All people have the right to food

In many places, people have lost traditional knowledge of how to produce food. And because of rapidly changing conditions, such as overcrowded communities, less fertile land, and changing weather, old methods often no longer work. When people do not know how to produce food, hunger and a lack of food security is the result. One solution to this problem is to maintain, pass on, and improve knowledge through farmer field schools, farmer to farmer education programs, and agricultural extension services.

All people have the right to food that is safe, healthy, and culturally acceptable to them. Food sovereignty is the right to determine our own food systems, and make sure every community has food security. Security can be achieved only through food sovereignty — when farmers and peasants have the right to decide what foods they produce and how much to sell them for, and when consumers have the right to decide what they consume and who they buy it from. In some places, Vía Campesina pressures politicians and corporations to respond to the demands of local farmers’ unions. In other places they support landless farmers working to reclaim unused farmlands. They also help build local institutions that distribute food fairly to those most in need.  When a huge earthquake and tsunami (a massive tidal wave) struck Indonesia in 2005, most of the people affected by the disaster were farmers and fishers. Vía Campesina provided aid, but rather than simply bringing food and other materials from outside the area, they worked with local organizations to buy food, tools, and other materials from local small producers. They raised important issues such as the origin of food aid (whether it was local or imported), the way farm reconstruction would happen (whether it promoted family based production or large food corporations), and how to strengthen local organizations (not make them dependent on aid).

Most of the money Vía Campesina raised was used for long-term reconstruction, such as rebuilding houses and fishing boats, making new tools for farmers and fishers, and restoring farm lands to production. By focusing on the self-reliance of the people affected by the disaster, Vía Campesina promoted not just short-term recovery, but long-term food sovereignty.

The Importance of Social and Political Causes of Hunger in the community

When food is treated as just another product to be bought and sold instead of something all people need and have a right to, profit from selling food becomes more important than feeding people, and community health suffers. Many people now shop for food in stores owned by large corporations. They buy foods made by large corporations, grown on land owned by large corporations, using seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides produced by large corporations.

Corporate control of all parts of food security forces farmers out of business and off their land. When corporations use land to grow food to sell outside the region, people living and working in those communities must eat food brought in from elsewhere, if they can afford to buy it. Corporations profit from this food “insecurity” as communities, and whole countries, become dependent on the global market for food. When the market fails to meet people’s food needs, people go hungry and corporations profit further by selling food to governments to be distributed as food aid. Until people have control of their food security, hunger will be the biggest product of the corporations that control the production and distribution of food. In Zimbabwe, farmers once planted many kinds of grains. During the Green Revolution of the 1960s, the government and international agencies brought a new kind of maize for farmers to plant. Farmers liked the hybrid maize because it had large grains, grew quickly, and was easy to sell. The government bought much of their crop, and then resold it to other countries and to cities in Zimbabwe where food was scarce. Over time, maize became the most common food to eat in Zimbabwe, and most farmers grew it in large quantities. Then came years of drought. Very little rain fell over the fields of Zimbabwe and other countries in southern Africa. The maize grew poorly, and there was little else to eat. Many families had stored grains for times of hunger, but much of their stores of maize had rotted. This was a surprise, because the millet and sorghum they used to grow had lasted many seasons in storage.

When the rains finally started, they came in huge storms that uprooted crops and washed away precious soil from the dry fields. Hunger grew so severe in Zimbabwe that the government was forced to ask for food aid from the United Nations. Large shipments of maize came in by airplane and were handed out to hungry people across the country. But food aid and the new hybrid seeds could not solve the long term problem of hunger and food security. The farmers realized they could not bring more rain, but they could change how they farmed to make better use of the rain. Farmers began to collect and plant seeds from small grain crops such as sorghum and millet that had always grown well in Zimbabwe. Farmers planted every kind of seed they could get. If drought destroyed one crop, others would surely survive. Some farmers left their crop stubble to rot in the field after harvest, protecting their soil from washing away during the hard rains. The next season, their soil was still soft and good for planting. Some farmers planted lab beans after the grain harvest so something was always growing. They could feed these beans to livestock, and the bean plants also helped to hold and enrich the soil. It still rains less in Zimbabwe than it once did. But some farmers there no longer rely on non-native seeds or international food aid, and have become better able to prevent hunger, by growing crops that can survive the drought.

