CBC Radio - Dispatches Vignettes on Local Food Sovereignity Yemen, Uganda, India, Zanzibar, Italy

Great radio show tonight on Dispatches (CBC), featuring vignettes about local food movements, food security and food sovereignity around the globe. Includes a segment on the fight to save seeds by small farmers in India, a country whose government is considering implementing a law that would not allow farmers to save their own seeds and instead force them to purchase from large corporations such as Monsanto and Cargill. Vandana Shiva is especially eloquent (as always) in her words, as she passionately speaks about using the "two planks" that Ghandi left them - self-organizing and non-violent resistance to unjust laws. She speaks of her work at the Navdanya Centre (www.navdanya.org) in India, which is a research centre for technology, science and ecology and has a mission to "protect nature and people's rights to knowledge, biodiversity, water and food". The urban agriculture movement in sub-Saharan Africa is also incredibly inspiring. It is estimated there are more than 800,000 million urban farmers globally! More and more people are turning to urban agriculture as food is scarce or food prices are on the rise in cities. Urban agriculture becomes both a way to feed themselves and their families, as well as earn income from selling at local markets.

To hear complete podcast go to: www.cbc.ca/dispatches (search Dec 22/28)

CBC Radio - Dispatches

December 22/28, 2008

The trouble with qat: Yemen's favorite afternoon narcotic is costing the country its water supply as Yemenis literally chew their way into drought.

Why roadside gardens may be sub-Saharan Africa's first line of defense against food shortages.

In India, angry farmers prepare to defy a government proposal to throw away their seeds.

The women of the surf in Zanzibar, where a bold attempt to build an economy out of seaweed is starting to wilt.

And the cesarinas strike back: a home-cooking movement tries to right the culinary wrongs masquerading as Italian cuisine.