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In depth I  Agriculture and food sovereignty A new era of agriculture begins today: International agriculture assessment calls for immediate radical changes Source: Third World Network Civil society statement on the outcome of the “International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD)” —from AGENDA (Tanzania), Consumers International, Friends of the Earth International, Greenpeace, International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, Pesticide Action Network, Practical Action, Third World Network, Uganda Environmental Education Fund and Vredeseilanden. April 2008.[see more]   print    send   Correct  ADD YOUR COMMENT >> According to Vía Campesina, an international movement that coordinates farmer organizations from Asia, Africa, America and Europe, food sovereignty is the right of all peoples, their nations or unions of States to define their agricultural and food policies, without dumping involving third-party countries. Food sovereignty goes beyond the more common concept of food security, which merely seeks to ensure that a sufficient amount of safe food is produced without taking into account the kind of food produced and how, where and on what scale it is produced. The concept of food sovereignty was developed by Vía Campesina and introduced into the public debate on occasion of the World Food Summit in 1996, with the aim of providing an alternative to neo-liberal policies. Since then, this concept has become a major issue of debate on the international agricultural agenda, even within the United Nations. It was the main subject of discussion in the forum of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that was held in parallel to the June 2002 World Food Summit of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Food sovereignty involves: - prioritizing local agricultural production to feed the population and the access of women and men farmers to land, water, seeds and credit. Hence the need for agrarian reform, to combat genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to guarantee free access to seeds, and to keep water a public good to be distributed in a sustainable way. - the right of farmers to produce food and the right of consumers to be able to decide what they want to consume, and how and who produces it. - the right of all nations to protect themselves from excessively cheap agricultural and food imports (dumping). - linking agricultural prices to production costs; this will only be possible if countries or unions of countries have the right to impose duties on excessively cheap imports, if they commit themselves to promoting sustainable rural production, and if they control domestic market production to prevent structural surpluses. - engaging the participation of people in the definition of agrarian policies. - acknowledging the right of women farmers who play a key role in agricultural production and in food issues. Vía Campesina believes that neo-liberal policies undermine food sovereignty, as they give precedence to international trade over peoples’ food rights. It further believes that these policies have done nothing at all to eradicate world hunger. On the contrary, they have increased peoples’ dependence on agricultural imports and intensified the industrialization of agriculture, thus endangering the earth’s genetic, cultural and environmental heritage, and putting the health of the world’s population at risk. Lastly, it has driven millions of women and men farmers to abandon their traditional agricultural practices, forcing them into rural exodus or migration. International institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO) have applied these policies which are dictated by the interests of transnational corporations and the world powers. International agreements such as those of the WTO, other regional agreements like the Free Trade Agreement for the Americas (FTAA), or bilateral ones stipulating “free” trade for agricultural products, enable these corporations to control the globalized food market. Peasant organizations see the WTO as a totally inappropriate institution to deal with food and agriculture-related issues, and have thus demanded that such issues be taken out of the WTO’s remit. Food sovereignty advocates are not against trade in products, but against the priority given to exports. Access to international markets is not a solution for farmers, whose problem is above all the lack of access to their own local markets, which are flooded with products imported at low prices. At present, the United States and the European Union, in particular, abuse government aid to lower their prices in domestic markets and engage in dumping practices to place their surplus production on international markets, thus destroying peasant agriculture both in the North and the South. The self-immolation of the Korean farmer Lee Kyung Hae during the WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun (September 2003) became a tragic symbol of this desperate situation. In November 2003, at the closing of the Second Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Rural Life, held in Panama, the Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas signed the Agro Plan 2003-2015 aimed at fostering the sector’s development until the year 2015. This programme of action emerged at a time when trade negotiations on the issue of agriculture were underway, both at the WTO (whose failure in Cancun was partly due to the discontent of developing countries over how the Ministerial Declaration dealt with agricultural issues), and in the FTAA and other regional free trade agreements. Versión en español share:   print    send   correct  ADD YOUR COMMENT >>  Food sovereignty  Hunger and food security  The right to food  The food price crisis  Agriculture under the WTO  Agriculture and the World Bank  Agriculture and trade liberalization  Agriculture and gender  Sustainable agriculture  Agrarian reform  Civil society organizations  Civil society statements  Official bodies   News Up-to-date current affairs information. Mon Apr 28 2008 FIAN open letter on world food crisis Fuente: FIAN In-depth reports Detailed reports on key issues Agrofuels Fostered by the oil and climate crisis, agrofuel development has arrived on the global stage amid warnings that the cure might be worse than the disease. FTAA: a new colonialism? The sovereignty of the countries and peoples of Latin America is at stake. Biotechnology and biosafety The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety entered into force on 11 September 2003, after reaching 50 ratifications. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues It promises to give indigenous peoples a unique voice within the UN system. GM food Is the use of transgenics a justifiable solution to the problem of famine in poor countries? World Trade Organization - WTO Trade at the service of people, or people subjected to trade? The WTO makes the difference. Millennium Development Goals - MDGs A comprehensive list of resources from the United Nations and civil society organizations. Desertification Over 250 million people are directly affected, and one billion people in over 100 countries are at risk.      Food sovereignty What is food sovereignty? Source: Via Campesina Food sovereignty is the right of peoples, countries or State Unions to define their agricultural and food policy, without any dumping vis-à-vis third countries. Food sovereignty: global rallying cry of farmer movements Source: Food First Peter Rosset As corporate-driven economic globalization and runaway free trade policies devastate rural communities around the world, farmers’ organizations are coming together around the rallying cry of food sovereignty. Neo-liberal mad cows and food sovereignty Source: IPS-Terra Viva Lewis Machipisa Those pushing for food sovereignty fear that liberalisation of the agricultural sector will leave them open to unfair competition and may even result in food 'dumping' by richer countries. Food is a human right Source: University of Hawai'i George Kent Economic, social and cultural rights include the right to an adequate standard of living. The human right to adequate food is explicitly recognized as part of this broader human right. While the focus here is on food, social organizations have much to learn from the work that has emerged on health, education, housing, and other issues relating to an adequate standard of living (pdf version). Turning the global food system upside down Source: GRAIN Food sovereignty is a solid alternative to the current mainstream thinking on food production. The struggle for food sovereignty incorporates such wide ranging issues as land reform, territorial control, local markets, biodiversity, autonomy, cooperation, debt, health, and many other issues that are of central importance to be able to produce food locally. In other words, it implies that the global food system should be turned upside down. May 2005. Food sovereignty: towards democracy in localized food systems Source: FIAN. ITDG Publishing Michael Windfuhr, Jennie Jonsén This paper provides a comprehensive history, overview and analysis of the Food Sovereignty Policy Framework. Links to many key statements and documents produced over the past decade. March 2005. Agroecology and the Struggle for Food Sovereignty in the Americas Source: Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Avery Cohn, Jonathan Cook, Margarita Fernandez, Rebecca Reider and Corrina Steward (Editors) This book explores emerging alliances among farmer organizations, environmentalists, and scholars working to promote ecologically sound and economically just food and agriculture systems across the Americas. November 2006 (pdf version). The profit behind your plate: critical issues in the processed food industry Source: SOMO – Centre for research on Multinational Corporations Myriam Vander Stichele & Sanne van der Wal The processing of food and drinks and their exports has traditionally been seen by developing countries as a way to diversify out of low-priced, volatile and environmentally damaging commodity production and trade, and to get more added value and foreign exchange earnings. This report analyses particular obstacles for the development and trade of processed food from developing countries, and the contribution the processed food industry can make to poverty reduction and sustainable development in the current national and international context. December 2006 (pdf version). Food's failed estates = Paris's hot cuisine... Food sovereignty – à la cartel? Source: ETC Group Food Sovereignty, the political philosophy introduced by Via Campesina, has become a hot geopolitical topic. For the first time in decades, food issues are rising high on the international agenda, pushed there by alarm over climate chaos; booming population growth; the fast-growing appetite for meat and dairy products; and, the land and price pressures imposed by agrofuels. All of this at a time when the major multilateral food and agricultural institutions are reverberating from tough performance reviews and as new philanthro-capitalists ramp up their influence over agriculture and rural development. January 2008. A response to the global food prices crisis: sustainable family farming can feed the world Source: La Vía Campesina Via Campesina believes that the solution to the current food price crisis lies in food sovereignty. Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and the right of their governments to define the food and agriculture policies of their countries, without damaging agriculture of other countries. It puts the aspirations and needs of those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations. Food sovereignty prioritises local and national economies and markets and empowers peasant and family farmer-driven agriculture and food production. February 2008.    Hunger and food security In the year 2000, over 800 million people were seriously and chronically undernourished - mainly in the 122 countries of the Third World. Undernourishment handicaps people for life. Brain cells do not develop, bodies are stunted, blindness and diseases become rife, limiting potential and condemning the hungry to a marginal existence. The vicious cycle reproduces itself from generation to generation, as every year tens of millions of undernourished mothers give birth to stunted and malformed babies. Hunger and malnutrition are not dictated by fate or a curse of nature; they are man-made. This silent tragedy occurs daily in a world overflowing with riches. A world which already produces enough food to feed the global population of 6 billion people. