Rural Women’s Struggle for Feminist Food Sovereignty
By Liani MK, APWLD Information and Communications Associate
October is a significant month for peasant women that marks two major global days: International Rural Women’s Day on the 15th and World Food Day on the 16th.
Yet, even as the world celebrates themes like, “Right to Food for a Better Life and a Better Future,” farmers and food producers across Asia and the Pacific continue to struggle with hunger and poverty. The region holds half of the world’s severely food insecure population as of 2023, impacting women more than men. Meanwhile, global powers continue to impose harmful policies that prevent farmers from growing or accessing their food.
Farmers across the region, the majority of whom are women, are looking to food sovereignty—a community-centric sustainable food production and consumption system—as the solution to reclaim power over land, seeds and agricultural systems.
These issues were covered at the recent feminist food sovereignty workshop at the Asia Pacific Feminist Forum, “Food as Weapons, Food Sovereignty as Solution: Situating the Rural Women of Asia and the Pacific in the Fight for Women’s Human Rights and Development Justice”.
The two-hour workshop was organised by GRAIN, Roots for Equity, RITES-Forum, ETC Group and Amihan. It brought together over 40 participants from across the region to explore food sovereignty as a solution for food justice and autonomy.
The Weaponisation of Food
Amid global crises and climate emergencies, the Asia Pacific region is experiencing an intense rise in food insecurity, acute hunger, food price inflation, and the weaponisation of food in military attacks—which disproportionately impact farmers and rural women.
Azra Sayeed, one of the workshop’s lead facilitators, traced the historical use of food as a weapon. “In the 1990s, the real fight was with the WTO (World Trade Organisation),” she explained, referring to how international trade agreements were used to dismantle land reform efforts and seize control of agricultural resources.
Azra described how the WTO’s push to control land, seeds and livestock fundamentally disrupted the livelihoods of rural communities. Chemical-based fertilisers, as by-products of war, are used to damage soil and agricultural productivity, which further entrenches hunger and dependence on imported food.
According to Azra, food sovereignty then becomes about reclaiming control over food production, land, and seeds—resources that have been increasingly monopolised by corporations.
“Food sovereignty asks: Who will grow, where will it be grown, and how will it be grown?” said Azra. “These three questions are critical because small farmers, most of whom are women, dominate food production in Asia.”
Neoliberal Policies and Land Grabbing
Cathy Estavillo from AMIHAN, a peasant women’s group in the Philippines, highlighted the direct effects of neoliberal policies on local farmers. “The Philippines is an agricultural country. Seventy-five per cent of our population are farmers,” she said. “They grow food but are one of the most hungry people in the country.”
The system fails those who grow the food, and climate-induced disasters only worsen food insecurity. This, she said, demonstrates the urgent need for policy reforms that prioritise small-scale farmers, particularly women, over corporate interests.
Cathy pointed out that millions in rural areas continue to experience hunger despite an excess in food. “There is a food surplus that can feed up to 10 billion people but 735 million people are facing hunger in 2022,” said Cathy. “Despite food surplus, there is a global food hunger. Who holds the surplus?”
Indigenous Resistance and Militarisation
The issue of militarisation in agriculture was another key focus of the workshop. Sharanya Nayak from RITES Forum highlighted the militarisation of indigenous lands in Central India, where conflicts over resources are intensifying.
“For every one civilian in these regions, [there are] nine military personnel,” said Sharanya.
Indigenous women living in resource-rich regions face constant land grabs under the guise of industrialisation. The struggle is then not just against militarisation. According to Sharanya, it is also against the corporate capture of agriculture—which has reduced farming to a monoculture reliant on harmful genetically modified crops, displacing traditional and sustainable practices.
As rivers are being diverted, “farmlands are getting dry. People who used to grow paddy and millet are forced to shift to groundnuts, soya, corn (genetically-modified corn), Bt cotton,” she explained, which have been falsely presented as solutions to food insecurity.
The Role of Women in Food Sovereignty
The workshop highlighted the clear influence and role women play in spearheading food sovereignty movements and maintaining food systems—through efforts such as saving seeds, resisting land grabs and ensuring their families are fed.
Still, they are disproportionately affected by food insecurity and violence. As Sarojeni Rengam from Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PANAP) pointed out, the effects of climate change, militarisation and corporate exploitation impacted women the hardest, especially those in rural areas who are on the frontlines of food production.
Sarojeni emphasised the role of imperialist powers in perpetuating the crisis.
“Rich countries are only 12% of the global population but account for fifty per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. Asia [accounts for] 45% of losses and damages in terms of crops and livestock,” she said. However, she said it is the Global South that suffers the most, with forty-five per cent of crop and livestock losses occurring in Asia.
“These so-called innovations are just ways for corporations to cash in on the crisis, while our communities continue to face hunger, displacement, and militarisation,” added Neth Daño, Asia Director of the ETC Group. She also criticised other false solutions that exacerbate the problem, like carbon capture, genetic engineering and digitalisation in business models.
A Call to Action
“We are experiencing a third global food crisis in just a span of 15 years,” said Kartini Samon, Coordinator of GRAIN. “These are systemic crises that are happening because food has become an economical weapon used by corporations to gain profits and exert monopoly control.”
The workshop concluded with a collective call to end corporate control over agriculture by participants from various indigenous backgrounds and parts of the region, that is: to resist neoliberal reforms, protect local farmers from corporate exploitation and fight for food sovereignty. Participants called for agroecology to be recognised and supported as a sustainable, community-driven solution to the climate crisis and hunger.
As October brings attention to the struggles of food producers globally, the role of rural women in pushing for food sovereignty needs to be recognised. Women are not passive victims of corporate exploitation. Despite land grabbing, climate change and neoliberal policies, women continue to build feminist movements and fight for the right to control their food systems.
“Food sovereignty is [about] control over resources [and] overall productive resources,” said Azra. “We cannot do without land. We will not give up our land.”
