MAN 20005Lecture 7

Ethics and Non-Human

Subject: Agriculture and

Food Production

Updated 3.10

• Food is essential for the survival of human beings

• Hunger results from neglect of the universal right to food.

The Value of Food

• Ethical practices in every society necessitate us to provide for those who are unable to feed themselves to receive food directly.

• Failure to do so is deemed injustice and unethical

Human population growth and demographic shifts

• Many developed countries have recorded increases in the proportion of elderly people due to improvements in life expectancy, combined with population growth in developing and under-developed countries.

• The global population is increasing to unprecedented levels, posing challenges to food production and distribution.

Projected population growth

into 2050

• More people but less food production

• Developing countries have younger population structures.

• Rural-to-urban migration, leading to a world that will soon have more urban than rural inhabitants.

• Resulting in considerable shrinkages in the rural labour force that mainly works the agriculture sector

Pressure on natural resources

Exploitation of forests• In the search for more farmland, huge areas are being

deforested, leading to soil erosion and massive flooding. • Poorer nation overwhelmed with desperation; whereas

producers and consumer in wealthy nations are disincentives for conservation practices.

Plant, animal genetic resources, land, air, water, forests and wetlands are rapidly degrading as a result of pressure from both population growth and increasing market penetration.

Exploitation of water source• Increases in the demand for water for agricultural,

industrial and domestic uses are lowering groundwater levels, even permanently depleting aquifers.

• Overuse of water also leads to salinization and eventual abandonment of what was once prime agricultural land.

Through the invention of ever-more effective means of catching fish ie : use of huge vessels with canneries on board compete with fishers using simple nets or lines.

Exploitation of marine resource

Concentration of economic power

• Net worth of the world's 200 richest people is greater than the combined income of 41% of the world's population.

• The world's 200 largest transnational corporations account for a ¼ of the world's economic activity.

• Agriculture based economies around the world are to be found mostly in developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

• It is in these countries that scores the lowest or even negative governance

• Landownership is concentrated in the hand of the rich and powerful

• Traditionally agricultural research was the domain of the state. It is now driven by private sector.

As a result, research on crops and livestock that does not profit the private sector will be abandoned.

New Biotechnologies

• Biotechnologies could help to increase the supply, diversity and quality of food products, reduce costs of production and processing and reduce pesticide use and environmental degradation.

• New era of biotechnology - Genetic Engineering.

• For millennia, the food and agriculture system has made use of biotechnologies in the form of fermented foods such as bread, cheese and beer.

Genetic Engineering• ability to select, manipulate and

transfer genetic traits from one species to another.

• Eg : cloned organisms, such as Dolly

• Genetic engineering to date has focus on agenda that is profitable to private sector – eg : herbicide tolerance and insect resistance

• Further lead to concentration of economic power.

An extreme scenario could be the use of the new biotechnologies for bioterrorism.

These products may pose new risks to the environment and human health. Eg : transfer of herbicide tolerance to weeds, leading to more aggressive or more competitive weeds; the transfer of food allergenic compounds to products that did not previously contain them

Food Distribution

• 800 million people worldwide are unable to receive food due to non-accessibility and distribution flaws

• Food can be better distributed through efficient farm-to-market channel

Other important factors :a) direct access road to landb) secured price structures that

provide incentives to produce for the market

c) accurate market information

d) food processing technique to transform raw material into storable foods

e) employment opportunity to enable people to earn enough to purchase food

f) subsidies for consumer

Ethical food and agriculture system

• Ethical-based food and agriculture system would work towards the reduction and eventual elimination of poverty

• Production efficiency must be balanced with distribution efficiency.

• Effectiveness is measured in terms of fairness and justice

• An ethical food and agriculture system must move from free trade to an ethics-based trading system

• 1982 World Development Report recommend focus on governance to improve agriculture

• But very little has improved till to date due to : (a) free market pressure (b) lack of macroeconomic policies (c) unstable political situations

Means to promote an ethical food and agriculture system :

a) Establish forum to resolve distribution controversies – eg : Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Codex Alimentarius Commission, Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries

b) Encourage stakeholder participation – eg : dialogue, informed investors through timely, relevant, accurate and easily accessible information.

c) improve macroeconomic policies

d) improve economic policies to compliment and be more responsive to the needs of the civil agriculture society

e) assign good credit ratings to socially responsible growers

f) Establish programmes, standards and codes

The power of Donor• Donors focus their aid policies to support responsible agrarian• Global Donor Platform for Rural Development, TerrAfrica or

the Neuchatel Initiative - provides an informal platform for donors coordination.

Global action• Global effort to overcome agricultural challenges such as

climate change, pandemic plant, animal diseases and invasive species; conduct research on ‘orphan crops’ that are important for national and local food security (eg. cassava) and reduce transaction costs through standards and rules

End