Peasant seed systems are the root of food sovereignty and sustainability

"_Hunger is a social problem … to resolve … we must start by choosing peasant seeds as the basis for food sovereignty_." Paul Nicholson, a farmer from Basque Country.

The majority of peasants and smallholder farmers subsist on peasant seed systems, and farm-saved seeds. These systems mostly in developing countries, despite being resilient, are facing new and renewed onslaught from the transnational agribusinesses working together with the so-called developed nations through bilateral agreements and multilaterally in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). In Africa, legislation is being drafted to pave way for increased use of industrial seeds, while the "second tidal wave of Green Revolution" sweeps over the continent driven by the winds of "addressing hunger through improved agricultural productivity". In Latin America, countries such as Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil etc, peasants and farmers' struggles against GMOs continue and major encouraging victories have been won. The seed laws being drafted globally are based on the UPOV91 Convention, a legal framework of property rights which includes "protection" of genetic material, certification and trade which excludes non-commercial seeds. The Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) which have been displacing millions of small-scale farmers are being used to open borders to industrial seeds. Moreover, some national governments have set up discriminatory agricultural support systems which exclude farmers who do not use certain industrial seeds to qualify for government credit and support programs. This is despite the evidence that the monoculture and industrial farming methods are not providing sufficient affordable food and cause mounting environmental damage. If we lose the fight, not only nature will suffer grave consequences but humanity!

Below are summaries of selected articles and videos published between 2012 and 2014 to further provide compelling evidence of why we should be defending and struggling for the use and protection of traditional seeds, and continue to fight against transnational corporations (TNCs).

SELECTED ARTICLES

ON APRIL 17 WE DEFEND OUR SEEDS AND FIGHT AGAINST THE SEED INDUSTRY

This year the 17th of April, international day of peasant struggles, is dedicated to the defense of seeds. This article explains why seeds are an essential basis for achieving food sovereignty because almost everything in agriculture depends on them: What we can plant and how it is grown; the quality and nutrition of our food, our ability to account for different tastes and cultural preferences; and also the wellbeing of our communities, our ecosystems and the planet. Moreover, it explains why this is not so much the defense of seeds in general but the _peasant seeds_ in particular, which remain in the hands of the peasant and family farmers of the world. Examples of how to defend and struggle for seeds among the organizations in the 73 countries that make up La Vía Campesina, are highlighted. READ MORE and Globalize struggle! Globalize hope!

NO AGRO-BIODIVERSITY WITHOUT PEASANTS, SAY GRAIN

The world is witnessing an explosion of popular initiatives and experiences to use, save and develop agro-biodiversity. At GRAIN we also see this happening. Seed saving projects, seed festivals, community seed initiatives and exchange networks are mushrooming everywhere. This is both extremely encouraging and dearly needed. We can't count on governments to help us with the tremendous task of keeping biodiversity alive. They tend to move in the opposite direction as they facilitate the corporate takeover of seed and animal breeding, and promote industrial farming. We can only save agro-biodiversity if we save peasant farming. Global farmer movements such as La Via Campesina are trying to do precisely that by advocating food sovereignty. Food sovereignty promotes the use of agro-ecology, biodiversity, local markets and indigenous knowledge. It pushes for agrarian reform, fights against the industrial food system and global trade and puts local food producers centre stage again. Unless we all join and win the battle against the industrial food system and for food sovereignty, local agro-biodiversity initiatives won't stand a chance of surviving. At most, they will become isolated pockets of interesting experiments in a world of uniformity, controlled by corporations. READ MORE … [1]

SEED LAWS IN LATIN AMERICA: THE OFFENSIVE CONTINUES, SO DOES POPULAR RESISTANCE

GRAIN reports that as the world's agribusiness corporations pursue their attempts to privatize and monopolize our seeds, and make traditional age-old practice of saving and breeding seeds a crime, popular resistance by peasants, farmers and social movements to such control has increased. This resistance has borne fruit in nearly every country in Latin America where campaigns and struggles for traditional seeds have been prevalent:

*

In Argentina, the draft of the Seeds Act being discussed in secret never emerged from the Ministry of Agriculture to be tabled in Parliament. *

In Chile, societal mobilization helped secure a majority of senators to vote against the "Monsanto Bill." *

In Colombia, peasant mobilization put a temporary stop to Resolution 9.70. *

In Venezuela, there are firm commitments to keep the principles upheld by Hugo Chávez from being betrayed. *

And in Mexico, societal campaigning prevented the Federal Plant Varieties Act from being revised for compliance with UPOV 91. READ MORE… [2]

Karnataka farmer develops non-Bt cotton seed bank

Jayashree Nandi of The Times of India, New Delhi published an article on a peasant farmer, Nagappa, who after three years of relentless efforts, managed to revive 13 varieties of indigenous cotton and 11 other varieties of non-Bt cotton on his farm. Nagappa, used to grow Bt cotton, a genetically modified variety developed by an American company, was finding it difficult to grow this variety as it did not allow mixed-cropping and in times low rainfall, the yields were low. This compelled him to search for native varieties from different states and through careful selection has developed new varieties. He is developing a seed bank of these indigenous varieties which are difficult to find even at research institutions.

His efforts have been applauded by others and are seen as a step towards reviving biodiversity and liberating farmers from the monopoly of seed companies, and require government support. READ MORE [3]...

NGOS PETITION AGAINST PLANT BREEDERS BILL IN GHANA

Thirty seven international non-governmental organizations petitioned the Ghanaian Parliament over the Plant Breeders Bill, which is heavily tilted in favor of commercial breeders and undermines farmers' rights. The Bill does not allow farmers to sell and exchange seeds. Farmers' use of farm saved seed on its own holdings is limited to "personal use" and regulations by the Minister and may be subject to payment of royalties.

These organizations which signed the petition are concerned with the conservation of agricultural biodiversity for livelihood security and food sovereignty, promoting farmers' rights and self-determination and citizen involvement in the decision-making process. READ MORE [4] On this article by Ghana News Agency

FARMERS MOBILIZE IN BRUSSELS: “RECLAIMING PEASANTS' RIGHTS OVER OUR OWN SEEDS”

PRESS RELEASE - EUROPEAN COORDINATION VIA CAMPESINA

(Brussels, 20 January 2014) At the start of the year devoted to family farming by the UN to feed the world, peasants from all over Europe held a demonstration in front of the European Parliament on Monday January 20 2014. They called for reclaiming recognition of peasants' rights to select, preserve, use, exchange and sell our own seeds. They also declared that they seeds are essential if peasants are to feed the world, and could overcome the challenge of discontinuing the use of toxic pesticides, protection of the environment and the struggle of adapting to climate change. Only peasant family farming helps to cool the planet. GMOs must be banned. Co-existence alongside them is not a viable option. Intellectual property rights on living organisms, which allow industry to lay claim to all the world's seeds, must also be stopped. We call on the European institutions to enshrine these peasants' rights in all regulations. READ MORE … [5]

THE GLOBAL STRUGGLE FOR PEASANTS SEEDS: A STRUGGLE FOR OUR FUTURE

In November 2013, La Via Campesina' launched its publication _"Our Seeds, Our Future"_ capturing ten experiences of peasant seed selection, saving, improvement, and re-use. These experiences in recovering and reproducing knowledge to improve peasant agricultural food production mirror what obtains in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. This marks a critical moment for the future of the planet's seed diversity. While industry pursues legal and institutional battles to further control and monopolize global seed supplies, the evidence is growing in support of diversified peasant seeds and agroecology as fundamental to producing healthy food while mitigating environmental and climate impacts.

