Safe Agriculture and Food Movement on Sunday urged political parties and candidates contesting the upcoming national parliamentary elections to incorporate their 20-point proposals into their election manifestos and public commitments which highlight ensuring the state recognition of farmers’ identity with dignity.
The demands aiming at establishing a safe, fair, climate-resilient, profitable, healthy, pollution-free, sustainable and sovereign agriculture and food system in the country were announced at a press conference held in the morning.
The 20-point charter was presented by joint spokesperson of the movement, writer and researcher on environment and nature Pavel Partha. The demands include state recognition of farmers’ identity with dignity; ensuring the rights of all farmers, fishers and shifting cultivators; protection of agricultural land through strict enforcement of land-use laws; banning cultivation practices and inputs harmful to soil structure and microorganisms; and prioritising conservation and expansion of indigenous seed diversity.
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Other key demands include ensuring safe irrigation by reducing groundwater dependency and protecting natural water flows; gradually phasing out chemical fertilisers by promoting organic alternatives; banning highly hazardous pesticides and ultimately stopping the production, marketing and use of all toxic chemicals in agriculture and food production.
The charter also calls for stopping ultra-processed and artificial food items, ensuring fair prices for all crops, establishing area-based farmers’ markets, fixing minimum wages for agricultural workers, introducing farmer pensions, implementing safe waste management in agriculture and food production, and promoting indigenous fisheries and livestock breeds through rural household farming.
Additional demands focus on promoting urban agriculture and rooftop gardening using local seeds, preserving regional agricultural traditions through state-sponsored fairs and exhibitions, integrating safe agriculture and food systems into all levels of education, and prioritising local adaptation strategies to address the climate crisis with easy access to climate funds for affected farmers.
The proposals further include ensuring legal protection for farmers facing losses, establishing a transparent and accountable agriculture sector, introducing crop insurance and farmer risk allowances, issuing farmer cards based on farmers’ input, and expanding skill development, awareness and promotion related to safe agricultural production, processing and marketing.
Expressing solidarity with the demands, farmers including Asma Akhter from Manikganj, Sayed Ahmed Khan Bacchu from Netrokona, and Kalachan, a farmer-organiser from Manikganj Farmers’ School Cooperative Society, called for immediate implementation of the proposals.
Representative of the Natural Agriculture Society Delwar Jahan highlighted severe nutrient depletion in agricultural soils and said the 20-point demands are essential to restore soil and food nutrition. Advocate Shafiqul Rahman of the National Farmers’ Movement warned against laws that undermine farmers’ ownership and rights over seeds.
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Economist Prof Anu Muhammad said a shift in the current development paradigm is needed by ensuring people’s participation in policymaking, adding that the 20-point charter could play an effective role in that transition. He urged collective efforts to implement the demands.
Agricultural scientist Dr Abdus Sobhan, CAB representative SM Nazer Hossain, Bangladesh Organic Agricultural Network agronomist Dr Md Najim Uddin and representatives of several civil society organisations also spoke at the press conference.