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SEMINARS
28-30 December 2008
Three - one day National Seminars were organised from December
28 to 30, as part of 'Annam' at Priyadarshini Planetarium,
Thiruvananthapuram. Seminars were held on three topics:
Agro-biodiversity and Food Security, Traditional Knowledge, Food
Diversity and Health, Genetically Modified Food and Food
Sovereignty. The seminars were attended by about 350
participants from all over India.
Inauguration
28 December 2008
 The Seminar was inaugurated by the Hon'ble Minister for Forest
and Housing, Government of Kerala Sri Binoy Viswam. He advocated
that the great wisdom of the country on food and agriculture
should not be compromised while the onslaught of multinationals
pressurizes popularization of fast food. He said that the upper
and middle classes of the country supports the wrong message of
food spread by the companies. The Minister also released the
proceedings of the seminar by handing over the copy to Prof. M.K.
Prasad, Chairman, Information Kerala Mission, Smt. Sudha Soni,
Coordinator, Annam and Chief Functionary of The Environmental
Collaborative (TEC) explained the philosophy of Annam.
Renowned environmental activist Dr. Vandana Shiva delivered the
key-note address. She saidZ that the food crisis, mainly
triggered by rising prices that emerged in 2007 and 2008, has
led to food riots in many countries. Biofuels, speculation,
destruction of local food economies, and climate change have all
contributed to the rise in food prices. Climate change is
aggravated by industrialized, globalized agriculture based on
fossil fuels, and the resulting climate crisis in turn impacts
food security. Dr. Vandana argued that biodiverse ecological
agriculture provides higher nutrition and food per acre than
industrial agriculture. It reduces emissions and mitigates
climate change, while also helping adapt to it. The meeting was
presided over by Dr. M.P. Nayar, Chairman, Academic Committee,
Annam Seminars and former Director, Botanical Survey of India.
In his Presidential Address Dr. Nayar detailed the rich
agro-biodiversity of India.Sri L. Radhakrishan IAS, Principal
Secretary, Power & Ports, Govt. of Kerala and Working Chairman,
Annam, Dr. K. Harikrishnan Nair, Dean, Kerala Agricultural
University, and Dr. K. Prathapan, Director, State Horticulture
Mission offered felicitations. Dr. A. Biju Kumar, Secretary of
Annam Seminars and Dr. K.G. Ajit kumar also spoke.
Seminar on Agro-biodiversity and Food Security
28 December 2008
Prof. K.P. Prabhakaran Nair, Former National Science Foundation
Professor, Royal Society, Belgium gave the lead talk on “Food
insecurity- The unfolding Terror of Hunger”. Prof. Nair said
that if India has to feed itself well, our production targets
must be scaled up dramatically. Revising minimum support price
each year is not the answer. This is welcome, but, it will only
add to the already soaring food bill and shoot up the storage
costs. North-Eastern India with untapped land mass, offers the
best scope to expand cereal production. India, in particular
Kerala, must seriously rethink on it's land use policy. Many
years ago Kerala was told to concentrate on cash crops by New
Delhi. Now when the State is on the fringe of a very serious
food shortage (it produces only about 15 per cent of it's rice
requirement), New Delhi is reluctant to release enough rice from
the central pool to meet the needs of Kerala, escalating a food
crisis in the State. Politics must not play with hunger.
Prof. M.K. Prasad, Chairman, Information Kerala Mission in his
invited speech stressed the need for conservation of
agro-biodiversity through public participation. Dr.Manoj Kumar
Menon, Executive Director, International Competence Centre for
Organic Agriculture (ICCOA), Bangalore spoke on “Organic
agriculture, food security and climate change mitigation”.
According to him the area under organic cultivation in India is
likely to cross the 2 million hectare mark by 2012, recording a
growth of nearly 2.5 times from the present 8,65,000 hectares.
The market for organic produces from and within India is
expected to grow 6-7 times in the next 5 years, thereby taking
about 2.5 % of the current global trade value, and hence the
potential for organic products is very promising in India.
