In March, a group of social movements, grassroots organizations, and civil society organizations met in Tunis to oppose the G8 “New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.” The New Alliance, which was launched in 2012 by the G8 and has been implemented in ten African countries, is based on the simplistic and familiar idea that corporate investment in agriculture will increase yields, and that this increased production will alleviate food insecurity and malnutrition in Africa. The alliance marginalizes small-scale farmers and local markets by encouraging investment and empowering already powerful corporations to ease export controls and tax laws, change seed laws, and acquire public land for private use, while threatening biodiversity and soil fertility.
AGRA Watch and its partners know that solving the problem of malnutrition in Africa is not as simple as unleashing “the power of the private sector,” and that addressing food and nutrition insecurity in Africa requires the promotion of a community controlled agricultural system based on human rights and food sovereignty.
To learn more, read this statement, which has been endorsed by more than 100 organizations, including CAGJ, and calls on governments to stop the G8 “New Alliance for Food Security & Nutrition in Africa.”
An example of the Alliance’s problematic tactics is demonstrated in a study recently published by the Oakland Institute, GreenPeace, and Global Justice Now, which discusses one of the Alliance’s showcase projects, a rice plantation in Tanzania that has negatively impacted farmers, surrounding communities, and the ecosystem.
