World Food Day: Agribusiness investments are destroying small-scale family farmers and peasants
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 16 October 2012 14:22
Via Campesina press statement
(Rome, 15th October 2012) At the press conference that took place today in Rome during the 39th session of the World Committee for Food Security, the Via Campesina representatives highlighted the risks that peasant agriculture will face if the issue of agricultural investment were to open the door to new land- water- and natural resources’ grabbing.
For the Via Campesina, the question of agricultural investments is extremely important, as depending on how they are handled, they can either provide support for peasant agriculture or, on the contrary, destroy it. Land-grabbing in Africa has become extremely violent, as Ibrahima Coulibaly, West African member of the International Coordinating Committee of the Via Campesina said, adding « the multinationals investing in Africa do anything but benefit the most vulnerable »
Food Sovereignty – The Real Prize
- Details
- Published on Monday, 15 October 2012 16:25
by George Naylor, Iowa farmer and former board president of the National Family Farm Coalition, guest blogs about the upcoming 2012‚ Food Sovereignty Prize.
The World Food Prize was established by Dr. Norman Borlaug, an Iowa native considered to be the father of the Green Revolution, which centered on the laboratory breeding of cereal crops that could increase yields through the application of artificial nitrogen fertilizer without lodging (falling down).
According to the World Food Prize Foundation:
The World Food Prize is the foremost international award recognizing — without regard to race, religion, nationality, or political beliefs — the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world. By honoring those who have worked successfully toward this goal, The Prize calls attention to what has been done to improve global food security and to what can be accomplished in the future.
La Via Campesina in the Committee on World FoodSecurity: Investments needed for small scale farming, not for agribusiness
- Details
- Published on Thursday, 11 October 2012 17:25
Media Advisory
(Rome, October 11, 2012) A delegation of women and men farmers members of theinternational peasant's movement La Via Campesina will attend the 39th Session ofthe Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in Rome from October 15 to 20 in orderto defend small scale sustainable farming as the best way to feed the world'spopulation.
Some companies and policy makers still claim that agribusiness offers a solution toworld hunger. A recent article by Suma Chakarabarti and Jose Graziano da Silva,respectively heads of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development andthe FAO, calling for large private investments in agriculture even talks about“fertilizing land with money” (Wall Street Journal, September 2012).
The Via Campesina stresses the need for public policies for rural areas
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 10 October 2012 12:32
Press release – the Via Campesina
(Mexico, October 3, 2012) More than 100 peasant farmers, both men and women, from over 30 countries came together in Mexico City on September 28th – 30th, 2012 in order to discuss public policies for food sovereignty and to receive concrete proposals on the issue.
In a context of a crisis of capitalism and a new wave of neoliberal privatisation, public policies do not always contribute to structural changes that benefit society. However, for the peasant organisations present, the fight for public policies at all levels is an important step towards improving rural living conditions and ensuring that peasant farmers are able to produce healthy and sufficient food for their communities and their countries.
Read more: The Via Campesina stresses the need for public...