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, we can produce enough food to feed 12 billion people; enough food to give each person every day the equivalent of 2,700 calories. This food is not equally distributed; obviously something is wrong. Unequal Harvest: Farmers' Voices on International Trade and the Right to Food Source: Rights & Democracy Lauren Posner Drawn from 11 different countries around the world, the interviews in this paper illustrate a sample of the challenges for agricultural workers and food security in the face of liberalized trade policies. These testimonies demonstrate that the AoA's championed trade system is, in the majority of instances examined, a threat to domestic food security and the right to food. Agriculture in India Source: Infochange India Devinder Sharma Pre-Independence India suffered repeated famines, drought and food shortages. But following the Green Revolution in the ’60s, yields and foodstocks rose manifold. Now, 30 years later, Indian farmers have realised the follies of their tryst with intensive agriculture. Despite 70 per cent of the population being engaged in agriculture and allied activities, declining foodgrain production and access to food remain the two biggest problems confronting the country. Liberalisation has made things worse: commercial crops are eating into the fertile land tracts meant for essential foodgrains. And years after the World Trade Organisation came into existence, the anticipated gains for India from the trade liberalisation process in agriculture are practically zero. Why half the planet is hungry Source: Centre for Civil Society The world's leading expert on the causes of famine, Nobel prize-winning economist Amartya Sen, answers crucial questions on why people starve when democracy falters. Leading Indian ecological activist Vandana Shiva disagrees with Amartya Sen's analysis of global hunger and argues that famine has returned to democratic India. Conflicts, rural development and food security in West Africa Source: FAO Margarita Flores This paper examines food security in the context of conflict in West Africa. The analysis developed in the paper recognises the importance of defining conflict type and the trends in conflict so that conflict and post-conflict policies may be implemented. The relationship between food security and conflict is analysed (pdf version). January 2004. Assuring food and nutrition security in Africa by 2020 Source: International Food Policy Research Institute Joachim von Braun and Rajul Pandya-Lorch Africa may at last be poised to make real progress on achieving food and nutrition security. Although the number of Africans who are undernourished has been on the rise for decades and now stands at about 200 million people, a new commitment to change has emerged both among African leaders and in the international community (pdf version). Agriculture for Peace: promoting agricultural development in support of peace Source: United Nations University - Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU - IAS) M. Taeb Civil wars continue to threaten peace in some of the poorest parts of the world. While the disastrous consequences of civil wars on agriculture, food security and hunger are relatively well studied and documented, the reverse line of causality has been much less explored and understood. It poses much more complex questions: under what circumstances can poor agricultural performance fuel violent conflict and how can robust agricultural development facilitate peace and security, especially in countries prone to civil war? (pdf version). Copenhagen Consensus: hunger and malnutrition Source: Copenhagen Consensus Jere R. Behrman, Harold Alderman and John Hoddinott While episodes of severe hunger such as famines receive considerable press coverage and attract much public attention, chronic hunger and malnutrition is considerably more prevalent in developing countries. It is estimated that at least 12 million low-birth-weight births occur per year and that around 162 million pre-school children and almost a billion people of all ages are malnourished. In poorly nourished populations, reductions in hunger and improved nutrition convey considerable productivity gains as well as saving resources that otherwise would be used for the care of malnourished people who are more susceptible to infectious diseases and premature mortality (pdf version). 5th Report on the World Nutrition Situation Source: United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition Inspired by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the report makes the case that the role of nutrition in development goes far beyond providing an indicator of progress towards the MDGs. Specifically, the 5th Report outlines how reducing malnutrition is central to the achievement of the MDGs, and then cites evidence that links nutrition to a range of other development outcomes. March 2004 (pdf version). Implementing a human rights approach to food security Source: International Food Policy Research Institute Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo The international community has identified the reduction of poverty and hunger as one of the overarching goals for development policy in the new millennium.The Millennium Development Goals outline a framework for development actions, as well as benchmarks for measuring development progress. At the 1996 World Food Summit, reducing hunger and food insecurity was declared an essential part of the international development agenda.A commitment to the right to food was articulated in the International Code of Conduct on the Human Right to Adequate Food, initially proposed before the World Food Summit.The International Code of Conduct was pioneered by concerned nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In essence, the proposal introduced a rights-based approach to food security. This concept has evolved to the point where states are developing voluntary guidelines for the progressive realization of the right to adequate food, including consideration of state obligations. To facilitate this process, an intergovernmental working group was established by FAO. November 2004 (pdf version). Agriculture, food security, nutrition and the Millennium Development Goals Source: International Food Policy Research Institute Joachim von Braun, M. S. Swaminathan, and Mark W. Rosegrant This paper discusses the importance of agriculture, food security and nutrition within the context of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). It discusses each of the eight MDGs in turn, analysing the main challenges and opportunities in reaching the specific targets set for the year 2015. U.S. food aid needs major reform Source: Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) This paper first considers food security, setting the context in which food aid should operate. The paper next briefly reviews the mechanics of food aid: who gives what food, in what ways, to whom, looking primarily at the U.S. but using other donor states and multilateral institutions for comparison. The paper then looks at sub-Saharan Africa, where food deficits and food-related crises are most heavily concentrated, to understand how food aid interacts with the wider context of food security and agricultural development. July 2005. U.S. food aid inefficient, wasteful & pro-business Source: IPS Jim Lobe The 47-page report, "U.S. Food Aid: Time to Get It Right", calls for a major overhaul of food aid programmes, including untying the assistance from U.S.