La Via Campesina demands the UN to support the real solutions to the food crisis

Media advisory – La Via Campesina

(Jakarta, 1^st of October 2010) From the 11^th until the 16^th of October, the plenary session of the Committee on World Food Security of the UN is being held in Rome. Farmers from the international peasants’ movement La Via Campesina will be present there with other stakeholders from civil society to demand real solutions for the worldwide permanent food crisis,, as well as concrete measures to tackle the problems of speculation with food commodities and land-grabbing.

During the forum of the Civil Society Organizations that will be held from the 8^th to the 10^th of October, also in Rome, grass-roots organizations will discuss the proposals they will present to the governments. With the reform of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) of the UN, civil society is now more permanently consulted, but the full participation of small-scale scale food producers is not yet guaranteed. At this moment our food policies are controlled by the views of rich donor countries, undemocratic institutions such as the World Bank and agro-multinationals with exorbitant lobby budgets.

The agenda of the CFS shows the increased interest of big capital in food and agricultural products through land-grabbing, often for agrofuels, and speculation with food commodities.

Financial speculation is and has been widely recognised as the major cause of the food crisis of 2007-2008 and should therefore be efficiently stopped at the international or regional level if we really want to prevent this from happening again. Moreover, mechanisms to regulate agricultural markets should be adopted, contrary to what the World Trade Organisation and the diverse Free Trade Agreements are promoting now.

In addition, the global search for massive acquisitions of farmlands will in no way strengthen local producers and can only deteriorate their access to land and therefore should be stopped immediately.

The CFS can become a space for the implementation of food sovereignty, but should address real solutions and listen to small farmers’ voices and not provide legitimacy to processes pushed by a corporate-driven search for benefits.

Media Programme:

– 11^th of October – 11h: Press Conference: Presentation of publication “Sustainable

Peasant and Family Farm Agriculture Can Feed the World”

+ interviews with farmer representatives from around the world

(Philippines room – FAO building)

– 12^th of October – 11h: Participation in a joint “land-grab story-telling action” with testimonies from farmers affected by land evictions – media and picture opportunity

(ATrium room, inside FAO building)

– 15^th of October – 10h:30: Press Conference: Farmers’ Evaluation of the UN CFS plenary – Press Conference by La Via Campesina

(Philippines room – 2nd floor building C)
FAO building, Via delle Terme di Caracalla)

 

Press Contacts:

• Annelies Schorpion: +393393972104 (7^th to 15^th of October) or +32474847280, a.schorpion@eurovia.org, viacampesina@viacampesina.org

• Lorenzo Misuraca (Aiab): +393293562461, l.misuraca@aiab.it

Farmers’ representatives available for interviews (provisional list):

Henry Saragih – Indonesia

Renaldo Chingore – Mozambique

Hortense Kinkodila – Congo Brazzaville

Jeomsook Goo – South Corea

Antonia Ivoneide Melo e Silva – Brasil

Mangalisa Kibheka – South Africa

Andrea Ferrante – Italy

Jeanne Verlinden – Belgium

Chantal Jacovetti – France

José Miguel Gonçalves – Portugal

 

Please find our latest news on www.viacampesina.org