Food Sovereignty Initiative

A total redistribution of idle lands to landless farmers and the imposition of a 50% cap on arable land devoted to products for export per country, with the creation of a worldwide subsidy for organic agriculture.

One of the main causes of malnutrition today is the historical mandate by colonial powers to devote most of their arable land to grow products for export, therefore not leaving enough land to raise food products for local consumption. Political independence didn’t bring economic independence and most of these countries continue to grow agricultural products for export as their main source of revenue.

This trend is reinforced by international corporations buying or leasing huge tracks of arable land in developing nations. Land dispossession has traditionally been the method used by large landholders to maintain control over the poor, thus ensuring a work force for their large landholdings.

There must therefore be a formal recognition that developing countries can and should prioritize the nourishment of their populations over the generation of wealth for agribusiness companies, and the encouragement of mechanisms to prevent unhealthy uses of land.

Additionally, land speculation, a practice where large tracts of land are kept idle, must be abolished by returning or giving back idle lands to landless farmers and encouraging them by way of subsidies to grow organic products which would also participate to the sovereignty of their nation by steering them away from control by chemical companies.

To learn more about these issues:

• Movimento Sem Terra
• La Via Campesina – Agrarian Reform