Food Sovereignty in the Philippines

The way people produce and distribute food is undergoing drastic changes. Peasant communities and small-scale farms are being displaced by the ‘industrial food chain’. Its proponents herald new technologies – like genetic engineering, smart sensors, and big data platforms – as key to optimizing food production. However, this corporate-driven digitalization often has disastrous consequences. Promises of increased efficiency distract from persistent pollution, soil degradation, land grabbing and labor right violations. Moreover, as proprietary technologies replace traditional knowledge, farmers become dependent on large agribusinesses. Therefore, the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung partnered with ETC Group to strengthen farmers’ rights amid the digitalization of agriculture.

ETC Group has conducted extensive research in support of small-scale farmer organizations. In 2018, the group published “Blocking the Chain”. Authored by alternative Nobel Prize laureate Pat Mooney, this study highlights how ‘Big Data’ is used to advance corporate monopolization. Mooney also discusses whether such technologies could instead enable a more just and ecological transformation of agriculture. ETC Group’s 2021 report “Hijacking Food Systems” condemns the exclusion of smallholders and peasants from international forums. Turning to Southeast Asia, “Cashing in on the Climate Crisis” analyzes the crucial role of agricultural digitalization in schemes that profit from environmental destitution. The 2023 study “A Future of Farms without Farmers?” provides grassroots activists with an overview of recent policies changes in the Philippines and its neighboring countries.

To make this research more accessible and reach wider audiences, ETC Group has created two educational board games. Titled “Disruption!” and “Chains and Vines”, the games pit the industrial food chain against a more sustainable ‘peasants food web’. As players compete for control over the commons, the games illustrate crucial strategies such as ‘corporate double speak’ or ‘community-supported agriculture’. ETC Group used the board games in a series of workshops and ‘train-the-trainers’. Several attending civil society organizations have integrated them into their curricula. The games also received enthusiastic feedback at international summits, such as the ASEAN People’s Forum and COP 27. Further, ETC Group has begun to compliment this outreach campaign with policy advocacy. Based on consultations held across the Philippines in 2024, ETC Group has formulated three policy proposals to serve as concrete goals for grassroot activists and farmer organizations to rally behind.