Failing the Farmer : continued from 22 March ...

Yes, this time the fact was clearly stated: « For the first time in history, hunger is basically rural ».

For those of you who did not have the opportunity to follow the debate, I would like to quote the following which sure makes you think!
“Donor assistance to agriculture worldwide is probably at 10% of what it was”
“We are in a state of criminal neglect of agriculture”
“We are doing too little too late from governments to NGOs to even farmers’ organizations”
“The total agricultural subsidies paid to farmers in the developed world in 2005 was 280 billion dollars (...) the total aid to all developing countries was in the region of 100 billion dollars.
“No governing party in rich countries up for re-election will ever make concessions that might lose them rural votes. It’s hard to see any progress on reducing subsidies and protectionism in the next couple of years”
“Farmers are price takers not price makers”

This is quite shocking to those of us who are not working in the field isn’t it? And let’s be clear. Communication and information are vital to agricultural and rural development. No communication means no exchange of experience and no action. I am surprised no one mentioned it. Is it obvious to me because I am de director of CTA? I don’t think so. It is simply the fact that for many of us communication is difficult.

I understand it is very difficult to reconcile the interests of political parties running for re election with a decrease in agricultural subsidies. What do you think? Can we see together what the solutions could be to reach the Millennium Development Goals by 2015? Unfortunately, I didn’t hear anything about this in the debate either

Do you like fantasy or do you prefer reality? Both maybe?

Sometimes games deal with very serious events. Yes, I did say games ... but they're educational and aim at making players aware of major world issues among others.

For a long time, video games were just meant to entertain. But times are changing. As information technologies are used more and more, many of us won't open a magazine or a newspaper anymore. Some have thought of what I would call "a way out of this deadlock" namely "Serious Games".

There are many and they cover quite a lot of different topics: I think we all have heard about the launching by the United Nations of Food Force . Four million users ... Many other "games" make it possible for you to go through "almost real" situations. And that is the hard part. It always seems easy to find solutions to crises from afar but when you are involved and need to make a decision that's another story! How about finding a solution to the conflict between Palestine and Israel? Go and have a look at the demonstration of Peacemaker well worth it. As climate change is a crucial issue today, I also want to mention the BBC funded game Climate Challenge. There is another game which is closer to CTA's preoccupations: it is called 3rd World Farmer. With this game, you have to manage an African farm and are confronted to what it really means when you have to make difficult choices as you are confronted with poverty, conflicts and other disasters. Talking about disasters, serious games also deal with humanitarian disasters. Darfur is dying is an example that can shake badly.

The role of Serious Games is to inform, to raise awareness, to involve and even maybe - let's be optimistic - to bring about a few changes. It is doubtless a "plunge" into the world's reality around us which many of us in the West are protected against.

Try the games I mention above (just click on the name of the "game") and tell me how you feel. Have you used them before? How often? Do you believe they are useful? Or do you think that crises and serious or extremely serious issues cannot become a "game" even a Serious Game.

By the way, I had a quick look at these games but asked one of my colleagues to try them out!