Third Hemispheric Conference of the Struggle Against the FTAA
The Deterioration of the Agricultural Sector Increases Food Dependency
28/01/2004
- Opinión
The deterioration which the agricultural sector of the countries of
Latin America is suffering, as a consequence of the application of
neo-liberal policies, increases the food dependency of the people
A proof of this is what has occurred in Mexico, over several years
of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement.) This was one of the
conclusions arrived at by the workshop on Agriculture and Food
Sovereignty in the Third Hemispheric Conference of the Struggle
Against the FTAA
This workshop was led by the Latin American Coordination of Rural
Organizations (CLOC), which included the participation of Rafael
Alegría of Vía Campesina, Cecilia Castro of the National
Coordination of the Ayala Plan of México, Leonardo Chirino of the
National Association of Small Farmers of Cuba, and Wilder Sánchez of
the Peasants´ Confederation of Peru (CCP.) It was led by Valquimar
Reis of the Landless Peasants´ Movement (MST) of Brazil and Freddy
Congo of Ecudor´s FENOCIN.
It was remarked in the event that NAFTA, aside from affecting the
food sovereignty of Mexicans, has intensified the migration from the
countryside to the city, which in turn provides a cheap labor force
which is used by the United States to reduce production costs of
goods which are then exported to our countries at low prices which,
in turn, cause thousands of producers to go under.
For this reason it is necessary to rescue the concept of food
sovereignty as a citizens´ concept, since it is a human right and
cannot be abandoned as a public function of the state. The event
also questioned and denounced the negative character of the supposed
donations of the United States through their food aid programs like
the World Food Program, considering it an open avenue for the
exportation of the US agricultural surplus.
In that respect, the Executive Coordinator of the CLOC-Andean
Region, Wílder Sánchez of the Peasants´ Confederation of Peru,
remarked that food sovereignty is an issue which has to do with
industrialized agricultural production models and subsistence
farming going on in Latin America. He added that food and
agriculture are not commodities but basic human rights for the whole
world
"Food sovereignty cannot exist without democracy, or at the margin
of policies which defend national production, and it means the
defense of just prices and markets for our products, our seeds, and
our natural resources. Food sovereignty is part of the struggle
against the FTAA, against neo-liberalism, and against the external
debt," remarked Wilder Sánchez.
In the workshop several proposals were also put forward. One was the
necessity of insisting on the rescue of the concept of food
sovereignty, such as the right to produce and consume our own food
products Another was to propel forward a campaign against the use of
the World Food Program as a way for channelling the surpluses of
developed countries, insisting that these funds be used to raise the
prices for the products of small farmers, and another was the
continuation of the struggle to remove food and agriculture from the
negotiations of the World Trade Organization and the FTAA
Finally, it was suggested that national and regional markets be
rescued and defended to guarantee just prices for our producers and
to promote strategies of regional integration, based on the
principles of solidarity, cooperation, and solidarity
* José Coronado. CCP- Minga Informativa
https://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/109322?language=en
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