No to Land Acquisition for private purposes

South Indian Farmers Consultation

On Land Acquisition Act

Chennai, 12 July 2011

 Report by Ashlesha Khadse and Kannaiyan

We the members of SICCFM (South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements) representing south India's farmers had a discussion in Chennai on the 12 July with the participation of various farmers’ leaders from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.

We condemn the idea of land grabbing by the state for corporate interests from those who depend on land for their livelihoods. A farmer without land is like a fish without water. Others who depend on farmers for their livelihoods also suffer an immeasurable loss when land is taken away. Some may point out that farmers are willing to sell their lands, but the bitter truth today is that India’s faulty policies are leaving us no choice. This is due to the promotion of a wrong model of agriculture and a market oriented farming system which is leading to poor and volatile prices of produce, expensive inputs, degrading lands and water tables, loss of agro-diversity, lack of public services and mass suicides due to indebtedness. This is the reason that some farmers are doing the unthinkable – selling off their lands at the great price of the loss of identify, livelihood and breakdown of their community. They do this at the prospect of some short term monetary gain in a desperate situation but this is no long term solution to India's development. This trend will only swell up the numbers of the poor, increase urban migration, unemployment and slums in cities.  India cannot put its food producers through this loss of dignity. That is why we have come up with the following demands on the new law that will govern land sales from farmers for development purposes. Let’s have a law that will uphold people's rights over resources as the main basis of development.

The general principles on land needs for development

1.    We say no to land acquisition for private purposes. If industries need land then they can buy lands at the market prices in the real estate market from willing sellers. We need a government authority to make sure that no private entity uses underhand methods like harassing, bribery etc to purchase lands without farmers consent. Heavy penalties should be imposed on such cheaters.

2.    The concept of eminent domain should be nullified. The state cannot have the right to alienate anyone from their land.  If land is needed for a government project for public purpose and for development purposes then a democratic discussion should take place with the land owners and a transparent process should carry out the establishment of the public purpose behind the proposed project, the terms of compensation and rehabilitation and only after prior informed consent of the affected community and gram sabhas should the project planning start.

3.    We reject forceful acquisition of land. Land can be forcefully acquired only from those holding excess lands above land ceiling to be used for development and upliftment of the poor, agriculture and rural economy based livelihood generation and housing for the poor. 

4.    Prior informed consent should the primary guiding principle behind receiving land for public purposes.

5.    We demand an end to the 'urgency clause'. No forceful acquisitions should take place.

6.    Least or no displacement should take place. Options assessments must form part of all proposed projects.

7.    Land cannot be turned into uses that are unproductive. Especially cultivable land use should be reserved for agricultural purposes only.

8.    The rights of women and minorities should be protected at all times and their right to land should be recognized.

9.    Land titles should not be transferred if possible.  We may consider ideas like long term leasing of land, but the land should be returned to the original owners in the original condition after the use is over.  

If land is needed for government projects directed towards development and public purpose then then we demand the following to be incorporated in the law that will govern this process:-

1. Compensation:

1.    10 times the value of the market price should be given. Market price means the operative prices at the time of purchase.

2.    The compensation should also take into consideration the future price and value increase for the next 20 years as a result of the change in the land use.

3.    If the land seller so desires then a choice should be available to them to receive that part of the compensation which is above and over the lump sum land price in monthly instalments over the next 33 years.

4.    The land losers should also be given a percentage share in the new upcoming project.

5.    Shares and debentures cannot form part of the main compensation but can only be offered above and beyond the compensation so as to avoid any losses to the land givers.

6.    Compensation should be given in joint accounts with women of the family as well as land titles in the case of land for land should be in the name of both men and women.

7.    Those people whose livelihoods will be affected such as dependents on the land [labourers, tenants etc] should be counted as affected persons and also receive compensation or solatium.

2. Rehabilitation

1.    Those losing livelihood should receive the first priority for jobs in the proposed project and if there is a skill gap then training should be provided. One member of the family should be guaranteed a government job as a result of the loss of livelihood

2.    Land for land should be the first principle of rehabilitation.

3.    A transparent process with participation of the affected people should drive the designing of the rehabilitation package. This should ensure that the people rehabilitated are left better off than before. Their incomes should be at least 6 times better under the new rehabilitated project.

