Peasant to Peasant: The Social Movement Form of Agroecology

By : Michael Lipton.2004 Staple crops play an outstanding role in the production, consumption, and above all employment income of the poo

2014

On November 22, 2013, the United Nations launched the International Year of Family Farming – IYFF (2014) with the goal of highlighting “the potential family farmers have to eradicate hunger, preserve natural resources and promote sustainable development.” The IYFF is a coup for the millions of family farmers, fishers and pastoralists worldwide who have struggled under anti-peasant policies for decades, and whose disappearance has been predicted, hoped-for and orchestrated time and time again in the name of “progress.” This victory is a testament to the resilience of small-scale, diversified food production. It also speaks to the capacity of small farmers and peasants to build strong social movements— locally, nationally and globally—and to wield unprecedented influence in the international development arena. At the same time, we must be careful not to fetishize the “family farm” as a space free of internal contradictions and power relations—e.g. between men and women, elders and youth. Upon closer analysis, it may be that the family farm “ideal” scarcely resembles most of the world’s real and existing family farms, many of which have been torn asunder by out-migration and must engage in various (off-farm or non-agricultural) survival strategies. Dealing honestly with these realities, while supporting indigenous, farmer and community-led organizations3 also needs to be part of the conversation about the democratization of our global food system. The IYFF is justifiably billed as a long-overdue “celebration” of family farming’s persistent contributions to development, food security and ecological resilience. Nonetheless, it comes at a time when family farmers worldwide face perhaps the steepest challenges ever to their very survival. If the IYFF is to be truly meaningful, it must highlight those challenges that most severely threaten to undermine or even decimate family farming and community-based food systems.

Global Food Security, 2015

Family farms are central to both contemporary changes and contradictions in agriculture. They have been, and are still, the crucible for a whole host of agricultural innovations and major revolutions. They form the social basis of most Southern countries and contribute to supplying their local, national and international markets. Paradoxically, however, they constitute the vast majority of poor rural households which are also in a situation of food insecurity worldwide. They sometimes operate using specialised, and highly artificialised, intensified models (agrochemicals and mechanisation). In this respect, they do not escape the questions and criticism directed to agriculture and its capacity to meet the contemporary and widely globalised challenges of climate change, food security, the increasing scarcity of fossil fuels, and the prevention of emerging diseases. But family farms also provide alternative production models to conventional intensification – sustainable agriculture mo...

Diritto e Giurisprudenza Agraria, Alimentare e dell'Ambiente, 2019

2015

The blame game! A longstanding and evolving issue 2.3.2. The methodological challenge of assessing the state of degradation of natural resources 2.3.3. The diversity of family systems and production models and their environmental impacts 2.3.4. Agricultural policies generally not beneficial for the environment 2.3.5. By way of conclusion on natural resources 2.4. Family farming and social issues 2.4.1. For a pragmatic and targeted understanding of gender issues: Working relations in family farming, or reconciling production and reproduction 2.4.2. Young people, working relations and family farming: Social issues related to the question of economic transition 3. The "politicisation" of family farms 3.1. Economic and political contexts of the politicisation of family farming policies 3.1.1. Importance of agriculture in national contexts, endogenous dynamics 3.1.2. Long-term trend of the link between family farming, national public policies and the international reference 3.1.3. National actors of politicisation and recognition of family farms in our case studies 3.2. Public policies in practical terms: Lessons learned from case studies 128 3.2.1. The sectoral policies to assist and support agricultural production 3.2.2. Environmental policies 3.2.3. Contrasting social policies 3.2.4. Territorial policies and allocations of public goods 3.3. What public policy instruments to support family farming? 3.3.1. An important lesson from the case studies: The disjunction between policies and instruments 3.3.2. For an extension of agricultural policies to rural policies, promoting all the functions and dimensions of family farming May 2015 / Family Farming Around the World / © AFD [ ] 4. Themes for further development 4.1. Research to analyse the impacts of production models 4.2. Pay more attention to working relations and the forms of family organisation 4.3. Pay close attention to emerging technical models 4.4. New family farming products in response to trends in food demand 4.5. Highlight the importance of social movements in transforming family farming and its politicisation 4.6. Finally, contribute to bringing about changes to the representations of family farming Acronyms and abbreviations References Contents May 2015 / Family Farming Around the World / © AFD [ ] 7 Foreword This publication is a resumption and revised version of the report published by CIRAD in May 2013 with the same title, on behalf and at the request of Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the Ministry of Agriculture, Agrifood and Forestry (MAAF) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development (MAEDI). The commission given to CIRAD, which was entitled "Study on the contribution that family farming makes to food security" was intended to prepare the United Nations International Year of Family Farming (2014) and aimed to "clarify the terminology used, the reality covered by family farming in developing countries and its impact on food security and sustainable development", based on an analysis of the institutional and scientific literature and case studies in various countries concerning the "implementation of family farming policies".

