Page 59 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 23

Food health

Agreement this year, in 2023. The
time we have left to reasonably
alter this scenario is running out.

Change the system

Today’s climate movement,
born out of a razor-sharp focus
on the role of fossil fuels as the
primary driver of our climate’s
destabilization, calls not only for of the food chain. Because of sector, this has changed, and over
renewable energy but also for this, the industrial food system the past few years most of these
major cutbacks in the exploration, now accounts for over a third of corporations have announced “net
production and use of energy global greenhouse gas emissions, zero” plans and teamed up with
that serves wealthier countries. while also being the leading governments and international
This requires deep, structural cause of deforestation, water agencies on programmes to
changes to how these societies crises, biodiversity collapse and reduce emissions in agriculture.
use and consume energy. It means numerous diseases. The World All of these corporate initiatives
more collective transportation, Bank, which played a major part revolve around techniques and
more durability and repairability in promoting this catastrophic technologies that they claim
of products, and far less model, estimates that the global can make farms more efficient,
consumption of non-essential food system now costs us US$12 and all of them assume that
goods. Addressing and reining trillion annually in hidden production and consumption can
in consumption in a broad sense economic, environmental and be maintained. In fact, all of the
also means less manufacturing, social costs. corporate models are built on
less work, less travel, more time projected growth in their sales
doing “non-productive” (and The food and agribusiness of high emissions products,
therefore non-destructive) things. corporations that control and brandishing the lie that these can
This relies on realizing what is benefit from this food system were be “carbon neutral”, “green” and
scarce and repurposing it. In other slow to propose any solutions “deforestation-free”.
words, we have to adopt cultures to the current crisis. But, as No surprise, then, that net zero
of sobriety – but not the neoliberal concern with the climate crisis pledges from food corporations
one, otherwise known as austerity, has gradually extended to the food rely heavily on carbon offsets.
which punishes the poor.

With the food system, it’s
similar. Over the past century,
much of the global food system
was industrialized through the
introduction of chemical inputs,
largescale monoculture crops,
factory animal farms, heavy
mechanisation and irrigation.
Local food systems were
dismantled and globalised,
and transnational corporations
seized control over every aspect
Local Afrikan farmer harvesting vegetables.

WWW.MSINGIAFRIKAMAGAZINE.COM ISSUE 23 | JANUARY 2024 59