Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, recounts the shortcomings of the food system in a commentary in Business Day, a South African newspaper: “(T)he ability of millions to produce or access adequate food has been imperiled by dysfunctional global food systems.” One billion people are undernourished, 1.4 billion are obese, small farmers are unable to make a living and soil health is running down. “The greatest deficit in the food economy is the democratic one,” writes De Schutter.
“Objectives such as supplying diverse, culturally acceptable foods to communities, sustaining soil and water resources, and raising food security within particularly vulnerable areas, must be able to find their place alongside the quest to produce cheap grains for global markets.”