Activity Report to Submit to 1st Ordinary General Assembly of Farmers’ Union (Çiftçi-Sen)
Activity Report to Submit to 1st Ordinary General Assembly of Farmers’ Union (Çiftçi-Sen)
Having applied to Izmir Governorship’s Office of Relations with Civil Society on 20 February 2020 with the statute of Çiftçi-Sen and the papers provided by the founders with an aim to establish the union, our union has gained the legal entity status with registration number 35-SND-219.
During the phase of establishment preparations, we have rented an office at the address of Cumhuriyet Caddesi No. 26 Cumhuriyet İşhanı Da. 306 Konak, Izmir to serve as the Central Office and paid one year’s rent in cash. We have set up the website www.ciftcisen.org for the introduction of our union.
We had the pandemic outbreak of Covid-19 during the establishment phase and this has weakened our organizational efforts. Despite all these adverse circumstances, our union has prepared and released press statements regarding the negative impacts on producers of the agricultural policies in effect.
We have maintained our affiliation with La Via Campesina
, the head organization of the farmers in the world, and with European Via Campesina ECVC, the regional organization in Europe. We have joined through Zoom the general assembly of ECVC to represent the farmers of our country.Prior to the Interministerial Meeting of Europe and Asia Minor, FAO’s (UN Food and Agriculture Organization) has called on Zoom the Meeting of Non-Governmental Organizations where our Organizational Secretary has participated as delegated by our union. We have explained to the participants from both FAO and the other NGO’s of producers, consumers, indigenous people, fishermen and the like, Çiftçi-Sen’s view of agroecology, small family farming, and experience of the farmers of our country during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The founder board of management has preferred to register a limited number of members instead of launching a widespread membership campaign under the Covid-19 pandemic conditions.
Our union has had the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (briefly Declaration of Peasant Rights) translated into Turkish and prepared to be printed in a brochure.
We wish the 1st Ordinary General Assembly of Çiftçi-Sen will contribute positively to our struggle in the forthcoming period.
Land, Pride, Life
Long live Çiftçi-Sen, Long Live Our Struggle
