Farmers, persons with an interest in small farmer agriculture and the general public are invited to a presentation on the theme – Small Farmers and Food Sovereignty: The Legacy of the Grenada Cane Farmers Association – on Monday, 29 April at 5 pm at the River Sallee Government School, River Sallee, St Patrick.
The presentation will be facilitated by Dr Matthew Kopka of the University of Florida who undertook his doctoral research in Grenada, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. His presentation will point to Grenada’s rich small farmer legacy — historically among the most advanced in the Caribbean — and describe the organisational and technical achievement of the Grenada Cane Farmers Association which came into being after the 1983 US invasion of Grenada, adapting intercropping methods to grow sugarcane, ground provisions and short crops, lifting the standard of living and quality of life in some of Grenada’s poorest communities.
Members of the Grenada Cane Farmers Association also helped to launch the giant international peasant/small farmer movement, the Via Campesina, which championed the demand for “food sovereignty” as an international human right.
Kopka’s presentation will also focus on the lessons to be learned from the experience of the Grenada Cane Farmers Association for the future of small farmer agriculture everywhere. Following the presentation there will be an interactive question and answer session.
The presentation is being hosted by the Grenada Cane Farmers Association in association with the Agency for Rural Transformation (ART).
Agency for Rural Transformation
