CIDSE and Caritas Internationalis are calling on world leaders to harness
the potential of small-scale farmers at the World Food Summit in Rome 16-18 November.
CIDSE and Caritas represent together the world’s largest development alliance. They
work with communities impacted by the food crisis across Asia, Africa and Latin America.
CIDSE and Caritas believe urgent action is needed now as every day over a billion people go to bed hungry and
currently over 23 million people across East Africa are in need of emergency food aid due to drought in a food price crisis made worse by the global economic recession.
Since the crisis
hit in 2007, there is increasing recognition by governments of the need to invest in small-scale agriculture in developing countries to ensure that farmers there earn a decent income and enjoy the
universal right to food.
“This is a very positive development, but recognition needs to be translated into national country policies and donor support strategies that
promote small producer organizations and strengthen their ability to improve production, processing, and marketing - including their capacity to negotiate with buyers and other market actors., said
Bob van Dillen, from the Dutch agency Cordaid (a member of both the CIDSE and Caritas networks).
“The summit leaders should particularly prioritise
farmer’s engagement in policy development, their access to land and water, inputs, credit, insurance, markets, training and extension services,†he said.
There is a threat that the international community will promote high-tech agricultural techniques, many of which are socially or environmentally unsustainable, rather than investing in what these
farmers really need.
The World Food Summit is also expected to reiterate support for further opening of markets and completion of the Doha Round of trade negotiations, which CIDSE and
Caritas believe would hurt small-scale farmers rather than help them unless significant changes are made.
CIDSE and Caritas believe that if the international community is serious about
harnessing the potential of small-scale farmers, policies should particularly target women producers, who are the backbone of the rural economy and crucial actors in ensuring household food security.
Both networks call on governments to allocate, within 5 years, a minimum of 10 percent of their annual budgets to implement these urgent policies. At the same time, the international donor community
should allocate at least 10% of their Official Development Assistance (this was 17 percent in 1980).
Bob van Dillen from the Dutch aid agency Cordaid will be attending the World Food
Summit on behalf of CIDSE and Caritas Internationalis. CIDSE and Caritas experts will be available for interview or comment in Rome during the Civil Society Forum and the Official Summit.
Schedule an interview or send us your questions now or call Patrick Nicholson on +39 334 359 0700 or Roeland Scholtalbers +32 (0) 2 282 40 73
Notes to Editors:
CIDSE will participate in the Civil Society Forum taking place in Rome in parallel to the Summit from 14-17th, where it will organise a workshop on structural
investment into small-scale production, processing and marketing, and will be active during the official Summit 16-18th November.
Fighting Hunger and Solving the World Food Crisis
â€" Read CIDSE’s and Aprodev’s 10 recommendations to the EU for the World Summit on Food Security.
The food price spike that peaked in 2008 led to
a dramatic increase in the global total of undernourished people by more than 20 percent to over a billion in July 2009. Some 125 million children are predicted to be underweight in 2010 if economies
do not grow, 5 million more than if progress had continued at the 2007
rate.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
A Salvadoran woman feeds her child at a refugee center in San Pedro Perulapan, about 23 km (14 miles) east of San Salvador November 11, 2009. Ida dwindled to a tropical ...
