January
Farmers’ Rights include: The protection of traditional knowledge relevant to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture; the right to equitably participate in sharing benefits arising from the utilisation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture; the right to participate in making decisions, at the national level, on matters related to the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture; and the right to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seed/propagating material, subject to national law and as appropriate.
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
February
Food injustices have existed for a long time, produced and exacerbated by a dominant food system which serves the few to the detriment of many, concentrating resources (including land, seed, water and, capital), decision-making and power in the hands of only a few big players. The pandemic and subsequent recession have deepened these injustices, causing an ongoing food crisis in the food system.
Food Ethics Council, United Kingdom.
March
The right to adequate food is realised when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement.
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment no. 12, Right to Food.
April
Many countries deal with the growing demand for food by increasing agricultural production, without a focus on reducing food loss and food waste, thereby exacerbating pressure on an increasingly scarce natural resource base.
Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations/United Nations Environment Programme
May
The recent floods, droughts, and locust infestations that have plagued most of the continent over the past few years reinforce the reality that climate change can completely reverse the advancements in the agriculture and food ecosystem unless urgent action is taken. As entrepreneurs in the food and agriculture landscape, we must all become climate champions, driving behavior change in our companies, communities, and the broader ecosystem, as well as embracing innovations and technologies that support climate adaptation in Africa.”
Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli, Food Entrepreneurs in Africa: Scaling Resilient Agriculture Businesses (Routledge 2021).
June
No disease that can be treated by diet should be treated with any other means.
Moses Maimonides (30 March 1135 – 13 December 1204).
July
Geographical Indications (GIs) bring together an entirely different set of interests compared with other IPRs. At the WTO, rather than witnessing the usual North-South divide as is the case with patents, GIs find many Southern Members (including India) demanding stronger protection. It is equally surprising that countries from the North do not agree with each other on GIs, which is most unlike their consensus on patents and copyright. Thus, the European Community is keen on stronger protection and a multilateral GI-register while countries like Australia, Canada and the United StateS are opposed to it. At the heart of these differences are the potential implications of GIs for the domestic economy and global trade, and the cultural values associated with GIs.
Dwijen Rangnekar, Geographical Indications and Localisation: A Case Study of Feni (CSGR Report 2009).
August
Optimum nutrition is the medicine of tomorrow.
Linus Pauling (28 February 1901 – 19 August 1994).
September
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted what we have known for decades – hunger, malnutrition and famine are not caused by inadequate amounts of food. They are caused by the political failures that restrict people’s access to adequate food.
Michael Fakhri, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.
October
Understanding food as part of a system may help give a better understanding of how things are going wrong. Food systems analysis was developed to examine how producing, processing, transporting and consuming food is connected and central to all aspects of life. For the most part, food systems analysis has provided a snapshot of how things work. It can also provide a way to track how most of the world’s food systems reproduce inequalities and reinforce economic and political power.
Michael Fakhri, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food,
November
Aquatic foods are not just good foods, they are superfoods with the power to nourish all people and our planet.
Gareth Johnstone, Director-General, WorldFish.
December
The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.
Thomas Edison (11 February 1847 – 18 October 1931).
