PRESS RELEASE: African and US Food Movement Leaders Unite in Opposition to the Gates Foundation’s Agricultural Development Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 7, 2014

Contact: 
Heather Day, Executive Director, Community Alliance for Global Justice, [email protected], cell- 206-724- 2243

Seattle, WA: African and US Food Movement Leaders Unite in Opposition to the Gates Foundation’s Agricultural Development Program

African leaders from six nations representing regional and continent-wide networks are in Seattle to meet with leaders from over a dozen US organizations as part of the Africa-US Food Sovereignty Strategy Summit. The aim of the Summit is to promote farmer-led solutions to hunger and climate crises, share research, develop strategies and explore ways to protect communities faced with the consequences of industrial agriculture as promoted by the Gates Foundation.

On October 12th, several of Africa’s leading proponents of sustainable agriculture will take part in a major public event to highlight the damaging effects of the Gates Foundation’s agricultural development program.

Since 2006, they argue, the Gates Foundation has negatively impacted the very people it has claimed to be helping – some of the world’s poorest farmers. According to AGRA Watch research, the Foundation has doled out over $300 million between 2009-2011 for projects promoting genetically engineered crops, industrial agriculture, and privatization of the seed industry.

While Gates’ vision encourages industrial production, both African and US farmers advocate for agroecological production, which uses natural processes to enrich soils, conserve water, and fight pests through biodiversity. These low-input, locally adaptable styles of agriculture have been shown to produce more food per hectare than industrial farming and require no fossil fuel inputs.

“Although investment from the Gates Foundation could be appreciated if it was used for supporting agroecological farming, it is largely pushing chemical-based agriculture. High input agriculture is eroding the age old and really useful knowledge of the community,” said Million Belay, Director of Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa.

Advocates are calling on the Gates Foundation to shift their funding priorities to socially and ecologically appropriate practices determined by African farmers – practices backed up by research from the UN and World Bank sponsored IAASTD summit.

“Communities resist and will continue to resist any large scale implementation,” says Herschelle Milford of the Surplus People Project and Agrarian Reform for Food Sovereignty Campaign, South Africa. “They might not have the financial and scientific means but they will fight socially and politically.”

AGRA Watch is a grassroots, Seattle-based program of Community Alliance for Global Justice, challenging the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations’ questionable agricultural programs in Africa, including its Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).
###

Posted in Agra Watch Blog Posts, Food Justice Blog Posts, Trade Justice Blog Posts.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *