Ladies and gentlemen we are all gathered today on this beautiful, it is cold but we are warm in our hearts, we are warm with our intentions to change the future of our food system in Africa, in Europe, in Asia, in the Americas, Oceania, Antarctica…..the time is now and we have to do it! A wave of change is taking place and let us utilize it to advance our course for a more sustainable food system. Over a month ago the government of Tanzania decided to stop all confined field trials on Genetically Modified organisms (GMOs) in the country after months of propaganda and media campaign to a loud applause of farmers and civil society – we need to have more and more farmers take control and have a choice in determining the future of our food system.
The industrial farming model that encourages dependence, fertilizer from Norway, seeds from America is not sustainable and will not lead us to the promised land! We need our practices further researched and validated, our seeds recognized and valued – enough with calling our seeds grains, we have a lot to offer in environmentally friendly ways, while preserving our diversity, values and sovereignty, enhancing participation of both men and women and have Africa rising – we say please stop imposing and dumping things on us.
We call upon the German government to focus on Agroecology in its development cooperation and to stop supporting initiatives that further undermine African small-holder farmers’ food and seed sovereignty.
