Interview with Saker El Nour: Capitalist agriculture, food production and the ecological crisis
North African countries have witnessed for decades the intensification of an industrial export-led agriculture (agribusiness). This model has negative consequences on subsistence agriculture and on small-scale farmers and other food producers. In the current global pandemic, major problems, such as food dependence and loss of sovereignty, come to the surface and become very apparent. And such exceptional moments offer us the opportunity to advance ideas around “food sovereignty” and emphasise their emancipator content. In this interview with Saker El Nour, Egyptian researcher in agrarian studies, we attempted to shed some light on these issues.
Could you tell to us a little about yourself, your work and research interests?
First, I got a bachelor degree in agricultural production from Sohag University in 2000. In 2003 I have obtained my diploma in human development from the National Planning Institute in Cairo. After that, I joined the department of Agriculture Economics at the faculty of Agriculture (Minya university), in which I got my master in Rural Sociology and Agricultural Economy in 2005. In 2013, I have finished my doctoral theses in social sciences at Paris Nanterre University (Université Paris Nanterre).
After that I worked as an Assistant-Professor of rural sociology at Qena faculty of Agriculture, and as a post-doctoral fellow at École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), and the Euro-med civilization museum (MuCEM) in Marseille. I have also obtained a fellowship at the American University in Beirut.
In the recent years, I have conducted field research in rural areas in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Lebanon. And I was lucky to encounter and work with several researchers and activists in the field of rural studies and agrarian questions in the Arab region. My research interests are focused around rural poverty, anti-poverty policies, agrarian policies, political economy of food, rural social movements, food sovereignty and agro-ecology.
My basic concern in my research is to provide a critical analysis of food production and small farmers’ situation in the Arab world. So, I tend to bring together a macro-analysis of the political economy of food production and a micro-analysis of the main agents, strategies, adaption tools and resistance that farmers adopt in the region.
The global hegemonic discourse about food security implies that it’s the capitalist agriculture/agribusiness that feeds the world. This discourse tends to under-value the role of small-scale and family farmers and considers them an obstacle in the face of the development of the global industrial food system. What is your take on these views?
I think this dominant discourse is contradicting the reality that most of food production in the world, especially in the Global South is produced by small farmers. And it’s these peasants who are providing most of the food we consume today. According to a 2014 report from FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation), holdings of less than 1 hectare, constitute 72 % of all farms around the world, but they control only 8% of the global agricultural land. In the same report you can see that farms between 1-2 hectares constitute 12% of farms globally and control around 4% of the land. In contrast, only 1 % of farms have more than 50 hectares and control 65% of the global agricultural land. Small and medium-scale farmers control about 35% of the land but produce 70-80% of the food we eat. These statistics demonstrate that capitalist agriculture is not only incapable of adequately producing our food but is also destructive to humans and nature through its modes of production and exhaustion of natural resources.
The concept of food sovereignty, which has been put forward by the international peasant’s social movement, La Via Campesina, means “the right of peoples, local communities and countries to define their policies for agriculture, employment, fishing, food, and lands that are environmentally, socially, economically, and culturally appropriate to their unique circumstances, and that include true access to food and the production of Food, which means that all people have the right to safe and culturally appropriate nutrition as well as the right to access means of production and the ability to support themselves and their communities.”
Some talk about “food sovereignty” instead of “food security”. Is there a difference between them? And which one serves the interests of people and marginalized classes?
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The North African Network for Food Sovereignty
is a unifying structure for struggles in the region and will be involved in local, continental and international mobilisations.
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Final statement of the first assembly of the North African Network for Food Sovereignty
The first assembly of the North African Network for Food Sovereignty took place on 7-9 December 2018 in Agadir, Morocco. It gathered delegations from Egyptian, Tunisian, Algerian and Moroccan trade unions, cooperatives and associations that are active in the fields of food sovereignty, the defence of agricultural workers and small fishermen, the conservation of indigenous seeds and the protection of water and land. The assembly also attracted dozens of local small peasants and agricultural workers. The delegation from Occupied Palestine was unfortunately unable to attend the gathering. One year after its establishment in Tunis in 2017, the network, through this general assembly, has been reinforced by the joining of several new associations and organisations.
Member organisations of the network
- Attac Morocco (member of the international network of the committee for the abolition of illegitimate debts, CADTM).
- Union of young farmers and forestry professionals (Morocco).
- Torba (Algeria).
- Environmental justice North Africa (Algeria).
- Egyptian association for collective rights (Egypt).
- Union of sugar cane cultivators (Egypt).
- National union of fishers – coastal and offshore fishing (Morocco)
- Working group for food sovereignty (Tunisia).
- Association for the protection of Jemna’s oases (Tunisia).
- Tunisian association for sustainable agriculture (Tunisia).
- Al Warcha media collective for socio-economic rights – Inhiyez.com (Tunisia).
- Tunisian observatory of economy (Tunisia).
- Federation of Azlef associations (Morocco).
- Adwal association for development and solidarity (Morocco).
- Agila Nouarn Cooperative (Morocco).
- Federation and coordination for efficient citizenship (Morocco).
- Federation of civil associations in Tamri (Morocco).
- Tellouzt federation of apiculture (Morocco).
- Land and humanism (Morocco).
- Al-Millilem Moukdour (Morocco).
- Tizrit cooperative (Morocco).
- Adaouder association for culture and sport (Morocco).
- Ed El Rais association for development and solidarity (Morocco).
- Taroudant agricultural association (Morocco).
- Tikzrit association – Essaouira (Morocco).
- Idaouidr association for the development of culture, sport and aquaculture – Amkrad community – Assaouira (morocco).
- Aoul Ifaoun association for social development in Badautnen (Morocco).
