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Tall Tales from the FAO:
The rhetoric of corporate agriculture
(A Statement of the People's Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) on the
World Food Day, October 16)
Tell us no lies!
On October 16, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will celebrate the World Food Day. This day is celebrated each year in commemoration of the day FAO was founded in 1945. This year, the theme of their celebration is "Investing in agriculture for food security". They claim that by way of corporate investment in agriculture, "the whole world will profit".
Rural poor communities do not need tall tales and lies. Looking at the impoverished and poor rural communities, one will ask, "But who really profits?". Unfortunately, the local farming communities are always on the losing end - losing their land, lives and livelihood. The reality is that they, who are mainly responsible and involved in the production of food, are the ones who suffer poverty the most.
From their own data, the FAO's State of Food Insecurity Report in 2002 reveals the frightening figures of the state of world hunger:
- 3.5 billion are malnourished
- 1.2 billion are suffering from extreme poverty
- 835 million are hungry
- 840 million people were undernourished from 1998-2000
- 6 million children under the age of 5 die each year due to hunger in the worst affected countries, a newborn child can look forward to an average of barely 38 years of healthy life
So as the FAO celebrates and commemorates the World Food Day, let us dare not forget the millions of hungry and malnourished. Let us take a step back from the political slogans and empty talk, and listen to them.
"Genuine people's Food Sovereignty over corporate profit!" This is the voice of the disempowered farming communities.
This voice is loudly heard from the farming communities in Singur, West Bengal, India, who are set to be evicted by the West Bengal government from their fertile lands, to give way to a facility of a big motor company, Tata Motors Corporation.
The same cry is heard from the peasant leaders and activists in the Philippines who have been victims of human rights abuse and extra-judicial killings because of their struggle to attain genuine land reform, policy changes and food sovereignty.
The indebted cotton farmers in India are crying out, asking for the government to provide support for cotton production. And when the government did not listen, they ended their lives, to escape from the harsh reality of poverty and hunger.
The clamour from the communities is growing louder from different countries all over the globe. However, their voices are veiled by corporate interests which dominate the political environment in many countries. Corporations' control over agriculture, food production and marketing is increasing rapidly. The impact is that food production, consumption patterns and lifestyle are increasingly being homogenized for greater control and profitability.
It is the transnational corporations (TNCs) involved in agrochemical industry which now determine what to grow and the type of seeds and chemical inputs to use even at the community level. Meanwhile, through plantations and contract farming, rampant use of genetically modified seeds, pesticides and other hazardous technologies are on the rise. The use of pesticides and genetically engineered seeds bring irreversible damage not only to the environment and biodiversity. Most especially, the farmers' traditional knowledge in producing food is becoming endangered just like the farmers themselves. As a result, small farming communities are being destroyed, as farming is no longer a sustainable livelihood.
The rhetoric of a flawed agricultural paradigm
The crux of the problem is that the suggested solutions by institutions such as FAO is built on trust and dependence in imperialist globalisation tactics like market liberalisation, private investment and the so-called modern technologies like GE and high intensity confined animal production. The industrialisation of agriculture has resulted in severe failures to produce safe and high quality food and the complete disregard for the communities' right to self-determination and control over their food and food production system.
Moreover, the so-called solution has meant, for a huge number of people living all over the world, that the most fundamental right, which is the right to food, is denied. This is clearly seen during the 1995 World Food Summit (WFS) in Rome by the FAO. The WFS endeavoured to renew global commitment to the fight against worldwide hunger, committing to work towards halving the number of the chronically undernourished by the year 2015.
After 10 years, midway through the original target date of the WFS, what has been achieved? The year 2006 is targeted as the year to hold the WFS+10, an activity which will identify the landmark achievements related to the implementation of the policies set 10 years back by the FAO. However, as the CSOs and NGOs predicted - only a negligible reduction on poverty and hunger is felt. More so, the framework pushed by the FAO is based on a flawed model, which is characterised by a concentration of wealth and power to a few institutions. The FAO decided not to hold the WFS+10 this year, in order to downplay their lack of achievements and their failure to achieve their targets. Instead, only a Special Session will be held.
To add insult to injury, the FAO, the very institution which has been mandated to raise the level of nutrition and promote food production and self-reliance of the communities, have gone against its core objective of focusing on the rural communities as they blatantly pushed for the use of genetic engineering in the production of food, as stated in the FAO State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) of 2004.
Beyond rhetoric
Genuine food sovereignty is the freedom and power of the people and their communities to assert and realise the right to food and to produce food, and fight the power of the corporations and other forces that destroy people's food production systems through trade, investment and other policies and means.
It is ironic that the FAO is mouthing these words while celebrating the World Food Day, when in fact, the whole world should be mourning for the millions of lives languishing in poverty and malnutrition brought about by the atrocities of imperialist globalisation.
It cannot be overstated that corporate investment in agriculture destroys cultures, livelihood, communities and lives. When communities' lands are taken away from them, they lose not just their food production resource, but their lives as well, since land is intimately linked with their lives. Take land away from them, and you take their rights and dignity.
Thousands of peasants, women and children, agricultural workers, indigenous peoples and farming communities are increasingly being de-linked, marginalised and disenfranchised from their food sources, resources and production systems. Communities are fast losing their potential, ability and responsibility to feed themselves. Women and children suffer the most from this harsh reality, bearing the brunt of poverty and malnutrition.
We as a people should show the world that we will not tolerate the abuse of corporate powers, that we reject injustice masquerading as "economic policies" and "social agenda", and we are ready to take matters in our collective hands to attain genuine people's food sovereignty.
It is time to go back to the real essence of people's food sovereignty. This phrase has been casually bastardized by corporate and political rhetorics, which are not matched by performance. Focus should be drawn to the welfare of the farmers and communities, not the big transnational corporations whose sole existence is based on profit.
Communities are fed-up with these tall tales from international institutions promising food on the table. What's needed are genuine reforms in the paradigm and framework of agricultural production. The programs, strategies, and processes of the FAO should be thoroughly reviewed under the critical parameters of food sovereignty and, where necessary, reconfigured appropriately. FAO should seize to be the broker for corporate interests.
It is high time to listen to the clamor of the hungry communities. It is time to collectively voice out our message:
| Assert our rights to land and food! |
| Resist corporate agriculture! |
| People's Food Sovereignty over corporate interests and profit! |
16 October 2006
People's Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS)
P.O. Box 1170, Penang 10850, Malaysia
Tel: 604-6570271 or 604-6560381
Fax: 604-6583960
Website: http://foodsov.org
E-mail:
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