Brazil launches the Agroecology Plan and Organic Production. It was announced by the President Dilma Rousseff the 17 October, during the Second National  Conference on Sustainable Rural Development, in Brasilia.  The Plan aims to coordinate policies and actions for an environmental-friendly agriculture and the organic food production, with an initial investment of 8.8 billion allocated to 125 initiatives all over the country.

This is the result of an intense  dialogue  between the government and civil society representatives gathered in the national committee that was established by presidential decree in 2012 in order to develop the Plan.

Just one day prior to the announcement, the Ministry of Agriculture, in Brasilia was occupied by  the protest of the Brazilian farmers demanding “global action on food sovereignty” as part of World Food Day celebrations.
Although civil society proposals have not been fully included in the final version of the document,  there is a general consensus on the fact that the Plan marks an historic moment, an important step foward in the direction of a more sustainable peasant agriculture, especially in a country such as Brazil where the agribusiness model still keeps on maintining a great influence on government policies, due to its economic importance.

 See also:

• http://aspta.org.br/2013/10/dilma-lanca-plano-nacional-de-agroecologia-e-producao-organica/
  (article in Portuguese)
• The Agroecology Plan: Brasil Agroecológico Plano Nacional de Agroecologia e Produção Orgânica
  (PDF in Portuguese)
• The official presentation (PDF in Portuguese)

Brasil Agroecológico. A video produced by the Brazilian governemnt for the launching of the Plan.

La Via Campesina, the international movement which brings together millions of peasants, small and medium-size farmers, landless people, women farmers, indigenous people, migrants and agricultural workers from around the world, closed its 6th International Conference (Jakarta, 6-13 June, 2013) with a strong call for food sovereignity. Read more

International delegates of La Via Campesina gathered in Surin, Thailand, from 6 to 12 November 2012 for the First Global Encounter on Agroecology and Seeds. The objective of the reunion was “to share experience and construct a strategy and vision on agroecology and seeds, in the holistic understanding that both are part of the struggle to achieve food sovereignty.”
In Thailand, small scale farmers are currently pushing toward a shift from an industrial model of agriculture to agroecology with the full support of La Via Campesina movement and that is the reason why this country has been chosen for the meeting.
The Surin Declaration states clearly why Agroecology, as truly sustainable peasants agriculture based on traditional knowledge, is considered the corner stone of food sovereignty, as well as an intrinsic part of the global answer to the main challenges and crises we face as humanity. You can read it the full text of the Surin Declaration here.

La Via Campesina website: http://viacampesina.org/en/