Smallholder agriculture calls in the ACSC-APF 2012!
Source: asiadhrra.org
Apr 28, 2012

The CSO event statement highlights the adverse impact of the “loss of forest and agricultural land to monoculture plantations” to the biodiversity, food security and human rights in the region and proposes to the ASEAN members states several measures to mitigate these effects.

The agriculture and environment CSO stakeholders recommend that ASEAN and/or its member states:

1. Stop forced evictions in the interests of large-scale agriculture;
2. In all cases where development projects will result in dispossession, international human rights standards should be fully observed. Affected communities should be fairly compensated, including by ensuring access to agricultural land
3. Ensure sufficient budgets for sustainable agriculture and develop policies and programs to support small-scale farmers – women, men and young persons. In particular ensue access to land, waters and seed, provide support to organic farming, cooperative marketing, access to affordable credit, infrastructure, agricultural extension and meaningful participation of small-scale farmers in decision-making processes towards ensuring food and nutrition security;
4. Ensure that all agriculture development programs and policies are gender sensitive and gender responsive;
5. Extend technical assistance to improve competitiveness of small-scale farmers through sharing and learning exchanges on sustainable farming technologies, the establishment of an ASEAN Farmers’ Bank and ASEAN Small-scale Farmers’ Council to ensure institutionalized participation in ASEAN processes;
6. Install monitoring mechanisms to hold transnational corporations accountable for their role with respect to large-scale food and agro-fuel production, toxic chemicals, land grabbing and the displacement of food crops including provision of guidelines for ASEAN governments on how to strengthen coherence between national and global food policies;
7. Ratify and implement international treaties and provisions pertaining to natural resource management and agriculture, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which provides for the right to adequate food and to a decent living, which in the case of small-scale farmers includes the right to seeds and land.

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