“One thing I have learnt is that the concepts of Seed Freedom and Food Freedom are highly interdependent, they cannot be separated. Diverse seeds create diverse foods, and diversity in the foods we eat encourages new diversity into the seeds.
Diversity and variety are the essential characters of nature, an endless unfolding of potential. By protecting Seed and Food freedom we also celebrate the diversity of people, cultures and ideas around the world.”
“The free market capitalist paradigm brags that it has given us freedom of choice, but in reality it has given us only the illusion of choice – a narrow set of options contained within a limited framework that is dictated not by the people but by powerful corporations.
True freedom and true choice means freedom to choose alternatives to this paradigm – freedom to grow food organically, to save indigenous seeds, to eat food that nourishes our bodies, society and environment. Free market capitalism does not guarantee this freedom; this freedom is what we are fighting for.”
“Why am I into organic agriculture? Because I don’t like chemicals.
Food should be enjoyed, and there is nothing more enjoyable than the taste of food you grow yourself.”
“Rights and freedoms are only discussed during election periods,
but those same rights and freedoms are violated every day.
I am talking about the right to eat healthy and nutritious food, to save indigenous seeds, to exchange technology. In Sri Lanka, a few big corporations are interfering with the whole agricultural sector and trying to steal these basic rights, with support from the government.
I want to make sure that our traditional seeds and technologies are available again in our culture, and I want to see Food Sovereignty back in the hands of small farmers.”
“Back home, agriculture is our main livelihood.
Seeds are extremely important in sustaining people’s livelihood, because you can’t grow crops without seeds.
For generations farmers have been sharing seeds among themselves to support those who don’t have any. The most common practice is to share seeds in exchange for labour.
Farmers’ right to keep and control their own seeds is at the basis of our community livelihood. If we allow the market to take control, this culture of sharing will be lost completely.
We want our tradition to continue. Seeds should be in the hands of the farmer.”
“In order to make food production into big business, you have to make it artificially scarce. Modern civilization is based on hierarchical control over food production and the stratification of society. This way of civilization will lead to our extinction.
We need to change it fast, and we have the tools to do it in our hands: agroecology, local economies, appropriate technologies, real democracy and equality. Food is the most transformative force for humanity.”
“Working with the international cohort and Navdanya staff and Fellows for the 2014 A to Z course was a highlight of my life- I learned as much as I mentored. Vandana Shiva and her team at Navdanya have created an incredible opportunity to expand networks, gain deeper understanding and commitment, and accelerate one’s capacity to engage in one’s own work for earth democracy and seed freedom no matter what one’s area of work towards social and ecological justice”
“A seed represents the potential of a new life.
Not just for the plant, but for all of human kind.
We need to recognize that by destroying indigenous seeds we are in effect destroying a way of life.”
“When we loose touch with Nature, we loose touch with Humanity.
Whatever we do, it should be enriching the Earth’s resources and the life around us.”
“Seed is Brahma [God].
Conserving seeds through generations is a fundamental right of the farmer.
Trying to break this fundamental right is a violence against God and against Nature.”