4.    Strategies should be created to ensure that the communities’ development needs are fulfilled. The community should discuss its needs and decide how to include these in the rehabilitation project.

3. Mechanisms

1.    We demand a process that is transparent and democratic. It should include the participation of the concerned gram sabhas at all levels of the project planning and implementation.

2.    We demand one national authority for the entire land receiving, compensation and rehabilitation process.

3.    This authority should be of easy access to affected persons.

4.    The decisions of this authority should be challengeable at the court.

2. Issues before receiving land

1.    Prior informed consent should be taken.

2.    Public purpose should be established.

3.    Options assessments should be done. Displacement should be the last option.

4.    Social impact assessments and environmental impact assessments should be undertaken.

5.    Compensation and rehabilitation should be completed first before taking possession of the land.

3. Violations and misuse

1.    Land that is not used within 5 years should be returned to the original owners. It cannot be auctioned off for other purposes with the government pocketing the profits. If a new purpose is needed then the entire process for prior informed consent should be initiated.

2.    Stringent penalties should be formulated to penalize any violations of the new act.

Other demands

-        The repealing of the outdated 1894 land acquisition act and a new law for both land purchasing and rehabilitation. This law should have a name that highlights the real development needs of the people and does not reduce the land sellers to victims but recognizes their right to land.

-        A national public consultation should take place to define “public purpose”.

-        There should be an immediate stop to all ongoing land acquisitions until the new law is brought out to the satisfaction of the people.

-        A White paper should be released on all past land acquisitions and their current status.

Endorsed by:

Thamizhaga Vivasayigal Sangam

Uzhavar Ulaippalar Katchi

KarnatakaRajya Rayatha Sangam (KRRS)

Kerela Coconut Farmers Association

Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha

And representatives of farmers groups in Tamil Nadu including CIFA, Tamil Nadu.

For further details:

S.Kannaiyan,
Convener,
SICCFM.
+919444989543
siccfm@gmail.com,
sukannaiyan69@gmail.com

PEOPLES ALLIANCE CAN DEFEAT FREE TRADE AGREEMENT AGENDA

                        KERALA SWATANTRA MATSYA THOZHILALI FEDERATION (KSMTF): 

                                                               www.keralafishworkers.org

__________________________________________________________________________________

                                                     18 January 2011, Thiruvanathapuram  

MEDIA RELEASE

Thiruvanathapuram: A southern India level seminar was organised on 17 January 2011 in the city on Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). Groups from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and New Delhi participated in the one day meet organised jointly by Kerala Swatantra Matsya Thozilali Federation (KSMTF), South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements (SICCFM) and two Delhi based groups Focus on the Global South and Madhyam. The meeting was called in the context where the Government of India is implementing and negotiating more than 30 FTAs in an undemocratic and non-transparent manner.  

‘India’s enthusiasm for FTAs, in the context of the current global crises when countries are eschewing trade liberalisation and concentrating on reviving domestic economies and creating jobs, defies economic logic’ said K N Harilal of the Centre for Development Studies and member of the Kerala State Planning Board. Harilal further added that ‘with the abrogation of the right to raise tariffs and the right to intervene in the market on crucial issues such as finance, agriculture and fisheries the Central Government is fundamentally undermining the Indian constitution’.

Primary tropical commodity prices are prone to sharp price fluctuations and tend to decline in the long term. Those that believe that the current steep rise in rubber prices in Kerala is because of the ASEAN-India FTA and will continue to rise do not understand basics of commodity trade’, concluded Harilal.

Economist and Author Kavaljit Singh from the Delhi based Public Interest Research Centre said that ‘in a situation with some 500 million citizens without a bank account and 292 under-banked districts, de-regulating banking rules to facilitate the entry of more European banks, would undermine the public banking sector and financial inclusion. Under the EU-India FTA the crisis ridden European banking industry is demanding that India open up to products such as derivatives which ironically led to the Euro zone crisis’.

