Agence France-Presse | Sunday, November 15, 2009
MILAN
The private sector can play a key role in the fight against hunger, but humanitarian groups accuse multi-nationals of mounting an "offensive" to take over the agricultural sector in the developing world.
On the eve of a "Hunger Summit" at the U.N. food agency's Rome headquarters on Monday, business leaders meeting in Milan, Italy's industrial capital, discussed ways to be "part of the solution."
Jacques Diouf, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO, told them the private sector is a "key partner to face this problem, not only in terms of investment but also in know-how, expertise."
"It is very important for us not to only look at problems from the point of view of governments," he said. "We also need to have the private sector on board."
Diouf argued that a public-private partnership in the fight against hunger could be a win-win proposition.
"Eradicating hunger presents huge opportunities for businesses. Imagine the size of the market if the one billion people (who are starving worldwide) were to become consumers with real purchasing power," he said.
But the appeal to big companies deepens fears among non-governmental organizations that multi-nationals intend to take over agriculture in developing countries and impose a shift to intensive production.
"There has been a major offensive since the start of the food crisis by these seed, fertilizer and even genetically modified organisms, or GMO, multi-nationals that is upsetting, even if you agree entirely that the private sector has a role to play," said Jean-Denis Crola of Oxfam France.
"The interest of these companies is to develop industrial agriculture with GMOs, pesticides. We've seen the results in Argentina, Brazil with severe environmental and social impacts," said Devlin Kuyek of GRAIN, a non-governmental organization at the forefront of the fight against private investors buying up land in developing countries.
"Of course there's a need to intensify production, but 'all fertilizer' is not the right answer," said Crola.
Sean de Cleene, vice president for global business development and public affairs of the Norwegian fertilizer company Yara, said: "It's all about finding a balance. Business needs to be a part of the solution but it needs to work in a responsible way with partners."
Calling for a "shift from aid to investment," De Cleene said Yara plans to invest $50 million in fertilizer warehouses in Mozambique and Tanzania.
Like Yara, Swiss food giant Nestle has a large presence in Africa.
Nestle president Peter Brabeck-Letmathe said the group worked with more than 600,000 farmers in the world's poorest continent.
Nestle plans to spend $100 million over the next decade to improve the quality of production of cacao in west Africa.
Howard Minigh, president of CropLife, which includes the seed companies Monsanto and Syngenta, said: "We have a billion people hungry. My answer to the critics is, why would you limit the technologies to feed the world? People should have a choice."
Africa "could be" a big market for GMOs in the future, he argued.
