Benedict XVI calls agriculture an indispensable resource for the future
Giving thanks to God for “the fruit of the earth and of human work,” Pope Benedict
has called agriculture an “indispensable resource for the future” that is not given
enough importance today. His words came during the Angelus prayer at St. Peter’s Square
on November 14. Linda Bordoni spoke to an expert in the field of agriculture about
the importance of the Pope's words: Cristina Amaral, Chief of the Emergency Operations
Service and of the Emergency Operations and Rehabilitation Division at FAO in Rome.
Amaral said the Pope's message is one that really needs to get through to politicians
and to common people, because often we seem to forget that our own lives depend on
natural resources, on the earth itself. She pointed out that the combination of a
widespread erosion of natural resources and the movements of the global economy are
such that many poor couties are dramatically affected by changes in the stock exchange,
and prices going up and down are immediately transmitted to the local market. She
says farmers and consumers in poor countries are forced to cope with the volatility
of the market and end up paying higher and higher prices for their food, seldom reaping
the benefits. So, she says, it is really a distorted system. Thus, Amaral says, the
Pope's message is also an encouragement to get back to the basics: people need to
produce their food, there needs to be the shortest distance possible between the market
and the consumer. Whatsmore, agriculture can be an important source of employment.
And technology must be made available to farmers so that they can pursue development
in a sustainable manner. Amaral says that technically we have the solutions, now it
depends on the political will to really make policies that promote a sustainable use
of agriculture and natural resources.... listen...