Nandini from the Karnataka Rajya Ryota Sangha (KRRS) said farmers from Karnataka had joined with farmers and fishworkers from Kerala in blockading the Mangalore port in November 2009 against the ASEAN-India FTA. ‘We will have to resort to such direct actions if the Government does not listen to our demands to stop free trade in agriculture’ she said.

Usha Jayakumar from Thanal said that the possibility of value addition for agriculture products is negated through the ASEAN-India FTA. ‘If one examines the tariff schedule of the agreement, while some primary commodities such as coconut are on the sensitive list, semi and processed forms of the same product are not’.

Lawyer Kajal Bhardwaj from New Delhi said that European pharmaceutical companies such as Bayer were lobbying for patent rights for life-saving drugs through the EU-India FTA and this would ensure that many medicines are out of reach of common people.

T Peter of KSMTF said that the fight against FTAs was not a sectoral fight of the fishworkers. Government employees, farmers, workers from small and medium enterprises, dalits and adivasis need to come together to counter this anti-people pro corporate agenda of the Government. ‘Only such a broad people’s alliance can win this fight’. He further added that KSMTF would reach out to other groups to have more such regional meetings in South India in the immediate future.

Other groups that participated include Kerala Coconut Farmers Association, South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies (SIFFS) and National Fishworkers Forum. (Ends)

==================================================================

For more information contact T Peter: + 91-9447429243. ksmtf@keralafishworkers.org 

Our memorandum to Tamil Nadu Agriculture University

South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers’ Movements

(SICCFM)

636, Ideal Homes Township,

Raja Rajeswari Nagar, Bangalore -5600098. Karnataka.

Telephone +91 94444089543

Email: siccfm@gmail.com

To:

                                                                                                            October 29, 2010

The Vice Chancellor,

Tamil Nadu Agriculture University,

Coimbatore.

Dear Sir,

Sub: Cancelling all collaborative research projects with corporations like Mahyco, Monsanto & others – stopping appropriation of farmers’ resources

This is with regard to the various collaborative research projects that your University has with corporations like Mahyco, Monsanto and others, especially with regard to transgenic seed development (Bt Brinjal, for instance) and testing (Monsanto’s GM Maize, for instance).

We, farmers and consumers representing more than 15 states of the country, have come into your University as part of Kisan Swaraj Yatra today, to highlight the agrarian distress that Indian farmers are steeped in and the lack of accountability displayed by agricultural universities/NARS to stem the distress by way of promoting sustainable technologies and stopping toxic, ‘treadmill’ technologies that are making farming unviable, eroding natural resources and providing toxic food to consumers.

The Kisan Swaraj Yatra is a nation-wide mobilization drawing fresh attention to the continuing agricultural crisis in India, and calling for a comprehensive new path for Indian agriculture – that will provide livelihood and food security for small farmers, keep our soils alive, and our food and water poison-free. It set off on Gandhi Jayanti at Sabarmati Ashram and will end on December 11^th 2010 at Rajghat, Delhi, after covering 20 states in all. Thousands of farmers and consumers are joining this Yatra around the country to highlight the role of anti-farmer policies adopted by the government in deepening the distress and in particular, to highlight the contribution of faulty agricultural technologies promoted by the agri-research establishment.

We are concerned in particular about the role that TNAU has played in allowing corporations like Mahyco to appropriate farmers’ varieties in the guise of collaborative research. Your University, as a sub-licensee to Mahyco, provided the company with brinjal varieties that were essentially derived from farmers’ varieties and after backcrossing for the Bt gene, these varieties were returned as Bt Brinjal varieties to you. However, Mahyco has proprietary rights over the EE1 event and we would like to know from the University who the Bt Brinjal varieties now belong to – who owns them?

Further, we would like to find out from the University why Bt Brinjal is needed when ecological pest management options exist for controlling pests and diseases in crops like Brinjal. TNAU has itself evolved several such NPM (Non pesticidal management) options for brinjal pest management along with groups like NRI, UK, as we are aware. Why can’t the technology transfer gap be bridged for technologies like NPM rather than going in for hazardous, unproven-to-be-safe technologies?

