Growing Hunger: The Struggle of Small Farmers in the 21st Century
Michael Courville - Writer, and Jennifer Tong - Photographer
© All Images copyright Michael Courville and Jennifer Tong
Growing Hunger is an ongoing documentary project by writer/researcher Michael Courville and photographer Jennifer Tong. The project explores the contradictions of hunger and poverty in an era of global food production and economic interdependence. The first phase of the project focuses on small farmers in Honduras after a decade of free market agricultural policy. Future phases of the project will include coverage of small farmers in China, the Philippines and the United States. This project was made possible by a grant from the Puffin Foundation and with support from Robyn Color Lab in San Francisco.
The information and stories described in Growing Hunger are based on over fifty interviews conducted in the department of La Paz, Honduras during the Fall of 2004. We would like to thank all the farmers and citizens of La Paz who gave so generously of their time, and shared their lives with us so that we could bring their stories and photos to the world outside of Honduras.
Change
Planting
The Lay of the Land
The Export Game
Taking a Risk
In the 1980s the level of debt in Honduras rose to an alarming rate, and the nation fell to the mercy of foreign creditors. Under the guidance and monitoring of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Honduras implemented a set of policies designed to decrease the national debt, stabilize the economy, and reduce public spending. The Honduran Ministry of Agriculture directed farmers to compete on world markets by cultivating new crops like: cucumbers, jalapeño peppers, melons, oriental vegetables and mangoes. The pursuit of new export markets was accompanied by a reduction in state support for small farmers. In a nation where more than half of the population resides in the rural sector, connected to farming and agriculture, these changes have not gone unnoticed.
Trade
1-Giving Credit
2-Seeds
3-The Competition
4-The Biggest Players
5-Cooperative Endeavors
6-The Price of a Free Market
7-Harvesting the Green Bean
8-Mango Harvest
9-Waiting
On 11 June 2005, the G8 countries agreed to forgive billions of dollars in Honduran debt to allow the nation to compete more efficiently in world export markets, and liberate national funds for use in poverty reduction. Meanwhile, in the United States, CAFTA legislation hovered over the U.S. Senate as the benefits and limits of expanded free-market trade policies were discussed. The promise of free trade and increased agricultural export was heralded as the solution to persistent poverty in Honduras. Absent from the debate over CAFTA was the voice of the small farmer. The stories of Manuel and other small farmers convey a more complicated earthly reality, far from the promised Eden of free trade.
Life
Climatic Shifts
Feeding the Next Generation
The Legacy of Debt
Investing land, labor and resources in precarious export markets means risking the family food supply. Feeding oneself and one's family has long been the daily struggle of Honduran small farmers. Over the last decade, the struggle has deepened as many families find themselves wedged between the rising costs of fertilizer and seed, and limited incomes for the purchase of imported foods in local markets.
The Small Farmer Vision
Most small farmers and rural dwellers around the world face an increasingly hostile economic environment. The emphasis on agricultural export erodes the opportunity to feed oneself and pushes them towards the volatility of expanding world markets. Manuel and the other small farmers described a desire to be successful and secure within their own communities. They talk of a desire to feed their families and produce food for others at a fair price. It is not just a desire to feed oneself that is at stake, but a more fundamental right for self-determination and economic prosperity within their own rural communities. Theses farmers hope for a world where their nation is not at the disposal of large producers and agribusiness. They desire a nation where the wellbeing of small farmers (more than half of the population) is at the center of economic life and political planning. To learn more about the small farmer path to food sovereignty visit: Via Campesina's English website.
* Michael Courville completed this work as a graduate student at UC Berkeley in the Department of International and Area Studies. Jennifer Tong is a professional photographer living in San Francisco. Her work has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle and several Bay Area galleries.
The views expressed in this article or recording are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect those of Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy.
