Inequality | TableDebates

A man accumulating goods in front of a crowd

¿Desigualdad en disputa? Reflexiones sobre las expresiones de la desigualdad en el sistema alimentario de Colombia

En Colombia, como en muchos países de América Latina, la desigualdad es una característica intrínseca del desarrollo, que se manifiesta en todos los aspectos de la vida de las personas. Sin embargo, no ha sido un aspecto ampliamente explorado en las discusiones sobre el sistema alimentario. Desde MESA Colombia venimos trabajando en 2025 sobre algunas preguntas alrededor de dimensiones y expresiones de la desigualdad en los sistemas alimentarios de Colombia. Este ensayo busca generar reflexiones sobre estas preguntas y sobre la necesidad de profundizar el diálogo alrededor de los acuerdos o desacuerdos que estas generen.

Stacks of fruit at a market stall. Photo by Kevin Serech on Unsplash.

An exploration of food systems debates in Colombia

This report examines the factors that energize or restrict debates on food systems in Colombia in the context of the multi-stakeholder conversations between the Government, rural organizations, agribusiness and academia. To answer the question, we address two main aspects. First, we analyse the perceptions of various stakeholders about food systems in the country, based on a workshop carried out in February 2024 and focusing on priority issues such as hunger and malnutrition, deforestation and biodiversity loss, the effects of climate change, and inequality. Second, we discuss the competition or complementarity of various axes at the centre of food systems discussions: large-scale agriculture and family farming, native seeds and genetically modified seeds, and local food systems and international trade. The report concludes by drawing attention to the challenges of public policy coordination, information gaps, and the great diversity of actors, visions, and values in the discussions.

Foto del conversatorio sobre desigualdades

Event recording

Resumen y grabación del conversatorio "Desigualdades en el sistema alimentario de Colombia"

Las múltiples dimensiones de la desigualdad son especialmente pronunciadas en los sistemas alimentarios, donde exacerban condiciones de hambre, malnutrición, pobreza, y contaminación, ya alarmantes, y presentan un grave obstáculo para transformaciones efectivas. Además, las distintas visiones sobre las causas o dimensiones de la desigualdad en el sistema alimentario, puede llevarnos a desacuerdos e incluso conflictos sobre las acciones necesarias para contrarrestarlas.En este contexto MESA Colombia desarrolló el conversatorio “Desigualdades en el Sistema Alimentario de Colombia”, el 27 de Mayo, 2025.

Book cover with title and picture of corn.

Seeding Empire: American philanthrocapital and the roots of the Green Revolution in Africa

In Seeding Empire, Aaron Eddens connects today's efforts to cultivate a "Green Revolution in Africa" to a history of American projects that introduced capitalist agriculture across the Global South. From the offices of Bill and Melinda Gates to the halls of the world’s largest agricultural biotech company, he shows how the Green Revolution fails to address global inequalities and insists eradicating hunger demands thinking beyond this paradigm.

Image of two normal, and one mouldy, oranges. Photo by Nancy Hughes via Unsplash

Food Standard Agency Household Food Insecurity Report

This report establishes how the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) are responding to rising levels of food insecurity in the UK. With the price of food rising alongside other costs, UK consumers are reducing their spending on food, and decisions over what food to buy are coming under increased pressure. With the statutory objective of protecting consumers, the FSA is changing its practices to understand how food insecurity pressures are increasing the risk of unsafe practice and unsafe or inauthentic food.

Hostile Environment: UK immigration policy and food insecurity

Hostile Environment: UK immigration policy and food insecurity

This report by the UK’s Food Foundation examines the challenges faced by families in the UK who are unable to access certain public services as a result of the “No Recourse to Public Funds” (NRPF) conditions attached to their immigration status, for example while seeking asylum. Based on interviews with affected families, the study finds that the hostile environment towards immigrants created by UK government policy contributes to a “state of perpetual instability” in relation to people’s ability to access adequate shelter and income - and hence contributing to food insecurity and dietary inequalities.

Taking stock of smallholder inclusion in modern value chains

Taking stock of smallholder inclusion in modern value chains

Inclusion of smallholders in modern (i.e. formal and globalised) food supply chains may not bring the benefits that it was expected to, according to this working paper from the International Institute for Environment and Development. Based on a literature review and stakeholder interviews, it concludes that smallholders’ access to higher-value markets probably results in only small income gains with most benefits going to the farmers who were wealthier to start with; that farmer cooperatives can be exclusionary; that despite high awareness of gender issues, there has been little progress on outcomes; and that it is difficult to quantify progress on the outcomes of environmental sustainability standards.

Geographies of Food and Power

Geographies of Food and Power

This book, aimed at undergraduate students, gives an overview of how power dynamics, such as those linked to inequality and colonialism, affect global food systems and what we eat.

Food deserts and food insecurity in the UK

Food deserts and food insecurity in the UK

This book discusses the influences that drive food insecurity in the UK, including social inequality, transport, employment, rural isolation, local politics, the COVID-19 pandemic and increases in the cost of living.