Go global or stay local?
Many small farmers are negatively affected by globalization of the world economy and expansion of the consumer culture. To them this is one step further on the road of economic and cultural marginalization.
In reaction some farmers, communities, and organizations have started to reconstruct traditional ‘agri-culture’, save indigenous seeds and breeds, or organize water harvesting. Other focus on development of the local agriculture based economy, local products, empowerment of local institution or alternative education. Still a fast growing anti-globalisation movement is strongly manifesting itself. The emergin alternative, 'localisation', gives priority to endogenous development, building on local concepts and resources.
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4 - 5written by ILEIA editorial teamInternational trade is moving fast, and farmers are promised increasing benefits from free trade if they specialise on those products which can be sold on the global market most competitively. In line with this thinking, export agriculture, Green Revolution technology and biotechnology are promoted globally as the tools to increase agricultural production and alleviate rural poverty. However, the picture is much more complex, and a fast growing anti-globalisation movement is strongly manifesting itself. The emergin alternative, "localisation", gives priority to endogenous development, building on local concepts and resources.
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6 - 8A recent survey covering 39 developing countries in the South describes the impact of trade liberalisation on food security, poverty, ecological sustainability, gender etc. The sweeping changes in the name of structural adjustment have not brought prosperity to the majority of the people. Unable to compete with cheap imports, many small farmers are being pushed out of their livelihoods. Others are being forced to take up export crop production at the expense of local food production and food security. Women are greatly affected by the loss of subsidies, drying up of credit, male labour migration etc. It is startling to note that countries, who a few years ago were self sufficient in certain products, have become key importers of the same products. The survey suggests a fundamental review of dominating trade policy in favour of protecting the livelihoods of small holders in developing countries and providing food security.
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8 - 8written by Farzana PanhwarThe Sindhi farmers in Lower Punjab, Pakistan, are being systematically kept in poverty due to the low prices they get for their products. This is caused by the policy of the government to keep the prices of wheat and other agricultural commodities low so that comerce and industry can get cheap labour and high profits.
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9 - 10written by A.R. VasaviFarmers committing suicide, ever-expanding groups of people migrating to the cities, angry farmers destroying unsold fruits and begetables, riots at the grain markets as price collapse - all these are testimony to the loss of the local and the spectre of the global in agrarian India. While the loss of the local is linked to theloss of local knowledge and social support and structures, the spectre of the global looms in terms of the subordination of local agricultuire to global market and institutional prescriptions, and the subsequent loss of self-suffiency and livelihoods.
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11 - 11written by Sarah HindmarshEngaging a crowd of over 50 000 on November 30, 2000, the People\'s Caravan 2000 ended three weeks of activities in India, Bangladesh and the Philippines, with simultaneous events in Japan, Korea and Indonesia. The Caravan called for an end to the devastating effects from the globalisation of agriculture and instead advocated genuine agrarian reform, food security, social justice and land and food without poisons. This ws organised by Pestice Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP) and many other organisations.
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12 - 14written by Raymond Tivafiri , Cosmas GoneseMarket-oriented conventional agriculture has been promoted for decades in the Zimuto area of Southern Zimbabwe. This type of agriculture did not take into account traditional `agri-culture` and the local conditions. In 1984, a group of traditional leaders and war veterans started a process to `heal the land` that led to the formation of the indigenous development organisation AZTREC. It aims at conservation of the environment through woodland and wetland management, reforestration, cultural survival etc. founded on indigenous knowledge, culture, norms and cosmovisions. Having faced initial resistance from the government, the initiative is now well recognised and the ´eco-cultural villages´ have become showpieces of local agriculture, healthcare and culture.
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15 - 15written by John Baptist Kisembo , David MillarCountry studies have been carried out in Ghana and Zimbabwe as part of the intial phase of the ENIAKA project. In both countries, less than 100 documents could be found on indigenpous knowledge and practices related to soil and water management, crops, animal husbandry and food processing. At the same time, a literature search was carried out...
