Supporting small and medium-sized farms against food shortage crisis is a good direction: European Commissioner for Agriculture

In a recent interview, Janusz Wojciechowski, European Commissioner for Agriculture, said, “Europe will not be threatened by a food crisis in a short-term, as it has a high level of local food production and, therefore, has no reason to panic about the current situation, due to the high level of self-sufficiency of the European Union (EU).” 

On the other hand, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has caused major repercussions on the global food chain, as they are both major suppliers of cereals to world markets. The Middle East and Africa are heavily dependent on grain supplies from Russia, while Africa mainly buys cereals, 30% of overall imports, especially wheat, which alone accounts for some 95% of the cereals imported from Russia. As well as cereals, Africa also buys mineral fuels, such as coal, oil products and gas, from Russia. These account for 18.3% of total imports. Russia and Ukraine are exporters of a total of 30% of world grain exports, and the ongoing sanctions is deepening poverty.

“We are not threatened by hunger and we are not threatened by food shortage in Europe in the short-term. But we need to rapidly and considerably strengthen our food systems so in the future, a similar crisis will not lead to food shortage,” Wojciechowski added, stressing that food security must now be prioritized, and the recent decisions of the European Commission aim to achieve this.

“In the short-term, the EU is making relevant decisions, such as mobilizing its financial reserve from the common agricultural policy to help farmers, especially those severely affected. In the long-term, ways of supporting agriculture must be considered. I think balancing agricultural production is a good direction, that is, supporting small and medium-sized farms.” Wojcienchowski said, noting that large farms are very vulnerable to attacks, so food security must, therefore, be based on scattered agriculture, relying on small and medium-sized family farms.

“In addition, Europe must be less dependent on external supplies, including fertilizers, and must be able to utilize farming methods based on proprietary manure, as well as farming techniques that make farming more independent from external suppliers and have short supply chains, that is, production delivered to local markets,” he stressed.

“The EU previously announced a policy to reduce the use of pesticides, but this has been consciously postponed to a later date, because now there is a crisis situation. Today, amidst this dramatic time of crisis, we must focus on maintaining and increasing agricultural production capacity. So, the issue of pesticides and other pro-ecological issues have been postponed to the middle this year,” Wojciechowski affirmed.

By answering the question of if there are other measures that could reduce agricultural dependence on chemical fertilizers or fuels, such as changing the way agricultural machinery are powered, Wojcienchowski thinks this is not currently the case. “However, what can be changed is utilizing practices that do not have to be invented at all. You just have to go back to some practices. For example, agriculture combined with sustainable livestock farming, or land plus a certain number of animals on farms, as well as the production of manure, which is invaluable as a natural fertilizer. The use of manure as a fertilizer also improves soil quality and water management by increasing water retention in the soil, meaning droughts will not that be a major problem for agriculture,” he added.

“This really solves many problems. Certainly, in financing agriculture, in terms of supporting agricultural investments, one must focus on such sustainable farming. If someone on ten hectares has a pig house for ten thousand pigs, this is not sustainable agriculture. Well, it can be done, but it should not be encouraged in European politics,” Wojcienchowski further added.

Wojciechowski said most of the Strategic Plans for the Common Agricultural Policy (PEPAC) fall short of the European Commission's environmental ambitions, calling on countries to review their plans in order to increase the resilience of the sector, amidst the current threats to food security. Any predictions to abandon or weaken the Farm to Fork Strategy and the Biodiversity Strategy in response to the Ukraine war were dashed by the commissioner. There is “no reason to deviate from the implementation of our strategic objectives,” he said in conclusion.