Navdanya International's Italian tour is an invitation to a global mobilisation for food and agriculture free from pesticides. “The alternatives exist and they are soil regeneration, short supply chains and the safeguarding of biodiversity.”
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"Each one of us can reverse the current disastrous trend through our own small yet significant daily choices: we can change the world with every bite, every item of clothing, every journey, every purchase. We must reclaim the right to conserve seeds and biodiversity. The right to nourishment and healthy food. The right to protect the land and its diverse species. We must stop the theft by multinationals at the expense of the poor and of nature. Food democracy is at the heart of the agenda for democracy and human rights, at the heart of the programme for ecological sustainability and social justice."
This is the message of the international campaign For food and agriculture free from poisons by Navdanya International, in the words of its president Vandana Shiva, which aims to develop a cohesive global movement for a change in the production paradigm. And citizens in Italy and across the world are ready for a transition based on an economic model that guarantees everyone nutritious, healthy food, one that does not serve exclusively the interests of the major agribusiness multinationals and large-scale organised retail.
It is precisely to spread these ideas that Navdanya International and Vandana Shiva have embarked on a mobilisation tour that has taken in various locations across Italy, from Campobasso to Bassano del Grappa, Bolzano, Malles, Trento and Turin. This tour represented an opportunity for the organisation that fights for food sovereignty to observe both the extent and the impact of intensive monocultures on communities, and the strong desire among those same citizens to build networks against this toxic drift, despite the questionable choices made by the Government on environmental policy.
Awareness that another way of producing food and eating without harming the Planet and people is possible is therefore spreading, attracting ever more support. The latest to join is Don Ciotti, who in a meeting with Vandana Shiva commented on the distortions of the current economic system: "If we are serious, when we say we want to end poverty, then we must end the systems that create poverty by robbing the poor of their commons, their livelihoods and their earnings. Before we can make poverty history, we must properly consider the history of poverty. The point is not how much rich nations can give, the point is how much less they can take."
The event organised in Bassano del Grappa represented an ideal continuation of the press conference organised by Navdanya International on 7 March last at the Chamber of Deputies, where, alongside Vandana Shiva, representatives of local movements from the Veneto region spoke out about their protests against the massive use of pesticides in prosecco cultivation.
It is not true that pesticides must be used to generate profit — profit is achievable without pesticides too. This is demonstrated by the fact that many companies, including wine producers, work biodynamically with great success.Salvatore Ceccarelli, member of the board of directors of Navdanya International
Local associations had the opportunity to meet two world leaders in ecological thinking, Vandana Shiva and Salvatore Ceccarelli (president and member of the board of directors of Navdanya International respectively), during the free public event, which drew more than 1,500 people from across the Veneto region and neighbouring regions.
We are immersed in an inhuman development system that steals from nature and from people and that is responsible for ecocide and genocide. But the health of the Earth and the health of people are one and the same thing. The alternatives exist and they are based on soil regeneration through agroecology, the safeguarding of biodiversity, the promotion of short supply chains and zero-kilometre food systems. Vandana Shiva, president of Navdanya
While in the Veneto the problem is vine monoculture, in South Tyrol it is apples. On 11 April the president of Navdanya International visited the small village in the Val Venosta that had declared through a municipal referendum the residents' wish for a pesticide-free municipality, and whose municipal regulation had subsequently been frozen by the administrative court: "I would like there to be many Malles in the world," said Vandana Shiva. "Because Malles is not fighting only for itself but represents an important pioneering experience for the entire world.
Agriculture is the culture of the soil and of the land. And that is exactly what we are destroying with poisons.Vandana Shiva, president of Navdanya
Back in October 2017, in New Delhi, India, Navdanya had brought together Alpine communities, represented by the mayor of Malles, and Himalayan communities that farm the land without using chemical substances, to make a shared commitment and launch a global network of poison-free communities. The meeting on 11 April represented the opportunity to jointly sign a renewed commitment in favour of an immediate transition towards agroecological production models capable of respecting biodiversity and countering climate change.
The event in Bolzano hosted Vandana Shiva for a discussion of the economic implications of the transition towards an ecological and sustainable production model: the recent Food for health manifesto demonstrates how the transition is not only beneficial for the health of people and the planet but also for the economy. As well as benefiting the economy, can agroecology succeed where conventional agriculture has failed, namely in feeding the world's growing population? This was discussed in Trento, where the Indian activist and scientist gave a lecture to mark the tenth anniversary of the association L'Ortazzo.
We have never faced a situation like this in the history of humanity — we know exactly what will happen in 100 years, but to change course, to avoid our own extinction, we have only 10 years!Vandana Shiva, president of Navdanya
To bring about the transition, a cultural paradigm shift will also be necessary. Vandana Shiva was interviewed by journalist Stefano Liberti as part of the Poietika event in Campobasso: "In Nature's system," Vandana Shiva stated, "there is no such thing as expensive food and cheap food. It is the trade system, controlled by multinationals, that has created this difference. And our diet has worsened because of this kind of trade. No dignified society allows there to be one food for the rich and another for the poor. That is what we must change!" The president of Navdanya International was finally a guest at the Valsusa Film Fest, where she took note of civil society's demands towards institutions for the protection of their territory from speculative investments that do not appear to be in line with the will expressed democratically by local communities.
In Nature's system there is no such thing as expensive food and cheap food. It is the trade system that has created this difference.Vandana Shiva, president of Navdanya
This tour marked the beginning of the growth of a movement that stands against the devastating drift being unleashed upon territories, soils and aquifers, threatening the health and wellbeing of the population. A movement that intends to reclaim a sustainable development model, based on ecological farming practices which, as already widely demonstrated by numerous sector studies, offers the tools to restore health to the Earth and its inhabitants, eliminating the externalised costs that weigh on taxpayers' pockets.
