CBCP: Study belies 'gains' of chemical agriculture in Mindanao

MANILA, Philippines - An international study has found that the supposed benefits of chemical agriculture and corporate farming in Mindanao are “myths." The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said Friday that the study belied claims that corporate agriculture is beneficial to small farmers and the environment. The CBCP said two Filipinos are involved in the report of the International Assessment on Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). “The IAASTD report calls for fundamental changes away from corporate-dominated and toxic agriculture to a sustainable ecological farming with empowered small farming communities," said toxicologist and IAASTD bureau member Dr. Romy Quijano. The report said the environmental shortcomings of agricultural practice associated with poor socioeconomic conditions create a vicious cycle where poor smallholder farmers have to deforest and use new often marginal lands, increasing deforestation and overall degradation. It added 1.9 billion hectares and 2.6 billion people today are affected by significant levels of land degradation. Excerpts of the report were posted on the CBCP website www.cbcpnews.com. Aside from Quijano, a member of the Pesticide Action Network- Asia Pacific, the other Filipino in the study is Neth Dano of the Third World Network. The IAASTD report involved 400 experts from around the world, in an international effort undertaken and approved in April last year in Johannesburg, South Africa. It recounted the failure of industrial farming as it reflects a growing consensus among the global scientific community and most governments that the old paradigm of industrial, energy-intensive and toxic agriculture is a concept of the past, that small-scale farmers and agro-ecological methods provide the way forward to avert the current food crisis and meet the needs of local communities. The IAASTD aims to assess the impacts of past, present and future agricultural knowledge, science and technology on the reduction of hunger and poverty; the improvement of rural livelihoods and human health; and the equitable, socially, environmentally and economically sustainable development. “The Green Revolution strategies of the past, with all their expensive and toxic products, have left a trail of destruction. The report essentially says it is time to clean up and move on," Quijano said. “A national government policy to develop two million hectares (has.) into agribusiness lands where one million has. of which are targeted for Mindanao will definitely not answer the call to end hunger and poverty in the country," Dano added. Dano said that while this kind of agricultural system may have brought increased employment opportunities especially for impoverished farmers, its effect on food self-sufficiency, agrarian reform, rural livelihoods, and ecology have been disturbing. “We urge all concerned sectors to raise public awareness on the issues raised by IAASTD and pressure policy makers and stakeholders to implement measures to realize food sovereignty, agro-ecology, social justice and equity," Quijano said. IAASTD is under the co-sponsorship of the Food and Agriculture Organization, Global Environment Facility, United Nations Development Program, United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO). - GMANews.TV