Politicians and farmers face to face

on food sovereignty

The forum on food sovereignty organised by ROPPA (Network of farmers’ organisations and agricultural producers of West Africa / Réseau des organisations paysannes et producteurs agricoles de l’Afrique de l’Ouest) opened on November 7,  2006 in Niamey, Niger.  Prime Minister Hama Amadou of Niger presided over the opening ceremony attended by more than 300 participants. The key note of this event is the dialogue between political decision makers and social interest groups in an effort to try and reverse the present trend, which prevents the agriculture of the region from producing what its peoples require in order to make a living from their daily work.

(By Abdoulaye TAO, special envoy)

The largest meeting ever organised between politicians and farmers’ organisations  opened in Niamey, the capital on the banks of the river Niger, on November 7. More than 300 farmers from 12 countries, members of ROPPA (organiser of the forum), scientists and government representatives have gathered in order to discuss food sovereignty. African farmers have come for the purpose of questioning political decision makers and stressing the need to remove agriculture from the political/financial framework in which the Economic Partnership Agreements are currently being negotiated with the European Union.

The president of ROPPA, N’Diogou Fall, is asking governments to play their role fully in this regard. This essentially implies developing the potential of agriculture, forestry and livestock breeding, in order to turn the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, into a vast regional market for local producers and, in particular, protecting that market from non regional imports, which in the long run will ruin domestic agriculture .

The president of ROPPA told the forum that imports of food stuffs in 2003 amounted to 2 200 billion CFA francs. He said that ROPPA recognises the efforts made by public bodies and governments to put an end to food insecurity, but that present development strategies are being “corrupted by the cooperation in the food trade” which creates a dependence. He alerted decision makers to the risks of such a situation.

“They must not ask us to deliver the impossible”

He is asking politicians to live up to their commitments freely undertaken in Maputo, i.e. to earmark 10% of their budgets for agriculture. Producers are ready to take up the challenge of food sovereignty, on condition that a genuine dialogue takes place between the various bodies concerned and that it is accompanied by improvements in production infrastructures, such as an increase of irrigated acreage from the present 2% to 6%. “Failing this, we must not be asked to deliver the impossible”, he concluded.

Mr Afolabi,  ECOWAS Deputy Executive Secretary, stated that the ECOWAS has been aware of the problems highlighted at the forum  for the past 3 years and that an ongoing dialogue is in place between the ECOWAS Office and ROPPA to that effect. He recognised that the time has come to change ECOWAS procedures and no longer confine them to the economic aspects of food sovereignty. As for the region’s potential, he stated that it is “an everyday scandal” that 4 million citizens suffer from hunger.  It is high time, he said, to turn declarations into reality. The ECOWAS is listening carefully to the concerns of farmers and producers with regard to the CET (Common External Customs Tariff) which is too lenient at present towards imported food stuffs and threatens to undermine the agriculture of the West African region. The ECOWAS has already sent out a warning that its trading partners (in the World Trade Organisation) are not prepared to make concessions. That is why the WTO talks have  collapsed and bilateral negotiations have instead been undertaken in the form of Economic Partnership Agreements. Can agriculture be removed from such negotiations? Can a system be found for the introduction of a compensation tax ? For the ECOWAS the debate is open. It must be transparent and fulfil the expectations of the various parties concerned.

Prime Minister Hama Amadou of Niger, who presided over the opening ceremony of the forum, also pointed out the present state of food dependence that member states find themselves in. He said it was regrettable that the region had imported rice, milk and sugar for over 1000 billion CFA francs, although the potential for producing this within the region exists. Therefore a reduction of food dependence is a priority in his view. The common agricultural policy (ECOWAP) of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) refers to this as a case in point. The four days of discussions between farmers, independent scientists and political leaders will lay the basis for a new dialogue, a gateway to the take off of African agriculture. This is the hope of the 300 farmers who travelled to Niamey by air and by land for the event.

Niamey 10 November 2006
Abdoulaye Tao
Special envoy of “LE PAYS”

abc Burkina : Our thanks to « LE PAYS » an its special envoy Abdoulaye Tao for this excellent report from the Forum, which will certainly be a milestone in the historic fight for the right to food sovereignty