Oxfam Grow Campaign - a worthwhile cause?

This month's campaign is the Oxfam grow campaign. This campaign has been going for a while and is a worthwhile (and easy cause) to get behind.

We all eat, its a universal human basic need. Some of us eat too much, some don't eat meat, others have food allergy's, but we all eat.

What you may find amazing is the fact that 1/3 of humanity is feed by small farms in the developing world. Over 500million of them!! In sub-sahara Africa and Asia produce almost 80% of the worlds food.

However, the majority of smallholder farmers still lack investment and consequently struggle to produce much beyond subsistence levels. Moreover, 1 in 7 people around the world goes to bed hungry every night and global population is set to increase by another 2 billion by 2050.

The Co-operative believe that with the right tools, training and investment, smallholder farmers offer an excellent route to feed the world’s growing population fairly and sustainably. What’s more, if supported to form co-operatives, this enables them to pool resources, realise economies of scale and secure fairer prices. In fact, on the launch of the International Year of Co-operatives, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, International Fund for Agricultural Development and World Food Programme all pledged to recognise and do more to enhance the contribution agricultural co-operatives can make towards food security and poverty reduction. 

During Rio+20, Nick Clegg announced that “Britain will help millions of small farms and communities adapt to potentially devastating changes in the climate and pull themselves out of poverty” and that “Over six million smallholder farms in sub-Saharan Africa and developing countries across the world will receive extra support as a result of Britain’s help”. Also, the Rio declaration itself affirmed that co-operatives are key for sustainable development.

This is a great starting point but that there is more to be done. 

·        Sign the petition

         Encourage others to sign the petition

Further reading

To find out more about The Co-operative’s Grow campaign you can visit

http://www.co-operative.coop/join-the-revolution/our-plan/tackling-global-poverty/campaigning-against-poverty/