The Real Green Revolution - Greenpeace UK

NGOs unable to realise their projects and
programmes due to a lack of funding – often,
by industrialised country standards, involving
very small amounts of money.
Knowledge in the industrialised world of
NGO activity in the South can never hope
to be complete, but this re p o rt has identified
a number of diff e rent and innovative pro j e c t s .
One Nort h e rn initiative to help pro m o t e
recognition of the achievements of Southern
NGOs working in this field (which also
p rovides them with some financial assistance
in the form of prize money)
is the Sustainable Agriculture and Rural
Development Prize (SARD). This prize,
initiated in 1997 by a German agro n o m i s t ,
F rederick von Mallinckrodt, is an
a g roecological equivalent of the ‘Right
Livelihood Aw a rds’ and helps draw attention
to the successes and achievements of Southern
NGOs (Ecology and Farming, 2001).
Case study 4 – World Food Day Farmers’ and
F i s h e r m e n s’ ’ Movement (Indonesia)
This case study focuses on the activities of
one Southern NGO, to illustrate how the
support and development of organic farming
forms part of far broader ‘farmer first’ rural
development strategies. Though organic
agriculture is important it is also inextricably
interwoven with other development
objectives and strategies.
The (Indonesian) World Food Day Farmers’
and Fishermen’s Movement (WFDFFM)
is part of an international movement
celebrating the role of, and contribution
made by, food producers across the world.
It was founded in October 1990 on the first
celebration of World Food Day, which
coincides with the founding of the FAO.
These annual celebrations continue to be
a focal, festive event in the calendar, when
local, regional and national events are held.
These festivals help farmers and fishermen
experience a sense of global solidarity.
They also act as important publicity and
recruitment opportunities.
The main aims of WFDFFM are set out in
‘The Ganjurun Declaration’. They include
promoting sustainable patterns of
production and consumption and, through
these, promoting ‘total sustainable human
development’.
The main activities in which the WFDFFM
Secretariat is involved include:
• 'Gaduhan': an initiative that helps poor
farmer groups obtain cattle, with the aim
of increasing incomes and soil fertility.
The WFDFFM loans cattle to farmers
groups for two breeding seasons. The
progeny are then shared.
• Community-based seed bank: this activity
begins by helping develop farmers’
awareness of the importance of their
seeds. Trial farms / plots are then
established with farmers’ groups to
experiment with seed and plant breeding.
Results are discussed after harvest and the
favoured crops are saved in a village seed
bank. The final stage is that of breeding
and distributing the seeds. As well as
developing seed banks, this activity also
develops local capacity in seed breeding.
• Assistance with organic/sustainable
farming: this programme explains the
drawbacks of conventional farming
systems and provides advice, assistance
and visits to demonstration organic farms,
so farmers can learn alternative methods
for themselves.
• Promoting ‘alternative’ marketing:
through an attempt to build alternative
marketing links, based around the
Japanese teikei model, adapted to local
situations.
• Advocating farmers’ rights: WFDFFM
30