Socio Economic Value of Ecological Agriculture

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Socio Economic Value of Ecological Agriculture

• Leonardo de León
• Department of Agro-Ecology of the UITA
• (Latin American Branch of the International
  Workers Union for Food, Agriculture, and Related
  Issues)
• Bangkok, Thailand, November 2003

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UITA International Union of Workers of Food,
Agriculture and Related IssuesAn international
federation of unionist organizations

• General Secretariat Geneva (Switzerland)
• Regional Offices
• Africa
• North America
• Asia and the Pacific
• The Caribbean
• Europe

• Latin America Regional Office
• 59 Organizations in 16 countries
• Regional Secretariat (Uruguay)

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• The UITA represents more than 3,000,000
  agricultural workers around the world.
• In many parts of the world, fundamental human
  rights are denied to such workers the right to
  freedom of association, the right to unionize and
  bargain directly with employers.
• OIT calculates that there are 170,000 deaths
  (agricultural workers, farmers, and others).

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A series of changes affected Latin American,
Asian and African agriculture

• Abandonment of subsistence agriculture in favor
  of agriculture destined for exports.
• Concentration of land ownership in the hands of
  the few.
• Deterioration of rural work conditions and the
  dissemination of salaried work.
• Expulsion of small and medium farmers from the
  sector.
• Serious environmental problems of local and
  global scale.
• Continuous rural exodus.
• The organization of farmers mainly into
  agroindustrial complexes in which the decisions
  of powerful structures such as large
  transnational companies predominate.
• Loss of sovereignty and food security

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Food insecurity

• In the world, 826 million people (one in seven)
  lack sufficient food. 792 million (96 of them)
  live in developing countries (FAO 2000).
• In the South, 78 of malnourished children under
  5 years old live in countries with food
  surpluses.
• In Latin America there is more food produced than
  necessary to feed the entire population, but half
  of Latin Americans have an unbalanced diet, due
  to inequitable distribution of income and
  resources, and acute poverty.

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The Current Food System

• Based on an industrial model, it has been and
  continues to be a failure for the small farmer,
  the agricultural worker, and the consumer.
• The policies on which this model is based have
  generated, among other effects, ecological
  devastation and the social desperation of
  agricultural communities.
• Farmers have become producers, agricultural
  workers have become salaried workers, and
  communities have become consumers. The three of
  them are completely governed by market forces,
  with the purpose of maximizing profit for the
  food industry.

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The Current Food System

• Based in productivist paradigms.
• Heavily dependent on external inputs.
• High consumption of agrotoxins and energy.
• An aesthetic criteria predominates size, shape,
  and color of food.
• Inflicts serious damage on the environment, on
  the workers health, and on citizens in general.
• Does not take into account the concepts of social
  quality, work quality, and environmental quality.
• IT SHOULD BE PART OF THE PAST

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• For all these reasons, we consider it necessary
  to develop new models based on the concept of
• FOOD SOVEREIGNTY

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Topics of Rural Salaried Workers

• Collective Assembly
• Social Security
• Employment
• Migration
• Health and Security
• Environment
• Agrotoxins
• Biodiversity
• Literacy and Education
• Professional Training
• Gender Issues
• Child Labor
• Youth Problems
• Human Rights
• Agrarian Reform
• Local Empowerment and Development
• Communications
• Legislation
• Life Conditions

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Topics of Small Farmers

• Trade
• Credit
• Taxes
• Social Security
• Inputs
• Sustainable Agriculture
• Migration
• Health and Security
• Environment
• Agrotoxins and GMOs
• Biodiversity
• Literacy and Education
• Professional Training
• Gender Issues
• Child Labor
• Youth Problems
• Human Rights
• Agrarian Reform
• Local Development

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Rural Salaried Workers
Small Farmers
Social Security Sustainable Agriculture Migration
Health and Security Environment Agrotoxins and
GMOs Biodiversity Literacy and Education Professio
nal training Gender Issues Child Labor Youth
Problems Human Rights Agrarian Reform Local
Development Communications Legislation Life
Conditions
Trade Credit Taxes Inputs
Collective Assembly
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Food Security

• The FAO defines it as the situation in which all
  population, everywhere in the world, has
  physical, social, and economic access to
  sufficient safe and nutritious food, satisfying
  the adequate food needs of an active and healthy
  life.