The invited presentations were followed by paper presentations
by the researchers. Five research papers were presented orally
and six through posters. Seminar
onTraditional Knowledge, Food and Health
29 December 2008
The second day's Seminar included invited talks and paper
presentations by researchers. The key-note address was delivered
by Dr. G.G. Gangadharan, President, CISSA and Joint Director,
FRLHT, Bangalore, on the topic “Traditional knowledge and
health”. He stressed that the microcosm (body) and the macrocosm
(universe) are composed of the same elements, only their
permutation and combination changes to metamorphose to different
living beings. Hence Traditional Knowledge considers 'Ahara' as
an important tool to engineer changes in the body. Through this
concept Traditional Knowldege (Ayurveda being one of the most
codified forms of TK) adds another dimension to FOOD by
considering it as a tool for engineering good health and hence
an important part of the management program.
Dr. Palpu Pushpangadan, Director General, Amity Institute for
Herbal & Biotech Products Development (AIHBPD) gave a talk on
“Healthy Food and Neutraceuticals” and explained that
phytochemicals have tremendous impact on the health care system
and may provide health benefits including prevention and
treatment of diseases and physiological disorders. He said that
the key to the development of health foods/pharma foods or
nutraceuticals lies in the value addition in the traditional
natural diets.
Smt. Saradha Muraleedharan IAS, Executive Director, Kudumbashree,
Government of Kerala, stressed the need for women empowerment to
achieve food security. According to her women self help groups
in the country can bring out another green revolution and they
could be employed as messengers to spread the message of good
food culture. Dr. Babu Joseph, Director, National Institute of
Naturopathy, Pune delivered a lecture on “Food, Naturopathy and
Health”. Dr. P.R.G. Mathur, Professor, Ananthakrishna
International Centre for Anthropological Studies (AICAS),
Palakkad spoke on “Traditional Knowledge of Food and health
among the primitive tribes of Kerala”. The invited lecture was
followed by six oral and three poster presentations.
GM Crops and Food Security
30 December 2008
Dr. Mira Shiva MD, Chairperson, Health Action International
Asia-Pacific & Founder, People's Health Movement, New Delhi
delivered the key-note address. Her recommendations on
genetically modified crops and food included the following: (i)
Based on CBD's Biosafety Protocol Using Precautionary principle
– moratorium on GM crops and foods till 5 years till appropriate
bio safety studies - no market entry if safety doubtful, (ii)
Long term studies to see impact on progeny, (iii) stoppage of
victimization and harassment of independent researchers
expressing biosafety and public health concerns, and (iv) no
conflict of interest ensure mechanism is in place for fixing
liability in the case of corporations – alleging safety on basis
of partial biased studies, research institutes alleging safety
without adequate bio safety studies and regulators certifying
products as safe without verifying safety.
Dr. V.S. Vijayan, Chairman, Kerala State Biodiversity Board
spoke on “Do India Need GM Crops?”. He said that allowing GM
products to frequent our country is akin to consciously
surrendering our freedom to choose what we want to sow and what
we want to eat; destroying our biodiversity and diversity of
food, inviting unknown diseases, pushing farmers to increasing
financial burden and, causing irrevocable damage to our farming
system evolved over millennia. Let the nation wake up with the
courage of conviction and the sense of being Indian to save the
nation from yet another 'colonization'; this time from the fangs
of a few multinational biotech giants.
Dr. C.R. Soman, Health Action by People, Thiruvananthapuram in
his lecture on “Towards a New Food Culture” stressed the need
for popularization of good food culture in the country as the
market is already dumped with fast food which is not only
unhealthy but also toxic and free from nutritive elements. He
recommended establishing a chain of good food restaurants all
over the country.
In the afternoon session Dr. S. Usha and Sri. R. Sridhar of
Thanal, Thiruvananthapuram spoke on “People's Movement against
GM Crops in India”. They narrated the intervention of
multinationals in the country and their involvement in
questioning the very food security of our country through the
introduction of genetically modified organisms and explained the
various people's initiatives in India to fight GMOs. |
