Author: Kristers Buls
The photo is illustrative
During the Estonian Model United Nations conference the committee of United Nations Development Programme looked at ways on how to promote food sustainability and discussed the role of technology regarding food security.
“Sustainable supply chains are too long, “the delegate of Yemen started the discussion “We need to find a way to shorten the supply chains and make products cheaper for buyers, and for workers to get fairly paid.” One of the solutions was to incorporate local farmers in the food supply chain, where later they could invest back in their business and enhance their competitiveness in the market and shorten the length of global supply and food chains.
The use of GMO crops was one of the main points in the debate. The delegate of Chad started by stating the positives of the usage of GMO crops. Crops reduce the use of pesticides, use less land, yield is more predictable and are resilient to climate change. In addition, they can be a viable solution for lower income countries. The delegate of Switzerland disagreed with the idea of using genetically modified crops: “GMO crops can cause loss of nutrients in food, and we don’t know the exact repercussions of these crops. “The delegate suggested the use of organic pesticides instead.
Another topic was the use of technology to achieve greater food system security. “For developing countries modernity is science fiction because these technologies would never have a chance to evolve.” Said the delegate of Yemen. Agriculture is particularly essential in rural populations in developing countries, thus other countries must help the development of equipment in addition with understanding of the agriculture. “Developing countries will be able to rely on a stable economic foundation once established.”
Automation of food production while using less land and people doing different jobs was mentioned as an option. In addition, the use of nuclear power, investment in education regarding agriculture and implementation of farms in wildlife areas to make them multi-functional were all discussed.