Ever since the “Green Revolution” of the 1960s, corporations and international agencies have claimed they can “feed the world” with “improved seeds,” chemical fertilizers, and pesticides. While they have succeeded in gaining control of farm land, seed supplies, marketing and distribution systems, and so on, they have failed to stop world hunger, and have often made hunger worse.

What Improving local lood security for the community

Every government should try to make sure people do not go hungry. National governments can make policies that promote the use of land for family farms, protect against pollution of farmlands, make affordable credit available to farmers, and help farmers solve problems. Some national governments offer subsidies (money to support farmers, food buyers, or both) as a way to improve food security. Kinds of subsidies include price supports to help farmers by setting a higher market price for the foods they produce, and price controls for food buyers (consumers) to make sure that important foods are affordable.

Government support is often misused by giving it to corporations that own large industrial farms or produce and distribute unhealthy foods. When government support is corrupted by pressure from large corporations, the result is often more hunger and malnutrition. But with or without government support, there are many ways people can improve local food security. From planting a small garden to organizing a farmers’ market, changes that improve food security can often bring results quickly and motivate people to do more. Food security is strongest when food is produced and distributed locally. Locally grown food is fresher and so more nutritious. It builds the local economy as money circulates to farmers and businesses in the area. And it helps build relationships among people, making communities stronger and healthier places to live. Because poor communities often have little land and few food markets, regaining control of food production and distribution is Community food programs help especially important for them. Most of these projects can be started with little land or money, and help communities get more fresh food. (1)Family gardens add healthy vegetables and fruits to the family meal. (2) School gardens can provide fresh food for children and help keep children in school by providing nourishment. And they teach children to grow food, making sure this important knowledge stays alive! (3) Community gardens provide food and places for people to get together, even if they do not own land. Community gardens can also help people learn about food production, develop skills, and start new businesses such as restaurants and markets. Even small gardens can make a big difference to food security. (4) Community supported agriculture is when farmers sell their food directly to consumers. People pay the farmers before the crops are planted, and then receive fresh fruits, vegetables and other foods each week throughout the harvest season. By making this investment, consumers help farmers stay on the land and in business while getting a dependable supply of nutritious food. (5) Seed saving programs help make sure that traditional seed supplies are available. A variety of seeds is the basis of sustainable farming and self-sufficient communities. The world now produces more than enough food for everyone, but people still go hungry. This is partly because food prices are often higher than people can afford, and healthy food is often not available to the poorest people. Government support is important to make sure prices are fair for both buyers and sellers of food. Some ways people work locally to make sure healthy food is available at fair prices include:

•  Farmers markets reduce transportation costs and the need for merchants in the middle, so farmers can earn more and consumers pay less. Farmers’ markets also let consumers meet and talk with the people who grow their food. This helps farmers learn what consumers need and helps consumers know what farmers do to bring them food.
• Food cooperatives are markets partly or entirely owned by the workers and people who buy food there. Food coop members pay part of their food bill by working at the market. Most food coops try to buy and sell locally grown food.
• Farmer’s cooperatives help farmers get better prices for what they grow, and still offer better prices to consumers.

Safe food storage is as important as the ability to grow food or have access to food. Drought, storms, flooding, pests, or illness can all leave a family or community with not enough to eat and nothing to sell. Community food storage programs can help overcome these problems. For example, on the Pacific island of Temotu, hurricanes frequently destroy many crops. To improve food security, communities build big, communal pits to store fermented cassava, unripe plantains, bananas, and breadfruit. Everyone contributes to making and filling the pits. When crops are destroyed and people are hungry, they use this stored food. Food banks are places where food is collected and then given away to those in need. Food banks help during a hunger crisis. But because people may come to depend on them, they are not a good solution to long term food security. When entire regions suffer from hunger, food aid from international agencies can help them get through the crisis. Food aid is a short term solution to food security, but it does not solve the long term need for food sovereignty.

