Caucus conclusion: ‘Forum on food sovereignty need of the hour’

South Asian left-wing leaders resolve to fight poverty and unemployment in the region.

ISLAMABAD: The concluding session of a two-day caucus on “Food Sovereignty” saw the development of plans to create a permanent forum on food sovereignty. The participants, mostly left-wing parliamentarians from South Asia, unanimously agreed that the formation of the forum was necessary to mitigate the sufferings of about 630 million people in the region who face food scarcity on a daily basis.

Regarding neo-liberal economic policies and feudal structures as two of the main causes of increasing poverty in the region, they deliberated upon possible strategies for providing land ownership rights and fair wages to peasants, calling the step the most important move in securing food sovereignty.  They demanded immediate steps for granting land rights to tillers working on military or other public farms and resolved to bring solidarity among the region’s various peasant movements.

Their recommendations for fighting hunger in the region included the formation of a South Asian common market for food and agriculture and the establishment of agricultural chambers at the district level of administration. They suggested ways to ensure that the adulteration of agricultural inputs and products did not occur. They agreed that steps must be taken for efficient supply and use of water. Holding the access to food as the first and foremost human right, they urged the region’s governments to rise above their “onion and garlic wars” and support each other in increasing the availability of food to their populace.

They were of the view that the rampant privatisation of agricultural inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides had not only increased the cost of production beyond the reach of the small farmer, who is already indebted to multinationals, but had also caused “poisoning of the land and live-stock.”

Multinationals continue to misguide farmers towards excessive use of these inputs, while governments have “failed miserably” to provide the farmers adequate knowledge or sound advice.

They chided the World Trade Organisation and the World Bank for putting poor farmers at the mercy of “multinational companies and imperialist powers” and called upon their governments to stop pursuing neo-liberal economic policies.

The conference was organised by Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee. It was attended and addressed by left-wing parliamentarians, civil society activists and academics from five South Asian nations, namely Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Participants from Bangladesh included Saeedul Haque, MP and chairman of the Standing Committee on Food and Disaster, while participants from India included Mr Probadh Panda, member of India’s lower house, Lok Sabha. Former federal minister of Nepal, Keshab Lal Shreshtha and General Secretary of All-Nepal Peasant Federation Prem Dangal also attended the conference. The Afghan view was shared by Chairman Afghan Labour Revolutionary Organisation Arif Afghani and Syed Abbas Jan.

Pakistani parliamentarians included Federal Minister for Education and Information Techonology Sardar Assef Ahmad Ali, Farahnaz Ispahani, Raheela Baluch, Jamila Gilani, Hamuon Saifullah Khan, Riaz Fatyana, Senator Hasil Bizinjo and Senator Dr Abdul Malik Baluch.

Civil society activists and academics included Asif Sharif, Professor Maqbool Babri, Shakeel Ahmad of SDPI, Dr Ayub Goraya, Mian Aftab Ahmad, Assistant Federal Secretary of Ministry of Food and Agriculure, Shafqat Nagmi assistant and the secretary of Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee Farooq Tariq.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2011.