[E-rundbrief] Info 871 - Farmland-grab worldwide

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 871 - La Via Campesina and GRAIN: Farmers and Social
Movements say no to Land Grabbing! Protests at FAO-meeting in Rome,
16.11.2009. Press release.

Bad Ischl, 12.2.2009

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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FARMERS AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS SAY NO TO LAND GRABBING!

• ROME - 16 November 2009 at 10h00 • Venue: Food Sovereignty Tent in the
park across the street from the FAO building • Interview opportunities
with people directly involved in this fight . Organised by La Via
Campesina and GRAIN

Last year’s elephant in the room at the FAO’s World Summit on Food
Security was the outrageous profits corporate agribusiness was amassing
during the peak of the global food crisis, while over a billion people
went hungry. This year it is the global farmland grab . Investors are
colluding with governments to take control of tens of millions of
hectares of prime farmland in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Governments pushing these deals, such as Saudi Arabia or South Korea,
see outsourced food production as a new strategy to feed their own
people without relying on international trade. Private investors see
agricultural land in emerging economies as a new source of guaranteed
returns in light of ongoing high food prices. Either way, this farmland
grab is turning the food crisis into an opportunity for even more
profits as the expansion of export-oriented agribusiness is at the heart
of it. More than $100 billion is on the table, and over 40 million
hectares have already been acquired from Ethiopia to Indonesia. Small
scale farmers are losing critical access to land and water, and local
communities will be further cut off from access to food. Yet they are
usually kept completely in the dark about these deals, without any
involvement in the decisions that affect lands they have cultivated for
generations. The implications for the global food system are dramatic.

For farmers organisations and social movements converging in Rome, this
global land grab is unacceptable . It has nothing to do with
strengthening family farming and local markets, which in our view is the
only way forward to achieve food systems that actually feed people. It
must be stopped. The “win-win” land grab scenarios that will be proposed
to governments at the official FAO Summit are dangerous and unrealistic.
Of course we need investment. But investment in food sovereignty, in a
million local markets and in the four billion rural people who currently
produce most of the food that our societies rely on -- not in a few
mega-farms controlled by a few mega-landlords.

 From 13-17 November 2009, representatives from peasant organisations and
social movements that have been directly involved in struggles against
this new wave of global land grabbing will be in Rome . NGOs and
activist groups that have conducted extensive research and analysis of
the issue will also be present. This is an excellent opportunity for
media to speak with people directly involved in this fight. On 16
November, a specialised briefing and a symbolic action on the global
land grab will be conducted for media by Via Campesina and GRAIN
(details below).

Speakers at the press conference: Ms Renée Velvée (GRAIN), Mr Mugi
Ramanu (Indonesian Peasant's Union), Mr Ralava Beboarimisa (Collectif
pour la défense des terres malgaches)

Moderator: Ms Nettie Wiebe (La Via Camepsina)

Media contacts (English, French, Spanish):

     * Mr Devlin Kuyek (GRAIN):

+1 5145717702 (until Nov 12)
+39 3490657014 (Nov 13-17)
devlin [at] grain.org
www.grain.org and farmlandgrab.org

     * Ms Annelies Schorpion (Via Campesina):

+32 474847280 (until Nov 11)
+39 3312861096 (Nov 12-18)
a.schorpion [at] eurovia.org
www.viacampesina.org

La Via Campesina is an international movement which brings together
millions of peasants, small producers, landless people, rural women and
agricultural workers around the world. Our movement is made up of 148
member organisations active in 69 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and
the Americas. GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation
that works to support small farmers and social movements in their
struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems.

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-- 

Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
Wolfgangerstr. 26, A-4820 Bad Ischl, Austria,
fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
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