By: Hugo CHAMBILLA [1]
Faced with the deterioration of the food agro-industry resulting from the green revolution, with food supply centers filled with conventional and genetically modified products, and tending to be controlled by a few transnational companies, among other problems, producer and consumer movements are emerging with greater awareness and the importance of changing their way of producing, consuming, and revaluing organic and traditional peasant agriculture.
There is no denying that we seem to be seeing the tip of the iceberg of the global food problem. The rise in food prices at an international level has focused attention on the productive capacity of the global food system. However, the existence of modest production systems, such as family farming, whose agroecological systems of small-scale food production and commercialization in local markets, can provide better responses to the demands of the present and the future.
In this way, a system is proposed that includes agroecological production, local markets, food security and sovereignty, with a better appreciation of the territories, which can become an alternative model to the current conventional agri-food systems.
In Ecuador, in recent years, due to the initiatives of some producers and consumers, in addition to the support of NGOs, organic fairs have emerged in different provinces of the country, but mainly in Pichincha and Guayas and others such as Santa Elena where they have begun to join forces to have them more frequently.
These fairs, which are called Bio Fairs, Eco Fairs, Micro Fairs and Agroecological Fairs, are spaces for the promotion and local marketing of agro-ecological products, and have the perspective of improving the insertion or access to alternative markets for organic producers, and for consumers, access to healthy and safe foods and in this way contribute to the construction of more sustainable production and consumption schemes at a local and/or regional level.
There are also permanent spaces such as the Peasant Eco-Store of the FECAOL (Federation of Agricultural Centers and Peasant Organizations of the Coast) In the city of Guayaquil, it constantly keeps in stock a variety of products from agroecological farms from different parts of the country.
Why do these spaces exist?
Because in them we get [2]:
1. Fresher, tastier and more nutritious products. Qualities that are lost when they are stored and/or frozen for a long time, as happens in supermarkets.
2. Healthy products that do not decompose easily. They do not contain toxic residues, since no chemicals have been used in their production, and they do not contain any preservatives or other additives for their preservation.
3. A varied diet based on local products. Small farmers practice polyculture and are the ones who maintain the variety of fruit and vegetable species. Eating a varied diet is beneficial and helps maintain good health.
4. Reduce the emission of polluting gases. Transport from distant places is reduced, CO2 emissions and their direct effects such as climate change are reduced.
5. Consume seasonal products. Seasonal products are cheaper and maintain their qualities. There is contact with the seasons of the year, learning to differentiate when is the best time to consume each product.
6. Obtain better products at fair prices. Direct purchasing offers a good quality-price ratio. That is, at a price that is fair for the producer and fair for the consumer.
7. Support the market and farmers. Even if it is very small, it helps local farmers and their families to live well.
8. Reduce production waste. Supermarkets reject produce that is not the right size, color or shape. Local producers offer the best quality, and will include large and small and irregular shapes, because that is how nature makes things.
9. Promote local and regional gastronomy. Knowing and appreciating the varieties of fruit and vegetables in a region is a unique and distinctive cultural asset.
10. Reduce and reuse packaging. This makes a huge difference, unlike supermarkets where many fresh products are already packaged and produce large amounts of non-degradable waste.
11. Know the origin of products and producers. It is always more comforting to eat knowing where the products come from. The farmer can tell you everything about the product: the way it is grown, the varieties they produce, the practices used, etc.
12. Create and/or strengthen social relationships. You can talk to the farmer and ask about the products, how they were grown, their properties, how to cook them, etc. For children, it can be exciting to see how the food they eat grows, to learn about its life cycle and its environment. Ultimately, special bonds of trust are created between the producer and consumer.
13. Prevent oligopolies. By purchasing in these markets, a few intermediaries are prevented from speculating on food and prices. The right to food sovereignty is exercised.
14. Boost the local economy. By buying in local markets you are also investing in boosting the local economy.
15. Conserve the local landscape and biodiversity. Traditional peasant and organic agriculture promotes diversity, conservation and respect for nature and productive resources, which will contribute positively to the creation and maintenance of varied and balanced landscapes. Local and diverse foods (native varieties) tend to disappear as supermarkets order their product lines according to their economic interests (commercial varieties), regardless of their negative impact on cultural, environmental and health levels.
16. Support a sustainable development model. By improving incomes, farmers will remain, use and care for their land to continue producing food.
17. Move towards a sustainable consumption model. Wasteful consumerism promotes an unsustainable model, both environmentally and socially, and is totally at odds with the well-being of the planet. The solution is as simple as carrying out critical, sustainable and rational consumption, thinking about the quantities and products that are really necessary for use and consumption in our daily lives.
For all these reasons, it is justified to support family farming, by going to and buying directly from small traditional and organic producers, located in places such as organic fairs, traditional peasant fairs called "from producer to consumer" as spaces of resistance and food sovereignty.
[1] Researcher of the Andean regional project “Peasant Markets” AVSF.
[2] Adapted from ECOAgricultor 04/18/2013.
Adapted for Ecuador by Ballenita Sí Digital Magazine.
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