Climate Change and Food Security

January is here, and the last topic on many people’s minds is food- “good” food for this matter. As my friend, my Mike would say, “no easy.” The fact that this is the month many of us feed like chicken after spending on chicken during the December holidays has prompted me to talk (read-write) about this important issue. Oh, by the way, Mike has been missing since 1st January. I think he has been promoted at his chicken-feeding job to being part of the chicken owner’s property. Or probably he went to grab a girlfriend from Uganda. I hear there is plenty of food in that country and that corruption, endless workers’ strikes; water rationing, Uhuru, Raila, and drought have properly been well contained. That boy will stay anywhere in the world right now provided there is water, food, and a girl to date.
Nothing makes sense unless it is linked with climate change. I mean people have become so detrimental to the environment that even the way we chew food has an ecological footprint. I mean who wants to see a cement mixer on the dinner table, isn’t that an immediate cause of home-based climate change? Do our feeding patterns have an impact on climate change? Are genetically modified organisms a solution to food security? As I highlighted in my last article, I have decided to give a keen eye, ear, and nose on agriculture this year. One of the areas I am significantly following is agroecology. Do you know what this is? Share with me in the comments section.
It is often hard to discuss food as a topic without considering the environmental, socio-political, and cultural aspects that surround the production process. As a new term, agro-economy has been embraced as a conceptual framework that can completely transform farming techniques and production elements. The essence is to meet the different and high consumer power among various countries in the world. In my last article, I shared facts on the role of agriculture in the economies of African nations and the globe at large. Besides, we discovered that the youth have a fundamental role to play in the adoption of new farming methods that can completely change the way agriculture is done. One of the ways is agroecology; a word also described as the practice of producing agricultural outputs by applying safe and ecologically sensitive mechanisms. Many people do not appreciate the fact that in the modern world, married by chemicals and all sorts of pollution; foodstuffs cannot be produced in an environmentally sensible way. Sometimes I cannot resist the temptation to agree with such ideologies.
Consider this, everything, including the domestic animals we rely on for manure production is nowadays raised up using chemical practices. While most of us think applying manure is one of the practices of agroecology, we must realize that animal poops contain the highest amounts of chemical residues fed to them. Plants are not an exemption in this; over relying on chemicals such as pesticides while farming makes them dangerous for use as manure. Apparently, the term “Organic” has been abused, misused, misplaced, and applied in all the wrong contexts. Just because plants and animal inputs are used does not mean the products are organic. In this case, we only pass the chemicals from one stage to another through the food chain while firmly convinced that we are growing our plants ecologically.
Food security does not necessarily mean the ability to produce enough to feed the entire nation or the world, but production of foodstuffs in the most balanced form and excellent quality. I firmly believe that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are not a food security solution. Instead, GMOs are agents of climate change and a sure way of reducing both human and ecological productivity. The main aim of GMO production is not food security but production of large output at the least costs. The hook here is the cost of production. Companies that advocate for GMOs are neither concerned about human safety nor climate change. Instead, the pot-bellied managers who do not have a single clue of what climate change is or care the least to know whether it is a hoax or reality are only moved by the profits made per harvest. The sad bit of it is the fact that the same companies whose ideologies have failed to convince the “elite” societies like Switzerland are now all over Africa, trying to convince the leaders on why GMO products will help serve starving children in the sub-Saharan countries. I wonder what makes them unaware that in the wake of globalization, things, especially science, ceased to secrets and individual properties.
It is only a GMO product that can be regarded, without any fear of contradiction, as a personal property. GMOs are the source of all fake products in the market including the infamous plastic rice. Whenever the so-called scientists and advocates of all sorts of chemical production claim to increase their share of the African market, I cannot help but think of how they want to transform us into part of their companies-end users. With a ready market in African and other “Poor, malnourished, starving, and foolish” countries, these self-centered managers are out to pollute the world even further. Apart from the recent changes in climate patterns, primarily orchestrated by Africans, the continent still boasts of distinct seasons, fertile soils, and an empowered society that can use modern farming methods to increase produce without compromising on quality.
Africa’s large rivers can be used for irrigation, proper farming techniques that can be adapted and shared and which do not need any chemical addition to realizing large maximum outputs, and workforce to do the job right. As a pristine continent, we do not want to live in a polluted environment. On the same note, we cannot afford to anyone to control our food production through disguised means that are only out to kill us while they demeanor environmental values slowly. I do not oppose bio-engineering done within safe provisions such as grafting.
Do you agree? Share your opinion in comment’s section. Contrary views shall not be investigated for possible prosecution.
Keep it here. Won’t you?