food security depends on the importation of many food products.”
The levels of food insecurity, especially worrisome in the Caribbean region, are determined by a series of factors that, in poverty, find a limited economic base. “Within this context,” Msgr. Volante said, “there is the added factor of the increase in the non-nutritional use of agricultural products that are funneled to other uses, such as the production of biofuels. This is a tendency that although it presents an opportunity to protect the environment and biodiversity, it has been determined as one of the main causes in the unprecedented rise in food costs, not seen in recent decades, as well as the intense use of agricultural land that eventually strips them of their mineral content. All this has a global impact that, although it presents some advantages for agricultural producers, it is, in fact, having negative effects on the poverty levels in the areas that depend on the food imports, as well as on land conservation.”
The Holy See’s permanent observer recalled the duty of nations in working to ensure and place in effect the right to nutrition, “which makes it unimaginable the thought of diminishing the quantity of agricultural products placed on the food market or maintaining an emergency reserve that could benefit others and be justifiable means, but that do not fulfill the fundamental right to food.”
There is still the open question of agricultural reform: “All agricultural reform,” Msgr. Volante affirmed, “must take account of the situation of smallholders and of indigenous communities, whose traditions are often far distant from the institutions and from the advantages offered by new production criteria or by models of business active in urban areas by a limited number of the population. This is a priority objective, to which the Catholic Church gives great attention.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 25/4/2008, righe 44, parole 569)