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16 - 18It is not only floods that pose a threat to the livelihoods of Bangaldeshi farmers, it is also the practice of so-called modern agriculture. Farmers are well aware of the many negative effects of chemical-based cultivation and monocropping. Nayakrishi Andolon, or the New Agriculture Movement, began as a search for new ways of food production and has a following of nearly 65,000 farmers throughout Bangladesh. Organic farming, conservation of bio-diversity, indigenous knowledge and marketing locally are some aspects of the community-based movement.
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19 - 19written by Vijay ZhardhariThe crops of the \"Barah Anaaj\" system strengthen the inseparable relation between farming and livestock. The crops give valuable straw and husk for animal consumption. Furthermore, the system is more or less free of pests and diseases; the rich biodiversity protects other the crops. But modern agricultural science, emphasising only mono-cropping, criticises this system as backward and uneconomical.
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20 - 20written by Helen Hornberg-HodgeThe International Society for Ecology and Culture has been working with an increasing number of non-governmental organisations and Ladakhi leaders to restore respect for Ladakhi culture and to counter the avalanche of forces that have led to a los of self -respect among Ladakhis. One of this was the organisation of the Women\'s Alliance of Ladakh, which has gained considerable reputation for its work in promoting and preserving the cultural and spiritual foundations on Ladakhi culture.
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21 - 21written by Wanlop Pichpongsa , Menno Salverda and VillagersIn September of 1998, representatives from the Kud Chum district, in Northeastern Thailand, attended a seminar on community currency systems and self-reliance. They realised the many benefits that a community currency sustem would accrue: increased production for local consumption and self-reliance in the community, lower dependence on external markets, reduced outflows of money, decreased indebtness, etc. This sparked the creation of a local exchange system later named \"Bia Kud Chum\".
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22 - 23written by Pascal MolineauxThe Tutorial Learning System (SAT in spanish), developed by the Rural University of FUNDAEC, is a high school equivalent embedded in the reality and needs of rural life. Graduates of SAT programmes not only gain appropriate knowledge but develop a greater consciousness of living and serving their communities. Solidarity groups, another programme of FUNDAEC, has helped bring back the tradition of MINGA or mutual help, thus reviving community life. According to FUNDAEC, providing access to knowledge and creating local structures that serve local economies are two crucial aspects for communities to contend with the forces of globalisation.
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24 - 25written by Bruno LoschFamily farms throughout the world play a central role in the production, processing and commercialisation of agriculture, and in natural resource management. Family agriculture is characterised by the special link between economic activities and the family structure. The Family Agriculture programme of CIRAD, a French governmental institution, has four main objectives, amon which is to analyse adaptation processes of family farmers and their organisations to the changing environment. As a research programme, it operates in different countries.
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25 - 25The collaborative research-action-education project \"Farmer organisations deal with the challenge of globalisation\" is implemented with the networks RIAD in Latin America and APM-Africa.
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26 - 27written by Jan Douwe van der PloegMany of the attempts to revitalise agriculture in Europe and to create sustainable rural livelihoods involve a shift away from agriculture\'s traditional \"core\" activities: the productionof food and fibres. By means of diversification, new on-farm activities (such as tourism) are introduced. These are often perceived as a rupture with conventional agriculture. But a considerable proportion of the alternatives actually emerge from conventional agriculture. This is illustrated with a case from Friesland, in the Netherlands.
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28 - 28written by Susanne GuraTo increase the relevance of its research to small farmers, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, CGIAR, took the initiative of organising the Global Forum on Agricultural Research in Dresden, Germany (May 2000). Many CSOs joined the meeting, together with the world\'s largets organisation of small farmers, La Via Campesina. This was thus an interesting opportunity to discuss on equal level with scientists from formal research organisations.
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36 - 36The traditional rice farmers of Chiang Mai\'s Mae Tha district took to baby corn growing in 1983 as a way of supplementing their decreasing income. Now baby corn has reached its peak: ten years of monocropping has severely damaged the soil... (adapted from \"Impacts of economic meltdown on the villages\", published in the Thai Development Newsletter No. 34, Jan-June 1998).
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