-origin and shipping requirements, as well as the practice of monetisation --that is, providing food to NGOs or local governments for sale so that the proceeds can be used for aid work or other purposes. July 29, 2005. Causing hunger: an overview of the food crisis in Africa Source: Oxfam For people to be hungry in Africa in the 21st century is neither inevitable nor morally acceptable. The world’s emergency response requires an overhaul so that it delivers prompt, equitable, and effective assistance to people suffering from lack of food. More fundamentally, governments need to tackle the root causes of hunger, which include poverty, agricultural mismanagement, conflict, unfair trade rules, and the unprecedented problems of HIV/AIDS and climate change. The promised joint effort of African governments and donors to eradicate poverty must deliver pro-poor rural policies that prioritise the needs of marginalised rural groups such as small-holders, pastoralists, and women. August 2006 (pdf version). Sahel: A prisoner of starvation? Source: Oakland Institute Frederic Mousseau with Anuradha Mittal The Sahel, which stretches over 3,500 km from Mauritania in the west to Chad in the east, is one of the most dangerous places in the world for children. According to the United Nations some 300,000 children under the age of five face the risk of death from malnutrition each year in the region. In light of this ongoing crisis, the Oakland Institute's new report examines the 2005 food crisis in Niger to explain the cause of this chronic emergency and recommends strategies that can help make hunger in Sahel a thing of the past. October 2006 (pdf version). The world needs its small farmers Source: IRC – Americas Program Laura Carlsen Throughout the world, the press decries the latest Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) statistics: 852 million people lack adequate food, 13% of the world's population is "food insecure." Hunger and famine exist on every continent. World Food Day, commemorated on October 16, has become more of an exercise in expiation of sins than a renewal of a serious commitment to end hunger. October 2006. No real commitments in FAO's "Food Summit Plus 10" Source: SUNS Hira Jhamtani The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) concluded its 32nd session on Saturday (4 November) by adopting a report that illustrates the process of the session but says little on tangible commitments by governments to improve food security, particularly for the poor. It was a dismal end to what was essentially the World Food Summit - Ten Years Later. November 2006. Is Bill Gates trying to hijack Africa's food supply? Source: Counter Currents Bruce Dixon Genetically altered crops will rescue Africa from endemic shortfalls in food production, claim corporate foundations that have announced a $150 million "gift" to spark a "Green Revolution" in agriculture on the continent. Of course, U.S.-based agribusiness holds the patents to these wondercrops, and can exercise their proprietary "rights" at will. Are corporate foundations really out to feed the hungry, or are they hypocritical Trojan Horses on a mission to hijack the world's food supply - to create the most complete and ultimate state of dependency. June 2007. The future control of food Source: International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Geoff Tansey and Tasmin Rajotte (Editors) In today's world, access to food is highly, and unacceptably, uneven. There is massive overproduction and over-consumption, and yet millions experience scarcity and hunger. The Future Control of Food: a guide to international negotiations and rules on intellectual property, biodiversity and food security looks at some of the forces and rules shaping the food system and who has control over it. In particular, it focuses on rules on intellectual property (for example patents, plant breeders' rights, trademarks and copyright) and their relations to other rules on biodiversity, an essential requirement for food security. March 2008. Is Bill Gates good for Africa? Source: Pambazuka Mukoma Wa Ngugi Together with the Rockefeller Foundation, the Gates Foundation has pledged a total of $150 million the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). But a group of small-scale farmers, pastoralists, organic and civil society organizations from 25 African and 10 non-African countries dares to question the relevance of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation initiative. April 2008. The status of international food aid negotiations Source: The Oakland Institute In October 2005, the Oakland Institute published its report, Food Aid or Food Sovereignty? Ending World Hunger in our Time. Since then the issue of food aid has taken center stage in foreign aid, global hunger, and development discourse, sparking interest and debate amongst policy makers, media, and civil society internationally. The current food price crisis has further intensified the debate and the need for reform of international food aid. April 2008 (pdf version).    The right to food United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Jean Ziegler is the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. He was appointed by the UN Commission on Human Rights in September 2000. As Special Rapporteur, his job is to raise awareness about how many women, men and children suffer from hunger and malnourishment today and to try to promote an understanding of the right to food. The Right to Food Information and Knowledge System Source: FAO The Right to Food information and knowledge system is a knowledge platform to support the progressive realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the context of national food security.    The food price crisis World food prices rose by 39 percent between February 2007 - 2008. Several UN agencies have issued warnings against impending food riots because of the acute hike in prices of rice, corn, wheat, and other staples. The real price of rice rose to a 19-year high in March - an increase of 50 per cent in two weeks alone - while the real price of wheat has hit a 28-year high, triggering an international crisis. Various causes for this crisis are being cited in policy circles, including increased demand from China, India and other emerging economies, rising fuel and fertilizer costs, climate change, and bio-fuels. The World Food Program (WFP), which feeds 73 million people in almost 80 countries, has called upon donor governments to close the $500 million funding gap by May 1, 2008 or it may not be able to make its food aid commitments. Food price crisis: a wake up call for new policies to eradicate hunger Source: The Oakland Institute It is essential to understand the underpinnings of this food crisis before rushing to adopt policy solutions. Over the last few decades liberalization of agriculture, dismantling of