Agroecology

We are told that Tanzania has an abundance of available fertile land, but that production is inefficient, based on many small farms, and needs modernisation through private sector investment in large-scale high-input industrial agriculture. Critics maintain that Africa has been lined up for corporate agribusiness market penetration, with a focus on land and water, food and bio-fuels.

Take away a farmer’s land, take away their seeds systems, and take away their independence. Now sell them a collection of expensive chemical fertilisers, one size fits all seeds and pesticides every year; all chaining them into a system of debt, and dependence on multinational corporations.

Just days before the progressive National Assembly of Venezuela was dissolved, deputies passed a law which lays the foundation for a truly democratic food system. The country has not only banned genetically modified seeds, but set up democratic structures to ensure that seeds cannot be privatised and indigenous knowledge cannot be sold off to corporations.

In just a few weeks, the Labour leadership contest has substantially shifted the political debate in Britain, challenging the policy of austerity, raising inequality as the defining issue of our times, highlighting the erosion of democracy.

It’s safe to say that the results of the General Election came as a major surprise to virtually everyone, including the victorious Tories. Understandably, this has triggered a considerable amount of soul-searching amongst pollsters, as well as within those parties that performed badly.

Today US AID and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are hosting an invite-only, secret meeting with aid donors and big seed companies to discuss a strategy to make it easier for seed companies to sell patented ‘improved’ seeds in Africa. However this agenda will increase corporate control over seeds, benefitting big companies at the expense of small farmers in Africa.   

The International Agroecology Forum, which took place at the Nyéléni Centre in Mali last week, brought together a huge array of delegates ranging from peasants, family farmers, indigenous peoples, NGOs and academics to discuss how agroecology can help build an ecologically and socially just food system.