World Food Day Seminar
“Collective
not Corporate Farming”
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23rd October 2009: Over 80 peasants gathered in Lahore to discuss issues related to food crisis and food sovereignty in a seminar organized in Lahore by ActionAid Pakistan in collaboration with Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee (PKRC) and South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE).
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Peasant leaders and agriculturalists also shared their thoughts at the occasion "Corporate farming is used by feudal lords to grab state land. It must be resisted by the peasant at all level" said Mian Asif Sharif, one of the leading agriculturists of Pakistan while talking to the peasants at the seminar. He expressed serious concern over a dearth of farmer training institutes in the country. He urged the peasants to use their indigenous resources to increase productivity and overcome the food shortage. "More productivity is the only answer to the food crisis and that is possible in Pakistan without any foreign aid". He advised the farmers to use water more carefully and only in required quantity so that this natural resource can be saved fro future use. “Farmers must stand up for their rights” he added.
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Anwar Ali, General Secretary of Sindh Farmers’ movement shared with the participants that farmers in Sindh were treated like slaves by the rich feudals. “Farmers’ exploitation must end. How can we expect hunger and food shortage to end when we are not willing to treat our food producers as human beings?”
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Suhail Javed , General Secretary of the Labour Party and known social activists said “ neo liberal agenda has hit the peasants hard. Most of the state subsidies on agriculture have been withdrawn on the instructions of IMF and World Bank. Corporate farming and forced land acquisitions from small farmers in Southern Punjab are making even the food growers go hungry”.
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Nazli Javed, a peasant women leader, described the atrocities committed on peasant women. She demanded an equal share of property for women.
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Mehr Abdul Sattar general secretary of Punjab landless Farmers’ association said that an end to feudalism was a must for food sovereignty. He said “World food day reminds us of over one billion hungry people around the globe. In order to stop this hunger, we need land reforms and transfer of land to landless small farmers.”
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The seminar was chaired by a peasant leader Mian Mohammed Ashraf who appreciated the participants for travelling long distances to convene at the seminar and sharing their thoughts and concerns on the World Food Day. He concluded the seminar by encouraging the farmers to keep up the fight “We farmers, men and women, are the food growers. We must fight hunger and help the world in fighting hunger and food insecurity. There is no option but to win this fight”.