Food Democracy and Local Economy (continued)
Published on June, 12 2012Today, in all countries from developing to industrialized, the main cause of hunger is poverty – not a shortage of food. Women play a key role in the fight against global hunger and poverty. Worldwide, roughly 1.6 billion women rely on farming for their livelihoods, and female farmers produce more than half of the world’s food.
Although women comprise 43 percent of the agricultural labor force in developing countries, they typically aren't able to own land. Cultural barriers also limit women's ability to obtain credit and insurance. Strengthening women’s rights can help strengthen the global food system. According to the World Food Programme, allowing women farmers access to more resources could reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 100-150 million people. (need footnote to Food First report).
In successful projects all over the world, communities create food sovereignty by integrating sustainable agro-ecosystems with education, health care, clean water, land and water rights, transportation, and renewable energy. “The number one challenge in empowering rural women in eradicating poverty and hunger is to stop governments and transnational corporations/international financial institutions from crushing the many successful models of food sovereignty” (quote from Food First report).
Industrial corporate agriculture contributes to climate change, accounting for at least 13-15% of global, man-made greenhouse gases emissions and these emissions increase faster than an increase in agricultural productivity. (footnote Food First). The loss of biodiversity, unsustainable use of water, and pollution of soils and water all compromise the ability of natural systems to support agriculture. Climate change, with more frequent droughts, floods and less predictable rainfall is already impairing certain regions to feed themselves, and war leads to loss of agricultural production and abandonment of land. Corporate land grabs for industrial agriculture based on mono-crops and chemical inputs, and for growing bio-fuels impoverishes the land and removes it from food production.
The world is full of outstanding farmers who exchange knowledge, ideas and seeds with their peers. Small holder agriculture outside the U.S. feeds most of the world’s people and essentially all of the poor. Women play a key role in agriculture and any form of sustainable agriculture that lifts people from poverty will have women at the center.
Many groups across the nation are fighting GMO food; active WILPF chapters in California and Montana are already organizing around food and local democracy. The theme of this year’s Commission on the Status of Women includes how rural women will be impacted by climate change, an issue that affects all of us and our future generations.
We also want to support food recovery programs. Grocery stores, bakeries, and other food providers throw away tons of food daily that is perfectly edible but is cosmetically imperfect or has passed its expiration date. In response, food recovery programs run by homeless shelters or food banks collect this food and use it to provide meals for the hungry, helping to divert food away from landfills and into the bellies of people who need it most. You can encourage your local restaurants and grocery stores to partner with food rescue organizations, like City Harvest in New York City or Second Harvest Heartland in Minnesota.
Returning to a reliance, as much as possible, on local food systems is one way to push back against the giant agrifood corporations that continue to consolidate and vertically integrate food production at every level to lower costs and increase profits for shareholders.
Take Action:
Create a Community Garden or Orchard (link)
Create a Food Recovery Program in Your Town (link)
Support GMO labeling (link)
Materials
Need to develop
Books
Anna Lappé, Diet for a Small Planet:The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It (2010)
Frances Moore Lappé, Hope’s Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet
Vandana Shiva, Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge
Vandana Shiva, Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply
Vandana Shiva, War and Peace On Our Farms and Tables, 2000 Talk
Food Rebellions: Crisis and the Hunger for Justice
Food Movements United
Organizations
Food First and Backgrounder Reports
Navdanya International movement for biodiversity conservation and farmer’s rights
Organic Consumers Network