state run institutions like marketing boards, and specialization of developing countries in exportable cash crops such as coffee, cocoa, cotton, and even flowers, encouraged by international financial institutions backed by rich countries like the U.S., has driven the poorest countries into a downward spiral, directly threatening food security and economic sustainability. April 2008. A time of high prices: an opportunity for the rural poor? Source: Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy Anne Laure Constantin Eyes all around the world are turned toward agricultural markets. Climate change, the rising price of oil, biofuels, speculation on financial markets and income growth in emerging economies are some of the factors that have combined over the past two years to cause an unexpected rise in commodity prices. April 2008 (pdf version). CARE and Oxfam call for fundamental changes in tackling global hunger and food price hikes Source: Oxfam CARE and Oxfam said the international aid system not fit for purpose and called for fundamental changes in order to tackle the challenge of food price hikes and impending food crises in East and West Africa. The call comes at the end of a conference on how best the world can address global hunger attended by some 30 leading UN and aid agencies in Rome. April 2008. Making a killing from hunger Source: GRAIN For some time now the rising cost of food all over the world has taken households, governments and the media by storm. From Haiti to Cameroon to Bangladesh, people have been taking to the streets in anger at being unable to afford the food they need. In fear of political turmoil, world leaders have been calling for more food aid, as well as for more funds and technology to boost agricultural production. Cereal exporting countries, meanwhile, are closing their borders to protect their domestic markets, while other countries have been forced into panic buying. Is this a price blip? No. A food shortage? Not that either. We are in a structural meltdown, the direct result of three decades of neoliberal globalisation. April 2008. Rising food prices: drivers and implications for development Source: CRIN - Centre on International Cooperation Alex Evans Global food prices have risen 83 per cent over the last three years. This briefing paper focuses on what this important change means for international development. April 2008 (pdf).    Agriculture under the WTO Over the course of the last years, the face of international agricultural trade has been radically transformed. A key agent of change has been the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), which introduced a systematic regulation of liberalized world agricultural trade. With January 2005 as the date set for completing these negotiations, the latest round of talks took place in Cancun, Mexico, in September 2003, where the negotiations dissolved into disagreement. WTO’s Agriculture Agreement Source: WTO The WTO’s Agriculture Agreement was negotiated in the 1986–94 Uruguay Round. It includes specific commitments by WTO member governments “to improve market access and reduce trade-distorting subsidies in agriculture.” These commitments are being implemented over a six year period (10 years for developing countries) that began in 1995. NGOs call for rejection of WTO’s agriculture modailities paper Source: Third World Network Goh Chien Yen More than 80 NGOs took part in a Hearing on the Review of the WTO Agriculture Agreement on 19-21 February 2003 in Geneva. They were very critical of the draft paper on modalities for agriculture negotiations prepapred by the Chairman of the agriculture negotiations group, Stuart Harbinson. Statement on agriculture after Cancun Source: Attac In September 2003, the World Trade Organisation's Ministerial meeting collapsed, amidst scenes of great drama. This sudden stop to the negotiations, which were being held in Cancún, Mexico, was hailed by many millions around the world as a victory for their campaigns to stop governments pushing unwanted liberalisation and privatisation policies upon them. Agreement on Agriculture and Food Sovereignty: Perspectives from Mesoamerica and Asia Source: IRC/Americas Program Arze Glipo, Laura Carlsen, Azra Talat Sayeed, Jayson Cainglet and Rita Schwentesius Steeped in the rhetoric of free trade that promised expanded agricultural trade and growth for developing countries, the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) took effect in 1995 under the World Trade Organization. Since then, AoA measures to liberalize trade in agriculture have had a tremendous negative impact on agriculture and the livelihoods of poor peasants in the South. Agricultural trade Source: Institute of Development Studies Christopher Stevens This briefing explores issues around agricultural trade, focusing on the effects of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture on developing countries and on key issues for the next round of negotiations (pdf version). The WTO and the World Food System: a trade union approach Source: International Union of Food, Agricultural, and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) “The growing power of transnational corporations in the food sector is changing the way we produce and eat, as a handful of companies seek to extend their control over seeds, water, chemical inputs, processing and even the genetic foundations of the world food system. Current WTO rules strengthen corporate influence, and the "Doha Development Round" of negotiations could take us further down this road.” Agricultural liberalization and its impact on South Asia Source: South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics & Environment (SAWTEE) Hiramani Ghimire and Ratnakar Adhikari This discussion paper explores the recent history, politics and governance of trade policies in the agriculture sector and examines the impact of those policies on economic development and food security in South Asia. Focussing on the Agreement on Agriculture the paper looks at the political economy of agricultural liberalization examining in depth the issues and resulting political alignments of different countries in the negotiation process. It goes on to explore the food security implications of the 'liberalized' market that has emerged from this process. Twenty-five ways to improve the Derbez Draft on Agriculture Source: International Food & Agricultural Trade Policy Council It appears that the agricultural text drafted by Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez at the Cancun Ministerial Meeting will be the basis for further negotiations. This is a positive development – starting over would cause considerable delay. However, if the Derbez text is to be the basis for further negotiations it must be improved considerably to make sure that reforms are real and meaningful for both developed and developing countries. Third world agriculture faces unfair competition from first world Source: Third World Network Bhagirath Lal Das Asking developing countries to dismantle their remaining defences in agriculture against the grossly unfair export thrust of the major developed countries is an example of wholly unreasonable demands and extreme insensitivity to the condition of agriculture in countries like India. Agriculture talks: empty promises to the South Source: Focus on the Global South Aileen Kwa As the WTO majors - the European Union and the United States – increase the pressure to reach a "framework" agreement in the agricultural negotiations by July 2004, it now appears clearer than ever that the current trade distortions, endorsed by the unfair agreement o­n agriculture (AoA) rules, would be accentuated. In the following piece, Aileen Kwa argues that if a July framework comes together under the present conditions, all developing countries would lose out. Agriculture framework, an asymmetric Doha-minus Source: Third World Network Features Chakravarthi Raghavan The draft framework text, Job(04)/96, issued on 16 July 2004 by General Council chair Shotaro Oshima and WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi, aimed at restarting the stalled WTO negotiations, is a “Doha-minus”, both overall and in the agriculture annex. Faulty frame, savage reality Source: India Together Devinder Sharma If you raise the price of your product and offer a discount on the higher price, some people will get taken in by such 'sales'. The WTO has just pulled off this kind of scheme, says food and trade policy analyst Devinder Sharma. August 2004. What do developing countries need from trade negotiations? Source: International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council Percy Wachata Misika A paper presented at the First Seminar of the International Food and Agricultural trade Policy Council’s (IPC) Capacity Building series, held at the Sandton Hotel and Conference Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa on 29 February, 2004 (pdf version). Entitled to subsidies! Source: India Together Devinder Sharma According to the European Union's plans for agricultural reforms, subsidies received by farmers will now become their entitlement until 2013. The big businesses that get most of these subsidies are quite happy; meanwhile the subsidies continue to create starvation and death in the developing world. November 2004. G20 calls for review of Green Box provisions during WTO agriculture negotiations Source: Third World Network Goh Chien Yen The aim of this review, said the G20, is to ensure that the direct payments conform to the fundamental requirement that “they have no, or at most minimal, trade-distorting effects of effects on production.” It also gave details of what such a review should include. December 2004. Sustaining a Future for Agriculture Source: Trade Observatory The conference Sustaining a Future for Agriculture was hosted by a diverse group of civil society organizations, including IATP's Trade Information Project, in Geneva, Switzerland, Nov. 15-19, 2004. It aimed to bring together different constituencies working on agriculture and trade to discuss jointly the international dimensions of a just and sustainable food system and to prepare for the 2005 WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong. WTO agreement on agriculture: a decade of dumping Source: Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy Sophia Murphy, Ben Lilliston and Mary Beth Lake January 1, 2005 marked the 10-year anniversary of the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Agriculture (AoA). When governments launched the agreement, they hailed it as a victory for farmers around the world: farmers were to benefit from more trade, greater access to markets and higher prices. A decade later, there is unquestionably more trade in agricultural products. However, higher and fair prices for farmers seem further away than ever. It is hard to make the case that the Agreement on Agriculture has done anything to benefit farmers anywhere in the world. February 2005 (pdf version). Planting the Rights Seed: A human rights perspective on agriculture trade and the WTO Source: 3D and The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) This publication is the first in a series designed to analyze the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture from a human rights perspective. It focuses on the characteristics of agricultural trade and the relevant global rules. It points out what the main human rights concerns are, and suggests some actions human rights advocates can undertake. March 2005. Review of the status of WTO agriculture negotiations Source: Third World Network Features Martin Khor This article analyses the report issued by the the Chairperson of the WTO's agriculture negotiations that provides an assessment of key issues to be addressed in the agriculture negotiations by 31 July 2005, which is apparently the date by which the General Council session to discuss "first approximations" has to conclude. This article was first published on SUNS (South North Development Monitor). July 2005. Agriculture negotiations at the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial 2005 Source: IATP Many developing countries are rightly skeptical that the Doha Round will bring them benefits even if cuts to subsidies and rich countries’ tariffs are made. This briefing report entitled "Sailing Close to the Wind: Navigating the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial" substantiates this skepticism, concluding that WTO rules serve the interests of multinational food companies rather than the interests of farmers - particularly those in poor countries. December 2005. Truth or consequences: why the EU and the USA must reform their subsidies, or pay the price Source: Oxfam The USA and the EU are currently blocking a deal to make trade fair in the Doha Development Round. In the wake of findings by the WTO that US cotton subsidies and EU sugar subsidies are illegal, this paper presents powerful new research detailing a slew of other rich country subsidies of $13bn that are also on the wrong side of the law. December 2005 (pdf version). Who reaps the fruit?: Critical issues in the fresh fruit and vegetable chain Source: Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) Worldwide, the trade in fresh vegetables and fruit is increasingly controlled by a small number of multinationals and supermarkets. The fact that free trade in agriculture and services has a negative impact on small farmers and producers in developing countries is being neglected in the WTO negotiations. The conclusions in