‘At the heart of any conversation on food security, is a well-known paradox. On the one hand, quantities of food sufficient to feed the entire global population are produced every year. On the other, food systems continue to fall short of providing food security for all humanity. Why this is the case, and what can be done to change it, are questions that have received significant attention. The way farmers and other smallholder agricultural actors are viewed is complex. Their work and livelihood constitute an indispensable foundation on which virtually all other productive processes rest. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization notes, for example, that agriculture is “the world’s biggest employer”, the “largest economic sector for many countries,” and that it provides “the main source of food and income for the extreme poor.” Beyond productive capacity, the knowledge and experience of farmers and rural communities serve as necessary complements to the information generated through modern scientific inquiry. While the value of highly sophisticated centers of research is undeniable in investigating the ways and requirements of a food-sufficient world, farmers witness firsthand the utility of specific techniques and practices as well as the social and environmental implications of adopting them. The farming systems that produce much of the world’s food, especially smallholder farms, have also been built in large part on methods and practices that were developed by indigenous farmers over thousands of years. Yet the bulk of decisions on agricultural policy and food security take place far from rural settings and those on-the-ground realities that shape how policies will be implemented in practice. One way to address these challenges is to create conditions that allow for the perspectives and experiences of farmers to be connected and interlinked with the knowledge generated through centers of research and technological innovation.’ (Bahá’í International Community-2021 Statement-‘The First Active Agent in Human Society’ Putting Farmers at the Heart of Food Security Policy’—bic.org.statements for full statement)
The key is integration and reciprocity. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote: “For every part of the universe is connected with every other part by ties that are very powerful and admit of no imbalance, nor any slackening whatever.” To acknowledge this connection of balance requires humanity to recognize the truth of its own oneness and connection. This demands responsibility towards one to another, in other words, justice. “Bahá’u’lláh taught that an equal standard of human rights must be recognized and adopted. In the estimation of God all men are equal; there is no distinction or preferment for any soul in the dominion of His justice and equity.” (Shoghi Effendi). The correct balance in all aspects of humanity’s connectedness to water, biodiversity, environmental health and climate is humanity’s responsibility.
“The earth’s resources are the property of all humanity, not of any one people. Different contributions to the common economic welfare deserve and should receive different measures of reward and recognition, but the extremes of wealth and poverty which afflict most nations on earth, regardless of the socio-economic philosophies they profess, must be abolished.” (Bahá’u’lláh) The principle needed to resolve this ‘either/or’ problem is justice. “Justice is not limited, it is a universal quality. Its operation must be carried out in all classes, from the highest to the lowest. Justice must be sacred, and the rights of all the people must be considered. Desire for others only that which you desire for yourselves.” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá)