Land Rights and Food Security

This is an opportunity for me to move beyond my US-centric food blogs to discuss other parts of our planet. Yes, there are things going on beyond our borders that are important. In case you haven't heard, there's at least one billion people who are starving or are "food insecure" which means they lack reliable daily food sources. In addition, solutions offered to address the global food crisis by international agencies and corporations generally have promoted their agendas which leave small and indigenous farmers by the wayside, promote industrial/non-organic farming and encourage cash-crops for export. Doesn't make sense, right?

Well, according to the organization, GRAIN, officials from about 100 countries are meeting at a UN-sponsored event to discuss how to bridge food gaps and better distribute food. It would make sense to have small farmers and grassroots organizations that are intimately involved in this issue at the meeting, right? Well, they're not there but agri-giants such as Monsanto, who are looking for new opportunities ways to put their GMO-seeds into untapped markets are there. And, there's the World Bank and IMF whose lending policies have greatly contributed to the agricultural industrialization of developing countries.

Simultaneous to this depressing news, the international food policy organization FIAN is reporting that peasants are being killed in Honduras because of their land claims. There's a connection between the multi-national/international agencies agriculture policies and small farmers fight to save their land and support their local-based food system which will help to stem the world hunger crisis.

take action today to learn more about the important work of FIAN and GRAIN.

(Photo: Maurice, Flickr Creative Commons)