What about food, Mr. Elected President?
by Laura Castrejon Violante and Charlotte Gonzalez Abraham
Dear Mr. Elected President,
Congratulations! One out of two Mexican voters choose you. Like no other candidate, you mastered the art of paying attention. You responded to the overall disappointment and frustration with our political status quo. Now that the victory speeches have been given and the glasses of tequila cheered, it is time to start fulfilling your campaign commitments. And here is where, as we Mexicans say, “la puerca tuerce el rabo” things get complicated. Because your presidential campaign, full with diagnosis and promises, was absent of specific and concrete public policy proposals targeting Mexico’s pressing challenges. Among these silences, we want to highlight a barely outlined topic in your campaign but rather omnipresent in our everyday life: food.
The Mexican food system — in resonance with the global food system — is in crisis and it is threatening the already deteriorated food security in our country. Given that you only have four months before taking office, we want to ask you about the food policy you will be proposing in the forthcoming National Development Program 2018–2024, and the ways you will be implementing it in the years to come.
Specifically, we want to know how you are going to respond to the fact that 28 million Mexicans are hungry — moderate to severe. This is an absurd contrast with our rampant obesity numbers: 7 out of 10 Mexican adults are either overweight or obese. How are you planning to support decent incomes and guarantee a robust social security that allows us to have a dignified access to nutritious food? Tell us how will you confront the harsh labour conditions experienced by farm and food industry workers throughout the country. And what will happen with respect to the precarious conditions in which Mexican farmers find themselves? How will you respond to the threat that food production pose to biodiversity and the environmental services it provides? What about the significant amount of greenhouse gases that food production emits year after year, contributing to climate change? We want to know about your position with regard to food waste, the food balance of trade, and the impoverishment of our culinary culture. These inquiries are just a taste of the interwoven food systems challenges that Mexico will need to solve during your presidential mandate.
Beyond the governmental benevolence of public policies absent of legal grounds, we want a food policy based on enforceable rights. We expect strong and consistent legislation that establishes limits and encourages innovation. We require a comprehensive and coordinated food policy that connects public administration silos and creates synergies among governmental institutions. We need a food policy that establishes concrete objectives and determines responsible authorities encouraging accountability. We propose a food policy founded in science with metrics that allow the evaluation of its effectiveness. We demand a participative food policy that gives us voice and empowers us, acknowledging our roles as food system agents beyond our consumer/producer status.
We know that addressing the intricate Mexican food system will not be an easy task, but we will provide you with remuneration worthy of a public servant. Among many other activities, you will need to:
Introduce a framework law and then negotiate it with congress to implement the human right to food — entrenched since 2011 in article 4th, paragraph 3rd of the Mexican constitution.
Approach your social development (SEDESOL) minister to support a decent basic income and implement social security policies -health, housing and education- that allow everyone to have dignity-based access to food.
Talk to your health (SSA) and education (SEP) ministers, to improve the diet of Mexicans and to establish food literacy targets educating on nutritious, just, culturally appropriate and sustainable diets that inhibits food waste.
Motivate your ministers of agriculture, livestock and fisheries (SAGARPA), environment (SEMARNAT) and energy (SENER) to determine guidelines for a food production that prioritizes efficiency, yields, and sustainable use of natural resources — regardless of whether food is produced by large agro-food companies, small holders, conventional or organic and the wide spectrum among them.
Work with your minister of economy (SE) and transport (SCT) to promote access to credit, technology and markets for Mexican farmers.
Attend to the old problem of land tenure and the urbanization of fertile lands by working with your minister of agrarian, territorial and urban development (SEDATU).
Join your revenue (SHCP) minister to establish tax rates for environmental externalities of food production: inefficient use of pesticides and fertilizers, pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, food waste, etc. Create tax incentives for activities that provide an environmental and/or social benefit: crop diversity, wildlife corridors, adaptation to climate change, reduction of food waste, employment to minorities, support to smallholders, etc.
Meet with your minister of labor (STPS) and the head of the Mexican social security institute (IMSS) to guarantee just and safe working conditions for workers in the agri-food industry.
Collaborate with your minister of tourism (SECTUR) to promote Mexico’s rich and diverse culinary tradition.
Support your minister of foreign affairs (SRE), given the fact that the food system is probably one of the most explicit manifestations of globalization at a commercial, environmental and social level.
Engage with the head of the national council of science and technology (CONACYT) to encourage the relationship between science and public policy.
Communicate with the head of the national council for the evaluation of social development policy (CONEVAL) and the national institute of statistics and geography (INEGI) to evaluate and improve your food policy for which you will be held accountable.
Mr. Elected President: please respond to our questions and consider our advice, because the food security of Mexico is at stake. In your first public discourse, right after victory, you said you want to go into history as a great president for our country. If you want to fulfill your dream and secure your legacy, you will need to demonstrate clarity and commitment with respect to that which allows us Mexicans to exist and thrive: food.
