Our world is facing complex sustainability challenges that are threatening not only our capacity to feed the growing population, but also to nurture it. The Green Revolution and the introduction of sophisticated technological innovations were once considered the best way of fulfilling the food needs of the world population. Unfortunately, this approach doesn’t come close to meeting these needs and every year more people become undernourished, both of food and wisdom.
In this short video, we can find simple answers to the most frequently asked questions about food sovereignty: what is it and how is it different from food security, why is it important, how did the term originate and what are the key points?
There are at least two urgent calls that invite the discussion on youths in agriculture. The first call for the urgency of attracting youth to agriculture is for the future of agriculture. The average age of farmers all over the world has been increasing especially in recent years.
The forms of rurality have changed in recent decades. The advance of large-scale production, the disappearance of small and medium-sized farms, and the lack of processes that add value to primary production do not encourage life in the countryside.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the centrality of food and production linked to family, peasant and indigenous agriculture. Access to healthy food and the organisational framework around food supply are long-standing concerns, but in recent years they have taken on a new impulse in the public arena. In this article, Tamara Perelmuter addresses the debate on food sovereignty and links it to the dispute over the sovereignty of seeds in Argentina, a key link in the agri-food chain.
In this article, the authors analyse the relationship between microbial life, culture, food and agriculture, reviewing conceptual aspects but above all popular proposals for soil, seed and food management, linked to the management and understanding of microbial life.
This publication corresponds to the second part of an article where the authors reflect on the relationships between microbial life, culture, knowledge development, food and agriculture. You can find the first part of the article here. Continuing with the ideas laid out so far, the authors present concrete experiences in the elaboration and use of bioinputs at different scales and types of production, with a special focus on the local production of bioferments for soil regeneration. Finally, they draw some conclusions about how the management of microorganisms in peasant hands, within the framework of collective processes, is central to achieving food sovereignty and autonomy.
The history of agroecology is interwoven with the development of agriculture and the domestication of plants and animals. According to Alteri (1995) [1], agroecology is practised globally using indigenous tribal knowledge close to nature. Some have long associated agroecology with conventional farming practices, however, these positions are imperfect. In my opinion, it is built on indigenous tribal wisdom and integrates all the knowledge that has been collected since the beginning of agriculture, nearly 10,000 years.
With the collaboration of the International Association of for Popular Cooperation, Baobab, the China Agricultural University (CAU) develops alliances with the University of Brasilia and the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) in the areas of bioinputs and agricultural machinery for family agriculture. In 2015, China launched a plan to reduce the use of chemical fertilisers (by 2022, it had fallen by 15% to 50 million tons).
The member of MVIWATA and Word March of Women Tanzania talks about peasants’ struggles in the country. The peasant organization National Network of Smallholder Farmers Groups Tanzania[Mtandao wa Vikundi vya Wakulima Tanzania – MVIWATA] is part of La Via Campesina and the World March of Women Tanzania chapter. The organization has been working on the issue of farmers and peasant rights in the country since 1993. We have talked to Theodora Pius, the Head of Program of MVIWATA and activist of the World March of Women in Tanzania, about the action of transnational companies and capitalist political agendas in the African continent and in her country.
The development of agriculture is directly related to urbanisation and life in cities. During the 20th century, Urban Agriculture (UA) experiences gained prominence in different historical and geographical contexts, especially after the Second World War. What are these experiences about and how are they linked to food sovereignty?
The development of agriculture is directly related to urbanisation and life in cities. During the 20th century, Urban Agriculture (UA) experiences gained prominence in different historical and geographical contexts, especially after the Second World War. What are these experiences about and how are they linked to food sovereignty?
In September 2023, an MoU establishing a cooperation for a Brazil-China center for research, development, and technology production in mechanization of family agriculture was signed by the University of Brasilia (UnB) and China Agricultural University (CAU).The International Association for Popular Cooperation, Baobab, has established a broader agreement between the countries for economic development and technological collaboration, which includes this particular activity.
The National School of Agroecology (ENA) is a pedagogical tool built by the Rural Federation for Production and Rooting (Argentina), whose objective focuses on the “Training of Trainers” in agroecology, that is, producers who can teach and extend agroecology in their territories.
Africa is considered the new frontier in business, which is evidenced by the existence of numerous transnational companies registered in the Global North with operations on the African continent.
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants (UNDROP) was adopted in 2018.