Food Matters for Global Peace

The global recessionary trends may not affect all the nations. In the latest edition of the recession, the better off nations got affected and a few others are slightly fortunate to be out of its catch.  But some are crippled and few remain safely off from the onslaught.  The global trade and commerce gets the reflection of this trend. Imports and exports get affected.  This subject in global business and economists and policy makers every where discuss, deliberate and formulate policies and corrective measures to revive economies. The economy body building exercise that is staged irrespective of territories feature revision of bank rates, curbing or relaxing of bank advances, devaluation of currencies, soliciting of investments, clamping of protective measures, imposition of austerity steps.  These could be seen as efforts to ward off putting the national economies to ventilators.  Few nations may outlive the challenges while others continue to be in blackout stages.  The whims and fancies of the political administration matters a lot and knowing or unknowingly their agendas are a priority rather than the country interest.

Away from these tasks of economists, the other side of sociology is seldom noticed by many. The fluctuation of the economy has tilting influence on the fillings of golden and silver plates of the rich classes. Those of these affordable sections can afford to stay for long due to the buffer in their built up fortunes.  The challenge may be the small dwindling share of their accumulated wealth which is just meagre. Sooner or later the lost grounds could be retrieved through managerial skills of diversification in allied fields. Contradicting factors like reaping of benefits in adverse situations also happen. The lucky ones remain so. The countries and societies affected may be rich or even poor.  But is it not a fact that across continents, live human beings who are deprived of food and shelters. The unfortunate are gravely sick. Those unfortunate and unlucky thousands have no option but to be wary, angry and hungry. There is no way that their horrifying and sorrowful ways and means of life will be attended to.  Deflation and Inflationary trends, rising unemployment, rise in prices in market front are slowly killing many thousands of people including innocent children.

Future is lost, their sustainability is at stake.

Whether it be the developed nation or the developing nation or the under developed nation or the less developed nation, human beings dwell in all these territories.  Let there be a policy of co existence in economics since we deliberate on this philosophy only in terms of global peace and communal harmony. The barriers of language, region, class, caste, groups and subgroups are to be overcome. In the parlance of pure economics of foreign trade, the tariff and non tariff barrier though are supposed to have been extinct, still holds good disguised as revamping thoughts. The information technology build up brought people shoulder to shoulder in terms of conveying ideas and information.  Some countries even block internet sites and domains for their safety.

Why the fear across the borders. How come the life of the average country citizen slips out of the priority list?  The national interest may remain for the development of nations. While this is a parochial thought and action, the need of the hour is to rework the philosophy of development incorporating the need of the deprived people all over the world. The Universal thought for peace and food for the world can occur only in devout hearts. 

Across the world deliberations take place on iron and steel, aviation, surface and water transport, tourism, space technology, communications, research and developments, defence, maritime activity, infrastructure build up, financial resource generation, global stocks, currency rates, exports, imports, balance of payments, delegations, arms build up, terrorism combats and what not. High time to do a worthwhile study on global production of agriculture- on the figures for farm and farm related sectors.

I do not think it is too much to say that “silently everywhere in all continents agriculture sector is facing a crisis of production fall and productivity decline”. As the administrators are vying each other to project economic development attention is being given for commercially important crops.  The traditional crops which sustained billions of people are going with the wind.  The rhizomes and the roots, the green leaves and the stems, the fruits and flowers which fed the global population in earlier times are not in use these days in many countries.  The new managers and spokesmen of industries had been influencing their administrators to do commercial farming and processing for value addition to boost their exports.  All the intrinsic qualities of those natural supplies are brought under protective UV sheet farming with better productivity and the final products are “crushed and mutilated” to take out their extracts to supply the richness of these produces in encapsulated forms.  The extracts are available in their rich concentrated form. But the nature has its own theory that the extracts activate only with their own fibres, which are thrown off as just waste residues.

It is high time that basic farming and basic consumption of farm products are brought in. Just the concept of organic farming will not do.

It is also sad to note that the modern world speak of many natural products like herbs, leaves, spices, forest produces having naturally given power in them to combat many modern life style diseases. And the result, the Corporates come out with R & D models to produce new formulations. This is culminating in the launch of new brands and all throughout the world consumers queue up just forgetting that it is just a waste.

Farming and not framing is the ultimate answer. To feed the poverty stricken people in all continents, basic food is required. The tins, cans, bottles, packaging, extracts, encapsulations, seasonings are not the answer for a vast majority of people. They go for the affordable groups of affluent societies.

The Governments across the seas should see that the issue of food is addressed globally to bring in global peace. Food for the man and animal in land, air and water is of utmost concern. Recession or No recession, Food MATTERS.

TAIL PIECE: An earth quake, tsunami, drought, flood and similar epidemics are signs of the nature reminding of a vital fact that the “Earth is not for Exploitation but for Experiencing”. (22nd July 2013 in Cochin)