On March 12, the eighth edition of the caravan for agroecology organized by DyATES (Dynamics for an Agroecological Transition in Senegal, for its acronym in French) ended in Senegal, and in this same sense, a few months before a regional event: the third edition of the Caravane Ouest-Africaine Droit à la Terre, à l’Eau et l’Agroécologie (Caravan of West Africa Right to Land, Water and Agroecology). This caravan, which traveled to seven countries in West Africa and mobilized hundreds of people, gained more strength than in previous editions, due to the echo that the last United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP26, had.
“The caravan is a journey through different African countries that seeks to promote the different demands in defense of human rights of the Global Convergence for the Struggle for Land and Water in West Africa (CGLTE-AO, for its acronym in French). ) through conferences, meetings and peaceful marches in an atmosphere of total coexistence”, explains one of its participants.
In the Burkinabe capital, 34 representatives of the Ecological Platforms of Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Niger and Burkina itself met, and together they undertook a journey that would take them through the south of neighboring Mali – in whose capital, Bamako, representatives Mauritanians, Ivorian and Malian – to go to Brikama, in Gambia. In this city, accompanied by local authorities and after reading the statutes of the convergence, the long-awaited inauguration of this third edition of the caravan took place on November 20.
In 2001, during the 31st session of the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (TIRFAA). This text, which has currently been ratified by a total of 154 countries, has as main objectives to recognize the contribution of farmers from all regions of the world to the diversity of crops, to establish a global system of access to plant genetic material for farmers and scientists, and guarantee the right to participate equally in the distribution of the benefits obtained from these genetic resources for food and agriculture.
The ITPGRFA serves as the base text for the claims of countless organizations around the world, among which is the CGLTE-AO. Convergence is a social movement that brings together Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), religious actors and social movements from this region of the continent to fight against the hoarding of natural resources and the defense of human rights (HR) violated by this done.
This fight is closely linked to the global demand for the defense of local plant genetic resources –plant genetic material of cultivated species and wild species, as well as the material obtained in genetic improvement works– facing the threat of so-called genetic erosion, that is, the disappearance of individual or combined native genes that are replaced by the introduction of non-indigenous species. However, “most West African governments, which have ratified ITPGRFA, systematically forget to defend local genetic resources by ignoring scientists,” says Ibrahim Diori. This Nigerien jurist and activist specialized in international law and human rights is responsible for access to food in the organization Alternative Espaces Citoyens (Alternative Spaces Citizens). Niger ratified ITPGRFA in 2004 and recognized in 2014 this as a fundamental right. And “to guarantee food security, national seed laws aim to ensure the supply, either by import or by own production, of improved seeds – often hybrids – of varieties that are not local. In this way, our male and female farmers are forced to put aside adapted and resistant native varieties,” says Diori.
Local varieties and their genetic material could play a key role in research to combat climate change and food insecurity
Local varieties and their genetic material could play a fundamental role in research to combat climate change and food insecurity, even more so in an environment as threatened as that of the Sahel region, being useful in the search for new varieties more productive and higher quality. In addition, the pandemic and the wheat price crisis stemming from the war in Ukraine have brought the issue of food security and lack of self-sufficiency back to the fore in many African countries.
Last November the caravan continued its journey south to the city of Ziguinchor, in Senegal, where once again welcomed by CSOs and local authorities, they carried out several awareness-raising events on the importance of agroecology, as well as a peaceful march. The caravan continued south to the city of Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau, and there they were received at the presidential palace by the head of state, Umarou Cissoko Mballo. The highest representative of the host country was determined to support the cause after receiving the livret vert (green notebook) by the activists; a document that capitalizes on the main conclusions and strategies of the second edition of the caravan carried out in 2018. This document is delivered to the authorities throughout the caravan to make visible and expose the ideas that govern this citizen movement.
The intense visit in Bissau was followed by a zigzag northeast to the Senegalese city of Kolda where, once again, a peaceful march was held, this time denouncing carbon credit offsets in Africa, accompanied by a statement before leaving Senegal heading south to Boké, in Guinea Conakry.
The Nigerien delegation was made up of five people from different organizations that in turn are part of the Agroecological Platform of Niger Raya Karkara (Revitalize the countryside in the local language). This organization, created in 2014 and which brings together twenty Nigerian organizations, works to capitalize on and disseminate experiences in family farming, and to promote a movement in favor of agroecology that ensures food sovereignty. The first of the terms is according to FAO, the right of each individual to eat adequately and not suffer from hunger. The second, food sovereignty, is the right of each people to own their policies and sustainable strategies for food production, distribution and consumption based on small and medium production. Both terms would sound utopian to the ears of any Nigerien, a country in which a serious food crisis persists that is fattening the smallest: according to data from the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), the 73% of children under five and almost 46% of women of reproductive age suffer from anemia in Niger mainly due to diets poor in vitamins and minerals, and 43% of children under five suffer from chronic malnutrition.
When the ‘how’ matters
Mahamadou Siradji, permanent secretary of Raya Karkara believes that the problem lies in the approach: “State institutions focus on achieving food security regardless of how, while we believe that the priority should be to achieve food sovereignty.” She also recognizes a change in the position of the new Niger administration and considers that they feel more listened to. “We recently had the opportunity to exchange ideas for the organization of an event that will take place at the end of 2022 and to which the president has promised to participate in person. He seems to be willing to create new spaces that allow Nigerien society to take better care of its environment”.
In Guinea Conakry, the caravan expedition was received by the head of state, the general of the military junta that recently took power after a coup, Mamady Doumbouya, together with his minister of agriculture. General Doumbouya congratulated the members of the convergence and affirmed that “the activity they carry out is a noble act that is at the center of the development of every nation.”
Sierra Leone was the last of the seven countries through which the third edition of this event passed, which was closed in Victoria Park in Freetown, the Sierra Leonean capital, after 23 days and more than 3,700 kilometers later. As the travelers indicated, “it will serve to establish solid foundations for our claims.” African civil societies have understood the importance of organizing to defend their rights and are gaining more and more weight to achieve significant changes in their communities both in conflict resolution and in defense of their own natural resources and fundamental rights.
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