Rohan Mukerjee
In late July 2022 I travelled to the Philippines to attend two workshops being conducted by the APEX network. The Asian People’s Exchange for Food Sovereignty and Agroecology or APEX is an exchange platform which aims to strengthen the capacities of people’s movements in Asia to help achieve food sovereignty through agroecology, people-led development (PLD) strategies and approaches, and advocacy for policy reforms and building people’s movements.
Keystone Foundation has been a member of APEX network since 2020 and we have participated in several training sessions and exercises focusing on PLD approaches, food sovereignty, Agroecology approaches and use of participatory approaches. As a consequence of the Pandemic all these sessions were online, and the Regional Workshops in Philippines were the first physical program which would bring together representatives of several partner organisations and people’s movements from different parts of South and South East Asia. These workshops were jointly organised by PAN Asia Pacific (PANAP) and MASIPAG, and supported by MISEREOR. PAN Asia Pacific (PANAP) is one of five regional centers of Pesticide Action Network, a global network dedicated to the elimination of harm upon humans and the environment by pesticide use, and to the promotion of biodiversity-based ecological agriculture. MASIPAG, a farmer-led network of People’s Organizations, Scientists and NGOs, aims to improve the quality of life of resource-poor farmers by adapting farmer-centric strategies: farmer scientist partnership, bottom-up approach, farmer-led research and training, farmer-to-farmer mode of technology transfer, and advocacy.
The first workshop on “Communication Advocacy for Food Sovereignty” was from 28th July to 30th July 2022 and was held at the Harvest Hotel, Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija which is around 3 to 4 hours from Manila. Over 40 participants representing various organisations movements gathered for the event. In addition to the Philippines the countries represented included Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Nepal and India. Due to travel, visa and other challenges several partners could not be physically present but joined the workshops through Zoom. These included representatives of partner organisations in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.
The workshop on “Communication Advocacy for Food Sovereignty” was chaired by Andrei and JC. They had a very informal style and ensured participation of all participants through various interactive exercises and activities. After a round of introductions and an overview of the focus of the workshop Andrei and JC highlighted Narrative Change as the foundation of communications work. They explored the narrative building and societal change. They discussed how the major changes that our societies experience comprise of changes in Culture and Behaviours; Policies and Politics; and Economy. All these changes are interconnected and narratives play a critical role in bringing about and sustaining these changes. They pointed out that the Mythology, fables and parables we are exposed to in our childhood are probably our first exposure to narratives and they shape our values and conscience. Schools are also narrators and students are captive audiences of the narratives promoted through the curriculum. The led us through an exploration of the role and importance of narratives through discussions on a series of real world examples like the attention given to Trump’s perspectives by the media despite being blatant lies; the Sri Lanka crisis and how the switch to organic farming is being held responsible despite this being far from the truth. They shared an insightful episode of Al Jazeera reporter Sana Saeed’s ‘Backspace’ where she delves into the nefarious origins of the overpopulation myth, how the media continues to promote it, and how it doesn’t have any place in the conversation and coverage around the climate crisis.
Andrei and JC led us through the process of how narratives are built and how to go about dismantling false narratives. We need to identify our audience and then decide and chalk out our ways of communication. We should aim to enable our audience to tell the stories themselves.
In order to facilitate a greater understanding of narratives a group exercise was organised. Participants were divided into 3 groups to explore narratives pertaining to Land, Climate Change and Seed Systems. The groups then explored the most significant problems associated with the issue; the narratives we need to dismantle, the narratives we need to build and the different stories surrounding the issues. I was part of the Climate Change group and this exercise helped us identify prevailing false narratives and also realise that there are many positive stories some from the very communities we work with which need to be leveraged to dismantle the false narrative and bring about positive change through the promulgation of new people centric narratives.
The second day involved the Anchors and facilitators from PAN-AP and MASIPAG supporting participants in developing communication strategies for their organisations. We explored how to structure our strategy and what are the elements of a communication strategy which involved:
- Identifying our vision and explore and refine it in the context of the following parameters – What we can do; What resources we have; what conditions we are in
- Spelling out our Communication Goal – which is the ideal situation we want to achieve and can be done by doing communication efforts.
- Formulating Communication objectives
- Formulating Messages which are sets of topics, stories and narratives that need ot be told to reinforce the communication goals.
- Identifying our audience – which can be done by asking ourselves who do we need to be in our corner to create the social change we need.
- Communication channels – which are the modes of engaging our audiences through communications. (Face-to-face conversations, video conference conversations, audio conference conversations, written message, published content etc.
- Communication platforms – which are spaces and/or technology in which we engage our audiences. They could include social media, house visits, community meetings, seminars, paper, television/radio, campaign events etc.
- Forms – which are choices of communication products that our messages are packaged in. They could include flyers, brochures; slides; scripts, radio content, blogs, books, lobbying kits etc.
Based on this we developed a communication strategy for our organisations covering all the elements that had been covered by the anchors. This would serve as a platform to develop a comprehensive communication strategy along with our respective teams once we return from the Philippines.
On the final day we worked on a 6 month communication plan. An interesting element of this was the use of larger events like Indigenous Peoples Day, World Environment Day, and Biodiversity Day as a platform to leverage our advocacy and communication agenda. In addition to this we also identified other activities and events that would be carried out as part of the communication plan. The content calendar would help bring focus to the communication strategy and help us in implementation as well as fine tuning it as and when needed.
