How Does The Epidemic Affect Agricultural Production and Food Safety? (2): Solution Suggestions to Global Food Crisis

In this part of the file "How Does The Epidemic Affect Agricultural Production and Food Safety?", we include experts' solution suggestions for reasons of problems such as' food nationalism ' at the global level which means countries prioritizing stocking on their own food, as supplying food becomes more difficult and more expensive due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The evaluations of international organizations and experts on the causes of the damage caused by the epidemic among food supply and agricultural production focus on two points:

– Unlike previous outbreaks, COVID-19 outbreak had begun when there was an excess production of food in developed countries and in the world (gelişmiş ülkelerde ve dünyada gıdanın üretim fazlasının olduğu bir zamanda). This has made access to food difficult both economically and logistically.

– As a result of the isolation measures taken for COVID-19, the global food supply chain has been negatively affected. There were breaks in the food supply chain when consumers started to stock in panic and manufacturers couldn’t sell their products due to places that were shut down. Since these problems are also seen among developed countries that do not suffer from food problems, procurement problems have started to occur at the global level. All this leads to panic of food shortages (gıda kıtlığı paniğine).

From this point of view, ensuring the supply of food is part of the emergency health measures taken against COVID-19. This is why the fact that food and agricultural production issues are at the forefront of the agenda.

Problems of Agricultural Labourers and the Rises on Wages and Inputs

Due to the outbreak, despite the beginning of the harvest period of agricultural products in Turkey as in the world, travel restrictions make it difficult to supply labourers to work in agriculture (tarımda çalışacak işçi teminini). This causes the products to remain in the field or the harvested products not to reach the markets due to problems among the supply chain and eventually the raise of waste as well as food prices with the increase in wages and expenses (ücret ve giderlerdeki artış ile gıda fiyatlarının artma).

Drawing attention to the role played by the agricultural workers in the food chain, the Development Workshop points out in the report titled Corona Virus Outbreak on Seasonal Mobile Agricultural Workers and Their Children and Possible Effects on Crop Production (Korona Virüs Salgınının Mevsimlik Gezici Tarım İşçileri ve Onların Çocukları ile Bitkisel Üretime Olası Etkisi) that there may be a disruption in the food supply chains if the needs of the seasonal mobile agricultural workers will not be taken into account.

Possibility Of A New Food and Agriculture System

A wide variety of agricultural products can be produced in Turkey which is the 7th largest agricultural producer in the world. Turkey has taken many steps (pek çok adım) to reduce the negative effects of the epidemic on food and agricultural production. There are experts who argue that positive steps have been taken to provide adequate and nutritious food for everyone in Turkey (herkese yeterli ve besleyici gıda sağlamaya yönelik olumlu adımlar atıldığını), and that Turkey will not face serious problems in the short and medium term in terms of food safety.

On the other hand, arguing that the measures taken were insufficient and that no concrete steps that will enable the farmer to return to production and eliminate the increase in production and eliminate foreign dependency have been taken, the experts say that Turkey can become advantageous if it reclaims its agricultural potential by production-oriented policies (tarımsal potansiyelini üretim odaklı politikalar ile değerlendirmesi) as well as reclaiming self-sufficiency.

Some experts, who refer to the supply-demand balance in the food supply chain being disturbed due to COVID-19, list their solution suggestions (bazı uzmanlar ise çözüm önerilerini) as a self-sufficient agricultural policy, supporting the producer and developing e-commerce opportunities.

The middle ground that experts meet is the need to consider new and local alternatives instead of import-based agriculture and food systems consisting of multinational companies.

UN Food Safety Special Rapporteur Prof. Dr. Hilal Elver (BM Gıda Güvenliği Özel Raportörü Prof. Dr. Hilal Elver) who says that it is a good time to switch to ‘food sovereignty’ which would be created by the farmer’s choices of production systems and to a healthy, environmentally sensitive local production style, states that each individual, local administrations and the state have duties to take advantage of this opportunity.

The Patterns of Thought and Behavior Dominating the Origin of the Food Crisis

Within the scope of this responsibility for everyone, there are many analyses (analiz) that indicate that the COVID-19 epidemic now makes it imperative to look at social life, production-consumption relations in a different perspective, and approaches and policies that will dominate ecological methods and techniques among agriculture are needed.