We would like to know from the University whether there has been any analysis taken up by the University on the current agrarian crisis in the country and the role of agricultural technologies in increasing indebtedness, eroding/contaminating resources and making farming unviable.

We would also like to know what independent tests has the University taken up to assess the biosafety of Bt Brinjal apart from falling back on a corporation’s word for it, of which you are a sub-licensee? As a public sector body being run by taxpayers’ funds, why was not any independent study taken up by your University on conclusive evidence related to biosafety, including long term implications?

We are concerned about disproportionate investments going into transgenic research compared to sustainable, ecological options and would like to know from the University whether this has been assessed and analysed in the University and which technologies have been assessed to be more sustainable, for the benefit of farmers and consumers.

WE would like the University to assure the farmers of Tamil Nadu that it would stop facilitating appropriation of farmers’ varieties by corporations, that it would immediately stop all transgenic trials that it is taking up, that it would recast its agriculture research mandate to keep sustainability as a key parameter for all projects and that it would promote existing environment-friendly, affordable & safe technologies as the way forward for the extension system to pick up too. It is also important for the University to document and disseminate farmers’ practices that are sustainable, viable, safe and affordable.

We request you to address all these issues of concern and we hope to hear from you at the earliest on these issues.

Sincerely,

Signed by farmers leaders and kisan Swaraj Yatra participants.

                                               

“FARMERS DONATE MONEY TO TAMIL NADU AGRI UNIVERSITY (TNAU) & URGE IT TO TAKE UP RESEARCH FOR THEM ON SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE”

Here is the press release of SICCFM which was shared to the media during a demonstration organised by South Indian Coordination Committee of farmers movements( SICCFM) during Kisan Swaraj Yatra's arrival in Coimbatore on 29th October, 2010 to oppose anti people land acquisition acts and TNAU's US Aid led research for TNCs . This press release was widely ignored by English media including The Hindu, the reason is known only to them.

 - S.Kannaiyan

 _____________________________________________________________________________________

South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers’ Movements

(SICCFM)

Telephone +91 94444089543

Email: siccfm@gmail.com

Press Release

Coimbatore, October 29, 2010: Accusing the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University (TNAU) of taking up research that benefits only agri-business corporations in various collaborative research projects and of facilitating appropriation of farmers’ varieties, hundreds of farmers raised money to donate the TNAU, urging it to take up research for them and not just for corporations. This was done as part of the Kisan Swaraj Yatra, which arrived in Coimbatore today, on its last day in Tamil Nadu. Farmers here also picked up the issue of land appropriation for more than 150 SEZs, road Neelambur bye pass road construction and airport expansion and demanded that the government of Tamil Nadu stop appropriating farmers’ resources. Various farmers associations affiliated to South Indian Coordinated Committee of Farmers Movements staged a Dharna in front of Red Cross society.

Speaking about large scale acquisition of land in the state, Dr M R Shivasamy, President, Tamizhaga Vivasayigal Sangam said, “The central Land Acquisition Act is a colonial Act even as the Tamil Nadu Land Acquisition Act is more draconian than the Central Act. The various departments of state and central governments are empowered to acquire farmers’ lands under these objectionable laws. The large scale farm lands acquisition underway in the state for SEZs and to formation of lands to road construction such as Neelambur Bye Pass road and airport expansion is uprooting farmers from their land and destroying their livelihoods. Tamizhaga Vivasayigal Sangam demands an immediate repealing of these Acts and an immediate end to diversion of agricultural land to other purposes and forcible land acquisition” He has also said that all the bye pass road schemes in Coimbatore and Triupur districts to be canselled.

Chellamuthu, President , Uzhavar Uzhaipalar Katchi said, “The TNAU going ahead with Bt Brinjal development and other GM crop trials is objectionable given that the Chief minister of Tamil Nadu and the state government has already expressed its apprehensions to the Centre on this front. The University has to draw its mandate from what farmers need and want, and from the state government and not get into these partnerships with corporations like MNC since they are bringing in a little money into the University. Today, we have come to tell the University symbolically that the farmers would also pay it if that is the only way this public sector body will take up pro-farmer research agendas”.

