Process

PATAMIL’s aim is to combat this system in the name of food democracy and equity, by identifying concrete strategies to promote food justice.

Convinced that the transfer of experience between the Centre Val de Loire region and Tamil Nadu is fruitful, PATAMIL is undertaking joint operational research on 2 local sites and 2 Indian sites to define the conditions for setting up fair food systems. The originality of the project lies in the involvement of high school and university students from both countries, as well as local authorities from France (Pays des Châteaux, PETR Centre-Cher) and India (Pondicherry, Jawadhi Hills), and the contribution of international solidarity players (CENTRAIDER, A.S.I.E., Dhan, INDP, etc.). Centre Sciences will disseminate the results to the general public.

Task 1: Building equitable food territories in Tamil Nadu (Leading partners: Laura Verdelli, CITERES ; Sumathi Rajesh, University of Madras)

Objectives: The first task is devoted to the ecological, agronomic and social conditions and criteria determining the existence of equitable territorial food systems in Tamil Nadu and its enclave of Pondicherry. Based on the two areas selected (the Pondicherry region and the relatively close Jawadhi Hills), this task involves examining the ecological quality of the soils and irrigation water in the farming areas, identifying the structures of the agrarian landscapes and crop rotations, and finally the links between farming practices, the structure of agrarian societies, eating habits and the quality of life of rural communities.

Task 2: Governance and resilience of territorial food projects in Pondicherry and the Jawadhi Hills (Leading partners: Hélène Guétat-Bernard, ENSFEA and IFP ; Frédéric Landy, Université Paris X-Nanterre and IFP ; C. Aruna, University of Pondicherry)

Objectives: Various local food-related initiatives have been coordinating around a platform in Pondicherry for the past three years. The beginnings of a citizens’ movement are laying the foundations for a debate, on a local scale and linked to regional, national and international initiatives (in particular with France), on the circulation of food between production areas and consumption areas (circular economy, short circuits, distribution circuits, markets), while including the heritage dimensions of local food and the interfaces of the Pondicherry conurbation with the surrounding countryside. In the context of a tourist city that wishes to promote its architectural heritage and its art of living, food plays a key role in combining a natural and culinary heritage: seafood products, local varieties of rice including those from the Cauvery delta, millets from the nearby hills, the variety of local vegetables and fruit from the hinterland, and above all the different types of food culture associated with promoting these products. The citizens’ movement for consumers and eaters to rethink the links between agriculture and food, distended by the modernisation of agriculture and the expansion of agro-industry, is meeting a local farmers’ movement to reappropriate endogenous systems for seed preservation, water management and soil fertility, based in particular on agro-ecological practices. In Pondicherry, the Food Platform is mobilising the initiatives of networked players around a number of concrete projects. These initiatives are marked by a concern to rethink and act on the systemic dimension of the links between agriculture and food (networks of players and initiatives along the food chain), organic (soils, plants, domestic and wild animals are all part of a living chain) and territorial (forms of coordination but also of exclusion from the food system at local level). The Covid context is an opportune time to think about these ties and inequalities.

Task 3: From the Territorial Food Project to food democracy in the Centre Val de Loire region (Leading partners: Geneviève Pierre, CEDETE and CITERES)

Objectives: Three missions have been identified by those involved in the food transition in the Centre Val de Loire region and by researchers interested in issues of food democracy: to recognise the mechanisms of a two-speed, unfair food system; to draw up an inventory of the solutions envisaged for building a more supportive and equitable system; and to define the epistemological contours and the social and economic challenges of the concepts of food democracy and equity in order to better combat asymmetries in access to healthy and nutritious food. The notion of food justice can be mobilised in its various dimensions: ensuring the nutritional and taste value of food consumption, improving spatial and economic accessibility to quality food, combating structural inequalities through education, inclusion, empowerment and shared, democratic modes of governance (see the FRUGAL project, PSDR 4, 2017).

Task 4: Food equity and decentralised cooperation: transfer of experience between the Centre Val de Loire Region and Tamil Nadu (Leading partners: Bertrand Sajaloli, CEDETE and Hélène Guétat-Bernard, ENSFEA and IFP)

Objectives: It is essential to compare the views and experiences examined in the Centre Val de Loire Region in terms of food equity with those of more distant regions such as Tamil Nadu, because innovation is not the sole prerogative of the countries of the North, in terms of both food policies and the strategies of local players to build quality and equitable food circuits. What’s more, as Tamil Nadu is one of the 5 priority regions for the Centre Val de Loire Region’s decentralised cooperation policy, these exchanges are fuelled by long and fruitful interrelationships. The results will be disseminated by the Region’s decentralised cooperation department, which has a correspondent in Tamil Nadu, and by the CENTRAIDER regional Multi-Actor network, which brings together 935 partners involved in international solidarity and development aid. The aim is also, via the IEHCA (and in particular via the actions of its Thematic Research Network on Food Sciences and Cultures and its programme of cultural and scientific events at the Villa Rabelais), the RESOLIS network and other regional food networks, to show how strategies to combat food injustice can be models of interest to both regions. This desire to look at things from different angles is being pursued in 3 interlocking work packages.

Task 5: Dissemination to the general public (Leading partners: Béatrice Saulnier, Centre Sciences; with the support of Olivier Rollin, IEHCA)

Objectives: As part of the PATAMIL project, scientific culture activities will be offered to a range of audiences, with the aim of raising awareness of sustainable food issues in the Centre Val de Loire region and also in India. The aim is to promote the results of PATAMIL to the general public and to enable pupils from remote areas or who are unable to attend school to take part in a three-year research project that is both socially responsible and supportive of others. These initiatives are in line with the regional strategy for scientific culture. Centre Sciences, whose objective is to promote scientific and technical culture, will lead this WP. The deliverables developed in this way will be relayed and disseminated by the IEHCA and the cultural and scientific partners involved in the project. The aim is to increase the number of opportunities for exchange and awareness-raising on the subject of sustainable food over the three years.

Task 6: Participatory and structured governance (Leading partners: Bertrand Sajaloli, CEDETE and Laura Verdelli, CITERES)

PATAMIL brings together partners who complement each other in their diversity and have long-standing close relationships, which have been revived by the preparation of the response to this APR-IR. The task now is (i) to clarify the role of each partner and (ii) to set up a system of governance capable of ensuring that the project runs smoothly and efficiently, (iii) together with a provisional timetable for action.

The first objective of this task is to ensure that the project runs smoothly and efficiently. In particular, this involves coordinating all the partners and setting up the conditions for exchange and debate that are essential to the successful completion of the project.

The second objective of the task is to ensure the scientific influence of the project, provided by the university partners throughout the duration of the project (the permanent exchange with all the activities of the project and the duration of the influence meant that this combination of objectives was chosen for the same task).