Food justice
Food justice
In rural areas, land and the ability to grow and sell food is essential for people's survival. Millions of the world's population are dependent on small farmers' production and the small farmers themselves rely on their own plots of land for food. However, neo-liberal international trade policies are pushing out small farmers as governments give more support to large-scale agriculture geared towards exports.
Every night over one billion people go to bed hungry. While small-scale farmers are facing competition from large-scale agri-business, millions of people don't even have access to land. As regulations favour the large businesses, small farmers find they can't deliver profits, and often farmers find themselves losing money from selling food. Swathes of people are left in poverty, and problems range from widespread malnutrition to suicide.
Many of our partners, like MST in Brazil and Monlar in Sri Lanka are sounding the alarm over biofuels - fuel that is produced from food crops like corn, sugar and soybeans. As more and more agricultural land is given over to producing fuel, it makes it harder for people to grow enough varied crops for their own survival.
We are determined to secure food justice for poor farmers and landless people around the world. Through our projects in Sri Lanka, South Africa, Bangladesh, Brazil, and Mozambique we are helping small farmers adopt sustainable farming practices and supporting landless people movements to reclaim unused land and campaign for land policies that safeguard their futures.
