RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE FOOD SECTOR

The challenges we face in moving towards a prosperous future, basically eradicate poverty and hunger, achieve universal education, gender equality, reducing loss of biodiversity and other environmental resources, etc., require priority attention rural development. Thus, Chapter 14 of Agenda 21, said other goals such as sustainable agricultural production to ensure food access, also protect and preserve the ability of the natural resource base to continue to provide these services to food production and raw materials. The rural activity also performs important economic, social and environmental contributing to the protection of biodiversity, soil and landscape values.

While this brief discussion of intent establishes the basis for achieving stable development and the elimination of the problems affecting rural areas, the fact is that the difficulties, globally, have worsened as a result of the global economic crisis . Do not forget, however, progress in raising awareness that caused, for example, the reduction of chronic hunger in certain geographic areas, or avences for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, among others.  

In developed countries, including Spain, the problems affecting rural areas are usually derived from changes in patterns of exploitation of the territory, of past traditional methods of subsistence, large economies of scale farm. This has caused many difficulties of identity aspect in rural areas and reduce the system's sustainability and progressive impoverishment of natural resources. Specifically, under the influence of persistent national economic crisis, caused by the lack of employment opportunities in various markets of the secondary and tertiary sectors, is producing a significant return to rural areas, developing new models friendly farming environment and available resources. Furthermore, the orientations of responsible consumption by users, the rise of agriculture and livestock farming with very small size operators demand very flexible and close contact with the consumer, along with the requirements for implementing social responsibility policies in business, coupled with increasingly restrictive regulations intensive models are progressively turning a new type of market in which the criteria of sustainability, environmental friendliness, low consumption always clean and renewable energy, product quality and food safety take precedence over purely economic or productive. This new trend, currently in an early stage niche, observing the characteristics and problems of the food sector globally, with dangerously close to collapse given limited resources trends have definitely here to stay. For example, according to the statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment, 2013, the upward trend in products derived from organic farming in Spain, is about 10% total market share, with a clear productive leadership in the European Union and sixth worldwide. Related industries, related or dependent food sector must therefore adapt their business models favoring this new development of sustainable rural development through production systems with high efficiency and low utilization or waste, promoting technological innovation and research for reducing production costs and the contribution of new food products, proposing natural alternatives to harmful chemical fertilizers, removing barriers to the acquisition or renewal of industrial equipment, applying food safety controls as each process, favoring logistics systems, storage and marketing ... working in short to give exclusive and tailored to each developer of a new trend that prioritizes quality compared to productive methods of obtaining high short-term economic benefits, entirely unsustainable for the future.

+info:

• Spanish Network for Rural Development, REDR: http://www.redr.es
• Rural development, MAGRAMA: http://www.magrama.gob.es/es/desarrollo-rural/temas/
• Organic Farming, MAGRAMA: http://www.magrama.gob.es/es/alimentacion/temas/la-agricultura-ecologica/
• Agroecology, Magazine ECOSISTEMAS: http://www.agropecuaria.org/organicos/AgroEcologiaSustentabilidadEcosistemas07.pdf
• Law for Sustainable Rural Development, MAGRAMA: http://www.magrama.gob.es/es/desarrollo-rural/temas/ley-para-el-desarrollo-sostenible-del-medio-rural/