Buğday Association for Supporting Ecological Life (Buğday Derneği’nden) agrees on these findings. We talked to Turgay Özçelik from Buğday Association which supports solidarity by participating in various formations such as No Pesticides On My Plate Civil Society Network, Climate Network, Zero Future, Say No To GMO, and why they see Coronavirus as an opportunity in ecological transformation and what can be done for healthy food supply.

Ecosystem Compatible Production – Consumption Models

Özçelik gave the following answers to the questions of Buğday Association’s solution to the food crisis during the epidemic and why they see Coronavirus as an opportunity for the ecological transformation:

 “We did not see the virus coming, but we do know about the destruction caused by water and soil pollution, deforestation, damages that had been caused by biodiversity, wars, and climate changes. At the root of the problems caused by Coronavirus lies the thought and behavior patterns that dominate the things ranging from healthcare system to the settlement concept, from industrial large-scale animal and agricultural production to consumer culture. As Einstein said, “While trying to solve problems, we cannot use the mindset that we use to create those problems.” We are facing a new transformation on a global scale. Along with production and consumption methods, transformation from health to education is inevitable in many areas. We need to strive to create new ways of thinking and new behavioral patterns and habits, and to realize production-consumption models and a lifestyle compatible with the ecosystem, not just to make everything as before, but to reveal the data about what we have done wrong. Therefore, we must develop responsible policies and strategies for future generations in all our needs from energy to agriculture, from health to education, from housing to transportation.”

Answering our question on how the No Pesticides On My Plate Campaign that includes Buğday Association, can be effective in combating the food crisis, Özçelik reminds us that nutrition is as important as living in a healthy environment and as our mental health in order to be protected against diseases and to keep our immune system strong. From this perspective, we remembered that we also need to be aware of whether the foods we need to keep our immunity strong are really nutritious thanks to COVID-19. Turgay Özçelik emphasizes that many consumers do not know how the food purchased from the market is grown, under what conditions it is stored, whether it contains pesticide residues or not as well as referring to scientific studies that pesticides and synthetic fertilizers used in industrial agriculture negatively affect our health as well as polluting soil and water. Therefore, he says: “Strengthening our immunity and eating healthily can only be possible by consuming organic certified or nature-grown foods without using agricultural chemicals.” 

“Consumers Should Be Brought Together With Producers Who Manufacture Ecologically”

Answering the question on how local governments and local food communities should follow a path in these days as we are in the period of planting, Özçelik states that it is very important to bring ecologically-producing producers and consumers who demand these products together, and that local governments have many opportunities to achieve this. He suggests that hundreds of producers can be supported by supplying flour from ecologically producers in projects such as Halk Ekmek and by providing them with a purchase guarantee.

Özçelik emphasizes that it is possible to revise the food supply system and that farmers producing non-toxic and healthy food can be supported during this process, and that citizens who want to produce their own food can grow their own products even in big cities in their gardens, balconies and flower pots.

At this point, he expresses the importance of growing our own food by saying that it allows us to know about the story of the food that comes to our tables, and that experiencing this process from the seed to the table would be mind-opening for life.

The Need To Transform In The Means Of Reducing Consumption and Simplification

Finally, Özçelik whom we wanted to talk about Buğday Association’s collaborations with other NGOs, local administrations and public and private sectors, states that they support solidarity in civil society by participating in many organizations such as No Pesticides On My Plate, Climate Network, Zero Future, and No GMO Platform. He also states that they work together with local governments in 100% Ecological Markets and that the days of the markets had changed by the cooperation with the relevant local governments after the prohibitions declared for the weekends during the epidemic days.

In this file where we seek answers to the question of how COVID-19 outbreak affects agricultural production and food safety, the main point we should keep in mind can be summarized in the following words of Özçelik:

“This epidemic will pass of course, but there are more serious problems ahead of us. The climate crisis, environmental pollution and destruction for natural resources will eventually force us all to reduce our consumption and transform our lives towards simplification. The outbreak offered us an opportunity to transform our production and consumption methods and habits. It’s a good time for us to review our real needs and measure how much we can simplify…”