this report emphasise the importance of this subject. June 2006 (pdf version). The enduring racket: why the rich won't budge on 'farm' subsidies Source: Panos Features John Madeley World trade talks have collapsed in Geneva over United States' and Europe's refusal to cut the billions of dollars they provide in support to their agricultural sector. As developing countries contemplate the ruin this spells for their farmers, John Madeley looks into the reasons behind the North’s tragic intransigence. July 2006. Big fight on food security Source: Third World Network Martin Khor A key question has taken centre stage in world trade talks: whether developing countries have the right to food security and to protect the livelihood of their farmers, or whether they must allow cheaper imports that may overwhelm local agriculture. Lately this controversy has been raging at the World Trade Organisation. May 2006. Agriculture & NAMA negotiations: searching for the landing zone Source: Centre for Trade and Development (Centad) Prabhash Ranjan This Centad working paper takes a critical look at the Hong Kong Ministerial text on agriculture and Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA). On the basis of this analysis, the paper suggests specific and important negotiating points for developing countries. March 2006 (pdf version). Agriculture and the WTO in Africa: understand to act Source: GRET Marie-Christine Lebret and Arlène Alpha (coordination) The World Trade Organisation (WTO) defines rules on the international trade in goods and services, and these rules have consequences for national policies. The choices made at the WTO are of major importance for development, in particular in the field of agriculture, an essential socioeconomic sector in Africa. The purpose of this book is to provide guidance in understanding how the WTO institutions and agreements operate and to provide tools to better understand the stakes behind, and means for, participation in world trade. March 2008.    Agriculture and the World Bank Africa: neglecting agriculture, 1 Source: AfricaFocus In its World Development Report for 2008, released on October 19 and entitled "Agriculture for Development," the World Bank stressed the importance of a renewed emphasis on agriculture. The report argues that "for the poorest people, GDP growth originating in agriculture is about four time more effective in reducing poverty than GDP growth originating outside the sector. AfricaFocus presents excerpts from two related reports that have received much less press attention. The first is a highly critical report of the World Bank's record on agriculture from its own Independent Evaluation Group. The second, a report from the EcoFair Trade Dialogue on "What the World Bank Missed", is excerpted in the link below. October 2007. Africa: neglecting agriculture, 2 Source: AfricaFocus In its World Development Report for 2008, released on October 19 and entitled "Agriculture for Development," the World Bank stressed the importance of a renewed emphasis on agriculture. The report argues that "for the poorest people, GDP growth originating in agriculture is about four time more effective in reducing poverty than GDP growth originating outside the sector. AfricaFocus presents excerpts from two related reports that have received much less press attention. The first (see above) is a highly critical report of the World Bank's record on agriculture from its own Independent Evaluation Group. The second, a report from the EcoFair Trade Dialogue on "What the World Bank Missed”. October 2007. African agriculture and the World Bank: development or impoverishment? Source: Pambazuka Kjell Havnevik, Deborah Bryceson, Lars-Erik Birgegård, Prosper Matondi & Atakilte Beyene The World Bank has played a prominent role in shaping agricultural policy in Africa. Under structural adjustment conditionality of the 1980s, the World Bank’s prescriptions became largely mandatory for the debt-ridden national economies of the continent. Its influence over a country’s policies is now generally in direct inverse proportion to that country’s economic strength. Thus, most African countries have to greater or lesser degrees espoused and implemented World Bank development policy for the last 25 years, and African agricultural sectors, in effect, demonstrate through continuous low growth rates and deepening rural poverty, the impact of World Bank policies. March 2008.    Agriculture and trade liberalization The Mexican Farmers' Movement: exposing the myths of free trade Source: International Forum on Globalization Laura Carlsen The reemergent Mexican farmers' movement reflects not only the serious crisis in the country's rural sector but also a crisis of faith in free trade itself. With the common slogan "El campo no aguanta más" (The countryside can't take it anymore), a wide range of rural organizations have set off a national debate on NAFTA. As a result, some of the fundamental myths of the free trade model are being questioned as never before in Mexico. A vision on trade alternatives Source: Aid Transparency Zo Randriamaro This presentation is based on the research findings of the Gender and Economic Reforms in Africa (GERA) Programme Phase II / Third World Network-Africa. These findings resulted from the participatory research carried out by local multidisciplinary teams led by women researchers in Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique and Burkina Faso on the effects of agricultural trade liberalization on gender relations and women farmers. Over 100 participants took part in the interviews and focus group discussions that were undertaken as part of the action research in each of these countries. Free market freefall: declining agricultural commodity prices and the ‘market access’ myth Source: Focus on the Global South Gerard Greenfield As o­ne of the key issues that deadlocked the 5th WTO Ministerial in Cancun and triggered its collapse, the debate over agricultural trade liberalization continues to escalate, and in doing so appears to be breaking the boundaries of the free market fundamentalism that has dominated the minds and actions of policy-makers for over two decades. Making agricultural trade liberalization work for the poor Source: International Food Policy Research Institute Joachim von Braun, Ashok Gulati, and David Orden Address delivered by Joachim von Braun, Director General of IFPRI, at the WTO Public Symposium "Multilateralism at a Crossroads," Geneva, May 25, 2004. CAFTA: re-colonising Central America Source: Third World Network Features Tom Ricker CAFTA (The Central America Free Trade Agreement) is already well known and much feared in Central America; many are equating it with misery for small farmers in the region. Implementing the Human Right to