The Amrita Bhoomi Learning Centre in Karnataka is one of dozens of education hubs around the world providing a space for farmer-to-farmer training in agroecology. The centre was born out of organising efforts of the local farmers’ movement KRRS (Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha) founded by Professor Mahantha Devaru Nanjundaswamy.
Today, on 16 October, the day of struggle for food sovereignty for our peoples, we, the Movement for Land and Agrarian Reform, stand with the small farmers who feed us every day while fighting the debt and climate crises, while being evicted from their land, denied water and their seeds.
Land grabbing across Sri Lanka has exploded — villagers are evicted from their homes and land, as farms and forests are taken for tea, rubber, palm oil and banana plantations, and the development of tourist infrastructure such as all-inclusive hotels for mass tourism, all of which comes with huge environmental impacts.
The Communications Collective of South Asia, with support from the Youth Media Collective of MONLAR, is releasing the first edition of La Via Campesina’s South Asian Dispatches. Episode 1 focuses on the ongoing farmworkers’ strike in Bangladesh, organized by the Bangladesh Agricultural Farm Labour Federation since July 21, 2023. The struggle has compelled the government to establish a committee to study the matter and provide recommendations.
The participants were of the opinion that a fair remunerative price is central to finding a solution to the ongoing farm crisis in the country. The participants also delved into the various bilateral trade negotiations India is currently involved in, including those with the EU. A significant demand from EU negotiators has been the liberalization of the agricultural and dairy sectors. Forum participants cautioned against any attempts to lower tariffs, as such actions would exacerbate the crisis.
Over the past twelve months, coconut farmers in the states of Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu have witnessed a drastic decline in the prices of raw coconuts and dried kernels (Copra). They claim that the support price for ball copra doesn’t even cover the cultivation costs. In the last six months alone, the prices of dried kernels have dropped by nearly 40%.