Agroecology to beat food inequalities

How can we orient economic models towards inclusion and sustainability? This is a question that immediately highlights the close connection between production systems, environmental protection and the problems of hunger and malnutrition. Issues that, if not properly addressed, can lead to very worrying global instabilities.

According to the latest report entitled 'The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World' by five UN specialised agencies, some 733 million people were hungry in 2023, equivalent to 1 in 11 people globally. The same report shows that more than 2.3 billion people worldwide face moderate or severe levels of food insecurity, meaning that nearly 1 in 3 people do not have regular access to sufficient nutritious food. These figures are rising significantly and therefore point to the urgency of action to combat hunger and malnutrition. In particular, Africa is the region with the highest percentage of the population that does not have enough food: about 20% compared to 8% in Asia and 6% in Latin America. 298 million Africans faced this condition in 2023.

The hunger and malnutrition that affect so many people around the world are the result of profound injustices and polarisation that are evident when we talk about access to food which, as we know, is a fundamental human right protected internationally by various treaties and institutions. Yet, some discrepancies are evident: while advanced economies are characterised by overabundance, food waste and the insistent search for organic food, poorer countries are plagued as much by food shortages as by the spread of junk food. In other words, in many parts of the world, there is a considerable number of people who lack safe, nutritious and sufficient food.

These poverty and food insecurities are clear evidence of the many limitations of the dominant economic model and cannot be considered a simple negative externality of a model that works well. Rather, they are a symptom of the lacerating inequalities between and within countries, and of the growing number of women and men who are in extreme poverty. A condition that is not limited to the economic sphere, but extends to the social sphere with repercussions on access not only to food and water, but also to medical care and education. The inaccessibility of these resources for many is an affront to personal dignity.

Joint actions are therefore needed to develop a more inclusive, sustainable and resilient agricultural and food system that, supported by scientific research and technological innovation, promotes environmentally friendly agriculture. The perspective is what scholars and experts call agroecology, i.e. an agriculture that integrates ecological and social principles in traditional practices and scientific innovations to promote sustainable food systems, as emerged in the scientific colloquium recently organised by the European Catholic Universities in the Cremona campus of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore.