- Miguel Altieri, a Chilean expert at the University of California, highlighted the strategic role that peasant agriculture plays in food security in the modern world. His presentation generated interest in the audience during the II International Seminar on Agroecology: Facing Food and Ecological Challenges. The activity was held at Universidad de Santiago and it was organized by the Department of Agricultural Management, the University Social Responsibility program and the Chilean chapter of the Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology (SOCLA-Chile).
Before an audience that crowded the Salón de Honor, Dr Miguel Altieri, a Chilean professor at the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management of the University of California, gave the opening presentation at the II International Seminar on Agroecology: Facing Food and Ecological Challenges.
The activity was held on March 26th and it was organized by the Department of Agricultural Management, the University Social Responsibility program and the Chilean chapter of the Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology (SOCLA-Chile).
In his lecture “Agroecology: the only path to feed a planet in crisis”, the researcher said that the world is facing several difficulties as a result of the economic model established in the past few decades that cannot be overcome using the mechanisms of the same model. This is why he suggests changing this paradigm, at least in relation to the area of food production.
“The presence of many young people here clearly evidences the interest in this issue. They are very worried about the condition of the planet and the future that awaits them. In this situation, agroecology gives room for hope, because it addresses the problem of producing healthy food and it also provides an agricultural model than can be adapted to the climate changing conditions, something that will become more and more frequent,” he said to UdeSantiago al Día.
Supported by data analysis, he said that the causes of world hunger lie in the complex food system controlled by multinationals that define what to produce, as well as the quality and the price of food.
Although the figures of agro-industrial production seem to be more effective, the expert encourages us to consider their efficiency by calculating the amount of water they need and the lack of diversity that single-crop farming offer. This is why Dr. Altieri suggests measuring the “overall” production: agroecological farmers do not produce only one thing, but many different products (beans, eggs, corn, among others) that add up to form a system.
“Agriculture needs a new philosophy according to new social movements to bridge the gap between consumers and producers. It is like a new way of organizing the society that considers peasants’ know-how and incorporates it as a source of knowledge, restoring traditions and the genetic diversity by growing native seeds,” he said.
Dr Altieri is currently working in the United States in matters related to agroecology in Latin America. But as a Chilean, he often studies the policies promoted in the country. “The agricultural model that we need should be debated at a country level,” he added.
“If Chile valued peasant agriculture for its strategic, cultural and ecological value and also for the food security it provides, then the country would be forced to protect this type of agriculture as heritage, by providing resources, markets and the required support to boost it, just like Brazil did. Brazil recognized the importance of family agriculture and created a special ministry of agriculture,” he said.
With regards to the importance that this issue has for the American society, he says that it has caught the attention mainly of the urban groups who feel marginalized, like Latinos and African Americans, in a movement called “Food Justice”. “Most of my work is based on Latin America and I feel like an agroecological ambassador, because what I have learned and what I teach is what it happens in the region,” he said.
When asked why Chile has not had a strong development in this issue like other Latin American countries, Dr Altieri says that he thinks it has to do with “the cultural blackout during the dictatorship that shockingly imposed a model by changing the economic model and the people’s way of thinking and instilling a vision of competitiveness and privatization. Going backwards has been difficult,” he said.
Nevertheless, he has confidence in new generations. “People are awakening: they realize that the food model is not equitable or democratic; that it destroys the environment and produces climate changes that are reflected in more frequent dramatic events; and that the quality of the foods we eat is bad, as they are contaminated. We have to move forward to a socially healthier and fairer agriculture that includes social and political dimensions,” he finally said.
Other participants in the activity were: Santiago Peredo, alternate director of the University Social Responsibility program, who gave the welcome speech; Dr Clara Nicholls, president of the Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology (SOCLA); Claudia Barrera, researcher at the Agroecology and Environment Research Group (GAMA, in Spanish) of Universidad de Santiago; Ximena Guzmán, director of the Unión Nacional de Agricultura Familiar (UNAF); Olga Gutiérrez, president of the Confederación Unidad Obrero Campesino (UOC); Fabiola Freire, Regional Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture (Metropolitan Region); and Carlos Pino, researcher at Universidad Católica del Maule and member SOCLA-Chile.
Translated by Marcela Contreras
