This is why, one of the tasks of the women member of the National Peasant and Indigenous Movement is to revalue peasant work as crucial for the food sovereignty of thousand of families living in the Argentinean countryside.

The advance of extensive agriculture and open pit mining by the same transnational corporations has depleted water resources of the communities, has displaced families and accelerated rural depopulation processes.

“Our farms, our hills, those are our factories”, said Maria Guadalupe Tolaba, from the Red Puna, Jujuy. Today, work is equal to salary, however, rural women know what it is like to work to ensure food sovereignty without this implying a salary, said Maria Guadalupe.

This was one of the central issues discussed in the Women´s Assembly held on the first day of the Conference. “We work on the issue of gender in each community”, said Guadalupe.

“Over the years we have contributed with raising awareness on the importance of the role of women in agrarian reform and food sovereignty”, said the leader on Sunday.

The conclusion of the rural women´s assembly reads “we demand respect as human beings, as native peoples, as peasants and urban workers, against attacks, against being exploited and in favour of having the means to produce our own food, to protect our natural resources. We oppose open pit mining, pollution, monoculture plantations and agrotoxics promoted by the agribusiness model”.

Meanwhile, the conference continues with commissions, performances and workshops where concepts such as ALBA and the energy crisis are analyzed by the 1500 delegates of the MNCI.

The event will come to an end on Tuesday 14th with a march from Puente Pueyrredon to Plaza de Mayo, where a peasant music festival will be carried out in the centre of the capital city of the country.

“Nuestra fábrica” from RMR on Vimeo.