Food: Domestic Obligations and the International Trade in Agriculture Source: Rights & Democracy Agata Zawadzka Report of an inter-sessional workshop held September 11, 2003 in Cancun, Mexico, on the occasion of the 5th WTO Ministerial Meeting. Submitted to: The UN Food and Agriculture Organization Intergovernmental Working Group for the elaboration of a set of voluntary guidelines to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security. Thailand: from the kitchen of the world to food sovereignty Source: Focus on the Global South Isabelle Delforge For years, social movements in Thailand have been challenging the export-oriented economic strategy of the government. The success of the agribusiness sector has led to farmers’ bankruptcy, ecological devastation and social disaster. In their diversity, organisations of farmers, consumers, urban poor, NGOs and even some government bodies are now suggesting ways to break away from the cash-crop export-oriented strategy and to move towards a national strategy of food sovereignty. Inequity in international agricultural trade: The marginalization of developing countries and their small farmers Source: The Oakland Institute Frederic Mousseau and Anuradha Mittal State of Agricultural Commodity Markets (SOCO) is a new report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that analyzes global trends in agricultural production and trade and documents the inequity and unfairness of the global trade system in terms of its impact on the poorest nations and their small farmers. The study’s findings, based on the examination of 40 years of international trade in agricultural products, expose that the developing countries, and above all the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), do not benefit from integration into the international trade system. The study shows how economic integration has actually contributed to the economic and social decline of the LDCs. March 2005. Seed laws: imposing agricultural apartheid Source: GRAIN Back in the 1960s "seed laws" referred to rules governing the commercialisation of seeds: what materials could be sold on the market under what conditions. From the 1960s through the 1980s, agencies like FAO and the World Bank played a very strong role in getting developing countries to adopt seed laws. These articles analyse how many countries are being pushed into embracing some of the world's most repressive laws: seed laws. July 2005. Impact of trade liberalization on agricultural biodiversity Source: Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) This study provides an in-depth analysis of the potential implications for biodiversity of a reduction in and reform of agricultural support activities. It is an update an earlier note prepared by the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which gave a broad analysis of the different impacts trade liberalisation may have on agricultural biological diversity. July 2005. Global seed industry concentration 2005 Source: ETC group The top 10 multinational seed firms control half of the world's commercial seed sales (a total worldwide market of approximately US$21,000 million per annum). Corporate control and ownership of seeds - the first link in the food chain - has far-reaching implications for global food security. With control of seeds and agricultural research held in fewer hands, the world's food supply is increasingly vulnerable to the whims of market maneuvers. (PDF document). September 2005. Globalisation, liberalisation, and protectionism: the global framework affecting rural producers in developing countries Source: Third World Network Martin Khor Globalisation is often taken to mean a process that is synonymous with liberalisation, or the opening up of the local and national markets to the global market. However, the economic globalisation process is much more nuanced than this simple or automatic linkage between globalisation and liberalisation. June 2006 (doc version). Sacrificing the right to food on the altar of free trade Source: Pambazuka Jagjit Plahe The right to food vs international trade commitments. That's the balance that developing countries have to strike in a globalised world. Increasingly it's the food security of their populations that is being sacrificed, with developing countries having to negotiate the right to food within the World Trade Organisation. January 2007. Liberalisation of agricultural production and social injustice Source: Pambazuka Babacar Ndao Babacar Ndao writes that rich countries are not concerned with the development agenda, but are interested in an agenda that aims to pursue their own interests. This means “...maintaining large subsidies and high tariffs to suit large multi-national agribusinesses, whilst doing very little for their own producers.” January 2007. A Row to Hoe: A study on the gendered impact of trade liberalization on our food system, on agricultural markets and on Source: Trade Observatory Alexandra Spieldoch This paper fills a gap in the body of literature around food and agriculture in relation to gender. It seeks to draw together analysis done on recent trends in food and agriculture from a gender perspective with the wider literature on how trade and investment have affected food security and agricultural development. January 2007 (pdf version). The end of farm-saved seed? - Industry's wish list for the next revision of UPOV Source: GRAIN The Europeans want to get rid of farmers' limited entitlement to save seed. The Americans want to restrict the exemption by which breeders have the free use of each other's commercial varieties for research purposes. In both cases, the point is to reduce competition and boost profits. In the short term, the victims will be farmers, who will probably end up paying the seed giants an additional US$7 billion each year. February 2007. Free trade vs. small farmers Source: Foreign Policy In Focus Walden Bello The 20th century was a terrible blight on small farmers everywhere. Today, perhaps the greatest threat to small farmers is free trade. And the farmers are fighting back. They have helped, for instance, to stalemate the Doha round of negotiations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This tug of war between farmers and free trade is nowhere more visible than in Asia. April 2007. Liberalization and interactions with the market: a survey of some experiences of rural producers in developing countries Source: Third World Network Meenakshi Raman The paper presents case studies for Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Arab countries and Asia, documenting experiences of problems with agricultural liberalization, which has caused disruption to the livelihoods of small farmers in many of the developing countries. April 2006 (doc version).