Itelvina said that in Brazil, the food crisis that took place four years ago had a great impact in Brazil, as in the rest of the world. The crisis was the result of an industrial, profit-oriented, oil-dependent food model based on exploitation and not committed to food sovereignty.

The MST leader said that the 2007/2008 food crisis increased hunger and extreme poverty in Brazil, while agribusiness – to export products and produce agrofuels- and land grabbing practices were becoming stronger.

“The consequences are really serious in our country and around the world because the issue is not the lack of food; the problem is food concentration and the industrial production that feeds this unsustainable production and consumption model”, said Masioli.

The leader also made reference to the role played by transnational corporations in this model, by having the absolute control of food production and commercialization, which results in a monopoly of the big capital interests with a direct impact on price variation. Masioli also questioned the position of some states in this process, since they often fund these corporations, instead of developing public policies that seek to strengthen peasant agriculture.

As a result of this, food sovereignty and the agrarian reform are presented as a way out to propose an alternative production model and an alternative society. Masioli highlighted that the alternative lies in the organization and people’s struggle, in diversifying production , in promoting local markets and food sovereignty as a public policy.

Several activities were carried out in order to develop an educational and awareness raising process in the society to teach them the meaning of food sovereignty, to ensure peoples’ sovereignty.

This was applied in Brazil by strengthening the local markets and developing programs on how to organize agriculture co-operatives, where the communities recovered their social role of food production through the direct relationship with consumers.

Besides, as a result of the pressure made by the peasant movement, the federal government of Brazil passed a law that provides that 30% of food in schools should come from peasant agriculture.

These are just some examples of the peasant struggle to promote food sovereignty, and to democratize peoples’ access to natural goods.

Photo: http://www.mst.org.br/