Daniel Sikazwe

Zambia National Broadcasting Centre,
Lusaka

Perspective

On the other side of the Summit

Climbing down from the peak of Summit activity and there is time to reflect on what it was all about. As one delegate put it, the World Summit on Sustainable Development "was about everything". Some things certainly came out clearly, either as achievements or as failures.

Travelling with 300 small scale farmers from eastern and southern Africa to attend the civil society forum associated with the Summit was an interesting if, at times, a frustrating experience. Unforgettable during the arguments about western countries cutting subsidies to their farming industry, and debates about whether genetic engineering offers the best solution to world hunger, was the fact that millions in southern Africa are currently threatened by starvation. Agriculture was the topic that painted the Summit with contrasts and colour.

The attacks on agriculture for contributing to environmental degradation and depriving the water-thirsty world of the little water that trickles down to poor societies, were drowned by the voices of small scale farmers from Africa, Latin America and Europe who travelled to Johannesburg seeking recognition of the important role they play in food production. The fact that farmers sponsored by the Participatory Ecological Land Use and Management Association (PELUM) were given an opportunity to present their views at the civil society forum was something to celebrate, according to Association Secretary, General Mutizwa Mukute of Zimbabwe. But missing their turn to speak through misunderstanding or muddle can hardly be counted as success, suggested Mlotha Damaseke of Zambia. Nevertheless, a thousand or more small scale farmers were able to exchange notes on their common experience and this can surely be considered an achievement.

At the peak of the Summit, and half a kilometre from the NGO forum, thousands of South Africans and some Zimbabweans who claimed to be landless, set up their camp. They trekked to the main convention centre in Sandton to air their grievances while heads of governments and multinational companies agreed and disagreed on a diversity of issues. While these marches were taking place, Mrs Mohlazake Mehlape, who worked as a maid seven years ago, was busy mobilizing her people in the Magofe Community Farming Trust in Mpolokwana, in the north of South Africa, to "professionally develop our 50,000 hectares of land to help bring about food security in South Africa." Our group of farmers visited the Trust en route to Johannesburg and were given a message for Summit delegates by Mmatlole Solly Nkoana: Tell them a good thing has happened. We are farmers now, not the workers that we once were.

The voices of farmers made a contrast to those of world leaders. China's Prime Minister, Zhu Rongji, said that the interest of human survival must come first and restrictions stifling development should be carefully monitored. Nelson Mandela reminded water managers that it is water that makes agriculture thrive. Zambia's President, Levy Mwanawasa, apparently not convinced that the GM food offered to his country from the donor community was given in the interest of human survival. He told the Summit, "Because my people are hungry is no justification to give them food which I consider intrinsically dangerous." Anti-GM activist, Vandana Shiva, having listened to all the arguments on agriculture, focussed passionately on the future. "The way to grow food sustainably, to feed the hungry millions, is by protecting the land, using water wisely, investing in agriculture technology and bridging the trading gap between North and South.

So had the effort by the farmers to attend the Summit been worthwhile? The world depends on small scale farmers; they deserve a voice.

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