Streams of Struggles: People’s Movements, Resistance and Alternatives

Food Sovereignty: Erpan Faryadi (AGRA Indonesia and the Asian Peasants Coalition)

Food sovereignty is at the heart of the work of PAN AP and its partner organizations, and represents local struggles for land, genuine agrarian reform and the people’s right to make decisions surrounding food production, consumption, trade and the environment. The Asian Peasant Coalition (APC) is an Asia-wide coalition of at least 20 million farmers, landless peasants, fisherfolks, agricultural workers, dalit, indigenous people, herders, pastoralists, women and youth representing 21 organizations from 8 countries. Their work towards genuine food sovereignty is one of local, national and international urgency, especially in the context of climate change and the food crisis.

Rice shortages are occurring across Asia, reportedly the worst in the last three decades, and in many places the price of food is skyrocketing, placing the most vulnerable in situations of food insecurity. Added to this are issues such as deforestation, neoliberal imperialist policies, hunger, landlessness and vulnerability of the people. The APC strongly believes that implementation of genuine agrarian reform is the ultimate solution to the food crisis. Governments should also control food prices, stop importation, give full support to rice productivity program and withdraw its membership to WTO.

Erpan Faryadi's presentation was followed by a presentation by Dr Irene Fernandez of Tenaganita on Gender Justice in Agriculture, which highlighted the special role of women in food production.

There was also a presentation on Climate Justice by Don Marut.

Following the presentations was a panel discussion 'Sharing Grassroots Experiences and Best Practices' in which Dr Charito Medina of MASIPAG, Vijay Jardhari of BBA and Sun Jing of PEAC shared their rich experience from many years of work. Participants were able to ask questions and make comments, showing the diversity and depth of knowledge present among the conference's participants.