SWISSAID rejects industrial production of agrofuels for the international market. This intensifies conflicts about land and water or leads to a loss of bio-diversity. Food price rises caused by the agrofuels boom mean impoverished populations have even less money to buy basic foodstuffs. It is therefore self-evident to SWISSAID: agrofuels intensify the hunger crisis.
You would think that countries that have oil, gold or diamonds would be wealthy but in reality, the opposite is frequently the case. Mineral resources are more of a curse than a blessing, because they encourage corruption, armed conflict and environmental pollution. The good news is that there are remedies.
Rather than reducing world hunger, the use of genetic modification in agriculture is making it worse. Genetically modified seed is not living up to the promises made by industry.
One billion people suffer from hunger due to unaffordable food supplies in many localities. SWISSAID therefore supports small farmers and ecological farming methods
Fifteen plant and eight animal species provide 90% of food supplies worldwide. Rice, corn and wheat alone cover half of our food requirements. Biodiversity is the only way of guaranteeing a stable food supply.
Gender equality plays a central role for SWISSAID, and not only in our project work. We believe that both women and men should have equal opportunity, in all areas of work and at all institutional levels, to pursue their interests, contribute their needs and ideas and be treated with respect.
Organic farming helps poor farmers find a way out of poverty and hunger. Like Don Pablo and his wife Cristina in Juguapa, Nicaragua. They tell their story here.
