Declaration at ‘South Asian Regional Seminar on preparing inputs for FAO Special Session of the committee on Food Security’

30th June, 2006
Katmandu, Nepal

We, the people of South Asia representing farmers, agricultural workers, indigenous people, dalits, peasant women, fisher folk, Shepherds, NGOs, mass organizations, students, artisans, peoples cultural activists, media, youth, researchers, agricultural scientists and trade union movements assembled in Katmandu, Nepal on June 29th and 30th 2006 on the occasion of ‘South Asian Regional Seminar on preparing inputs for FAO Special Session of the committee on Food Security’ reaffirm that ‘Food Sovereignty is the inalienable right of peoples, communities and countries to define decide and implement their own agricultural, labor, fishing, food and land policies which are ecologically, socially, economically and culturally appropriate to their unique circumstances. It includes the true right to food and to produce food which means that all people have right to safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food and to food producing resources and technologies and ability to sustain themselves, their resources and societies’.

In order to achieve the goal of Food Sovereignty we demand an International Convention on Food Sovereignty and peasant rights in order to enshrine the principles of food sovereignty in international law and institute food sovereignty as the principal policy framework for addressing food and agriculture.

On this occasion we also demand that the national governments should declare food sovereignty as a fundamental right and incorporate in the national constitutions. In order to achieve these we also strongly demand that all the national governments in South Asia must take immediate steps to

• Implement genuine agrarian reforms ensuring land to tillers and landless peasants
• Raise voices demanding WTO out of Agriculture
• Pursue the spirit of Convention on Biodiversity with active participation of peasants
• Ensure no privatization of common productive resources land and water, social services and life forms
• Ensure women’s equal participation and rights in all respects of socio-economic life including proportional representation
• Ensure no patents rights on life forms
• Ensure no biopiracy
• Say no to Genetic Engineering in agriculture
• Stop conversion of agril. lands to non agricultural use and from food to non food crops
• Ensure implementation of fair prices to farmers and fair share in the price
• Maintain national sovereignty of taking economic decisions-rejecting blanket privatization and liberalization
• Declare a time bound plan to implement regenerative and sustainable agriculture nation wide.
• Ensure farmers Sovereign right over seed
• Declare guaranteed employment with minimum and equal wages without gender discrimination
• Not to sign any agreements which lead to dumping of agriculture products
• Establish peasants commission headed by peasants
• Initiate appropriate acts and mechanisms to protect the interests of peasants
• Protect and promote indigenous knowledge of farming and artisan communities
• Respect farmers rights of the other countries
• Ensure representation of peasants and peasants’ associations in legislative bodies
• Ensure genuine peasants participation in any decision affecting farming communities

We also demand that IFIs should be within the governance framework of United Nations. We also demand enactment and effective enforcement of peasants law through peasant courts where ever necessary.

In this context we also commit ourselves to
• Promote local resource based, regenerative, sustainable models in agriculture
• Research, document, and share experiences in sustainable agriculture across the region
• Establish research centers to work on sustainable agriculture
• Study and document the adverse effects of neo liberal economies
• Take up regional and national campaigns against IFIs
• Support farmers to actively reject GM crops and chemicals in agriculture
• Strengthen the existing regional networks working for the peasants rights
• Conduct public hearings on atrocities of MNCs
• Organize and support local struggles of farmers and agriculture workers
• Take up advocacy on right to food
• Launch a campaign for genuine land reforms
• Identify small organizations and strengthen them to represent at world conventions
• Have Farmers Exchange
• Run a quarterly newsletter as a networking tool
• Conduct series of workshops/trainings on food sovereignty
• Take up annual budget analysis and ensure more allocation for agriculture

On this occasion we acknowledge the initiative taken by ANPA with assistance from SAAPE in bringing us together.