Development Dossier
Dirk Jarré International Council on Social Welfare
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- Graham Blight
Dirk JarréInternational Council on Social Welfare380 St. Antoine W, Suite 3200 Montreal QH2Y 3XY, Canada Tel:+1-514/287 3280; Fax: +1-514/987 1567 International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) As the international organization representing the world's farmers, we have been with you during the course of this Summit and its preparatory committees. We are happy to see this process arrive at its satisfactory and successful outcome here in Denmark today. During the course of this Summit, IFAP emphasized the importance of the farmer and his organisation, especially the small‑scale farmer, in social development. We shall do so again. The majority of the world's 1 billion poor are in the rural areas of the developing countries ‑ they are mostly small‑scale farmers. By the year 2010, the world's population will grow by an additional 1.9 billion. If the world neglects agriculture and small‑scale farmers, then there will only be poverty, chronic malnutrition and environmental degradation. This Summit would have then failed in its mission, irrespective of the text agreed here today. IFAP, during the course of this Summit emphasized the importance of farmers' organizations ‑ organizations owned and governed by farmers, which work for farmers' interests. We shall do so again. Because of its very nature, this Summit officially marks the end of top‑down agriculture and hails the beginning of farmer‑centred development. In practice, farmer‑centred agricultural development means greater recognition of farmers' representative organizations. It means regular dialogue and consultation with them, from grassroots to the national level. If this Summit is to succeed in this important mission, governments, rich and poor, must enable and encourage farmers' representative organizations to play their rightful role in the formulation and implementation of sustainable agricultural and rural development policies and programmes. Today, as a result of the Structural Adjustment Programmes, many an agricultural institution serving the small‑scale sector has been dismantled. Small‑scale farmers are faced with a vacuum, which they can only fill if they are able to organise themselves. Today, the strengthening of true farmers' organizations in developing countries, and transfer of the necessary know‑how is an urgency, for farmers and governments alike. We, as the world organization of farmers, are willing to put our skills and know‑how together with that of governments, in order to ensure the emergence and consolidation of strong and representative farmers' organizations, in developing countries and ‑economies in transition. For this purpose, IFAP has launched the Worldwide Action for the Strengthening of Farmers' Organizations, which is based on partnerships with governments and intergovernmental organizations. History tells us that policy makers who forget about farmers and agriculture, end up eating their words. As farmers' organizations, it is our duty to ensure that, at the end of the day, policy makers have more on their plates than just words. With this duty in mind, I have to remind this assembly that development assistance for agriculture in developing countries has been sharply reduced during the last decade, from 18% to 6.7% of the total commitments. This is a dramatic decline, which cancels out all self‑help efforts which may be expected of the farmer. Development assistance for agriculture is essential especially for building up the rural infrastructures and institutions in the widest sense of the word, in order to enable small scale farmers access to education, research and extension, credit and to markets, as well as for strengthening their own organisations. This is all the more important now, especially as rural poverty could increase in the remote areas. Do not believe that farmers will automatically feed the world. Farmers for too long have been taken for granted. For governments to do so now in both developed and developing countries invites calamity. Farmers are tired of declining incomes, they are tired of unfair taxation and costs imposed by governments, they are tired of the redistribution of resources and services back to the urban electorate and they are tired of being unfairly blamed for environmental problems and burdened with carrying environmental costs. Show me a government which has a comprehensive sustainable rural policy and I'll show you a government with vision. Sadly, we have too few such visionary governments around the world. So be warned ‑ ignore agriculture at your peril and invite tragedy. Too many people reclining in middle‑class comfortable armchairs with ample food on the table take food and social development for granted. They should quickly reconsider this position. To meet our share of the challenge ahead in rural social development, farmers of the world need: - Access to technology - Government help to fund R & D - Improved access to education - Better marketing to increase returns - Available credit at a reasonable cost - Better access to land tenure - Policies to maintain the family farm unit
1 Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Committee, should be negotiators and signatories to any future Declaration and Programme of Action. This Summit's focus has been people's participation. A good starting point for it is right here. Graham BlightInternational Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) 21 rue Chapatal, F-75007 Paris, France Tel:+33-1/45 26 05 53; Fax:+33-1/45 74 72 12 Directory: images images -> Pelan pentaksiran kursus images -> Military callsign list as of dec 2010 images -> For Date: 02/01/2013 Friday Call Number Time Call Reason Action 13-768 0008 motor vehicle stop warning Issued images -> New embedded S images -> Creating Buy-In – Building Relationships images -> Deadline: Saturday, March 12th, 2016 images -> News items from Raising Our Voices images -> Last year four of the best Afrikaans Christian singers joined forces to tour Down Under with the production ‘Manne wat Glo’ images -> World-renowned vocal ensemble sweet honey in the rock images -> Peoples Voice Café History Download 0.58 Mb. Share with your friends:
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