And now the bad news. FAO has taken a U-turn in its clear position on the race by food-importing countries and private companies to buy land overseas for domestic food and agriculture needs.
Land grabbing by transnational capital must stop.
El actual acaparamiento global de las tierras cultivables, donde la inversión extranjera toma el control de la tierra y el agua en los países en desarrollo, no tiene nada que ver con el fortalecimiento de la agricultura familiar y los mercados locales, que a nuestro juicio es la única manera de avanzar para lograr sistemas alimentarios que alimenten a la gente. Debe ser inmediatamente detenido.
At the UN hunger summit in Rome wealthy food-importing nations are being accused of grabbing land from small farmers in developing countries and ignoring the plight of starving people.
The bad publicity farmland acquisitions generated is putting off buyers, especially short-term investors, UN food and farm agencies experts said at an international food security forum.
Multinational food companies have come under fire for buying up farmland in developing countries by activists holding a forum in parallel to the UN Hunger Summit.
Plusieurs ONG ont accusé les multinationales de l'alimentaire de chercher à s'emparer de millions d'hectares de terres de bonne qualité appartenant aux petits paysans du tiers monde, lors du sommet de la FAO sur la sécurité alimentaire à Rome.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi calls it the “new feudalism.” Groups representing peasant farmers call it “land grabs.” The United Nations literature dispersed at this week's UN food summit in Rome calls it “direct foreign investment.”
A strong set of guidelines for land acquisitions abroad could take years, but is necessary for protecting the interests of small farmers, political leaders said.
World farmers are not part of the official delegations at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) food summit on food security that opened here Monday. But they came anyhow to express their views, since, they say, it is their communities that are most impacted by the food crisis.
The private sector can play a key role in the fight against hunger, but humanitarian groups accuse multi-nationals of mounting an "offensive" to take over the agricultural sector in the developing world.
Del 13 al 17 de noviembre de 2009, representantes de organizaciones campesinas y movimientos sociales que han participado directamente en la lucha contra esta nueva ola de apropiación global de tierras, confluirán en Roma.
