Princess Viktória de Bourbon de Parme, patron of Save the Children in the Netherlands, aims to make a difference in children's lives. And to achieve great results, she relies on small-scale farmers.
Plots of land smaller than two football pitches: that is what small-scale farmers own. Despite this, they provide 80 per cent of the food consumed by people in developing countries (Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America). It is a huge responsibility. So why do they have such limited resources? Something has to change.
Her Royal Highness Princess Viktória de Bourbon de Parme is working towards exactly that. She has been supporting the NGO Save the Children since 2015 and is fighting to eradicate world hunger, one of the leading causes of child mortality. To achieve her goal, she is focusing on supporting small-scale farmers: if their working conditions were to improve, if they had access to the knowledge and technologies best suited to managing their land and mitigating the effects of global warming, children would have enough to eat. It is for this reason that she took part in Seeds&Chips, the international food and innovation summit held in Milan from 7 to 10 May.
What we need is "traditional innovation", as Q"apaj Conde Choque, co-chair of the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus, said on a panel moderated by Princess Viktória on developing solutions for small-scale farmers. This means that indigenous peoples, who have a deep knowledge of their own land, share techniques developed over many years. However, they need innovative strategies to tackle the challenges posed by the modern era. These solutions are not a utopia: for example, there is a greenhouse that allows farmers to grow crops even in conditions of drought and desertification, and Internet of Things devices that make it possible to monitor soil conditions in order to determine the best time to plant seeds. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Fao) is working in developing countries to promote so-called Climate-smart agriculture: farmers are encouraged to choose the crops that best adapt to climate change, such as rising temperatures and increasingly arid soils.
Save the Children is teaching small-scale farmers how to prevent crop or livestock losses caused by drought, flooding and disease. Above all, though, they simply need to be able to enjoy the same opportunities that we have — as Princess Viktória told us at Seeds&Chips.
Why did you decide to become a patron of Save the Children? Was it triggered by a specific event in your life, or was it something you had felt within yourself for a long time?
The proposal came when I became a mother for the first time, but even before becoming one I had very strong feelings about children and their rights. Children are born into a world where not everyone has the same opportunities. Being someone who is active in the legal field, I realised I wanted to make a difference and make a positive contribution to their lives.
John Kerry said that 8,000 children die of hunger every day (during his speech at Seeds&Chips). What is Save the Children doing to try to prevent this?
Save the Children was founded 100 years ago, during a famine, to fight hunger in the aftermath of the First World War. Unfortunately today, despite the fact that we produce enough food, hunger still exists in the world: it is incredible. Food scarcity can lead to death, but it can also cause physical or brain damage in children — meaning that even if they survive, they have fewer opportunities in life because they have not received adequate nutrition.
Renewable energy is a topic very close to our hearts. Nearly three billion people in developing countries still cook on stoves or open fires. As a result, many children die from respiratory diseases. How can we tackle this?
What we can do is think about innovation, look at the innovations we already have, and find ways to make them accessible to the people who need them most. Indeed, the great thing about working with Seeds&Chips is that you often discover that the solutions already exist. My main goal at the summit was to connect startups and innovators with farmers, who struggle to access markets, to improve their harvests and their irrigation systems. By bringing these two worlds together, you change people's lives within communities, gaining an understanding of what food security means for children. I think it is very important to go beyond borders and ensure access to this kind of innovation.
Can you tell us something about the "Celebrating farmers" project?
Celebrating farmers means being grateful to the farmers who provide for our sustenance every day. We are here, we can afford to pursue other professions and we enjoy food security in Italy, because there are farmers who work hard to guarantee it and to make food accessible and affordable. Every day I am thankful to farmers for our food security: by involving them in the conversation about climate change and innovation, I believe we can truly make a difference in the world.