08/07/2005
stampa
invia
“Dear G8; Africa can feed itself thanks to the labor of its families. It asks
to control its own development, rather than bear more intrusion on the part of
the international market.” This is the message expressed by ROPPA, a network of
agricultural unions from ten West African nations, to the leaders of the world’s
most powerful nations. Approximately seventy-five percent of Africans live in
rural areas, according to statistics compiled by IFAD, the agricultural arm of
the United Nations. ROPPA (‘Reseau des organisations paysannes et de producteurs agricoles de l’Afrique de
l’Ouest’) claims that African farmers feed ninety percent of their local communities,
following a different model from European methods of intensive farming that benefit
from open markets. “We can transform humanitarian assistance into sustainable
economies only through trade, “ says Peter Mandelson, European Commissioner for
Trade, during preparations for the three-day G8 summit convened at Gleneagles,
Scotland, until Friday. One of the meeting’s main topics is how to significantly
reduce poverty in the African continent by 2010.
“Handouts don’t help.” But the beneficiaries of this largesse don’t necessarily see things the same
way the G8 do, despite the worldwide clamor of the ten “Live8” concerts held last
Saturday to raise money for aid to Africa. “We won’t build the future of Africa
on handouts,” said Muhammar Gheddafi last Monday, at the opening ceremonies of
the African Union meeting at Sirte in Libya. “Such aid only increases the already-existing
differences.” According to the news service MISNA, the Libyan leader asked Africa
to dedicate itself to self-sufficiency rather than begging for aid that is often
disbursed under onerous conditions. “We shouldn’t go to the doors of the big nations
and beg for a reduction in our debt. We keep on getting insulted, and we deserve
it.”
Supply Distribution. The solution is not only to open world markets to African merchandise, “as though
that were the most important thing for poor countries.” explains Nora McKeon of
“Terranuova” to Peacereporter. “But that’s not it. The fundamental problem is
supply distribution, how to organize the distribution of products. There is no agricultural conflict
between North and South. What are in conflict, rather, are two models, one that
emphasizes family-scale production and another than favors industrial-scale production.
ROPPA is looking after eighty percent of the rural population in the countries
it represents. For small producers, having access to European and Africa-wide
markets is not important; what counts is being able to survive locally. Up to
now international organizations like the World Bank and the International Monetary
Fund have put conditions on their loans that demand the elimination of tariffs
on products coming from the North of the world, to the detriment of the less-developed
countries, for whom import tariffs are the only weapon they have to protect local
agriculture. The rich nations can resort to other ways of blocking African imports,
such as imposing sanitary standards that stop African products at the border.
McKeon concludes, “I don’t see why we can’t permit Africans to impose tariffs
to reinforce their national markets, just as Europe did after the Second World
War.” It’s a matter of ultra-liberal agriculture versus territorial development
aimed at creating food self-sufficiency. “The problem is in the European agricultural
policy that Mr. Blair wants,” explains Antonio Onorati of Crocevia, “an EU policy
of increasing industrial agriculture with the objective of lowering prices, to
the detriment of quality, which will ultimately do damage to the consumer.” The
ROPPA position critiques the northern agricultural model. Onorati continues,
“Policies that strengthen agriculture are useful, but not this ultra-liberal model;
we need policies that respond to the needs of each territory. It’s not necessary
to help Africans export their products, but rather to help them achieve agricultural
self-sufficiency. Fugaro concludes, “What they need is to be able to choose the
agricultural policy that suits them best.” In the meantime, the almsgivers are
meeting in Scotland, deciding how large a tip to give to those who have served
them the best of their products.
stampainvia
While the G8 talk about aid and free markets, African farmers ask for protection
written for PeaceReporter by
Gianluca Ursini
Gianluca Ursini
“Dear G8; Africa can feed itself thanks to the labor of its families. It asks
to control its own development, rather than bear more intrusion on the part of
the international market.” This is the message expressed by ROPPA, a network of
agricultural unions from ten West African nations, to the leaders of the world’s
most powerful nations. Approximately seventy-five percent of Africans live in
rural areas, according to statistics compiled by IFAD, the agricultural arm of
the United Nations. ROPPA (‘Reseau des organisations paysannes et de producteurs agricoles de l’Afrique de
l’Ouest’) claims that African farmers feed ninety percent of their local communities,
following a different model from European methods of intensive farming that benefit
from open markets. “We can transform humanitarian assistance into sustainable
economies only through trade, “ says Peter Mandelson, European Commissioner for
Trade, during preparations for the three-day G8 summit convened at Gleneagles,
Scotland, until Friday. One of the meeting’s main topics is how to significantly
reduce poverty in the African continent by 2010.“Let’s give them a tip.” A commission created by this year’s host, British Prime Minister Tony Blair,
presented its own recipe for African development at the beginning of the week:
1) cancel 100 percent of the debt of the world’s eighteen poorest nations, of
whom sixteen are in Africa; 2) double aid to the continent; 3) remove trade barriers
between wealthy nations and African nations. Blair’s “Commission for Africa” dedicates
somewhat lesser attention to a proposal to improve governance in countries where
endemic corruption devours a large percentage of international aid. Speaking to
Reuters, Blair cites as a sign of the summit’s success the agreement by, “thirteen
European nations to devote 0.70% of their gross national product to less-developed
nations,” a result never before reached in thirty years of similar meetings, although
it was a goal of the very first, at Chateaubriand, in 1975, when what is now the
G8 was merely the G5. Last Friday, US president Bush promised to double his nation’s
aid to Africa within five years, to a total of 8.6 billion dollars by 2010.
