A/HRC/22/50/Add.1 15. In the course of the visit, it became clear to the Special Rapporteur that Canada would benefit from a national right to food strategy, as recommended both by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 15 and under the Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security, adopted unanimously by the members of the Council of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), including Canada, in 2004. This is important for two reasons. First, in order to effectively combat hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of who is hungry, food insecure and malnourished. The Special Rapporteur is concerned that changes in the current budget will make the collection and analysis of data more complicated, particularly by changes to data collection through the elimination of the requirement for individuals to complete the long-form census. Concerns were also raised regarding the dismantling of the National Council of Welfare, which provided a forum for data collection and comparison of, inter alia, social assistance rates across the country. By moving towards a national strategy for the realization of the right to food, Canada could decide which data are required to support evidence-based policies that move towards the eradication of hunger and malnutrition, including obesity, and to monitor progress. 16. Second, an integrated national strategy for the realization of the right to food should allow a clear allocation of responsibilities across different levels of government. Canada has a complex system of power-sharing between three levels of government – federal (national), provincial/territorial, and municipal or local – with varying degrees of responsibility for policy areas that affect the food system and the enjoyment of the right to adequate food. Improved coordination across these levels will allow the country to more effectively meet the challenges it is facing, creating synergies and ensuring that efforts made at each level are supported by other levels. 17. The Special Rapporteur was encouraged to see that in the 2011 federal election all major parties included a national food security strategy as a part of their platform. A number of initiatives by various stakeholders, including the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, the Canadian-Agri Food Policy Institute, the Conference Board of Canada, and the Peoples Food Policy Project, aim to develop a national food strategy. The initiatives of stakeholders point to the desire of farmers, industry and people all across Canada for a national food strategy. IV. Food availability: agricultural policies 18. Agriculture and the agrifood sector (including foodservice; food retail/wholesale; food, beverage and tobacco processing; primary agriculture; and input and service suppliers) account for 8.1 per cent of national GDP and employ 2.1 million Canadians, roughly 13 per cent of all employment in the country.16 Canada is home to 229,377 farms. The food and beverage processing industry is the largest manufacturing industry and an important employer in many rural areas. 19. Yet, the Special Rapporteur heard many concerns about the general direction of agricultural policies. Since the 1950s, Canada has been moving to large-scale, inputintensive modes of production, leading to increasingly unsustainable farming practices and higher levels of greenhouse gas emissions, soil contamination, and erosion of biodiversity. Trade liberalization in agriculture was encouraged following the free-trade agreement with 15 16 See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 12 (1999) on the right to adequate food, para. 21. Figures provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. 7