ECVC farmers will mobilise for a third time in Brussels on the 26 March demanding an adequate response to our key demands centred on fair incomes and fair prices for farmers and farm workers.
Price and Income
Trade Agreement CETA threatens small and medium-scale livestock farms in Italy: ARI
CETA threatens small and medium-scale livestock farms in Italy; the risks of further economic (and therefore decision-making) reinforcement of a single industrial group on the entire dairy sector; unfair competition among imported products, especially cereals; the impact on Italian products still certified “free from GMOs,” which may be contaminated by seeds and reproductive materials imported from Canada.
Farmers’ protests in Europe and the deadend of neoliberalism
Since the 1980s, various regulations that ensured fair prices for European farmers have been dismantled. The EU put all its faith in free trade agreements, which placed all the world’s farmers in competition with each other, encouraging them to produce at the lowest possible price at the cost of their own incomes and growing debt.
‘Quit WTO Day’: Indian peasant unions agitate against the World Trade Organization
Reportedly, on the 26th February, farmers staged protests against the World Trade Organization at over 400 district centers across India. They handed over petitions to the officials of the State urging the Indian government to protect domestic support programs and food stockholding programs at the 13th Ministerial Meeting of the WTO in Abu Dhabi.
Free Trade Agreements are Failed Trade Agreements. An alternative is now urgent and necessary
La Via Campesina is calling all our members, allied social movements, civil society organizations, and friends in academia and policy spaces – including those in governments – to join us in this effort of building a framework that can help build a fair system of trade, rooted in principles of food sovereignty and social justice.
“Defend peasant interests at MC 13,” Indian peasant farmers write to their Ministry, to mark ‘Quit WTO Day’ on February 26th
The 13th Ministerial Meeting of the WTO is set to commence on February 26th, and India has been among the leading advocates on vital issues of domestic support and Public Stock Holding (PSH) programs that developing countries and least developed countries want to undertake.
26 February, Brussels: ECVC issues a call to mobilize against free trade agreements
From 26 to 29 February, the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference will also be held in Abu Dhabi. The WTO bears immense responsibility for the current social and environmental crises. It is time to bring an end to the WTO and build a new trade framework based on food sovereignty and international solidarity.
Korea: Peasant movements denounce tariff reductions, call for measures to enhance Food Sovereignty
Data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reveals that Korea’s grain self-sufficiency rate dipped to 19.3 percent in 2020, marking the first time it fell below the 20-percent threshold. Contrastingly, this rate stood at 30.9 percent in 2000, indicating a significant shift towards grain imports, which now constitute 80 percent of domestic consumption.
“FAO must defend the interests of small-scale food producers. Guaranteed prices for our produce!” MONLAR, Srilanka
MONLAR in Sri Lanka has called upon the national government to ensure guaranteed prices. This is particularly relevant in the context of the 13th Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization, set to begin in Abu Dhabi next week, where such domestic support measures by developing countries often come under attack.
Rice imports lead farmers to bankruptcy, endangers food sovereignty: Serikat Petani Indonesia
Indonesia is in a dire situation as it becomes increasingly dependent on food imports. Especially for rice, the import of 3.3 million tons in 2023 was the largest rice import by the government in the last 25 years. Rice imports in 2023 increased by 613.61% compared to 2022.