When wearing my YPARD web and communications’ officer cap, I try to rather be a neutral moderator who, instead of saying her views, solicits other’s opinion with rather objective questions. I remove my cap for this following post and make it a bit more personal. Thoughts are my own.
We bring back home optimism, a reassuring evidence of commitment by stakeholders from different sectors, and some possibilities of broader networking, for trying to achieve our purpose: fighting hunger in a sustainable manner without depleting our environment!
Innocent enough, I was, for taking conscience, only that week, of something fundamental: there is enough Food in the world for everybody. I however still need to get to know if the food available IS a nurturing and healthy food. I need to get back to the internet and my books and make sure I use reliable information resources to get valuable information (big job it is, as everything and its opposite is said on that matter!).
I come from a country where Tomatoes are red and taste Tomato. We don’t need to wash them with extra-care liquids as we were “supposed to” when I was living in Nigeria. I don’t have any degree in agriculture but I have been eating vegetable grown in the family’s garden during the first 20 years of my life. One of the greatest pleasures was to grab tomatoes and raspberries straight from the garden and eat them straight away. I was also used to enjoy from time to time the fantastic tasty fresh milk directly taken from the tank, once we had finished milking the cows with my uncle. Yes I know how to process and I am not afraid of putting my hand on a veil’s mouth! This to say that I want this chance for our new generation as well!
We have been repeating again and again that week that we must work together. “We” includes stakeholders from different sectors (public, private, researchers etc), from different regions of the world. That’s the leitmotif of my daily work- getting people connected and work together. For this to happen, we first of all need a common purpose... “Ending Hunger without depleting our environment” is, for example, YPARD’s purpose. We are not ready to make any compromise on this!!
For working together effectively and toward our purpose, we need to create a win-win situation with our partners. Repeating that we need to work together might help sensitize and get one another reconsider his/her own priorities, and put hungry people’s and earth’s benefits first. I still think that we need to consider the human factor from deeper perspectives. The ideas and interests of the different stakeholders working in agriculture need to be identified and addressed specifically for achieving an integrated action.
Some key leaders in the agricultural private sector are at the heart of many ethical debates. They however surely have a point: WE MUST TAKE ACTIONS NOW! Enough talking about the problems, let’s find the solutions...or I’d rather say, let’s find ways of AGREEING on solutions - because options are identified and not missing!! It is even more fundamental to act NOW that some people are currently moving fast and their actions are threatening our environment and people! We need to determine the WHAT but also the HOW! We must find how we can work together around these.
...for next year not to have the same agenda at the World Food Prize 2012 such as at so many conferences going on all over the world!
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