“Agroecology” Is The Key To Ensuring The Global Right To Food, Report Says

In a report prepared for the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, identified “agroecology” as an agricultural development method that has proven to get results in ensuring the right to food among vulnerable groups worldwide. According to De Schutter, the reinvestment in agriculture, spurred by the 2008 food crisis, should focus on reorienting agricultural systems toward production techniques that are “highly productive, highly sustainable and contribute to the progressive realization of the human right to adequate food.” The advantages of agroecology include improvement of nutrition, reduction of poverty and increased farm productivity. Appropriate public policies are needed to create an enabling environment for these sustainable modes of production.