The implications of trade in rural poverty have been gaining visibility and concern amid international meetings such as the recently failed WTO meeting held in Cancun (see article published in the October 2003 update). Issues related to agricultural trade closely affect the lives of the rural poor as food crops constitute their main products and source of income.

The Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), dedicated to eradicating rural poverty, held its 27th session at its headquarters in Rome, Italy from 18-19 February, 2004 focusing discussions on the important role trade can play in reducing rural poverty.

This report offers the main outcomes of this session and highlights several passages of the speeches of Presidents and State leaders present at the meeting.

The keynote speaker for the debate on trade and rural development was His Excellency Blaise Compaoré, President of Burkina Faso. During his speech he underlined that the main reasons for poor performance of Africa's agriculture sector was due to unfair international trade relations.

"Over 10 million people in West and Central Africa directly depend on cotton production and many others are affected by the market price distortions created by production subsidies given to this product by other countries. Subsidies to producers in the northern hemisphere artificially inflate the supply on international markets and push export prices down." When referring to the development strategy Burkina Faso had adopted to face the situation of rural poor, he mentioned:

"Rural development, which includes ensuring food security as one of its main components, is viewed in Burkina Faso as an integral part of human security. Guided by this overarching principle and bearing in mind our past experience and our potential, we have placed agricultural production at the core of our rural development policy. […]The launching and success of this strategy presupposes a strong political will but also the support of the international community. I call upon you to back us in pursuing the objectives of this ambitious programme."

Mr Compaoré also recommended that agriculture development in developing countries, especially in Africa, should focus on several aspects: "

• rural financing through the development of microfinance and rural credit accessible to rural producers, most of whom are poor;
• land tenure security through access to land for all social strata;
• access to new technologies for poor countries so they can boost agricultural productivity and provide added value to agricultural products through processing and better storage;
• the fight against HIV/AIDS, which represents an ongoing threat to rural producers, who drive the economies of most poor countries."

Following Mr. Compaoré speech, IFAD President, Lennart Båge addressed attendants in the importance of rural development and agriculture in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Once the playing ground for international trade is levelled many challenges are to be taken upon the development community.

"…Poor farmers will need to increase production and move up the value-chain through processing, packaging, labelling, quality control and better marketing. The challenge before the development community is two-fold.
First, it is to finance programmes that directly help poor rural groups raise productivity and engage effectively with market agents to draw full benefit from their higher production. Second, we need to build on the knowledge and insights gained from them to trigger wider policy and institutional changes to mainstream poverty reduction in today's market-based economies. In other words we need to complement strong micro foundations with effective macro approaches to reduce poverty rapidly."

A powerful appeal to end hunger was also made by IFAD President by underlining the indignation and danger that prevail with the existence of world hunger.

"Mass poverty - some 1 200 million people condemned to stunted lives of chronic deprivation - is not only a moral outrage in this 21st century. It is equally a growing danger to the stability and well-being of society in a globalizing world. Mass poverty will be ended. The question is not whether, but how long. How many more years or decades, how many more hundreds of millions of lives wasted in misery will it take? We have the knowledge, and certainly the resources, and the poor have the talent, the skills and the capacity to work their way out of poverty. What they need is the opportunity, and what we must do is find the collective will to create that opportunity"

Among the many speeches delivered by state representatives of the various countries attending the meeting, the French representative reiterated the priority and significance this country gives to the fight against hunger and poverty, clearly expressed in a Joint Declaration made in January by French president Jacques Chirac along with his counterparts from Brazil and Chile, and the UN Secretary General.

The French representative also underlined the important role played by the UN Rome-based food agencies:

"In fact, IFAD appears to be a natural partner of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty appealed for by presidents Chirac, Lula, Lagos and the UN Secretary General. It has to become one of its pivots, along with FAO, WFP, the main financing institutions (World Bank and Regional Banks for Development) and UN programmes and agencies in charge of development issues."

Establishing efficient partnerships and coordination mechanisms is seen as a priority.

"Coordination of the initiatives carried out by the various institutions working in the fight against hunger and poverty must be a priority: resources are still limited and we must use existing one the best way possible. This coordination should take place on the field, between bilateral and multilateral donors and local stakeholders. Coordination must also be carried out at the central level. I am pleased with the great progress achieved in the last years regarding coordination among Rome-based agencies specialized in agriculture issues. However, it seems to me that we can do even more and better. In this sense, wish that the following proposal be studied: could FAO, WFP and IFAD organize a joint meeting of their governing bodies once a year as already done by by other UN development programmes and agencies (UNDP and UNFPA)? The complementarities of the three institutions would be reinforced."

The French representative also called for a mobilization of political will to end hunger. Action in this sense is already taking place with the creation of a working group to study proposals and ways to reach this political will necessary to fulfil the target set in the Millennium Development Goals.

"During their meeting in Geneva, Presidents Chirac and Lula placed the matter of resource mobilization at the centre of their initiative. If we are not capable of truly increasing funds for development on the short term, we will not be able to reach the objectives collectively agreed upon. In order to continue reflecting on this matter, it has been decided to create a working group to study concrete and innovative proposals to be promoted within the international community to achieve these objectives. This working group, scheduled to report by September 2004, will discuss three main aspects: (1) innovative methods to increase resources, (2) the assignment of these funds towards the fight against hunger and poverty, and (3) the identification and promotion of good practices, beginning with those implemented by IFAD."

PTo read further information on the 27th Session of IFAD's Governing Council please click here.

To read the speeches made by country representatives attending the meeting, please click here.

To read the Joint statement of FAO, IFAD and WFP please click here.

. To read the transcript of the press conference by Secretary General and presidents of France, Brazil and Chile held on 30 January, 2004, please click here.