This publication is instructive and each experience proves that farmers are not only safeguarding traditional knowledge, but are also birth new knowledge and new techniques for improving seeds and sustainable agricultural methods. Farmers are thus originators, the scientists, who study problems and challenges obtaining in their localities and finding crucial solutions and answers to address them. They have done this over centuries, before the conception of capitalism, and will continue to do so, avoiding dependence on purchased industrial seeds and other agro-inputs. READ THE NEW PUBLICATION OUR SEEDS OUR FUTURE [6]

Defending peasant seeds is fighting for our right to life

LA VIA CAMPESIAN- AFRICAN DECLARATION ON PEASANT SEEDS

La Via Campesina together with African men and women farmers issued a declaration on Peasant Seeds. The declaration was issued on the 13th of November 2013, in Harare where members of La Via Campesina had gathered to discuss and prepare strategies to defend African peasant seeds against the current corporate and institutional attacks. The attacks through reforming of seed laws by SADC, COMESA and ARIPO in line with UPOV91 convention which seeks to set the stage for privatization and monopolization of seeds in the continent. Moreover, these laws seek to do away with peasant seed systems, and criminalise any exchange of farm saved seeds. The declaration calls upon the policymakers to uphold the seed rights of peasant and small farmers to sow, conserve, sell and exchange seeds. It rejects, among other things, the green revolution technologies and calls for the ban of GMOs. CLICK HERE [7]to read the declaration and for more of the issues discussed in the meeting CLICK HERE [8]to read more

THE INTERNATIONAL SEED TREATY: A RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF FARMERS' RIGHTS

PRESS RELEASE OF LA VIA CAMPESINA

Last year (2013) on the 28th of September, the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, also known as the seed treaty, adopted a resolution calling on states to implement and support Farmers' Rights, i.e. the rights of peasants and farmers over their own seeds. This followed the concerted pressure of regional groups from Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa and the Middle East, along with many Asian and European countries, and in spite of opposition from a handful of industrialized nations. The resolution acknowledges the important role played by farmers in the conservation and development of seeds, and welcomes the participation of farmers' organizations and civil society in its work. The Governing Body also notes that patents and plant variety protection (PVP) can "interact" with Farmers' Rights, implicitly acknowledging that they are currently opposed to them in many countries.

La Via Campesina welcomed this development and will be vigilant that this new resolution will be upheld. READ MORE ON THE TREATY [9] and for the press release of La Via Campesina issued before this crucial resolution CLICK HERE [10]

The European Commission organizes the pollution of our fields by industrial patented seeds

PRESS RELEASE OF THE EUROPEAN COORDINATION VIA CAMPESINA (ECVC)

(Brussels, Tuesday, May 7) The European Commission adopted a proposal on Seed Regulations in early May. The proposal represented an assault on farmers' and gardeners' rights, as it opened wide the door to unrestricted commercialization of patented plants, extolling patents and property rights of the agribusiness industry and reinforced the bureaucratic control over such issues.
This goes against the reasons put forward by the Commission to reform the existing legislation, namely a need for administrative simplification and protection of biodiversity. The European Coordination Via Campesina called on the European Parliament and the European Council to amend this proposal, and to endorse the right of farmers to produce and exchange their seeds as opposed to endorsing patented seeds and ownership of living organisms by industry. READ MORE ON THIS PRESS RELEASE [11]

GMOS IN MEXICO: A CRIME AGAINST PEASANT AND INDIGENOUS MAIZE; A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY

LA VIA CAMPESINA- PRESS RELEASE

In Mexico City, November 20, 2012, the multinationals Monsanto, DuPont and Dow are expecting a positive response from the Mexican Government to sow 2.4 million hectares of GM maize in Mexico, a surface area equivalent to that of El Salvador. The situation is extremely alarming since Mexico is the world's centre of maize diversity, with thousands of varieties (each one the product of different climates, soils, ecosystems and cultures) in the fields of peasant and indigenous communities. Maize is currently one of the world's three main food staples, so the contamination of Mexican maize by dangerous GMOs is a threat to the entire planet. These hybrid varieties are dependent on pesticides and other inputs, which peasants must purchase. For years, the Mexican Government has been jeopardizing the Mexicans' food sovereignty by opening agriculture to free trade, flooding us with cheap, low quality maize and leaving thousands of peasants in poverty. Now they want to poison us with GM maize.

