Statement of the African and US Food Sovereignty Summit

On Oct 10-14, 2014 Community Alliance for Global Justice/AGRA Watch invited African leaders from six nations representing regional and continent-wide networks to 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 was 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, summit participants took part in a major public event at Town Hall Seattle to voice their concerns.

See pictures and video of the event.

Statement of the African and U.S. Food Sovereignty Summit Seattle, Washington Oct. 13, 2014

We are brought together by a shared belief in just, sustainable and equitable food for all. We share a concern over the dangerous loss of agricultural biodiversity and of the loss of dignified and viable livelihoods in the countryside.

In great appreciation of the wisdom we each shared coming from our diverse cultures, struggles and experiences that are all a reflection of our shared humanity:

We stand together against the corporate control of our food systems, the lack of accountability of global institutions like the G8 New Alliance For Food Security and Nutrition, the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP), the United States (US) government’s Feed the Future Initiative, the Grow Africa Partnership, the Gates Foundation and its Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and others, that are forcing their policies and institutions upon the farmers of the world to open up markets and create spaces for multinationals to secure profits; against the monopolization of our seeds that criminalizes the historical farm practices of sharing, selling and exchanging seeds; against the displacement and dispossession of small-scale farm producers and workers from their land; against the new Green Revolution, the global Free Trade Agreements, “climate-smart agriculture” and “sustainable intensification”.

We pledge solidarity with the struggles of each of our organizations and with the global food sovereignty movement, and will work in mutual support to amplify the voices of the people on the ground fighting for food sovereignty, share information with the general public about food sovereignty and agroecology, and expose the myths underlying the false idea that corporate agriculture is necessary to “feed the world.”

The undersigned,

African Centre for Biosafety

Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA)

Community Alliance for Global Justice/AGRA Watch

Community to Community Development

Family Farm Defenders

Friends of the Earth—Africa

Food & Water Watch

Food First/Institute for Food & Development Policy

Grassroots International

Growth Partners Africa

International Development Exchange (IDEX)

Kenya Food Rights Alliance (KeFRA)

Surplus People’s Project

Zimbabwe Smallholder Organic Farmers Forum (ZIMSOFF)