In 2012, La Vía Campesina honored the Korean Women’s Peasant Association (KWPA) with the Food Sovereignty Prize, created in opposition to the corporate-dominated World Food Prize. This award acknowledges and supports the work KWPA does to preserve and spread native seed varieties. Through this work, an Inter-Korean network of seed saving and exchanging has been established, and continues to grow.
“Jeomok Bak, chairperson of Korean Women’s Peasant Association, center, receives a Food Sovereignty Prize from Leticia Alanis, executive director of La Union, left, and Nancy Oritz-Surun, director of La Finca del Sur, right. Credit: Stuart Ramson/Insider Images for WhyHunger”
Source: ipsnews.net (click image)
This work is based on the principle that “supplying seeds is not the task of companies, but the right of every farmer” [1]. It also highlights the role that Korean women play in seed saving. When KWPA sought out to locate native seed varieties, 90% of the native seeds they found were kept by women. Not only are these women keepers of the seed, they also hold the crucial knowledge of how to plant, harvest, and save each variety.
With these native seeds in hand, KWPA established a variety of programs to protect and share them among farmers in both North and South Korea. Since 2008, a number of seed farms have been established, which serve the purpose of in-situ conservation, in which seeds are preserved in a living environment, as opposed to frozen in a seed bank. From here, seeds are distributed to farmers. KWPA also hosts seed festivals, which provide a space for farmers and non-farmers alike to share experiences and learn from each other. It is also a way of educating consumers about issues pertaining to seed and food sovereignty.
We have many questions about native seeds, but also many new stories. There are so many stories that we have conversations about them far into the night, and still we do not finish telling them all. These experiences are unique and valuable. We are beginning to write down the stories of women farmers, which we share with our neighbours. [1]
In addition to community organizing, KWPA is tackling global political and economic forces. The agricultural agreement from the Uruguay Round in 1993 and the launch of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995 opened South Korea’s agricultural market, increasing their dependence on imported food and weakening domestic agricultural production. Additionally, regulations from the International Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV) have been in effect in Korea since 2012. These intellectual property rights over seeds threaten farmers’ ability to control their own seed, and act in favor of transnational seed companies.
While the work of KWPA has been invaluable, it is not without challenges. South Korea is a rapidly industrializing country, and the percentage of farmers in the population has dropped from 50% in the 1970s to less than 7% in the 2010s [3]. Land and resources are becoming increasingly scarce for farmers as many find themselves in debt and forced to migrate to urban areas. Climate change is also affecting Korean farmers, especially when Typhoon Kompasu hit in 2010, devastating rice yields.
Despite these challenges, KWPA affirms that “we can only protect our seeds by learning from other farmers and reproducing seeds ourselves” [1]. Seed sovereignty is a critical component of food sovereignty, and through working with Korean women farmers, KWPA is directly challenging the harmful forces of neoliberalism and patriarchy to cultivate gender justice and food sovereignty.
1. “Our Seeds, Our Future.” La Vía Campesina. Jakarta, June 2013. http://viacampesina.org/downloads/pdf/en/EN-notebook6.pdf
2. “Seed Heritage of the People for the Good of Humanity (for the Women Seed Forum in South Korea).” La Vía Campesina. http://viacampesina.net/downloads/PDF/seed_heritage_of_the_people_for_the_good_of_humanity.pdf
3. Jeong Kim, Hyo. “Women’s Indigenous Knowledge and Food Sovereignty: Experiences from KWPA’s Movement in South Korea.” Journal of Peasant Studies (2013)
Our Seeds, Ourselves 