Agroecology and the Struggle for Food Sovereignty ... - Yale University

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agroecology and the struggle for food sovereignty
mobilization of the poor are at the root of national economic growth and improved
local standard of living.
11 See the current debate in the
Doha Round of WTO
negotiations over special
safeguard mechanisms and
other protective language for
developing countries that
have sensitive agricultural
and rural sectors.
Some Recommendations
The growing plight of small farmers throughout the Americas demonstrates the need
to rethink the role of agriculture in international trade agreements. Trade negotiators
must begin from a fundamental premise of food sovereignty, which safeguards the
right of farmers, communities, and individual nations to determine their own food
production policies. 11
Agricultural exports – when produced through sustainable
methods and at fair wages – can be an important source of income and a valuable
livelihood strategy for Southern farmers, but not as a replacement for opportunities
to produce for subsistence and for traditional markets. Staple crops like corn, wheat,
and rice are central to local livelihoods and should not be subjected to the caprice of
global markets, especially when those markets remain fundamentally distorted.
Charles de Souza tends an urban garden in Favela Vila Brandão, a 25 year-old unplanned community
clinging to steep slopes below posh suburbs in Salvador, Brazil. An estimated 30% of the population of
Brazil lives in shanty towns like this known as favelas, often on land owned by large landholders.
While the Brazilian constitution allows for appropriation of unused land to satisfy social aims such as
food sovereignty, the land tenure of favela-dwellers is far from secure. In Vila Brandão, residents must
fend of workers from the neighboring Salvador Yacht Club, which has razed houses and routinely
destroys gardens to assert control over the land. In the photo at right, banana trees planted by de
Souza and recently cut down by yacht club workers are in the foreground, with the yacht club’s boat
yard and the Bahia de Todos Santos in the background. Photographer: Avery Cohn.
As Kristin Dawkins points out, agricultural subsidies are not inherently bad, particularly
when they are targeted domestically to promote social and environmental
welfare. However, export-linked production subsidies – by encouraging the overseas
dumping of agricultural goods below the cost of production – are devastating the
lives of small farmers throughout the Americas. They are a major obstacle to building
more equitable systems of international trade and sustainable agriculture.
International trade agreements and domestic economic policies can respect food
self-sufficiency, cultural traditions, and biodiversity conservation. However, they
require the same ingenuity and attention to social and ecological considerations that
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