Safe Rice for Health and Livelihood!!

“Safe Rice for Health and Livelihood!” – this is the call of small rice producers and rice consumers across Asia from 1 January to 15 March 2011 under the COLLECTIVE RICE ACTION (CORA) 2011 Campaign.

In 15 countries across Asia (PR China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh), thousands of people will be celebrating CORA events ranging from rallies to workshops and festivals. CORA is spearheaded by the Save Our Rice Campaign of Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP); 30 network partners are anchor organizations for CORA in the 15 countries working with numerous other local people’s organizations.

In 2007, a million small-scale rice farmers, rural women, agricultural workers, indigenous people and rice consumers joined the Week of Rice Action (WORA 2007) and signed the People’s Statement on Saving the Rice of Asia as testimony to Asia’s solidarity to defend its rice heritage. Since then, the people’s movement across Asia has held WORA 2008 and YORA (the People's Year of Rice Action) 2009-2010 to continue to assert the call to save the rice of Asia.

CORA builds on the success of its predecessors, WORA 2007 and 2008, and YORA 2009-2010 in building solidarity across all sectors of Asian society to assert the people’s right to safe food and livelihood. CORA runs from 1 January to 15 March 2011 with a collective culmination in different CORA countries on 15 March, World Consumers' Day. “Rice consumers are put at serious risk from the use of hazardous pesticides in rice cultivation and the genetic engineering of rice seeds while small-scale rice farming communities are among the poorest sectors in the world due to the impacts of imperialist globalization and corporate control over agriculture. There is an urgent need to revert to the rice culture, community wisdom and biodiversity-based ecological agriculture which sustained rice communities for generations before the Green Revolution and ensured safe food for and the food sovereignty of small rice producers and rice consumers,” says Sarojeni Rengam, Executive Director of PAN AP.

If you want to be a part of CORA 2011 in your country, write to panap@panap.net or go to www.panap.net or www.ricewisdom.org for more information including the contact details of CORA partners in the different countries.

Contact:

Ms Clare Westwood or Ms Morana Lefilliatre
PAN Asia and the Pacific
P.O. Box 1170, 10850 Penang, Malaysia
Tel: 604-6570271 or 604-6560381
Fax: 604-6583960
E-mail: clare.westwood@panap.net, morana.lefilliatre@panap.net, panap@panap.net
Home Page: www.panap.net

The Save Our Rice Campaign is dedicated to saving traditional local rice, small rice farmers, rice lands and the rice heritage of Asia through defending and advancing the cultural and food sovereignty of the grassroots and opposing the powerful threats to rice. CORA (Collective Rice Action) ASIA 2011 is jointly organised by people's organisations in PR China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh in collaboration with Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP). It ran from 1 January to 15 March 2011. The theme of CORA 2011 is "SAFE RICE FOR HEALTH AND LIVELIHOOD".

If you want to be a part of CORA 2011 in your country, write to panap@panap.net or go to www.panap.net or www.ricewisdom.org for more information including the contact details of CORA partners in the different countries.