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Food Sovereignty

• It is the right of people to define their own
  policies and sustainable strategies for food
  production, distribution, and consumption that
  guarantee the right to food of all people.

• Based in small and medium production, respecting
  local cultures and the diversity of
  campesinos, fishermens, and indigenous way
  of farming, as well as the commercializing and
  management of rural spaces, in which women play a
  key role.

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Food Sovereignty

• Define policies and sustainable strategies of
  food production, distribution, and consumption.
• Have authentic control of the territory, natural
  resources, production systems, and management of
  rural space, seeds, knowledge, and forms of
  unionizing.
• Consider the local scale, producing abundantly
  and consuming what the region generates.
• Promote and protect the local and national
  producers.

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Ecological Agriculture

• Certified surpasses 24 million hectares
  worldwide.
• It is estimated that a similar area is managed
  with the same principles, serving as livelihood
  to the majority of the population in the third
  world.
• In Latin America, it is estimated that 70
  inhabitants food is provided by traditional
  farmers and not by conventional or transgenic
  agriculture.

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Foundations to develop agroecological models

• Recover the farmers autonomy.
• Use local, human, and material resources
  efficiently (knowledge, work, soil, agribusiness
  waste, etc.).
• Diversification and appropriate use of ecosystem
  self-regulation capacity.
• Improve the quality of life through better
  income, local food self-sufficiency, and security
  of products through agroecological practices of
  farming concerned with human and environmental
  health.

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Case Study Bella Unión, Uruguay

• Experience of a group of producers and rural
  salaried workers that develop agroecological
  practices improving their productive, economic,
  and environmental performance.

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What were the reasons for change?

• Loss of self-regulation in production systems.
• Agrotoxins
• Negative returns
• Debt
• Food Insecurity

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Which have been the strategies in this process of
change?

• The instruments of agroecological practices
• Biofumigation, vegetative covers, organic waste
  recycling, crop diversification, etc.

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Biofumigation

• Action of volatile substances produced in the
  decomposition of organic matter over the control
  of pathogens in plants.

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Vegetative Covers
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Organic Waste Recycling
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Crop Diversification
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What have been the main strategies in this
process of change?

• Chacras, properties, or demonstration farms.
• Experiences with reference farmers.

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What have been the strategies in the process of
change?

• From farmer to farmer

As said by a farmer, the farmers hear with
their eyes, and as others say, words convince
but examples pull. This type of work creates
enthusiasm and desire to learn more about
agroecological practices.
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What have been the strategies in this process of
change?

• Participative research.
• Democratic, horizontal, and integrative of
  scientific and folk knowledge.

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What have been the strategies in this process of
change?

• Local commercialization developing the concepts
  of fair price and solidarity in consumption,
  which should be based on the criteria of mutual
  trust between the farmer and consumer.

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Impact of innovations in agroecosystems
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Conclusions

• The change in agricultural practices was only
  possible when scientific and traditional
  knowledge became integrated, in a process of
  participative research.
• These experiences, based on the concept of food
  sovereignty, show that there is no future for
  these production strategies if they dont take
  into account the work and social conditions of
  agricultural workers, and if the food produced is
  not accessible to the whole population.
• It is necessary develop the concepts of fair
  price and solidarity in consumption, which should
  be based in mutual trust between producer and
  consumer.
• When commercializing transcends the local market,
  participative and free certification systems
  should be established within a solidarity in
  trade model.

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• We should have quality food products for
  everyone. We want agriculture to be compatible
  with the environment, but for that we must start
  to realize that agriculture is not a problem just
  for farmers, but a problem for everybody
• Antonio Bello and Simon R. Gowen
• Agroecology and Protection of Crops. Ecosystems
  7, Madrid, 1993. Cited by Jorge Riechmann in The
  Ecologification of agriculture and the problem of
  employment. Document of Work of 1st of May
  Foundation.

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• Following the road we have taken, we are creating
  an agriculture capable of generating
• Well being for all