The government led by Giorgia Meloni introduced food sovereignty as one of the responsibilities of the agriculture ministry, now headed in Italy by Minister Francesco Lollobrigida. ABC to follow, with some brief reflections and proposals.
A) Food sovereignty, notion
Food sovereignty expresses the synthesis of values and goals shared in the international peasant movement La Via Campesina. (1) Its definition hinges on:
- peoples’ right to healthy foods consistent with their cultures, which must come
- produced by ecological and effectively sustainable methods, through
- Self-determination in agricultural and food production systems.
‘Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food, produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems‘ (La Via Campesina, 1996).
B) Food sovereignty, the six pillars.
The Food Sovereignty Forum, meeting in Mali in February 2007, defined the six pillars of food sovereignty in the Nyéléni Declaration:
1) Right to food. All states must give political priority to guaranteeing the right to food, which is not to be understood as a mere bargaining chip,
2) value of work. Food production must be encouraged through support for sustainable livelihoods and respect, including through decent wages, for all workers,
3) Short supply chain. Food systems must come rooted on territories and populations. This means:
(a) reduce the distance between suppliers and consumers (localization, disintermediation),
(b) eliminate dumping and inappropriate food aid, (2)
(c) reduce dependence on distant and unaccountable suppliers,
4) means of production. Land and means of production must remain under the control of local producers, who must be granted the right to inhabit and share territories. Natural resources should not be privatized,
5) culture. Knowledge and traditional must also be sustained and passed on to future generations through research. Rejecting technologies (e.g., GMOs, synthetic pesticides) that undermine local food systems,
6) ecology. Synergy with nature is essential to maximize the contribution of ecosystems and improve their resilience. Energy-intensive, monocultural, industrialized and destructive methods of production are rejected. (3)
C) Rights of farmers and rural communities
The UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, approved by the UN General Assembly on 11/19/18, emphasizes the responsibility of its 193 members to ensure food sovereignty, with a focus on biodiversity and combating climate change.
UN member states and the EU itself, which participates as a supranational body, must also ensure:
– a dignified life for human beings involved in supply chains. Social justice, which translates into fair payments for agricultural commodities (c.d.
fair trade
) and adequate wages to workers,
– Structural agrarian reforms designed to ensure the availability of land to those who work it. And to protect people against land robbery, so-called land grabbing,
– freedom to use their own seeds, which farmers and workers should be able to store, use, exchange and sell. (4)
Z) Food sovereignty in Italy
In Italy, food sovereignty is still a long way off, outside the virtuous circuits of peasant and organic farming. 75,847 certified organic farmers now work 17.4 percent of the utilized agricultural area in Italy, an encouraging figure and almost double the EU average (9.2 percent). (5) But peasant agriculture-which expresses perhaps the greatest potential for growth even in urban and peri-urban areas-has been waiting for a dozen years for a law. (6) And social agriculture still awaits the due support it deserves. (7)
Italian agricultural policies-which have always been subservient to Palazzo Rospigliosi (Federconsorzi first, Coldiretti later)-have failed precisely because of systemic conflicts of interest. The #VanghePulite saga, on this site, has shown only part of the huge bonfire of public and private resources caused in recent years by the Coldiretti magic circle. A ‘syndicate’ entangled in various businesses where they speculate on farmers and ranchers, as well as evade tax, with results useful only to the holders of always lavish appointments, in spite of often disastrous management. (8,9,10,11,12). This explains the data to follow.
Italy halved
Utilized Agricultural Area (UAA) in Italy has plummeted from 12-13 million hectares (1922-1969) to 6 million (2015) in half a century. Cereal crops from 6 to 3 million hectares (Istat data). Neighboring France has thus become the leading producer of agricultural commodities in the EU.
However, the abandonment of cultivated lands is not due to their ‘misuse,’ as the so-called ‘Informatore Agrario’ blathers. (13) Rather, to policies that have made it uneconomical to cultivate land and work in the fields, including fostering caporalato. (14)
Agribusiness heritage
Biodiversity tied to the territories is the real heritage to be preserved, along with the culture and traditions that characterize the Made in Italy. One example out of all, the rediscovery and enhancement of ancient grains and varietal mixtures of organically grown wheat to make bread and pasta with a negative carbon footprint. (15)
Instead, the toxic innovation targeted by the big agricultural confederations today is based on new GMOs. To strengthen Italian farmers’ dependence on the
Big 4
, the global monopolists of pesticides and seeds. In the opposite direction to biodiversity, ecoagriculture(FAO, 2019) and ecosystem protection (16,17).
Food sovereignty or colonialism?
To the new minister we renew the appeals already made to his predecessors. Food sovereignty means freeing ourselves from the colonialism of transnational corporations, (18) which express themselves through the dominant agricultural confederations, in systematic conflict of interest. (19) Allocate public resources to support farmers, starting with the smallest and most environmentally friendly, instead of funding solar installations for barren enterprises and unnecessary tractors. (20)
#FoodSovereigntyNOW
Dario Dongo
Cover image from La Via Campesina. See footnote 18
Notes
(1) The La Via Campesina movement, founded in 1993 in Mons, Belgium, by peasant women and farmers from various continents. 182 organizations in 200 countries around the planet participate, representing some 200 million people
(2) Kamini Krishna. Is international aid the panacea for Africa’s problems? https://www.jstor.org/stable/48505001 World Affairs, Autumn 2007, Vol. 11 No 3
(3) Declaration of the Forum for Food Sovereignty, Nyéléni Village (Sélingué, Mali). 27.2.07
https://nyeleni.org/IMG/pdf/DeclNyeleni-en.pdf
(4) Dario Dongo. Farmers’ rights, UN Declaration. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 23.11.18
(5) Dario Dongo, Alessandra Mei. Pesticide residues in organic products, accidental contamination under control. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 18.10.22
(6) Dario Dongo, Giulia Caddeo. People’s campaign for peasant agriculture, waiting for the law. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 6.9.19
(7) Dario Dongo, Giulia Caddeo. Social agriculture, the opportunities awaiting support. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 1.5.21
(8) Dario Dongo. Nextalia sgr, Coldiretti’s new tentacle into high finance. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 20.2.21
(9) Dario Dongo. Germina Campus, Coldiretti’s holding company speculating on farmers. #CleanSpades. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 13.6.21
(10) Dario Dongo. Malfeasance against farmers and tax evasion, Campagna Amica continues. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 10.9.21
(11) Dario Dongo. AgriCorporateFinance, yet another Coldiretti fiasco at the expense of farmers. #CleanSpades. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 15.4.22
(12) Dario Dongo. Food sovereignty in the Constitution, the example of Canton Ticino. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 15.6.21
(13) Gabriele Canali. What should we mean by food sovereignty. https://www.informatoreagrario.it/news/cosa-dobbiamo-intendere-per-sovranita-alimentare/ The Agricultural Informant. 25.10.22
(14) Dario Dongo, Sabrina Bergamini. Water and sanitation, governments and corporations. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 28.7.20
(15) Dario Dongo, Paolo Caruso. Biodiversity in agriculture, varietal mixtures of wheat and high quality organic bread. Ecosystems, health and taste. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 11.2.22
(16) Dario Dongo, Riccardo Clerici, Silvia Comunian. New GMOs, it is imperative to strengthen risk analysis. Scientific Review. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 14.6.20
(17) Dario Dongo. New GMOs serving agrotoxics. Proof of 9 in Monsanto’s new GE corn. Petition. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 4.7.20
(18) October 16, 2022, International Day of Action for Peoples’ Food Sovereignty against Transnational corporations. La Via Campesina. https://viacampesina.org/en/event/16-october-2022-international-day-of-action-for-peoples-food-sovereignty-against-transnational-corporations/
(19) Dario Dongo, Marta Strinati. Post-2020 CAP, environment and health at risk. Appeal to the EU Parliament. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 16.10.20
(20) Dario Dongo. CAP, European Commission rejects Italy’s National Strategic Plan. #CleanSpades. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 14.4.22
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.