La Via Campesina Taiwan, China Feature (8): Local Seeds and Farming Methods to Reclaim Food Sovereignty
Editor's note: This article is part of the "La Via Campesina 2012 Taiwan Visit Feature" series. For the other articles in the series, please see the links at the end of this article.
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On 5/29, the global grassroots farmers' organization "La Via Campesina" came to the Meinong Cimei Community College, which centers on rural areas. Due to time constraints, the exchange was divided into two groups: seed conservation work and the farmers' school. Haesook, a representative of the Korean Women Peasants Association (KWPA), shared their experience in South Korea with farmer education and training and seed conservation work.
Today in Taiwan, civil society groups and small groups spontaneously formed by farmers have begun carrying out the farmer-to-farmer training model that Haesook mentioned KWPA is conducting, in which farmers become both students and teachers to one another. Some farmers have also begun consciously carrying out seed conservation and seed exchange work, and at the same time grassroots organizations such as the Taiwan Rural Front and the Taiwan Farmers' Alliance have taken shape. The hope is that these seeds, which have begun to put down roots and sprout, will drift to more corners, so that more farmers in Taiwan can unite and organize, and together with La Via Campesina take back the people's food sovereignty from multinational corporations.
Series articles:
- La Via Campesina Taiwan Visit Feature (7) Xizhou On-Site Record - The Farmers' Path of Water and Land
- La Via Campesina Taiwan Visit Feature (6) Yilan On-Site Record - Returning to Farming Youth, Global Connection
- La Via Campesina Taiwan Visit Feature (5) Meinong On-Site Record - Farmers Unite, It Is Imperative
- La Via Campesina Taiwan Visit Feature (4) Hsinchu On-Site Record - Sharing Experience of Indonesia's Land Reoccupation Movement
- La Via Campesina Taiwan Visit Feature (3) The Myth of Land Grabbing
- La Via Campesina Taiwan Visit Feature (2) A Record of Land Grabbing in Africa and Europe
- La Via Campesina Taiwan Visit Feature (1) A Record of Land Grabbing in Asia and Latin America