The Role of farmers in the development of climate resilient

technologies for food sovereignityMiguel A Altieri

University of California, BerkeleyLatin American Scientific Society of

Agroecology (SOCLA)

Centros de origen y diversificación genética según Vavilov

Calabazas

Jitomate

Aguacate

Chile

Nopales

Nochebuena

Papaya

15.4% de las especies del sistema alimentario mundial proviene de las

plantas domesticadas en Mesoamérica

Girasol

Jicama

Guayaba

Algodón

Frijol

Vainilla CacaoBarbascoArnicaGirasol

Nochebuena

Productivity of Chinampas

• Maize yields in 1950: 3,5-6,3 t/ha ( average US yields in 1955~2,3t/ha and went up >4 t/ha after 1965).

• One hectare could produce enough food for 15- 20 persons

• One chinampero can successfully farm 0,75 ha, producing food for 12-15 people

CIMMYT: flat soils, irrigation, HYVs, fertilizers, genetic and crop homogeneity,

La PurificaciLa Purificacióónn

Peasants were bypassed by agricultural modernization

• Less than 20% of peasants adopted HYV• Technologies were imposed and did not

emerge from a participatory process• Technologies were not appropriate to the

needs and circumstances of peasants• Technologies were not scale neutral

(favored larger farmers with access to capital, best lands, etc)

Early warnings by C. Sauer, UC Berkeley

Los maíces indígenas de México

FITOMEJORADORAS Y FITOMEJORADORES INDÍGENAS: SELECCIÓN DE SEMILLAS EN EL

CENTRO DE LA MILPA.

Gráfica de distribución de algunos tipos de maíz según altura y precipitación

45

Maiz de cajete

LA MILPA MEJORADA Centro de Desarrollo Integral Campesino de la Mixteca Hita Ñuni,

Nochixtlán Oax. (CEDICAM)

Small farmers are key for the world’s food security

• While 91% of the planet’s 1,5 billion hectares of agricultural land are increasingly being devoted to agroexport crops, biofuels and transgenic soybean to feed cars and cattle, millions of small farmers in the developing world produce the majority of staple crops needed to feed the planet’s rural and urban populations

• In Latin America, about 17 million peasant production units occupying close to 60.5 million hectares, or 34.5% of the total cultivated land with average farm sizes of about 1.8 hectares, produce 51% of the maize, 77% of the beans, and 61% of the potatoes for domestic consumption.

Food must be produced where the poor live ( marginal and

fragile environments)

The Campesino a Campesino Movement

• The Campesino a Campesino movement is an extensive grassroots movement in Central America and Mexico.

• It is a cultural phenomenon, a broad- based movement with campesinos as the main actors"

• The Campesino a Campesino movement is an excellent example of how alternative technologies and practices can be disseminated bypassing "official channels".

Velvetbean in Central America

• Mucuna fixes 150 Kg N/ha/year, produces 30-50 tonnes of biomass/ha/yr

• 45,000 familes growing Mucuna• crop yields up from 400-600 Kg/ha to

2000-2500 kg/ha while conserving/regenerating soil in hillsides

Generating and Disseminating alternatives Technologies

• farmer –first is an approach that put farmers at the center of the determination of the research agenda and technological innovation

• researechre become catalysts and facilitators but farmers make decisions about experimentation and technology development

Generating and Disseminating alternatives Technologies

• Campesino a Campesino is more radical interpretation of the farmer first model

• It is not just about farmers participating in research and technology development, is about empowerment of farmers, is a social movement

• Farmers to farmer transfer of technology (horizontal transfer of tech) features promotores or farmers trainers and also farmer workshops

Food sovereignty model• Agriculture and food crops out of WTO• Just prices above production costs• access to land: land reform• fair access to local markets• no dumping; subsidies for family farming

via just prices, local markets, conversion to sustainable agriculture, etc

• seeds : people’s patrimony at the services of humakind

Issue Dominant Model Food Sovereignty Model

Food Chiefly a commodity; in practice, this means processed, contaminated food that is full of fat, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and toxic residues

A human right: specifically, should be healthy, nutritious, affordable, culturally appropriate, and locally produced

Being able to produce An option for the economically efficient

A right of rural peoples

Hunger Due to low productivity A problem of access and distribution; due to poverty and inequality

Food security Achieved by importing food from where it is cheapest

Greatest when food production is in the hands of the hungry, or when produced locally

Control over productive resources (land, water, forests)

Privatized Local; community controlled

Access to land Via the market Via genuine agrarian reform; without access to land, the rest is meaningless

Seeds A patentable commodity A common heritage of humanity, held in trust by rural communities and cultures; “no patents on life”

Issue Dominant Model Food Sovereignty Model

Rural credit and investment

From private banks and corporations

From the public sector; designed to support family agriculture

Dumping Not an issue Must be prohibited Monopoly Not an issue The root of most problems,

monopolies must be broken up. Overproduction No such thing, by definition Drives prices down and farmers

into poverty; we need supply management policies for US and EU

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs)

The wave of the future Bad for health and the environment; an unnecessary technology

Farming technology: Pesticides, GMOs, etc.

Industrial, monoculture, chemical-intensive; uses GMOs

Agroecological, sustainable farming methods, no GMOs or pesticides

Farmers Anachronisms; the inefficient will disappear

Guardians of culture and crop germplasm; stewards of productive resources; repositories of knowledge; internal market and building block of broad-based, inclusive economic development

Urban consumers Workers to be paid as little as possible

Need living wages

Another world (alternatives)

Not possible / not of interest Possible and amply demonstrated (see resources below)