News

From 10 till 20th June, the presidents and some technicians from our partner organizations PNOPPA (national farmer organization of Benin) and CTOP (national farmer organization of Togo) were in Brussels to meet up with the European Commission and to participate in the EU-ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA), which took place from 15 till 19 June in the European parliament.

The Vredeseilanden vision states that smallholder farmers will be able to feed the 9 billion people by 2050, that they can work themselves out of poverty by doing so, and that they can do so without putting too much pressure on the earth.

Chocolate factories and cocoa traders worldwide have become aware of the need to invest in making the cocoa sector more sustainable. Due to population growth, changing diets in emerging economies and the deterioration of the cocoa production systems, companies fear not to be able to source sufficient cocoa within the years to come.

Recently Vredeseilanden has become a member of the Sustainable Food Lab (SFL), a network that has the mission to accelerate the shift of sustainable food from niche to mainstream. More information can be found on their website.

Vredeseilanden (VECO) published a common position on the future CAP together with the environmental NGO’s and the development NGO’s. We advocate for remunerative prices for farmers. We consider this as beneficial for farmers and society in EU and no longer detrimental to farmers in the African region who suffer from unfair competition. We also ask more support for the implementation of agro-ecological principles. This will be necessary to get in line with the ecological capacity of our planet.

In Belgium, a new network with regard to sustainable agriculture and food is created: the New Food Frontier. It is, in a first stage, a network of 50 thinkers and doers. You will find them in the field and at the table, within agricultural, horticultural and food companies, in research groups, at universities, within government agencies, interest groups and soon in many more places too.