“Handouts don’t help.” But the beneficiaries of this largesse don’t necessarily see things the same
way the G8 do, despite the worldwide clamor of the ten “Live8” concerts held last
Saturday to raise money for aid to Africa. “We won’t build the future of Africa
on handouts,” said Muhammar Gheddafi last Monday, at the opening ceremonies of
the African Union meeting at Sirte in Libya. “Such aid only increases the already-existing
differences.” According to the news service MISNA, the Libyan leader asked Africa
to dedicate itself to self-sufficiency rather than begging for aid that is often
disbursed under onerous conditions. “We shouldn’t go to the doors of the big nations
and beg for a reduction in our debt. We keep on getting insulted, and we deserve
it.”Africa can feed itself. One effective point of departure might be to allow Africa to feed itself, rather
than continuing to send it food aid. “Africa doesn’t need the West; it can feed
itself perfectly well,” confirms Andrea Fugaro, from the Economic Department of
Coldiretti, an Italian agricultural association. Coldiretti, together with Italian
NGOs “Terranuova” and “Crocevia (www.croceviaterra.it),” is backing a campaign by ROPPA, a network of sixty West African agricultural
groups in ten countries, to “choose and manage its own development.” The Italian
NGOs offer statistics showing an increase in agricultural production in West Africa
of between twenty and eighty percent between 1990 and 2002, a far greater increase
than either North America (from 0 to 20 percent) or Eastern Europe (where agricultural
production fell by half). The Support Group for the West African Farmers Movement
charges that foreign aid terms have forced African countries to shift their agricultural
model from one of self-sufficiency to one of export, selling off their produce
to agro-businesses in the wealthy North of the world. West Africa has thus become
a net importer of agricultural products rather than a producer. Between 1993 and
2002, West Africa increased cereal imports by sixty percent (the rest of the world
increased by 18.2 percent) while their production of cereals increased by only
16.3 percent (the rest of the world’s cereal production increased by six percent).
Supply Distribution. The solution is not only to open world markets to African merchandise, “as though
that were the most important thing for poor countries.” explains Nora McKeon of
“Terranuova” to Peacereporter. “But that’s not it. The fundamental problem is
supply distribution, how to organize the distribution of products. There is no agricultural conflict
between North and South. What are in conflict, rather, are two models, one that
emphasizes family-scale production and another than favors industrial-scale production.
ROPPA is looking after eighty percent of the rural population in the countries
it represents. For small producers, having access to European and Africa-wide
markets is not important; what counts is being able to survive locally. Up to
now international organizations like the World Bank and the International Monetary
Fund have put conditions on their loans that demand the elimination of tariffs
on products coming from the North of the world, to the detriment of the less-developed
countries, for whom import tariffs are the only weapon they have to protect local
agriculture. The rich nations can resort to other ways of blocking African imports,
such as imposing sanitary standards that stop African products at the border.
McKeon concludes, “I don’t see why we can’t permit Africans to impose tariffs
to reinforce their national markets, just as Europe did after the Second World
War.” It’s a matter of ultra-liberal agriculture versus territorial development
aimed at creating food self-sufficiency. “The problem is in the European agricultural
policy that Mr. Blair wants,” explains Antonio Onorati of Crocevia, “an EU policy
of increasing industrial agriculture with the objective of lowering prices, to
the detriment of quality, which will ultimately do damage to the consumer.” The
ROPPA position critiques the northern agricultural model. Onorati continues,
“Policies that strengthen agriculture are useful, but not this ultra-liberal model;
we need policies that respond to the needs of each territory. It’s not necessary
to help Africans export their products, but rather to help them achieve agricultural
self-sufficiency. Fugaro concludes, “What they need is to be able to choose the
agricultural policy that suits them best.” In the meantime, the almsgivers are
meeting in Scotland, deciding how large a tip to give to those who have served
them the best of their products.
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