[asia-apec 631] Program of the Forum on Land, Food Security, and Agriculture

[PAN Asia Pacific]

Forum on Land, Food Security, and Agriculture 
The Asia-Pacific Peoples' Assembly  
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
November 11-12, 1998 
 
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PAN-AP and ERA Consumer will host the Forum on Food Security and
Agriculture as part of the Asia- Pacific Peoples' Assembly (APPA). 
APPA takes place November 10-15, 1998 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 
The Forum will be a two-day event at the beginning of the Assembly
that will bring together concerned individuals, farmers and
representatives of NGOs, people's organizations, and social
movements to build on experiences, to develop strategies, and to
commit to actions in opposition to current agricultural models
being promoted in multilateral forums such as APEC and the WTO. 
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Why a Forum on Land, Food Security, and Agriculture?
 
Globalization has dramatically altered the rural landscape and our systems of food  
production.  The results are devastating: 
 
Agricultural land is converted to non-food commercial crops, industrial zones, urban  
centres, and golf courses, and forest lands are destroyed for mining and logging.   
Communities are left landless, impoverished, and shattered as corporations reap the  
profits.   
 
Food production is shifted away from local and national needs for basic foods to the  
demands of transnational agribusiness.  In Brazil, local populations go hungry as  
nearby large-scale farms grow soybeans to feed cattle destined for the North American  
market.  The logic is to increase trade, increase the distance that food travels, increase  
the amount of processing, and increase the amount of packaging. Those who benefit  
are corporations.  Today, a handful of TNCs have significant control of all aspects of  
the agriculture and food systems.  One company, Cargill, now controls 60 percent of  
the global cereal trade.  And, recent developments in genetic engineering and the  
rising number of mergers between transnational biotechnology, seed, and  
agrochemical companies is taking corporate control of the food system to new heights.   
Agribusiness corporations amass billions and farmers and rural labourers are left with  
next to nothing; in Malaysia, while plantation company profits rose by over 30 per cent  
last year alone, plantation workers haven’t received real wage increases in the last 10  
years.   
 
The Asian crisis has quickly made it apparent that the export-led agriculture policies of  
Asian governments, which left Asians dependent on food imports, were short-sighted.   
As Asians watch the prices of food escalate, more and more people see the value of  
local food systems that do not rely on imported foods, chemical inputs, and animal  
feed.  Governments and multilateral institutions, however, continue to ignore the  
lesson.  Liberalisation is pushed along by the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank, while  
unfair agricultural subsidies in the North keep prices low, Northern exports high, and  
small farmers in poverty. 
 
The globalisation of food production and agriculture only makes sense to the  
corporations, large-landholders, and elites that gain from it.  For the hundreds of  
millions of small farmers throughout the world, the logic is devastating.  But, the system  
continues to expand.  TNCs are winning the battle in government circles and at the  
multilateral level.  The WTO and its biggest fan, APEC, are pushing a liberalization  
regime that will open the world up to corporate plunder.  This must change. 
 
The Forum on Land, Food Security, and Agriculture is about understanding: Who are  
those driving this brutal system?  We will call them by name and reveal what they are  
doing.  The Forum is about resistance: We will take actions against those responsible.   
We will build our own communities, our own lives.  The Forum is also about solidarity:  
We will come together from all regions of the Asia-Pacific to unite behind a common  
vision that will strengthen our local struggles.   
 

Programme (Some speakers are unconfirmed) 

DAY 1  (November 11)
 
8:30-9:30 
Registration 
 
9:30-10:15 
Opening Plenary 
 
Overview of Globalisation and its Impacts on Food Security and Agriculture Issues 
Speakers:       Vandana Shiva (Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and  
Natural Resource Policy, India) 
Sarojeni V. Rengam (Pesticide Action Network- Asia and the Pacific,  
Malaysia) 
 
10:15- 11:15 
Overview of Trade Agreements 
                The WTO and Agriculture (Bhagirath Lal Das, India) 
The Impacts of NAFTA on Agriculture and Food Security (Ana de Ita,  
CECCAM, Mexico) 
 
