Three participants in the ‘Farmers’ Dialogue’ a programme of Initiatives of Change spoke today of the urgent needs for food – and the urgent needs for reforms in food policies, notably in support of small-holder farmers in Africa.

Three participants in the ‘Farmers’ Dialogue’ a programme of Initiatives of Change spoke today of the urgent needs for food – and the urgent needs for reforms in food policies, notably in support of small-holder farmers in Africa. They were addressing a plenary session of the Caux Conference for Business and Industry, on the role of agriculture in ‘closing the gaps’ created by globalization.

Dr Christie Peacock, Chief Executive Officer of the UK charity Farm Africa, and a world authority on agriculture, deplored the lack of governmental and international investment in Africa, ‘the most rural continent in the world’, where 80 per cent of the population rely on farming for their livelihoods. Investment had declined ‘in a scandalous manner’ by two-thirds in the last 10 years, she said. Direct food aid to Eritrea, for instance, was 40 times the aid to agricultural development.

‘The World Bank has given up on agriculture, yet farming is where people are,’ she said. African agriculture didn’t even get a mention in the UN’s Millennium goal to halve world poverty by 2015, ‘which will not be met by a mile’. ‘Farm Africa has become completely exasperated by the lack of funds for the rural poor,’ said Dr Peacock, who called for a ‘significant increase in government spending on agriculture’.

There was a need to empower the rural poor who should have access to land and water resources, technical and other support services and to be engaged in the local political processes. A good example, she said, was in the district of Konso in southern Ethiopia, where local people were given the chance to plan their own development in partnership with local government. This had had an impact on 200,000 people, and had ‘proved to be very effective,’ she said.

Another excellent example, she said, was amongst ‘the poorest of the poor’ in Meru, Kenya, where 50,000 smallholder farmers have benefited from a scheme sponsored by Farm Africa to breed goats. The farmers had formed the Meru Goat Breeders Association, which was now selling breeding goats to five East African countries. ‘The knock-on effect to the local economy has been huge,’ Dr Peacock said. Profits had allowed goat farmers to build themselves new houses. One farmer, a former casual labourer, had received two goats on credit, including a buck for cross-breeding. He now owned two hectares of land, had earned enough to send his two daughters to school and his sons were starting a business in the local town. ‘A virtuous spiral is developing,’ commented Dr Peacock.

Dr Peacock said there was a ‘pathetic’ $2 billion of intra-regional trade in Africa, yet there was a $50 billion domestic demand for food crops which is predicted to double in the next 15 years. She called on voters in the rich countries to press their politicians to increase aid to agricultural development, as ‘there are very few alternatives to farming in Africa’.

Dr. Ian Robertson has taught micro-biology for 27 years at the University of Zimbabwe, in Harare, and is now also Chief Executive Officer of Agri-Biotech Ltd, a small start-up, working with financial help from the Swedish Centre for Cooperation, a farmers’ organization, to take some of the results of the university’s research to small peasant farmers. ‘We’re proud to give some hope from Zimbabwe,’ Dr. Robertson said. Poor management had taken Zimbabwe from being the bread basket of Africa, exporting maize, cotton and tobacco, to a basket case with inflation at 600% within a few years, he noted. In Zimbabwe, 70% of the population were living below the UN poverty-line of $1 per day – but the situation was not as bad as the figures implied.

Dr. Robertson’s firm was taking cuttings of virus-clean sweet potato and cassava to small farmers, and ‘like scientific missionaries’ were also offering backup services to the farmers. This was also providing employment to some of his graduates. The farmers were multiplying their sweet potato yields three times, and cassava yields by four – for two basic subsistence crops all across Africa. Thee thousand farmers were now benefiting from these improved strains.

Agri-Biotech’s Mission Statement says, ‘If you can feed your family, it gives self-sufficiency, which gives dignity. If you can sell a surplus, it gives you self-respect, which gives you economic dependence. If you help your neighbouring countries through exports, you further political security.’ In his presentation, Dr. Robertson showed how this philosophy and practice was improving the lives of named individuals.

Larry Mitchell from Texas, CEO of the American Corn Growers Association, spoke of the work of his organization, founded in 1987. The ACGA (www.acga.org) is a leader in economic analysis from the ‘farmer’s view’ and works to improve farmer livelihoods in the US and in the world.

For Mitchell, American agricultural policies were critically wrong. Farmers were encouraged to ‘reduce crop prices to a more “competitive” level in order to raise their exports, but the numbers have shown that after decreasing prices, exports have remained flat.’ Corn growers now export only one in five rows of corn as opposed to one in four only a few years ago. Mitchell noted that farmers will always produce as much as they can – when prices are high, to raise profits, and when prices are low, to survive. But people will not eat more when prices are low. And ‘when farmers are put off the land, the land stays in production’.

Mitchell spoke of the need to ‘make government involvement in agriculture to work for all, not just the processors and the merchants.’ ‘There is a large difference,’ he noted, ‘between a subsidy and support. The former is paid by the taxpayers, and the latter by the users.’ The speaker added that ‘if we raise the support program, we can reduce or eliminate the subsidy program’. The US government is currently subsidizing farmers with 20 billion dollars in cash per year.

The Agricultural Policy Analysis Center (APAC) published a study under ACGA’s influence called ‘Rethinking U.S. Agricultural Policy – Changing Course To Secure Farmer Livelihoods Worldwide’ (see: http://apacweb.ag.utk.edu/blueprint.html) The report states that ‘the US is exporting poverty with its products by its continuous pursuit of measures that depress prices throughout the world.’ APAC suggests that ‘the way out lies in a careful and balanced application of policy measures’ which would have, as an ultimate goal, ‘improving farmer livelihoods and (…) the welfare of farmers worldwide’.

Reported by Joanna Margueritte, Andrew Stallybrass and Michael Smith

Conference Summary

For more information on the conferences at Caux, please visit www.caux.ch.