Food sovereignty
Our seeds, our sovereignty
Living Farms works together with landless, marginal and small farmers to establish sustainable farming system which would empower communities to uphold their food sovereignty.
One of our core objectives is food sovereignty. The right to safe and nutritious food produced through environment friendly, culturally appropriate and sustainable agriculture systems.
We want to empower the landless, small and marginal farmers in Orissa. They should be at the heart of the food system and have the rights to use and manage lands, waters, seeds and biodiversity.
Food sovereignty implies new social relations free of oppression and inequality. We are not against trade but we promote a formulation of trade policies and practices that serve the rights of people. It is important for us that consumers have access to safe and nutritious food produced on local scale.
Food sovereignty is much more than only food security, which means that people should have enough to eat every day a year. But it doesn't say where that food comes from or how it is produced.
- Food: A Basic Human Right. Everyone must have access to safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food in sufficient quantity and quality to sustain a healthy life with full human dignity. To ensure this every one should have access to & control over food & farming systems. Each nation should recognize this as a constitutional right and guarantee the development of the primary sector to ensure the concrete realization of this fundamental right.
- Agrarian Reform: A genuine agrarian reform is necessary which gives landless and farming people – especially women – ownership and control of the land they work. The right to land must be free of discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, race, social class or ideology; the land belongs to those who work on it. The food , especially basic foods growing land must not be converted for any other purpose.
- Putting local self sufficiency of food first -. Food is first and foremost a source of local self sufficiency & nutrition and only secondarily an item of trade. National & state agricultural policies must prioritize production for domestic consumption and food self-sufficiency.
- Conserving Natural Resources: Food Sovereignty entails the sustainable care and use of natural resources, especially land, water, forests, seeds and livestock breeds. The people who work the land must have the right to practice sustainable management of natural resources and to conserve biodiversity free of restrictive intellectual property rights. This can only be done with security of tenure, ensured access to, healthy soils, minimal use of agro-chemicals and complete ban on chemical pesticides.
- Ending the Globalization of Hunger: Food Sovereignty is undermined by multilateral institutions and by speculative capital.
- The growing control of multinational corporations over agricultural policies has been facilitated by the economic policies of multilateral organizations such as the WTO, World Bank, IMF and the national governments. A strictly enforced Code of Conduct for TNCs is therefore needed which closely regulates their role in seeds, agrochemicals and land.
- Social Peace: Everyone has the right to be free from violence. Lack of food must not be used as a weapon. Increasing levels of poverty and marginalization in the rural areas, along with the growing oppression of ethnic & religious minorities and indigenous populations, aggravate situations of injustice and hopelessness. The ongoing displacement, of farming communities from their ecological roots, forced urbanization, cannot be tolerated.
- Democratization of policy formulation: Smallholder farmers especially women must have access to accurate information in a language understood by them and say into formulating agricultural policies at all levels. This form the basis of good governance, accountability and equal participation in economic, political and social life, free from all forms of discrimination.
What do we do?
We encourage farmers to be self sustainable through trainings and ground level work. Reasonably self sufficient farmers are becoming dependent on the market for their essential food. Unable to provide an income, they take loans to buy their food. This leaves them with debts they are unable to repay. Their control over the food & farming system is systematically weakening. The community becomes vulnerable and their agricultural tradition is endangered.
Re-establish farmers control over agriculture
The tribes in Orissa become vulnerable and their agricultural tradition is endangered. Although they are neither traditional rice eaters nor growers, the government provides the villagers with rice at a subsidized price.
The results are displacements of peoples and massive migration, destruction of the land and other resources and an increase in polarization between rich and poor.
It also encourages a new pattern of food consumption and production in the community. The number of farmers producing local food crops to meet their food requirements is gradually decreasing. Their rich crop diversity is reducing. We make efforts to encourage farmers to go back to producing mixed crops since this gives them a better chance to provide food continuously and it keeps the soil fertile. According to the specific agro-eco zones we select seeds and crops that are most suited to be grown there, so biodiversity can be restored. We also document and publicize the safe and sustainable utilization of wild food sources. In time of scarcity people can collect them to get food for their families.
Reduce market dependence
"I want to grow my food
on my own land".
We do not ask to simply provide rice at a subsidized price to hungry people. Local farmers will become even more dependent on a few giant corporations. This will destroy the environments and livelihoods of our communities. Furthermore, it focusses on short-term productivity gains using harmful technologies such as GMOs and it will create food insecurity. Food producers, distributors and consumers should be at the heart of food systems rather than the demands of markets and corporations.
We want to improve livelihood conditions (home gardening, biodiversity, horticulture,), improve the yield of the lands (soil fertility, biodiversity, selection and conservation of seeds)
Control over local markets
Due to the absence of appropriate marketing linkages, farmers are not able to get fair price for their produces. This implies that the traders are enjoying the benefit of their hard work. We encourage small farmers to put their efforts together. As a collective they can get fair prices for their produces. A community credit fund will help them to meet food needs during scarce months and to initiate trading of collective produces.
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