Producing food is essential for the entire society, since our survival depends on it. The way we do this will have the power to guarantee good health for the population, give life to our people and promote decent living and working conditions in the agricultural sector and throughout the food chain. Also, you can care for the earth and protect our natural environment. Or just the opposite, which is what happens.
We are moving away from one of our hallmarks: the mediterranean diet. Her recipes are full of fruits, vegetables and legumes produced in the rural areas of our country, highly adapted to their physical, climatic and sociocultural conditions. And yet, they are less and less on the tables of our homes and restaurants.
Part of the responsibility lies with our current productive and consumption model, which is increasingly intensified, which makes the shopping basket more expensive and forces opt for less healthy foodswhich are paradoxically cheaper. Although more expensive for society as a whole: they depend more on imported inputs, materials and feed, and are less energy efficient. Besides, dry up and contaminate rivers and aquifers. And, of course, they are not aimed at addressing the challenges we face.
This is a industrialized agri-food model which contributes to the fact that people who work in agriculture, livestock and fishing cannot live with dignity. Many farms – especially small, family farms – abandon and the countryside is emptied.
Public aid such as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) continues to be directed mainly to large food companies to cover their cost overruns and inefficienciesand leave aside agriculture of high natural and social value, which offers so many benefits to society as a whole. Houston, we have a problem.
Faced with this, we find ourselves facing a unique opportunity. Currently, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) is working on a National Food Strategy (ENA). This framework will serve as basis for the formulation of public policies in the field of food, food security, sustainability, food production and nutrition.
A necessary task that requires the participation of all the agents involvedif you do not want to run the risk of favoring only those who shout the loudest. And therein lies his Achilles heel.
The current approach of MAPA does not provide a space in which all sectors related to agriculture and food can speak, propose, debate and compare opinions. It is essential that no entity is missing Let him sit down and share his ideas. From local production, to those who transform and distribute food. Also, it is vital that the Ministry has people who are experts in health and the environment, in economics and employment, and in workers’ rights.
To achieve an effective ENA, the Ministry must motivate not only effective participation, but also commit to driving the achievement of agreements, commitments, shared objectives. In this case, about the agriculture and food model that we want to promote as a country, to ensure the future of the field in a time of economic, social and environmental uncertainty. In addition to guaranteeing food sovereignty for the population.
The future strategy will necessarily have to urge that public aid such as the CAP be directed to those who produce food, protect the territory and take care of our health. These funds must help them launch and maintain production models sustainable and healthy without fearing for their profitability. Also, they must serve so that the fresh products are more affordable when we go shopping, especially fruit, vegetables and legumes.
Also, it must incorporate compliance with current laws, such as Law 9/2017 of November 8 on Public Sector Contracts, so that public administrations (the first consumers of food in the State) comply with the mandatory to incorporate environmental and social criteria in public dining rooms. Above all, where its captive consumers are the most vulnerable: schools, nursing homes and hospitals.
From a broad sector of the rural and agricultural world, ecological production and the defense of the rights of consumers and the environment, we demand from political leaders greater representation of all the realities of the agri-food chain. Also, greater listening and a commitment to finding consensus. We all work together in the Coalition for Another PAC, for a fair food system for people and nature. We are convinced that the Spanish population will appreciate a National Food Strategy that protects those who produce our food, and that guarantees them access to a healthy and balanced diet.
*** Aina Calafat, from the Spanish Society of Organic Agriculture and Agroecology; Celsa Peiteado, WWF Spain; Eduardo Montero, Federation of Consumers and Users; Jorge Cavero Redondo, Center for Rural Studies and International Agriculture; Lola Hermida, Sustainable Living Foundation; Mónica Parrilla, Greenpeace Spain; Montse Escutia, Healthy Life Association; Verónica Rebollo, Alimentta Spain.
