“Alliance” between FAO and Nobel Peace and Food Security Laureates kicks off

The conference today at the headquarters of the Organization in Rome: the Cia delegation present to witness the primary contribution of agriculture to defeat world hunger and ensure social relations based on peace and solidarity.

Launching “an alliance” between FAO and Nobel Peace and Food Security Laureates: that was the goal of a conference held today in Rome by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The delegation of Cia-Agricoltori Italiani was present and large, to witness the fundamental contribution of agricultural production to food security and ensuring social relations based on peace and solidarity.

On the other hand, as indicated by FAO Director-General Jose Graziano Da Silva, who introduced the conference, “there can be no food security without peace, and there can be no peace without food security. So ridding the world of hunger is critical to maintaining peace.”

Many distinguished guests attended the FAO conference. Chief among them Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate for creating microcredit and microfinance tools for economic development in poor countries. “It is a shame that we still cannot solve the problem of world hunger,” he said. We need to redesign institutions, which have failed so far, we need to create social business in agriculture, make it easy for everyone to get a loan to open a business with which to have enough income to buy food. We need to convince the younger generation that they are not ‘job-seekers’ but ‘job-creators,’ that is, entrepreneurs. We need to create a concrete alliance to transform the rural and agricultural economy, primarily in the countries of the Global South. With a goal that can be summed up in three zeros: zero hunger, zero poverty, zero unemployment.”

Also present was Oscar Arias Sanchez, former president of Costa Rica and 1987 Nobel laureate for his work for peace in Central America: “Man’s war against man destroys human nature,” he said in his speech. Military force is the worst pollution on earth. Violence kills humanity and the environment little by little, leaves the desert where there was land, food, life.”

Tawakkul Karman, 2011 Nobel laureate for his fight for women’s security and their right to participate in the peace process, also spoke strongly: “We need real globalization with benefits for all and not just a few,” he explained. We need to work to ensure basic human rights, access to water and food. This is a moral commitment. This is real justice. Governments and corporations should work much harder to implement programs to fight poverty and hunger.” Also because “when you fight poverty you fight terrorism at its root. Peace is impossible without food security. We need to work to create economic processes of poverty eradication. There can be no peace without justice. There can be no justice as long as people continue to starve.”

Nobel laureates Betty Williams and (on video) Kofi Annan also participated in the discussion.

Original Article: http://goo.gl/CVd0Fp