La Via Campesina organizations united with Mexican civil society and men and women peasants to oppose Monsanto's demands and it called upon its members to organize a major actions and campaigns including filing complaints at Monsanto, DuPont and Dow and with the governments that support them; filing complaints with bodies such as the FAO and the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity (CBD); pressuring Mexican embassies throughout the world; organizing demonstrations and other actions; disseminating the information through all possible media. The people and peasant communities of Mexico resist the multinationals.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE. [12] The National Union of Autonomous Regional Peasant Organizations (UNORCA) published a Maize Manifesto in which they appealed to the Mexican against issuing of commercial permits to grow GMO maize. CLICK HERE TO READ THE MAIZE MANIFESTO [13]

VIDEOS

Last January 20, in Brussels, peasants from all over Europe, members of the European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) protested outside the European Parliament to demand recognition of their rights to select, retain, use, exchange and sell their seeds. Plant local seeds, Harvest global future [14] is the video of the mobilization

Interview with José-Manuel Benitez [15] : this interview was realized on January 20, 2014, during the mobilization of the farmers of the European Coordination Via Campesina in front of the European Parliament.

Resistant seeds [16]: A trip between Europe and Africa through agro-ecological practices of resistance, in disobedience to the laws that through patent rights prohibit storage, exchange and reuse of traditional seeds. This video was produced by Crovecia

The film entitled "10 Years of Failure, Farmers Deceived by GM corn" [17] shows the dire situation of corn farmers in the Philippines who have adopted GM corn.

Argentina : the bad seeds. [18] On the consequences on public health of the soy production in Argentina.

The World According to Monsanto [19]is a 2008 documentary film directed by Marie-Monique Robin. Originally released in French as Le monde selon Monsanto, the film is based on Robin's three-year long investigation into the US agricultural giant Monsanto corporation's practices around the world.

Of Peoples, seeds, Indigeneous breeds, forests and fields [20] : Journeys of adivasis, dalits, pastoralists, small and marginal farmers across 11 districts in Andhra Pradesh, India, towards Food Sovereignty and Manchi Jeevitham as a way of life.

Links: ------ [1] http://www.grain.org/article/entries/4911-no-agrobiodiversity-without-peasan... [2] http://www.grain.org/article/entries/4808-seed-laws-in-latin-america-the-off... [3] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Karnataka-farmer-develops-non-Bt-co... [4] http://www.spyghana.com/ngos-petition-plant-breeders-bill/ [5] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/biodiversity-an... [6] http://viacampesina.org/downloads/pdf/en/EN-notebook6.pdf [7] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/biodiversity-an... [8] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/biodiversity-an... [9] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/biodiversity-an... [10] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/biodiversity-an... [11] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/biodiversity-an... [12] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/biodiversity-an... [13] http://viacampesina.org/en/index.php/main-issues-mainmenu-27/biodiversity-an... [14] http://tv.viacampesina.org/Plant-local-seeds-harvest-global?lang=en [15] http://tv.viacampesina.org/Peasants-seeds-interview-with-Jose?lang=en [16] http://tv.viacampesina.org/Resistant-seeds?lang=en [17] http://tv.viacampesina.org/10-Years-of-Failure-Farmers?lang=en [18] http://tv.viacampesina.org/Argentina-the-bad-seeds?lang=en [19] http://tv.viacampesina.org/The-World-According-to-Monsanto?lang=en [20] http://tv.viacampesina.org/Of-peoples-seeds-indigenous-breeds?lang=en