Referring to the Tamil Nadu State Agricultural Council Act of 2009, L K Sadagopan of Uzhavar Periakkam demanded that the government should immediately drop the Act. “This is an anti-farmer piece of legislation. It completely de-recognises the knowledge of farmers and believes that agricultural knowledge and skills come only from universities. IN the garb of regulating agricultural practice in the state, it seeks to legitimize corporate control over farming here, it seeks to convert knowledge of agriculture into the exclusive domain of those holding a degree from the universities listed. This is completely unacceptable”, he said.

Kannaiyan, Convenor of South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers’ Movements (SICCFM), objected to the University facilitating the appropriation of farmers’ varieties. “Farmers’ varieties, given in good trust to the University by farming communities, are being allowed by the University to be appropriated by corporations like Mahyco in the name of collaborative research projects. We will not allow the University, which has been set up in our name, to use taxpayers’ funds for acting as corporate agents. We demand that the University immediately scrap all agreements with Monsanto, Mahyco and such other corporations”, he said.

Subbu Ravikumar of Bhavani Riverwater and Groundwater Protection Committee brought up the issue of mindless industrialization around rivers like Bhavani and Noyyal which is polluting the river waters. “Discharging of effluents into these water bodies should be stopped immediately. The water is rendering much irrigated land useless”, he said.

Farmers from Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, as part of the Kisan Swaraj Yatra, extended their solidarity to the Tamil Nadu farmers who are taking up the cause of conserving and protecting farmers’ resources and rights.

The Kisan Swaraj Yatra is a nation-wide mobilization drawing fresh attention to the continuing agricultural crisis in India, and calling for a comprehensive new path for Indian agriculture – that will provide livelihood and food security for small farmers, keep our soils alive, and our food and water poison-free. It set off on Gandhi Jayanti at Sabarmati Ashram and will end on December 11^th 2010 at Rajghat, Delhi, after covering 20 states in all. So far, the Yatra traversed through Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and will enter Kerala tomorrow.

For more information, visit www.kisanswaraj.in and contact:

S.Kannaiyan, South Indian Coordination committee of Farmers Movements (SICCFM): 09444989543.

siccfm@gmail.com

 

There is no alternative to organic farming: farmer

Date:25/10/2010 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2010/10/25/stories/2010102560250300.htm Back Karnataka - Bangalore There is no alternative to organic farming: farmer Staff Reporter Kisan Swaraj Yatra reaches Bangalore — Photo: K. Murali Kumar PROGRESSIVE:Kodihalli Chandrashekar (left), president, KRRS, Kultar Singh, progressive farmer from Punjab, Kavitha Kuruganti, convener, Kisan Swaraj Yatra, in Bangalore on Sunday. Bangalore: “Green Revolution has ruined Punjab. Our rivers are devastated and this has affected aquatic life. All these are the evil design of the perpetuators of the Green Revolution,” charged Kultar Singh, a progressive farmer from Punjab. Addressing farmers and civil society members at the Institute of Agricultural Technologists here on Sunday, he said that Punjab was at a point of no return. “The country should learn from Punjab's mistake. Today, multi-national companies are funding research in agriculture universities. There is no option but to go organic and green,” he said. Mr. Singh was here as part of the Kisan Swaraj Yatra, a pan-Indian bus tour by Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) for the cause of “Food, Farmers and Freedom”. The yatra that began at Sabarmati Ashram on October 2 will reach Raj Ghat, New Delhi, on December 11. Kavitha Kuruganti of Kheti Virasat Mission said that the yatra has received tremendous response from farmers across the State. “There was a near-unanimous understanding of the corporate stranglehold over farming which is making agriculture unviable and eroding our resources,” she said. Later, she presented data compiled from official records of the past several years of Bt cotton cultivation in Karnataka. She pointed out that Bt cotton has not lived up to its claims or promises. She said that organic farming was the only hope for the revival of agricultural sector in the country. “Organic farming can be self-reliant, environmentally-friendly and profitable. We have to bring back farmers to the sector. The people who should go out of the sector are Prime Minister and Union Agriculture Minister and multinational companies such as Monsanto,” she said. Kodihalli Chandrashekar, president of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, said that the State Government should step up its efforts in promoting ecological farming and set an example for other States to follow. There should be greater efforts to conserve seed diversity, to build capabilities of farmer-breeders and to promote agro-diversity. He said that Bt cotton was not a success, as was being claimed. “No new cotton variety has been developed by our agriculture universities over the past decade. The farmers have no option but to cultivate Bt cotton. Our scientists should hang their heads in shame for not being able to develop a new variety,” he said. He said that MNCs were only interested in profiteering at the expense of farmers. “Earlier, farmers would exchange seeds among themselves. Today, seed business is done at an international level. One kg of tomato seeds is priced at Rs. 1 lakh, while one kg of brinjal seeds is Rs. 40,000,” he said. He said that punishment envisaged under the Seed Bill should be made stringent and urged the State Government to take a more pro-active role in Central legislation so that farmers' interests are protected. Farmers from Orissa, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and other States interacted with farmers here. The yatra has covered Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Goa. It will enter Tamil Nadu on Monday. The aim of the 71-day tour is to create awareness about ill-effects of biotechnology and promote ecological farming. © Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu

Our Joint Statement on WORLD FOODLESS DAY

FREE OUR FOOD, NO “FREE” TRADE  

16^th October 2010

New Delhi, India

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) observes 16^th October every year as World Food Day. As per the FAO itself, hunger remains higher than before the food crises, making it ever more difficult to achieve the hunger-reduction targets of the World Food Summit and Millennium Development Goal 1-- Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. The driving force behind  this failure has been the corporatised agriculutre system where agribusiness has been striving to control the total extent of the food  production chain – from technology, to trade, to retail distribution coupled with financial speculation.  Alternative modes of agricultural production and distribution do exist and have shown the potential of food sufficiency and ecological harmony. Peoples' organisations all over the world have been struggling to promote these against a dysfunctional global agricultural system that cannot but lead to world food-less days. At a time when India is set to sign FTAs with a number of countries that are the domains of  agribusiness we  reiterate our call against the “free” global trading system and call attention to how it aggravates hunger and the food crisis.

“Free” trade is actually binding countries and impacting the freedoms ability of large numbers of small food growers to survive and provide much needed food. FAO’s projections for 2010 indicate that the number of undernourished people will decline in all developing regions, although with a different pace. The region with most undernourished people continues to be Asia and the Pacific. Ironically, it is also the region with the highest number of food producers. The State of Food Insecurity (SOFI) Report 2010 says that the majority of the world’s undernourished people live in developing countries.  77% of India's population survive on less than Rs. 20 a day and early this week India has got the distinction of being ranked at 67 out of 84 countries in a new Global Hunger Index 2010. The IFPRI’s Global Hunger index ranks India in the company of a block of 25 countries, including sub-Saharan Africa, where the hunger level is ‘alarming’. Two-thirds live in just seven countries (Bangladesh, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia and Pakistan) and over 40% live in China and India alone. And this is also precisely the area where free trade policies are being pushed even more to wrench the world out of the financial crises that the very same system created in the first place.

Bilateral investment treaties (BITS) and free trade agreements (FTAs) seriously impact the lives of farmers, and consumers of food. They are increasingly being used to further liberalise farming sectors, in the hope of gaining access to new markets for agricultural exports. FTAs are being used to try to force open markets for agricultural products which have been exempted in previous trade negotiations  like the WTO, and to also target non-tariff barriers like product standards which relate to food. The rules they impose are designed for and by large and powerful companies’ economic interests, and not for the majority of the world's food producrs -- small farmers, indigenous people,  farm workers, traditional farmers or fisher folk. The rules are simply about how to control markets while reducing the very basic foundations of life like seed and food into commodities. Financial speculators also make a killing betting on food prices leading to artificially inflated prices and artificially created famine like situations. India is quite gung-ho about BITs and FTAs and today over 25 such agreements are under negotiations by the Government of India, and 6 are under implementation.

