World Food Day, 16.10.19, has passed like so many others. Extreme hunger and chronic malnutrition persist, in the India of global policy makers. In Rome meanwhile, people are beginning to think about a food policy.
Rome and province, Lazio region. Some scenario data
2.9 million in the city of Rome, 4.3 in its province comprising 121 municipalities. These are the official figures, to which must be added the inevitably rough estimates of the unregistered population. At a rough estimate, the actual number of inhabitants in the province of Rome may be slightly less than the population living in Ireland (4.9 million, according to Eurostar 1.4.19 estimates).
An estimated 25 percent of the food that flows into the capital city comes from the surrounding countryside, according to estimates in the report ‘A Food Policy for Rome. There where phenomena in apparent contradiction are observed:
– urban agriculture is growing (+44% farms, +12% UAA, Utilized Agricultural Area, over the past decade), but
– direct growers disappear from the district markets (barely a hundred out of 5,000 locations in the 128 markets in the city), and on the other hand
– businesses in the province are shrinking (halved in 10 years), with an increasingly advanced average age and little generational turnover.
Agriculture in Latium is then plagued by agromafie, which infest the Agro Pontino with banned pesticides, pyres, and exploitation of migrant laborers. Still waiting for extraordinary control programs to stop crime and ensure food safety. The latter of which, it should be noted, falls under the concurrent jurisdiction of the regions.
Rome, first tests of food policy
The Rome Food Policy Promoting Committee has gathered membership from agricultural companies, civil society organizations, research institutions and their representatives. (1) With the idea of analyzing the scenario and sharing good initiatives developed in the area over the decades. To hypothesize new paths in light of the needs, opportunities and critical issues that emerge.
The goal in the short term is to develop a report to present to local institutions. To bring to life an area food policy that considers the following priorities:
- access to resources, through the new call for public areas,
- Agroecology and biodiversity through support of organic farming,
- Short supply chains and local markets, territorial labeling systems,
- waste, reduction and redistribution.
The effectiveness of the program, once defined, will depend largely on the participation of municipalities. As well as positive forces to network. The actions taken should then come under periodic monitoring and evaluation of progress and results achieved.
Rome, school canteens and green procurement
More than 150 thousand meals are provided daily by the City of Rome in public schools. This was emphasized by Professor Davide Marino (University of Molise and Roma Tre) at the 16.10.19 meeting of the Capitol Food Policy Promoting Committee. And if the ban on school canteens was once one of Rome’s capital city’s prides, it too deserves an overhaul today. To organize supply chains on a territorial basis, measure their effectiveness, and improve services.
‘Green procurement‘ is invariably prescribed by Italian law. The approximately 46,000 public administrations in Italy must therefore apply CAM (Minimum Environmental Criteria) in all tender specifications. Silvano Falocco, director of the Ecosystems Foundation, thus raises the crucial question. How many-among all the meal providers in Rome-really apply the Minimum Environmental Criteria set for mass catering? Schools and universities, hospitals, government offices and agencies, ministries, all in order (and nothing in order)?
The impact of green procurement on local and ethical agricultural production can be extraordinary. Public agencies can demand organic and seasonal food, encourage social agriculture on the ground, and participate in the fight against caporalato and food waste. But too often this does not happen, due to widespread ignorance. And it would be enough to demand access to the records of the various entities, we add, to demand that they be ‘brought into line.’ But as always, we need to systematize.
Farmers vs. ‘palazzinarians’, Food Innovation Hub
Cement-in Rome perhaps even more so than in the rest of Italy-is agriculture’s fiercest contender, points out Giacomo Lepri of the Coraggio Agricultural Cooperative. Forty-five percent of the capital’s land is now earmarked for agricultural use, but it is necessary to train young people to whom resources, which, by the way, are already available. In 2015, the Municipality of Rome finally arranged for the first public land leases, bucking the trend of national regulations that instead require their (s)sale.
The Food Innovation Hub call for proposals was published by the Lazio Region precisely to support innovation processes in the agribusiness sector. Considering that the need to strengthen the link between the production chain and consumers can also be fulfilled with thehelp of digitization. Perhaps even with new forms of participation in supply chains and/or product distribution.
A food policy for Rome
Terra! and Lands Onlus deserve credit for having started the brilliant project of a food policy in the Capital, which will inevitably go on to spread regionally and hopefully contaminate the whole of Italy with good ideas. In turn-with Égalité Onlus and GIFT, Great Italian Food Trade-we will be happy to offer our humble contributions. Provided that such a courtly project does not go down, as has already happened elsewhere unfortunately, into a mere review of self-referential ‘goodness’.
The turnaround is essential, in Rome and around the world, to pursue the civilization goals included in UN Agenda 2030. The realization of the so-called Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, depends largely on the transformation of food supply chains and thus first and foremost on us in our quality and responsibility as consumAtors. It is precisely for this reason that Égalité and GIFT launched the #Buycott! GMO soybeans and palm oil campaign on 4.8.19, with the aim of curbing demand for the commodities that have been the two leading causes of land robbery and deforestation for years. Earth. Nonprofit and Slow Food have declined the invitation to join #Buycott, we therefore urge them to reconsider.
We invite everyone to sign the #Buycott! petition by following this link.
Eat Local, Buy Local, Act Local!
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Early adherents to the committee promoting a food policy in Rome include Agricoltura nuova, Botteghe del mondo association, Navdanya International, NeoSustainability, Rete Italiana Politiche Locali del Cibo, Rete Romana Economia Sociale e Solidale, Slow Food Roma, Universitas Mercatorum
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
