[E-rundbrief] Info 675 - Via Campesina on the food crisis
Matthias Reichl
info at begegnungszentrum.at
Mi Apr 30 09:28:42 CEST 2008
E-Rundbrief - Info 675 - Via Campesina: Open letter on the food crisis -
to the director of FAO, the president of the G8 and the leader of the
Grup of 77.
Bad Ischl, 30.4.2008
Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
www.begegnungszentrum.at
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OPEN LETTER to Mr Jacques Diouf Secretary General of the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO), Mr. Yasuo Fukuda, Prime Minister of
Japan, President of the G8, Mr. John W. Ashe, Permanent UN
representative, Antigua and Barbuda's Permanent and Chairman of the
Group of 77
From: Henry Saragih, International Coordinator for La Via Campesina
Jakarta, April 28, 2008
Concrete measures are needed to strengthen peasant and farmer-based food
production; the food price crisis exposes the instability of liberalized
agricultural markets.
Dear Mr. Diouf, Mr. Fukuda, and Mr. Ashe,
Our movement, La Via Campesina, consists of millions of small farmers
and landless workers in more than 60 countries around the world.
Although we are the ones producing food for our families and
communities, many of us are hungry or living in poverty. Over the last
months, the situation has worsened due to the sudden rise in food
prices. We are also severely hit by the crisis because many of us do not
have enough land to feed our families, and because most producers do not
benefit from those high prices. Large traders, speculators, supermarkets
and industrial farms are cashing in on and benefitting from this crisis.
This current food crisis is the result of many years of deregulation of
agricultural markets, the privatization of state regulatory bodies and
the dumping of agricultural products on the markets of developing
countries. According to the FAO, liberalized markets have attracted huge
cash flows that seek to speculate on agricultural products on the
"futures" markets and other financial instruments.
The corporate expansion of agrofuels and the initially enthusiastic
support for agrofuels in countries such as the US, EU and Brazil have
added to the expectation that land for food will become more and more
scarce. On top of this in many southern countries hundreds of thousands
of hectares are converted from agricultural uses in an uncontrolled way
for so-called economic development zones, urbanization and
infrastructure. The ongoing land grabbing by Transnational Companies
(TNCs) and other speculators will expel millions more peasants who will
end up in the mega cities where they will be added to the ranks of the
hungry and poor in the slums. Besides this, we may expect especially in
Africa and South Asia more severe droughts and floods caused by global
climate change. These are severe threats for the rural as well as for
the urban areas.
These are highly worrying developments that need active and urgent
action! We need a fundamental change in the approach to food production
and agricultural markets!
Time to rebuild national food economies!
Rebuilding national food economies will require immediate and long-term
political commitments from governments. An absolute priority has to be
given to domestic food production in order to decrease dependency on the
international market. Peasants and small farmers should be encouraged
through better prices for their farm products and stable markets to
produce food for themselves and their communities. Landless families
from rural and urban areas have to get access to land, seeds and water
to produce their own food. This means increased investment in peasant
and farmer-based food production for domestic markets.
Governments have to provide financial support for the poorest consumers
to allow them to eat. Speculation and extremely high prices forced upon
consumers by traders and retailers have to be controlled. Peasants and
small farmers need better access to their domestic markets so that they
can sell food at fair prices for themselves and for consumers.
Countries need to set up intervention mechanisms aimed at stabilizing
market prices. In order to achieve this, import controls with taxes and
quotas are needed to avoid low-priced imports which undermine domestic
production. National buffer stocks managed by the state have to be built
up to stabilize domestic markets: in times of surplus, cereals can be
taken from the market to build up the reserve stocks and in case of
shortages, cereals can be released.
Regulating international markets and supporting countries to strengthen
their food production
At the international level, stabilization measures also have to be
undertaken. International buffer stocks have to be built up and an
intervention mechanism put in place to stabilize prices on international
markets at a reasonable level. Exporting countries have to accept
international rules to control the quantities they can bring to the
market, in order to stop dumping. The right to implement import
controls, set up programs to support the poorest consumers, implement
agrarian reform and invest in domestic, farmer peasant-based food
production has to be fully respected and supported at the international
level.
We ask the FAO, based on its mandate, to take the initiative and create
the political environment for a fundamental change in food policies. In
the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development
(ICARRD) a broad majority of governments recognized and agreed on the
importance of rural development and agrarian reform to combat poverty
and hunger in the rural areas. The International Assessment of
Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD),
an assessment of the agricultural sector that involved Civil Society
organizations, the private sector, and governments as well as the FAO
and the World Bank came to the conclusion that corporate-led agriculture
and the increasing dependence of peasants and small farmers is at the
heart of the problem. They also concluded that peasant, and farmer-based
sustainable agriculture has to be supported and strengthened. The
International Fund on Agricultural Development (IFAD) also recognizes
the key role of peasants and small farmers in the production of food.
We request that G8 governments allow these initiatives to be taken. They
should stop the promotion of agrofuels as these are no solution for the
climate crisis and add to the destruction of forests. Especially in the
southern countries, agrofuels occupy millions of hectares that should
remain available for food production.
We also demand that the G8 analyze critically their own agricultural
policies, take initiatives to stop the ongoing volatility of the
international markets and shift their financial support away from
industrial agriculture towards sustainable family farmer-based food
production.
We also demand that the G8 stop and cancel any free trade agreements
that will only contribute to the destruction of food production in
developing countries and block any possibility of autonomous industrial
development.
The influence of transnational corporations and financial speculative
interests has to be controlled as much as possible and kept away from
the the international food market. Food is too important to be left to
business alone.
A possible WTO agreement in the Doha Round will mean another blow for
peasant-based food production. We demand that the governments of the G77
assess again the WTO negotiations on agriculture in the Doha round and
reject any agreement that has negative implications for domestic food
production and does not allow the taking of all necessary measures to
strengthen food production and increase national self sufficiency.
Peasants and small farmers are the main food producers
La Via Campesina is convinced that peasants and small farmers can feed
the world. They have to be the key part of the solution. With sufficient
political will and the implementation of adequate policies, more
peasants and small farmers, men and women, will easily produce
sufficient food to feed the growing population. The current situation
shows that changes are needed!
The time for Food Sovereignty has come!
Yours sincerely,
Henry Saragih
International Coordinator for La Via Campesina
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International Operational Secretariat
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La Via Campesina - International Secretariat:
Jln. Mampang Prapatan XIV No. 5 Jakarta Selatan, Jakarta 12790 Indonesia
Phone : +62-21-7991890, Fax : +62-21-7993426
E-mail: viacampesina at viacampesina.org, Website: http://www.viacampesina.org
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Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
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