Articles by Dr. Shiva

Food Sovereignty Charter

1.                 Food sovereignty is at the heart of our freedom and independence. On the 60^th Anniversary of our hard won Independence, we commit ourselves to defend our food sovereignty. Our food sovereignty is threatened by attempts to create dependence on imports, by uprooting farmers for SEZ's, and by the false assumption that India's agrarian economy and the livelihoods of millions of farmers can be destroyed.  

2.                 The nation's food sovereignty rests on the food sovereignty of millions of small and marginal peasants. Food sovereignty is the freedom to farm for India's peasantry.  

3.                 The food sovereignty of small farmers is based on their right to continue to be food producers and right to just and remunerable prices for their contribution to the country's food sovereignty. The epidemic of farmers' suicides is a blot and national shame. The government must change the policies of trade liberalization, which have fuelled farmers' suicides due to rising costs of production and falling prices of agricultural products.  

4.                 Food sovereignty depends on Land sovereignty. Land sovereignty of small farmers requires that the Land Acquisition Act be amended to stop the unjust acquisition of the land of peasants. The SEZ Act must be scrapped, because it is anti-peasantry, anti-rural, poor, anti-labour and anti-environment.  

5.                 Food sovereignty also depends on seed sovereignty. The farmers' right to save, share, develop and exchange seed is inalienable. Patents on seed interfere in the fundamental rights of farmers and should not be granted.  The proposed Seed Act also interferes with farmers rights and should be withdrawn.  

6.                 New technologies should improve farmers' livelihoods and income security. Bt cotton has undermined both, and has increased the corporate control over the seed supply. Genetically engineered seeds and crops should not be approved unless a robust and democratic regulatory framework for biosafety is in place.  

7.                 Food is not a commodity. It is a basic need. The right to food is a fundamental right.  

8.                 Corporate control over food and agriculture has led to increased food prices, and a deepening of the crisis of hunger and malnutrition. 45% of India's children are underweight. 80% suffer from anemia. India cannot be an economic super power if her children are being robbed of their future by being denied the right to food and nutrition. Food and nutritional security requires that the state fulfill its duty to protect the right to food. The government must ensure adequate procurement from farmers at a just MSP, to run a strong Public Distribution System to guarantee affordable, safe and healthy food for all.  

9.                 Removal of Quantitative Restrictions has created Import dependency and eroded food sovereignty. Quantitative Restrictions must be reintroduced in Agriculture.  

10.             There is no justification in importing wheat at $320/ton instead of paying a higher MSP to our farmers. Wheat imports must be stopped. The Government must stop dilution of safety standards to allow wheat imports infested with pests, weeds and pesticides. The U.S India Knowledge Agreement, which has created the pressure to import wheat, is a threat to our sovereignty. It must be scrapped.  

11.             Adequate public investments must be made in agriculture to stop the agrarian crisis from deepening and investments in research and extension should support technologies, which enhance rural livelihoods and food sovereignty. This investment needs to be targeted to small and marginal farmers. More often than not “investments” in Agriculture have become subsidies to agribusiness.  

12.             To produce food for the country, farmers need land and just prices. Food sovereignty is being undermined by the violent appropriation of fertile land from peasants, and the disincentives to produce domestically created by imports. The Food Security Mission announced by the government will be a farce unless corporate land grab of farmland and unnecessary imports of agricultural products are stopped.  

13.             To overcome the agrarian crisis, we need to increase farmers' incomes by reducing costs of production. Organic Farming has been shown to increase food production, reduce production costs and increase farmers' incomes. Ecological / organic farming combined with farmers cooperatives for processing and retail will help in building our food sovereignty.