Airfreight of fresh horticultural produce from least developed countries
6 November 2006
A diverse range of NGOs met with DFID in London to discuss the food miles issue.
Delegates felt that the airfreight of fresh fruit and vegetables, highly perishable and pre-prepared and packaged food items from developing countries was complex topic, and would require significant trade-offs if the trade is to continue to be encouraged. It was generally agreed that the concept of ‘food miles', especially when reported in the media, currently ignores development. Delegates were generally receptive to the idea of developing an approach that could take into account economic development of farmers from poor countries, although the airfreight issue was still of significant concern even in this context.
However, two delegates (one from an environmental NGO and one from a development NGO) expressed strong concern that the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions is absolute, and felt that the impact of carbon emissions was in danger of being offset by developmental benefits, which they thought was untenable.
One farming NGO felt that imports of fresh fruit and vegetables by air was at odds with their promotion of sustainable and local production.
Key presentations from this meeting are listed below:
IIED Presentation (James Fair miles_20Nov06_final.pdf) [1]