The major world powers should not be the ones to decide on global food governance
Press release
“Although the G8 seems to have understood the importance of the agricultural sector in Africa, we do not accept that it has a mandate to decide on world food security. Yet again the international community has demonstrated its lack of engagement with the real problems facing agriculture”
Ndiogou Fall, president of Roppa*, is sending this message to the heads of state who will be meeting from Wednesday 8th July in L’Aquila in an attempt to ensure that the decisions taken there regarding agriculture and global food security will not have a negative influence on the life and work of those who will feel their direct impact, in other words, the world’s farmers.
“A large number of the problems faced by the agricultural sector - Fall continues - are the result of poor governance”.
Food Security and Africa are key priorities for the L’Aquila summit. However, the draft Declaration on Global Food Security, which risks being approved by the G8, appears not to have taken into account the positions presented at the agricultural G8 by the African farmers’ organizations who met in Rome on 15th April with the support of the ItaliAfrica network* The preparatory document for the L’Aquila G8 seems, in fact, to do no more than re-propose the magic neo-liberal recipe which has already amply demonstrated its own failings:
- Integration with the world market
- Private sector involvement
- Investment in “green revolution” technology and food aid.
So is there any coordination between the heads of Ministries at the G8?
The draft declaration on Global Food Security seems to be a step backward compared with the one adopted at Cison di Valmarino last April by the Ministers of Agriculture which coincided, albeit to a limited extent, with some of the points in the Declaration of the African Farmers’ Organizations: acknowledgement of the central role of farmers themselves in the agricultural sector; the shifting of agriculture and food security to a central position on the international agenda; the rethinking of inclusive agricultural policies which envisage the participation of farmers’ organization representatives; the defence of small farmers’ access to land.
“World agricultural governance must be brought back within the democratic forum of the United Nations, allowing every country to have a say whatever its economic clout. Only in this way will it be possible to return agriculture to its primary role” (Ndiogou Fall)
*ROPPA: Network of West African farmers’ and agricultural producers’ organizations.
*ITALIAFRICA: network of NGOs, farmers’ organizations and associations, which has for many years been providing support for their political struggles and lobbying for the implementation of sustainable agricultural policies as much in the north as in the south of the world (www.europafrica.info).
Rome, July 6th, 2009
Anna Monterubbianesi
Press Office