11:15-13:00 
3. Reports from Grassroots Movements: Country Specific 
                Chiapas, Mexico 
                Philippines  
                Thailand 
                Malaysia 
                Korea 
 
13:00-14:00 
Lunch 
 
14:00-18:00 
Workshops 
 
1. Land Issues and Resources 
 
Recent protests by peasants and farmers in the Philippines and Indonesia and the  
ongoing violence in Chiapas highlights the massive and unjust displacement of people  
that globalization has brought.  Farmers and indigenous peoples are driven off their  
lands for industrial development, mines, tourism, and golf courses.  Small farmers are  
displaced from their lands to make way for transnational agribusiness and large-scale,  
high-input industrial farms.   The result is increased militarization, impoverishment,  
injustice, and degradation of the environment through unsustainable agriculture  
practices.  Promised agrarian reforms have failed to materialize.  What can we do to  
reverse this misappropriation of land and resources?  
 
2. Aquatic Resources: 
 
Industrial pollution, corporate over-fishing, and the pursuit of quick-profits have  
depleted marine resources and devastated fishing communities and the coastal  
environment. Are in-land fish and shrimp farms a sustainable response to these  
problems? How can fishing communities resist this process and build viable  
alternatives?  
 
3. Trade Agreements 
 
Multilateral trade agreements such as the WTO and trade bodies like APEC strengthen  
corporate agriculture and deepen global inequalities.  The recent WTO agreement on  
agriculture legitimizes US and European dumping and subsidies while it attacks the  
small protective barriers of the developing world.  Free trade does not equal fair trade.   
In fact, this brand of free trade is responsible for the growing dependency of Asian,  
Pacific, and Latin American countries on food imports.  It is also largely responsible for  
the widespread displacement of small farmers and the loss of local food systems, as  
multinational corporations swoop down to take advantage of the removal of regulations.   
The food system becomes more distant and less safe as wealth flows to fewer and  
fewer people.  Nevertheless, APEC governments, committed to a narrow focus on  
economic growth and industrial development, continue to support these trade  
measures.  The recent crisis in Asia shows how harmful such an approach is to food  
security.  How can we fight these trade agreements?  How can we ensure food security  
for all?   
 
4. Transnational Corporations 
 
Transnational corporations, throughout the world, are rapidly taking over all levels of  
the food system.  They are also transforming it; genetic engineering, cash crops, and  
chemical inputs are all on the rise.  To effectively oppose transnational agribusiness,  
we have to properly understand it.  What are the strategies of transnational agriculture  
corporations?  What mechanisms do they use to expand their control and markets?  
The workshop will then look at ways to monitor and resist corporate expansion 
 
5. Grassroots Resistance and Alternatives 
 
The growth of corporate agriculture and the displacement of people is matched by the  
growth of resistance.  Farmers and peasant movements struggle to retain their lands  
and control over their own knowledge.  In the face of corporate agribusiness,  
biotechnology, food processing, and trade liberalization, people are looking for  
alternatives.  How can we strengthen grassroots resistance? What tactics and projects  
can we adopt and support to build alternatives?  How should we utilize our limited  
resources? 
 
DAY 2 (November 12) 
 
Closing Plenary 
 
9:00-10:40 
Reports from Workshops 
 
10:40-13:00 
Development of Shared Analysis  
 
13:00: 14:00 
Lunch 
 
14:00-16:00 
Development of Shared Analysis (continued) and Adoption of Final Statement 
 
16:00-18:00 
Common Action (to be announced) 
 
(Note: the closing plenary of APPA takes place November13-14.  APPA closing  
ceremonies and a final activity will occur on November 15.  You are welcome and  
encouraged to attend all of these events.  Your US$50 registration fee gives you  
access to all APPA forums and events.) 
 
 
 
 
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Forum on Land, Food Security, and Agriculture. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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PAN-AP 
P.O. Box 1170, 
10850 Penang, Malaysia 
Fax: 604-6577445 
Tel: 604-6570271 
Email: panap at panap.po.my