Maputo Communique

MAPUTO COMMUNIQUE

We, the undersigned organizations that met at the International Conference on Hunger, Food Aid and GMOs which was held in Maputo, Mozambique from 15 – 16 July 2004, and which was a gathering of farmers, environmental, consumers, development, and faith-based organizations from Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe and North America; Note with concern that hunger is still a chronic problem across the world; And reaffirm that food security and an end to hunger can only be achieved through food sovereignty. Noting that neo-liberal policies are impoverishing and destroying small-scale farmers and their agricultural systems, reducing food production and productivity, and provoking hunger; And that this situation is made worse with the introduction of GMOs and intellectual property rights on seeds;

We call for the enactment and implementation of policies that provide means of production, markets, and fair prices to small farmers in order to achieve food sovereignty. While recognising the necessity for food aid in situations of crisis; We condemn the use of food aid as an instrument of political domination, to open markets, to dump surplus agricultural produce which destroys the competitiveness of local agriculture and distorts consumption patterns, and threatens biodiversity, to introduce GMOs, and to impose conditionalities on countries; And demand that when food aid is necessary, it must be timely and in line with development policies, be sourced locally and regionally, be culturally acceptable and must respect consumer rights.

As GMOs are a threat to the environment, our health, agricultural systems, societies and economies, and are not a solution to world hunger, but in fact will worsen this crisis; We call for a moratorium on the import and releases of GMOs and their products in our countries until all the concerns about GMOs are resolved, and demand that GMOs must not be used in food aid.