They Are Giants. But We Are Millions: The Battle for Africa’s Food Future
For Edward Mukiibi, food is never just food. It is culture, memory, spirituality, relationships, politics, and power. In this episode of The Battle for African Agriculture Podcast, Dr. Million Belay speaks with the President of Slow Food International about the journey that took him from a farming family in Uganda to the leadership of a global movement active across more than 160 countries. Eddie traces that journey back to childhood, when farming was used as punishment at school even though, at home, it was something his family valued deeply. That contradiction pushed him to challenge the idea that agriculture should be associated with punishment or failure and eventually led him to create school gardens where children could learn farming through curiosity, education, and love.
Eddie argues that control over food means control over land, seeds, water, knowledge, health, and ultimately sovereignty itself. He warns that corporations and powerful states increasingly seek influence over the resources that determine how people feed themselves, leaving small farmers, agroecological producers, Indigenous peoples, fisherfolk, and local communities increasingly marginalized. His response is captured in a phrase he uses within Slow Food when confronting this imbalance: “They are giants, but we are millions.” For Eddie, those millions must organize, defend their resources, protect African food cultures, and resist systems that create dependency on imported seeds, chemicals, technologies, and ideas about what African agriculture should become.