Worldwide,
industrial mono-culture farming has displaced traditional food
production and farmers, wreaking havoc on food prices and food
sovereignty. This is particularly true for the global south, where land
has been concentrated for crops destined for biodiesel and animal feed.
In response, peasants and small farmers organized actions in more than
53 countries on October 15 for International Food Day as an initiative
of Via Campesina, one of the largest independent social movement
organizations, representing nearly 150 million people globally.
The
National Indigenous Campesino Movement of Argentina joined the protests
taking place on around the world by organizing a march in
Buenos Aires for International Food Day.
Argentina has often been described as
South America’s
bread basket because it once produced grain and beef for much of the
region. But with the transgenetic soy boom the nation has shifted to a
mono culture production for export, displacing traditional food
production and farmers.
Hundreds of campesinos marked the day with protests against this agricultural model outside of
Argentina’s
Department of Agriculture. “For the government, the countryside [is
made up of] the landholding organizations and the agro-businesses, we
practically don’t exist,” says Javier from the campesino movement in
Cordoba, an organization that includes more than 1,500 families who have depended on traditional agriculture for generations. “We
are also part of the countryside. We are the ones who live on the land
and protect the land. We want to continue to live on our land, for
future generations.”
Evicted Farmers
According to
Argentina’s
2008 agricultural census, more than 60,000 farms shut down between 2002
and 2008, while the average size of farms increased from 421 to 538
hectares. The shift to soy has replaced cultivation of many grains and
vegetables and even the country’s beef production. Researcher at the
nation’s social research institute CONICET, Tamara Peremulter outlines
the affects of monoculture soy on food production. “Soy historically
hasn’t been grown in
Argentina.
Soy was brought in during the 1960’s during the Green Revolution.
Transgenetic soy has been brought to lands where before cultivation
wouldn’t have been possible. The low production cost of soy helped this
process. Soy has replaced other crops, invading areas that were
historically for cattle grazing and dairy production. Soy has also
invaded indigenous and traditional farming communities. This model also
implies deforestation and loss of biodiversity”
Land
access and disputes over land titles has become one of the central
issues for traditional farmers being replaced by machinery and high
tech mono-culture farms. The National Indigenous Campesino Movement of
Argentina (MNCI) reports that 82 percent of farmers live off of 13
percent of the nation’s land used for agriculture, while 4 percent of
large land holders or “growing pools” financial investors in the agro
industry own more than 65 percent. The disparities in land titles have
lead to violent evictions.
On
October 12, 2009
a day on which indigenous communities commemorate the genocide of their
people following Christopher Columbus’s arrival in 1492, an indigenous
farmer, Javier Chacoba was murdered during a protest against the forced
eviction of indigenous people off of lands. The 68-old farmer died of a
gun shot wound to the abdomen by Dario Amín, a landowner. Members of
the Chuschagasta community had been camping along a provincial highway bordering the lands to demand land recognition for the Chuschagasta when
Amín and two ex-police officers showed up at the protest. “On the day
commemorating 519 years of genocide in Latin America, we suffered the
loss of our brother (Javeri Chacobar) for simply standing up for his
rights, defending his dignity and land that belongs to him,” said
Margarita Mamaní, member of the Chuschagasta community.
“They
have been evicting farmers and members of the indigenous community from
lands. People have been killed in the evictions,” says Ricardo Ortiz is
an indigenous representative from The Campesino Movement of Santiago
del Estero (MOCASE). More than 9,000 families
make up MOCASE, a grassroots movement of traditional farmers and
indigenous groups. “Now they killed a farmer in Tucuman, a brother. He
was in a march to demand their rights and the man who bought the lands
took out a gun and shot the man and injured four more. The government
has been blind, deaf and mute; this is why we are worried.”
Police Repression
In
2008 alone more than 35 campesinos were arrested and arrest warrants
issued for 95 more, in Mendoza, Formosa and Santiago del Estero, in
communities rejecting the agro-industrial model. Santiago del Estero is
a province once rich in forest land and untouched by soy. This changed
as the boom in soy prices has made these remote areas now profitable
for soy growers.
This
is a “witch hunt,” as the MNCI has described the situation for
campesinos resisting land evictions, and defending traditional
cultures. Local police enforce eviction orders
and meet any resistance with police force, clubs and many times
bullets. “Campesinos resisting are suffering a violent political
persecution. We demand that detained farmers are released, that
officials, judges and police that violate human rights be investigated
and that evictions are stopped,” declared the MNCI.
Agro Industry Creates Joblessness
The
shift to mono-culture crops and land concentration has stretched into
cultivations traditionally employing small farmers such as vineyards.
Argentina’s wine industry has boomed in recent years, with the total
value of Argentine wine in the US increasing from 75 million to 146
million dollars between 2006 and 2008. Mendoza is Argentina’s largest
wine producing region, with a micro climate perfect for the Malbec
grape. Access to water is a major issue for rural and indigenous
communities there.
Marcelo
Quieroga from the Union of Rural Workers (UST) says that much of the
vineyards in Mendoza have been monopolized by French and Swiss
investors, who buy land and mechanize wine production. “They are using
machinery to replace workers. By producing high quality wines for
export the wineries have essentially monopolized the production. Who
suffers is the rural worker who can’t find work, and ends up living in
a shanty town due to rural unemployment.”
Rural
displacement results in poverty and joblessness; the poorest provinces
in Argentina have ironically hosted a boom in soy industry, with soy
fields replacing forests and even cattle grazing land. The MNCI has
reported that the soy model creates only one job post for every 500
hectares cultivated. Meanwhile, traditional agriculture provides 35 job
posts for every 100 hectares cultivated, while also guaranteeing food
diversity, production or local markets and sustainable use of resources
such as land and water.
Food Sovereignty
Industrialization
and the globalization of Argentina’s food system has led to spikes in
food prices, and increasing rural poverty. This has become a global
trend. “A
billion people are without food because industrial monocultures robbed
them of their livelihoods in agriculture and their food entitlements,”
writes Vandana Shiva in the Nation Magazine.
Via
Campesina does have an alternative to the agro industry, pushing for
governments to promote local, traditional farming which provides
communities with real food. “It’s
time for all civil society to recognize the gravity of this situation,
global capital should not control our food, nor make decisions behind
closed doors. The future of our food, the protection of our resources
and especially our seeds, are the right of the people,” said Dena Hoff,
coordinator of Via Campesina North America.
Food
sovereignty as defined by Via Campesina is the peoples’ right to define
their agricultural and food policy, and the right of farmers and
peasants to produce food. Worldwide communities are seeking an
alternative to a model controlled by Cargill, Monsanto, General Foods,
Nestle and Kraft foods. Starved by industrialization and concentration,
citizens are now hungry for traditional production methods and
diversity in the food system.
Toward Freedom