2009

Alimentacció

The context

International trade is dominated by a few countries of the North which have imposed free market in those sectors where they are competitive, and have also established protectionist mechanisms in the sectors where cannot compete with the countries of the South, as it is the case with agriculture. The dominant neoliberal model, based on agricultural exports, gives access to the markets on the basis of the power that is -consolidated through subsidies and consequent low prices on the North- and denies to the local producers the access to their own markets, that are invaded by products from outside. Local producers from the South are so clearly disadvantaged in international competition.

In this context, food sovereignty (SA) becomes a formula to ensure fairer North-South relations. The SA is the right of all peoples to define their agricultural policies and to protect and regulate national agricultural production and the domestic market in order to achieve sustainable development goals, to decide to what extent want to be self-sufficient, and to prevent that their markets will be flooded by surplus products from other countries that put them on the international market through the practice of 'dumping'. The SA does not negate trade, but defends the option of formulating policies and business practices that support the rights of the population to adequate methods and safe, nutritious and environmentally sustainable food products.

Through the SA we will put emphasis on the development of rural areas, creating local circuits of production and consumption, where families of farmers will sell their products and buy the indispensable products in the local populations.

The project to evaluate

The evaluation will focus on the Alimentaccio project, promoted by Veterinaris Sense Fronteres -Vetermón. In it, there is included the theme of food sovereignty and also brings the reality of the inhabitants of the countries of the South in the school sector, aiming the reflection on the causes of hunger and the implications of our model of production and food consumption with the countries of the South. The concept works transversely, involving the entire school community: children, young people, teachers, mothers and fathers.

The project has been executed in the Illes Balears -Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza- and is an example of the importance of the awareness and education for development in the framework of the fulfilment of the goals and commitments of cooperation policies, which have gained increasing recognition in the cooperating institutions in recent years.