Interviews
Big scale policies won't work!
Interview > Cornelia Butler Flora - Cornelia Butler Flora, a professor at the Iowa State University explains why we should work on small-scale rather than big-scale policies and why she is sceptical about the possibility to mainstream agroecological approaches.
We need to do everything… to increase agriculture based on agroecological principles
Interview > Julia Wright - Julia Wright, Deputy Director of the Centre for Agroecology and Food Security at Coventry University, speaks about why policy-makers fear agroecology, sustainable agriculture based on modern technologies and what civil society can do to increase agroecological approaches.
"We need to convince civil society..."
Interview > Jean Marc von der Weid - Twenty years after Rio de Janeiro was the stage for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the world’s gaze returns to Brazil for the Rio+20 Conference in June this year. The sequel to this first international meeting on sustainable development may well have important implications for the future of family farmers. Jean Marc von der Weid founded and works with AS-PTA, a non-governmental organisation based in Rio, supporting capacity building and institutional policies in favour of family farming and agro-ecology.
Agroecology can feed the world!
Interview > Irene Cardoso - To tackle global problems and move towards a "green economy", we need to upscale the number of farmers following an agro-ecological approach says Irene Cardoso, vice-president of the Brazilian Agro-ecology Association. Conferences like Rio+20 are not the solution, but can be part of it. "But we need a lot of pressure from the international social movement, because the current political environment favours agribusiness... "
We need more women’s presidents and queens
Interview > Sabina Voogd - The gender aspect of sustainable development is not fully integrated into the Zero Draft document for Rio+20. "It seems like if it was ‘added on’ at the end. We need to take into consideration that policy interventions have different effects on men and women. If we say that we need ‘more access to technology, and more support for sustainable agriculture’, we have to understand what does it mean from men and women’s perspectives".
How can civil society organisations impact Rio+20 process?
Interview > Felix Dodds - "If you want to have a strong impact, you have to come to the meetings. And the reality is that to have a big impact, you have to be in New York permanently, between now and probably the end of May..."
“We know what to do”
Interview > Hans Herren - Hans Herren is president of the Millennium Institute, an international NGO providing tools and methods worldwide that facilitate decision making for sustainable development. The driving force in all his activities and professional choices is the concern for a more sustainable world where there is a future for everybody.
"The glass is half full"
Interview > Parviz Koohafkan - The director of the Land and Water Division of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, FAO, has a positive view: in spite of the difficulties that small-scale farmers face, they play a very important role in rural development, and this is increasingly being recognised. Their role will therefore become even more important – especially in the face of climate change.
Land grabs are cheap deals for rich countries
Interview > Anuradha Mittal - A recent report from the Oakland Institute shows the important role that the World Bank and its institutions have played in the processes of land acquisition (or land grabs) recently experienced in many countries. In an interview with Farming Matters, its executive director, Anuradha Mittal, questions the role of such institutions and calls for policies which focus on food sovereignty.
Our ambition matches the size of the problem
Interview > Jose Antonio Osaba - The World Rural Forum wants the United Nations to declare an International Year of Family Farming. In an interview with Farming Matters, José Antonio Osaba explains why. “Family farming can be a very significant instrument to overcome hunger and poverty.” Osaba and his team have set themselves a huge task, but then, he says, problems in the rural areas are also huge.
Food as a universal right
Interview > Olivier De Schutter - Olivier De Schutter is the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food. He aims to inform people at the highest political levels about the role that smallholders play in the world’s food production systems. He hopes that this will make decision-makers more sensitive to their needs and rights.
The GMO invasions: We're losing our local breeds
Interview > Percy Schmeiser - Small groups of genetic engineers working for multinational companies, with little or no democratic control, determine the genetic composition of crops all over the world. Is this a science fiction movie scenario? No. Two Canadian farmers, Percy and Louise Schmeiser, have had a long fight in court to defend their right to grow their own crops. Farming Matters talked to Percy Schmeiser about his uneasy relation with seed companies.
Farmers & markets: IIED’s Knowledge Programme
Interview > Bill Vorley - Small-scale farmers are being urged into international markets as a way out of poverty – and they need to be able to protect their interests and make effective choices. "We see agency as the capacity of small-scale producers to make effective choices that advance their interests, and to act on those choices. Nowhere is that capacity needed more than in markets."
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