The UN Special Rapporteur, Right to Food, has already pointed to the impact of commodity speculation on food price volatility which played a decisive role in the food crises of 2008 – leading to food riots all over the world. We need agreement that food is first and trade later.

“India is increasingly becoming a food importing country. India has started importing pulses, sugar and edible oil. Policy makers think that free trade is a solution to feed hungry people. But importing food from one continent to another is not a solution when farmers can grow food locally. SICCFM believes in food sovereignty. Food grains should be grown locally and distributed locally. Free trade in agriculture is a disaster for humanity.” said S Kannaiyan of South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements. 

Small food producers have been feeding the world for centuries and various studies demonstrate that smaller farms produce far more per acre/hectare than larger ones. In the context of the climate change, small farm agriculture provides a way forward. The expansion of the industrial food system is the leading cause of climate change. Through its reliance on fossil fuels, massive exports, market concentration, erosion of soils and expansion of plantations, it generates 44-57% of the total global green house gas (GHG) emissions. This industrial food system is also completely incapable of assuring people's food and livelihood needs. Yet trade rules are only furthering the agro industrial model. This is coming at a huge cost to both our peoples and the planet.

On 16 October, the World Committee on food security, dubbed as the premier forum to discuss global hunger completed a 6-day long intergovernmental meeting along with civil society to discuss the global governance of World Food Security at FAO in Rome. Peoples' organisations have demanded “real solutions” for the worldwide permanent food crisis, as well as concrete measures to tackle the problems of speculation with food commodities and land-grabbing. They demand that small farmers voices must be heard and that processes pushed by the corporate drive for benefit should not be given legitimacy. Their demands must be heeded if we are really serious about combatting hunger worldwide.

Issued in solidarity with all those fighting against free trade agreements and for food sovereignty:

•   BKU

•  KRRS

•  Kerala Coconut Farmers Association

•  Tamil Nadu State Farmers Association

•  South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements

• La Via Campesina South Asia

•   GRAIN

•   Focus on the Global South

For more details please contact: <secretariatlvcsouthasia@gmail.com>

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Today's Paper » NATIONAL » KARNATAKA

Published: July 2, 2010 00:00 IST | Updated: July 2, 2010 04:25 IST BANGALORE, July 2, 2010

Farmers demand amendments to Seed Bill

Staff Reporter

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The South Indian Coordination Committee on Farmers' Movements (SICCFM), comprising the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), Thamizhaga Vivasayigal Sangam (TVS) and Kerala Coconut Farmers' Association, has demanded amendments to the Seed Bill. The Bill will be discussed in the coming monsoon session of the Rajya Sabha.

Speaking to presspersons here on Thursday, KRRS president Kodihalli Chandashekahar said, “The State governments must have powers under the Act to regulate company seed prices, otherwise companies will raise prices, monopolise seeds market and exploit farmers. Because of this, the food security and sovereignty of the county will be under threat.” He said he would speak to Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa on Thursday and urge him to write to the Union Government.

Mr. Chandrashekar said that SICCFM wants this Bill to have stronger infringement clauses such as compensation to farmers as well as fines that are proportionate to value and volume of company sales.

Mr. Nallagounder of TVS said, “According to the Bill, farmers have to revoke the Consumer Protection Act for compensation. This is hardly possible for a poor farmer with no legal knowledge or resources.” He said that local committees should be appointed by the State Government, so that farmers can approach them easily to receive quick and reasonable compensation within 60 days.

Seed testing

Imported seeds must be tested and produced on Indian soil. Imported seeds should prove their environmental and health safety according to Indian standards as well as match up to claims of performance made by companies, said SICCFM member Ashelsha Khadse.

Convener of SICCFM S. Kannaiyan said members would meet various political parties, Rajya Sabha members and governments of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala to make their demands before the monsoon session of the Parliament commences. He said the Seed Bill should be passed only if it protects farmers' interests.