Social and Political Consequences

19. The social consequences are heavy and high. The agricultural sector is enmeshed in a process that increases and spreads poverty.(¹³) Whenever this process has the upper hand and there is no social security or old-age pension, parents see children as a guarantee for their own future. Increases in population levels are therefore very high, while education and health needs are inadequately met.

The traditional balance in the distribution of population is upset in rural communities by processes of destructuration, which cause a migratory movement to the outskirts of the large cities, which are increasingly becoming megacities, and where social conflict, violence and criminality are growing worse.

Constant pressure is put on indigenous populations in an effort to force them off their land. They have to look on as their economic, social, political and cultural institutions disintegrate and the environmental balance of their land is destroyed.

20. For many countries, even those rich in land and natural resources, hunger and malnutrition still constitute the main problem.(¹⁴) Today, hunger is a growing phenomenon, caused not only by famine, but also by political choices that do not improve families' capacities to gain access to resources. Defence of the privileges of a minority often hinders or in fact prevents — albeit not legally — the development of agricultural production. While the use of land for export production reduces food costs in countries with developed economies, it can have very negative effects on most of the families who live from farming. No thinking mind or conscience can countenance this paradoxical situation.

As economic and social problems mount up, political problems become ever more complex, causing instability and conflict, which in turn curb democratic development. All this works to the detriment of agriculture and represents a major obstacle for any programme of economic growth.