Why Community changes in farming

In Prey Veng, Cambodia, people have grown enough rice to feed themselves for as long as anyone can remember. Along with rice, they traditionally ate wild greens, fish, eels, snakes and other animals from the rice paddy, as well as fruits, nuts, and roots from the forest, and meat from animals they hunt. This diet gave them good health all year round, except in times of war or flooding.

More than 40 years ago, the government began to promote new farming methods to increase production of a few main crops, like rice, for export. These new methods were part of a worldwide change in agriculture, the deceptively named Green Revolution. The Green Revolution encouraged the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers to produce more rice than traditional methods. It also used large irrigation systems and machinery to plant and harvest.

When they started using these new farming methods, the people of Prey Veng were able to produce large amounts of rice to sell. They used the money to improve their houses, build roads, and buy personal goods like clothes and radios. The villagers stopped using animal manure, stopped rotating rice with dry season crops, and stopped using other traditional farming methods as well.

The new methods worked very well for growing large areas of a single crop, and increased the amount of rice they had. But over time, they discovered that their land and the way they ate had changed. Herbicides killed the wild greens the villagers had eaten before. Fish and other wild foods grew scarce. Year by year they spent more money on chemicals and had nothing but rice to eat. Before long, the soil in their fields no longer supported healthy crops, and rice yields began to go down.

Coming together to discuss the growing hunger, the villagers recalled the old ways of farming that used mixed crops, field rotations, and natural fertilizers to grow crops all year round. They saw many advantages to the traditional methods, and decided to change back. They also began trying new methods like planting rice plants closer together and growing different crops in the same field

Understanding the problems from unsafe water for community

No one can live without water. To be healthy, people need enough water and they need the water to be safe. Water is not safe when germs and worms from get into it. The germs and worms can be passed through the water or from one person to another, causing many serious health problems and affecting a whole community.

Chemicals from agriculture, industry, and mining, and trash dumping can also make our water unsafe and cause illnesses such as skin rashes, cancers, and other serious health problems. Not having enough water for drinking, cooking, and washing can lead to sickness. Especially when there is no way to wash hands after using the toilet, diarrhea diseases spread quickly from person to person. A shortage of water for personal cleanliness can also lead to infections of the eyes and skin. Lack of water can cause dehydration (losing too much water in the body) and death. Not having enough water may be due to drought (dry weather for a long time), the high cost of water, or because water has not been well conserved. Contamination of water can make the effects of water scarcity worse, and likewise, water scarcity can make contamination more serious.

Many people do not have enough water to meet their daily needs. When there is not enough water to wash, people can get infections such as scabies and trachoma. Not having enough water to drink and wash with can also cause infections of the bladder and kidneys, especially in women. In hospitals and other health centers, if there is not enough water for washing, infections can spread from person to person. Especially for children, not having enough water can mean dehydration and death. Women’s burden

When water is scarce, the people who collect and carry water — usually women and children — have to travel long distances and carry very heavy loads. This leads to injuries to their necks, backs, and hips. Collecting water often takes so much time and strength that they and their families use much less water than they would if it was plentiful. The search for water can take so much time that the other work women do to support family health, including caring for children and tending crops, does not get done. Water is used to reduce fevers and to clean wounds and skin infections. Drinking a lot of water helps to prevent and treat diarrhea, urinary infections, coughs, and constipation. Washing hands with soap and water after using the toilet and before eating or handling food also helps prevent many illnesses.

Water is unsafe when it contains germs, worms, or toxic chemicals. Germs (tiny living things, too small to see, that cause many kinds of illness) and worms, such as whipworm, hookworm, and roundworm, cause many serious illnesses. Germs and worms live in human and animal waste (urine and feces) and can cause serious and long-lasting illnesses when (1) there is not a good way to get rid of human and animal wastes. (2) Water supplies are not protected and kept clean. (3) There is not enough water to wash. Some of the illnesses they cause, such as cholera, spread quickly and can cause many deaths. Other illnesses from germs and worms can cause years of sickness and lead to other health problems such as dehydration, infections, anemia (weak blood), and malnutrition. Because the most common sign of illnesses from germs and worms is diarrhea, these illnesses are sometimes called diarrhea diseases.