‘Harvests of the Future’ by Marie Monique Robin. A movie about people worldwide proving that agriculture needs to be modernised by improving natural conditions, in order to save our world population from hunger and ecologic disasters. It also proves that pesticides and herbicides are in fact responsable for hunger crises on this planet. The movie is very worth watching, alot of information, hope and optimism of people who engage against hunger, ecologic destruction and food speculation, giving practic examples.
Nearly 900 million people worldwide do not have enough to eat, according to the latest report from the FAO, the UN organization for food (dated 2012). Every five seconds a child under 10 dies of hunger. According to their supporters, only the use of GMOs and pesticides can stop hunger crisis. “If we make products with absolutely no pesticides today there will be 40% less of production and more than 50% of expenses,” warns Jean-René Buisson, president of the National Association of Food Industries (Ania).
It was this idea that prompted Marie-Monique Robin, author of the World According to Monsanto (2008) and Our Daily Poison (2010) to see if we can not do otherwise. The origins of this documentary, and the book with the same title published by la Découverte, are found in observations on the spot of the potential of agroecology, wich methods are based on the renewal of soils, agronomy, and free from chemical inputs. For a year and a half, the reporter went to meet farmers and peasants who are not integrated into the “conventional” food system , but develop alternative agricultural practices. In Mexico, she discovers the “milpa” association where a family combine the production of corn, beans and squash, using an ancient technique that promotes soil fertility and pest resistance; in Malawi the planting of “fertilizer trees”; in Kenya, the technique of “push-pull” to fight a parasite, the European corn borer, desmodium, a plant whose smell chases away unwanted butterflies, is planted between rows with cereals, and elephant grass, which attracts the insect, but kills the larvae, is planted on the edge of the field, … Robin also discovers agroforestry, which introduces trees among crops, improving soil quality and resistance against erosion.
The documentary is not a survey, but rather a subjective travel book, a world tour between farmers, scientists and representatives of international organizations such as Olivier de Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to food. Hard defender of agroecology, he explained, in March 2011 at the UN podium that these methods can improve the food prodution potentials in the poorest regions while they adapt better to climate change.
Recommended for its informative and educational value, and a willingness to break official statements and clichés used to promote conventional agriculture, Robins documentary seams to break the law by its form.
Sources:
Arte (French German TV Network)- 2012
Liberation (French Newspaper) – 19/10/2012