With the end of Communication Advocacy workshop we shifted base to Nipa Hut Resort, San Leonardo, Nueva Ecija, Philippines which was closer to MASIPAG’s Back up farm. Nipa Hut Resort had a relaxed and informal atmosphere which helped further interactions and experience sharing between participants. Sunday the 31st of August was spent exploring the nearest town and putting our feet up for a while. The second workshop from the 1st to the 3rd of August was part of APEX’s Ecology track and it dealt with “Farmer Seeds and Seeds Systems”. On the 1st of August we came together to share our experiences with traditional seeds and crops. I shared a presentation on the Revival and Promotion of Traditional seeds among PVTGs through the Using Diversity Network. Other organisations like BARCIK Bangladesh, Pakistan Kissan Mazdoor Tehreek (PKMT), CARITAS Dalat Vietnam, CARITAS Nepal and SWI Nepal also shared their experiences with promoting traditional seeds and agroecology approaches among farmers. Biswa Mohan representing PLD Network Odisha had a session where he shared experiences of how “Local seed systems are enabling small holder family farms to increase food production and income”. Biswa highlighted the concept of Seed Mothers among the Adivasi communities they work with. He shared that “Adivasi women nurture the local seeds and farms. They carry a symbiotic relationship with their land and other natural resources of the area. Women provide key environmental services while undertaking agriculture, adapting the principle of agro-ecology using the local resource base & traditional seed traits. Villagers fondly call them SEED MOTHERS.” This is similar to the efforts of women seed savers in Irula villages in Pilur.
The team from MASIPAG and PAN-AP helped summarise key findings from the presentations thereby preparing a list of key points with respect to Practices, Threats, Challenges and the Way Forward as shared by different presenters. Dr. Chito Medina summarised and drew conclusions from the findings that had come out of the various presentations. He emphasised the Distributive justice for all through Agro-Ecology approaches as an alternative to Modern machine and chemical intensive farming. He urged participants to explore the broader context as well – What to do at the consumer level; we also need to work towards influencing government policies as well.
The day concluded with a group exercise which involved a visual depiction of the Seed Story – How does the revival of local seeds contribute to – food, culture and rituals, livelihoods and control over seeds.
The second day of the workshop was spent at the MASIPAG Backup Farm. Spanning an area of 2.5 ha the National Backup farm is the biggest repository of rice seed maintained by MASIPAG. Its primary purpose is to conserve the rice seed collection for distribution to new Peoples Organisation (POs) and existing POs with maintained Trial Farms.
Boning, who has been the Manager of the Backup farm since 2019 showed us around and along with other members of the MASIPAG team like Eugene and Raina provided us with an overview of the Backup Farm as well as Trail Farms and the over all Seed Flow promoted by MASIPAG. MASIPAG was conceptualized through BIGAS conference, a multisectoral convention, which one of the primary outcomes was a resolution to reclaim, maintain and promote rice seeds that are not dependent on chemicals and are appropriate for farmers’ needs. Farmers, through the Provincial Coordinating Body (PCB), collectively plan, strategize and implement programs on-ground. While MASIPAG’s highlighted strength is its technical programs, these are implemented and further intensified through advocacy and organizational development. Trial Farms are at the core of MASIPAG’s program. MASIPAG’s Trial Farm strategy is an alternative to demo farms. These are farmer-managed/farmer-controlled, in contrast to demo farms that are usually maintained by academe and institutions which are considered external forces. Through trial farms, farmers are able to maintain and select seeds according to their needs and local conditions, instead of relying on the use of terminator seeds and its packaged technologies. They also have the freedom to develop and exchange seeds among the community. TF maintenance serves as a foundation in institutionalizing seed reserves which from experience has helped farmers in responding to the community’s rehabilitation operations after disasters. Currently there are a total of 156 trial farms (new and maintained). From the trial farms, POs select locally adapted varieties and selections. The National Backup farm which supplies POs and Trial Farms, maintains a total of 2132 rice varieties of which 747 are traditional rice varieties, 1205 are MASIPAG rice and 180 are farmer-bred rice.
Some of us got the opportunity to get our feed muddy when Boning provided a demonstration of how to carry out Hand / rotary weeding. The Backup farm also had a patch where local vegetables and pulses were being grown organically. They also had livestock which included buffalo, and ducks. Some participants were also able to collect uncultivated green leafy vegetables which served as a delicious accompaniment to our lunch.
Our final day involved a visit to a Trial Farm in Warding village, Bayambang, Pangasinan Province. Tatai Kading and other members of the local Peoples Organisations welcomed us to their village. Unlike in Nueva Ecija here there was more cultivation of vegetable crops and all houses had small homestead gardens with a variety of horticulture species in addition to several vegetable crops.
The women of village had prepared a variety of rice based sweets – Bico (rice cake), Uto and Kuntsinta.
The Trial Farm we visited had been recently established in July 2022. Due to certain challenges they had been forced to relocate the trail farm. One of the positives was a small patch forest, adjoining the paddy fields, which had been conserved. Villagers shared that the forest helped them meet their construction and other needs. Sadly one of the challenges faced was that farmers around the trial farm were still carrying out modern chemical based farming. The fact that the TF was on higher ground helped reduced impacts of chemical runoff. It was nice to see that a representative of the Agriculture Department also attended the program and addressed the questions of farmers to the best of her ability. She shared that the local government was committed to promoting organic farming and they would look to extend whatever support possible to the farmers. The villagers shared that currently 106 farmers are using seeds from the TF in their lands and efforts are being made to increase this number. Government promotion of hybrid is a challenge as the government subsidises farmers for 1-2 years covering the costs of chemical inputs but after that the farmers have to fend for themselves and that is often very challenging. MASIPAG and its network of POs are working to promote cultivation of traditional rice varieties which are far more sustainable, resilient and less labour and cost intensive in the long run. These varieties can also help farmers cope with the impacts of climate change. The visit to Warding concluded with an a exchange of seeds between different participants.
Our visit to the Philippines ended with a Solidarity night where participants wore their traditional dress and songs, and dances were performed. The event also included impromptu Karaoke performances.
