TITLE: MASIPAG Statement on Farmers' Rights AUTHOR: Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura (MASIPAG) PUBLICATION: MASIPAG email list DATE: August 2002 URL: http://topica.com/lists/masipag/read/message.html?mid=17108 79420&sort=d&start=48 NOTE: MASIPAG is national network of farmers, NGOs, support groups, scientists and church groups involved in biodiversity conservation and improvement at the grassroots level in the Philippines. Earlier this month, MASIPAG members drew up a statement on what farmers' rights means to them in the context of their own experience. MASIPAG STATEMENT ON FARMERS' RIGHTS Adopted at the workshop "Defend Farmers' Rights From Threats of the Philippine Plant Variety Protection Act 2002", Doña Jovita Resort, Los Baños (Philippines), 2-4 August 2002. Collectively, farmers share the social responsibility to feed society. For generations, they have nurtured and bred our food crops, and have conserved and improved the genetic resources that form the basis of food and agriculture. With farmers' responsibility to feed society, and stemming from their enormous contribution, comes farmers' rights. Farmers have rights over their innovations, practices, knowledge, technologies and biological resources evolved through generations, over the factors and processes of production (land, capital, technology, inputs), and over legal and political decisions that undermine their ability to produce food and conserve genetic resources. The seeds, food, animals and associated knowledge that farmers have conserved and developed are not the product of any single farmer but are the collective products of many farming communities through many generations. Farmers rights are thus collective rights and farmers are not owners, but stewards, of our biodiversity and genetic resources. Farmers must be free to produce food, and must be appreciated, recognized, protected and strengthened in their work by their inalienable and inviolable rights relating to seeds, production, biodiversity and genetic resources, politics and decision-making, culture and knowledge, land, information and research, and sociopolitical factors as follows: With respect to LAND farmers have the right to: * Own land; * Swift and just land redistribution programs; * To use abandoned and unproductive lands (both public and private) for the purposes of food production. With respect to SEEDS AND GENETIC RESOURCES, recognizing that seeds are the life of the farmer, farmers have the right to: * Use, save, exchange, multiply, sell and improve their genetic resources; * Control seeds and planting materials including the right to refuse access to the seeds and knowledge where such access will be detrimental to farmers rights (such as to transnational corporations and international research institutions as appropriate); * Access seeds and genetic resources appropriate to their local environment and to the capacity and needs of farmers in their communities; * Freely choose what seeds, plants and animals to use on his/her farm. In PRODUCTION farmers have the right to: * Appropriate technologies which are simple, practical and inexpensive and do not harm the environment or human health; * Abundant and safe water systems; * Prevent technologies, policies, programs and institutions that have the potential to destroy the resource base of farming, including the land, the water, the air, and seeds; * Control the products of the harvest and the benefits of production including marketing and distribution; * A fair price for their products. On BIODIVERSITY farmers have the right to: * Conserve and protect biodiversity and genetic resources including on and off-farm biodiversity and watersheds which are an integral part of farming systems; * Prevent technologies, policies and institutions that destroy the watershed and otherwise negatively impact on the ability of farmers to produce food and conserve biodiversity (e.g. logging, mining, and chemical based farming). In POLITICS AND DECISION-MAKING farmers have the right to: * Join, support and form institutions that protect the rights of farmers; * Meaningful participation in formulating policies, laws and programs that affect farmers' lives on local, national and international levels; * Block laws, policies, programs and institutions that are contradictory to sustainable agriculture or farmers' rights; * Government subsidies and support in agriculture including improved traditional varieties and indigenous resources. On CULTURE AND KNOWLEDGE farmers have the right to: * Control and use their own traditional knowledge free from the threat of biopiracy; * Freely express their local culture and knowledge, and to pass it on to future generations; * Respect for their way of life, their farming practices and their knowledge; * Live in a world free of privatized intellectual property rights. In INFORMATION AND RESEARCH farmers have the right to: * Independent and balanced information about seeds and agriculture in order to make informed choices; * Truth in advertising including the right not to be bombarded with misleading or exaggerated statements designed to promote certain varieties of seeds for profit; * Updated, independent and balanced information on issues that affect farmers' rights; * Undertake their own research and develop innovation; * Provide direction for agricultural research. In the SOCIOPOLITICAL area farmers have the right to: * Organize and join organizations to protect and promote their rights; * Promote sustainable agriculture and ecologically abundant agriculture; * Live in a community that is peaceful and decent; * Access safe and healthy food; * A dignified and meaningful life; * A viable and sustainable livelihood. These rights aim to safeguard farmers against the negative effects of globalization including the excessive power and influence of transnational corporations. Farmers rights implicitly reject intellectual property rights and genetic engineering which compromise farmers' ability to produce food and to fulfill their obligations as stewards of genetic resources. Privatization of genetic resources clashes with the very essence of farmers rights which implies collective rights and responsibilities. We call on governments and institutions to recognize and implement these rights at local, regional, national and international levels. Farmers have the right and duty to defend themselves, their knowledge, the land and genetic resources against any threat in whatever form it may take. Food security is only possible if we allow farmers to freely grow food and protect agrobiodiversity as has been their right and responsibility for generations. Recognition and implementation of farmers rights is essential not only to protect farmers in the present but in order to ensure the continuity of activities that are crucial for humanity at large. For further information, please contact: MASIPAG National Secretariat 3346 Aguila St, Rhoda's Sbd, Anos Los Baños, Laguna PHILIPPINES Tel: (63-49) 536 5549 or 536 6183 Email: info(at)masipag.org