Monday, February 06, 2012
CFP: “The Food Crisis: Implications for Decent Work in Rural and Urban Areas
CALL FOR PAPERS
“The Food Crisis: Implications for Decent Work in Rural and Urban Areas”
The International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD) Annual
Thematic Conference – University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany, July 4-6
In recent years, food prices have gone up to prohibitive levels for
many of the world’s poor. They have remained high and volatile. While
many poor city dwellers have had to switch their diets to include only
very basic foods, the vast majority of those who are hungry in the
world today (over half a billion) are working in agriculture, either
as small landholders or as waged agricultural workers. This paradox
has sparked a lively debate about the reasons for food price
increases. However, the implications for the Decent Work agenda have
received less attention. The four dimensions of the Decent Work
concept (creating jobs, guaranteeing rights at work, extending social
protection and promoting social dialogue) do not explicitly cover the
issue of rising food prices. On the one hand, price increases for the
most basic household items threaten any gains achieved through the
Decent Work agenda. On the other hand, increased food prices may in
principle provide an opportunity for agricultural labour, yet the
majority of the food producers seem not to have benefited from rising
prices. Apparently, the bargaining power of many producers has been
weakened vis-à-vis the buyers of agricultural produce. This
development points to another dimension not explicitly addressed by
the Decent Work agenda: power relations along the food chain.
The International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD) wants
to commit its Annual Thematic Conference “The Food Crisis:
Implications for Decent Work in Rural and Urban Areas” to an
exploration of the origins of the food crisis, its implications for
the Decent Work agenda, and strategies for addressing the crisis.
The general themes to be discussed are:
Assessing the Scope of the Food Crisis: Is there a rural – urban
divide? What is the impact on workers and small landholders? What are
the implications for the Decent Work agenda?
Origins of the Food Crisis: Financialization, land grabbing, climate
change and soil degradation, agribusiness, agro-fuels, EU trade
policies, demography, productivity obstacles, and other relevant topics.
Remedies for the Food Crisis: Increasing agricultural productivity,
improving logistics, empowering agricultural workers, food
sovereignty, and other relevant topics.
We encourage potential contributors to include a gender-sensitive
analysis whenever possible.
If you would like to present a paper in one of these areas, please
send a brief abstract (less than half a page) by April 1, 2012 to:
ATC2012Kassel@icdd.uni-kassel.de
Please include the following information:
Name:
Country:
Organization:
-- Prof. Dr. Christoph Scherrer "Globalisierung & Politik" FB 5 - Gesellschaftswissenschaften Universität Kassel Nora-Platiel-Straße 1 D-34127 Kassel Tel.: +49 (0) 561 804 3253 Sekr. scherrer@uni-kassel.de
“The Food Crisis: Implications for Decent Work in Rural and Urban Areas”
The International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD) Annual
Thematic Conference – University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany, July 4-6
In recent years, food prices have gone up to prohibitive levels for
many of the world’s poor. They have remained high and volatile. While
many poor city dwellers have had to switch their diets to include only
very basic foods, the vast majority of those who are hungry in the
world today (over half a billion) are working in agriculture, either
as small landholders or as waged agricultural workers. This paradox
has sparked a lively debate about the reasons for food price
increases. However, the implications for the Decent Work agenda have
received less attention. The four dimensions of the Decent Work
concept (creating jobs, guaranteeing rights at work, extending social
protection and promoting social dialogue) do not explicitly cover the
issue of rising food prices. On the one hand, price increases for the
most basic household items threaten any gains achieved through the
Decent Work agenda. On the other hand, increased food prices may in
principle provide an opportunity for agricultural labour, yet the
majority of the food producers seem not to have benefited from rising
prices. Apparently, the bargaining power of many producers has been
weakened vis-à-vis the buyers of agricultural produce. This
development points to another dimension not explicitly addressed by
the Decent Work agenda: power relations along the food chain.
The International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD) wants
to commit its Annual Thematic Conference “The Food Crisis:
Implications for Decent Work in Rural and Urban Areas” to an
exploration of the origins of the food crisis, its implications for
the Decent Work agenda, and strategies for addressing the crisis.
The general themes to be discussed are:
Assessing the Scope of the Food Crisis: Is there a rural – urban
divide? What is the impact on workers and small landholders? What are
the implications for the Decent Work agenda?
Origins of the Food Crisis: Financialization, land grabbing, climate
change and soil degradation, agribusiness, agro-fuels, EU trade
policies, demography, productivity obstacles, and other relevant topics.
Remedies for the Food Crisis: Increasing agricultural productivity,
improving logistics, empowering agricultural workers, food
sovereignty, and other relevant topics.
We encourage potential contributors to include a gender-sensitive
analysis whenever possible.
If you would like to present a paper in one of these areas, please
send a brief abstract (less than half a page) by April 1, 2012 to:
ATC2012Kassel@icdd.uni-kassel.de
Please include the following information:
Name:
Country:
Organization:
-- Prof. Dr. Christoph Scherrer "Globalisierung & Politik" FB 5 - Gesellschaftswissenschaften Universität Kassel Nora-Platiel-Straße 1 D-34127 Kassel Tel.: +49 (0) 561 804 3253 Sekr. scherrer@uni-kassel.de
# posted by David Michalski @ 1:54 PM 