2017

The fact is that under the rules of this system, food ows though the global economy from areas of poverty and hunger toward areas of wealth and abundance. And food is being homogenized into an unhealthy global diet consisting largely of processed fat, sugars, starch, and carcinogenic chemical residues, which is decient in ber, protein, vitamins, fruits and vegetables. "Sustainable Peasant and Family Farm Agriculture Can Feed the World." Page 3. La i Via Campesina. 2014 Contrary to claims by proponents of economic growth and the industrial agriculture-food system, corporate food production continues to fail in both, reducing hunger as well as providing safe and nutritious food. The World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimate that based on 2015 statistics, there are about 795 million (79.5 crore) hungry people in the world, 98% of who live in developing countries. Three-fourths of the world's hungry people live in rural areas-concentrated in Asia and Africa-and depend almost completely on agriculture for food, employment and income. The FAO has also calculated that half of the world's hungry are from small-hold farming communities; another 20% are from landless farming communities; about 10% depend on shing, herding and forest resources, and 20% live in slums in and around cities, many of who ii are migrants from rural areas. Though telling, these statistics do not include the swelling numbers of refugees displaced by natural disasters and eeing wars and armed conicts. Majority of those who are hungry are food producers themselves. This is especially shocking since most of the world's food is produced by small-scale food producers, and the food needs of much of the world's poor are met through local, small-scale food production. Women are widely acknowledged as the world's primary food producers and providers and yet, because of a combination of social, cultural and structural factors, face greater hunger and experience iii deeper and longer-term effects of malnutrition. Research by La Via Campesina (LVC), ETC Group, GRAIN, Focus on the Global South, International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and others show that peasants, sherfolk, pastoralists, forest communities and indigenous peoples produce an astonishing amount and iv variety of food using less than a quarter of the world's arable land and other resources. This production nurtures and enables biodiversity, protects ecosystems , conserves water, strengthens local economies and builds genuine resilience to natural disasters and climate

2006

For the past fifty years, mainstream neo-liberal policy has encouraged and justified the elimination of small-scale food producers 1 and indigenous peoples who live off the land in both industrially developed and developing countries. This process of undermining and eliminating small-scale food producers is linked with the expansion of a development model that sees farming and indigenous communities outside 'modernity'. Farmers and indigenous peoples are thus seen as 'residues' of history-people whose disappearance is therefore inevitable. This process-which started in industrial countries-has spread more recently into farming and indigenous communities in developing countries, along with the adoption of neo-liberal economic policies. Throughout the world, small farmers, pastoralists, fisherfolk, and indigenous peoples are increasingly being displaced from their livelihood base through a combination of factors, including: • the imposition of inappropriate neo-liberal development models and industrial technology for food, fisheries and agriculture that displace indigenous knowledge and ecologically sustainable management systems based on local institutions and rights; • the spread of liberalised markets in which farmers cannot compete with imported foodstuffs and are driven to bankruptcy; • falling prices of primary commodities, often brought about by the increased supplies that have been encouraged by World Bank/IMF structural adjustment policies and development assistance, supported by Western governments (such as increased coffee production in Vietnam); Farmers' Views on the Future of Food and Small-Scale Producers 2 2 See http://dfid-agriculture-consultation.nri.org/themes.htm 3 See www.virtualcentre.org/fr/ele/econf_02_faune/download.htm 4 On 1 January 2006 CIIR changed its name to Progressio to enable it to reach out to a new generation of potential supporters and members with its message of hope and justice.

Small Scale, Big Impact - Smallholder Agriculture's Contribution to Better Nutrition, 2013

A policy briefing for the UK Hunger Alliance on smallholder agriculture's contribution to better nutrition.

Food Security

Achieving SDG2 (zero hunger) in a situation of rapid global population growth requires a continued focus on food production. Farming not merely needs to sustainably produce nutritious diets, but should also provide livelihoods for farmers, while retaining natural ecosystems and services. Rather than focusing on production principles, this article explores the interrelations between farms and farming systems in the global food system. Evaluating farming systems around the world, we reveal a bewildering diversity. While family farms predominate, these range in size from less than 0.1 ha to more than 10,000 ha, and from hand hoe use to machine-based cultivation, enabling one person to plant more than 500 ha in a day. Yet, farming in different parts of the world is highly interdependent, not least because prices paid for farm produce are largely determined by global markets. Furthermore, the economic viability of farming is a problem, globally. We highlight trends in major regions of th...