
The cost of living is extremely high on the islands. Today our islands have become extremely dependable on the importation of foods. We went from being self-sufficient, to be producing less than 5% of the food that is consumed on the islands. We went from having agriculture and fishing as our main economies, to having now a massive tourism industry that is exceeding the capacity of our resources (specially water). It is good to notice, that more than 60% of the farmers do not own the lands.
Food security and sovereignty
We consider that we are not taking seriously our need to set policies of food sovereignty and food security. And we would like to have help to establish a solid model of food sovereignty, based on experiences of other people that are more advanced on this.Establishing the Raizal Food Production Center (RFPC)
The RFPC seeks to produce locally all sorts of foods and to reduce the high level of importation. It also seeks to better the quality of food and nutritional values, and therefore the health of the people, and so in general, their quality of life. The RFPC intends to promote a solidarity economy.
The RFPC initiated in 2017, focused on two types of food: eggs and fish. This included the installation of a chicken coop with a capacity of 3.000 laying hens. The component with the fish included the installation of cold rooms with a capacity of more than 20 tons, and with an area of processing.
The RFPC started with 120 families and some artisanal fishermen. These families were to receive an amount of the food produced at the center, at half the price; the other half was to be paid with social services at the center. We implemented a system of distribution, using some of the churches.
The spirit of the project is to avoid paternalism, in the meanwhile it revives the spirit of communal work, solidarity, unity, and a just commerce.
We gave priority to the local buyers, to the raizal families, from having access to the fish due to its high demands in the commerce for tourist industry with better prices.