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DEVELOPMENT: Food Is Not Another Commodity
By David Cronin
BRUSSELS, Feb 25 (IPS) - Food should be treated differently to other economic goods during international
trade talks, a new United Nations report has recommended.
Olivier De Schutter, the UN's special rapporteur on the right to food, has
queried the fundamental approach taken so far by the most powerful players
in the Doha round of world trade talks that were launched in the Qatari
capital in 2001.
De Schutter spoke at a meeting in Brussels Feb. 25 hosted by the Technical
Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), an EU-financed
organisation dealing with relations between Europe and nearly 80 African,
Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.
Last year the European Union and the U.S. blamed India for the collapse of a
meeting aimed at salvaging the talks. The Indian government sought to have
safeguards inserted into an eventual agreement that would allow it to block
agricultural imports in cases where the country's farmers could not cope with
competition. De Schutter argued that such safeguards are "crucial" because
governments "must retain the freedom to take measures which insulate
domestic markets from the volatility of prices on international markets."
In a report to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council next month, the
Belgian academic and political activist contends that while only 15 percent of
all food produced is traded between different countries, prices fixed on
international markets have a "disproportionately negative impact on the
ability of small-scale farmers in the world to make a decent living."
Efforts to create a 'level playing field' between poor and wealthier countries
are "meaningless", he added. Productivity for farm labourers in the world's
poorest countries was less than 1 percent that of rich countries in 2006.
Liberalising trade will not bridge that gap unless wages and price levels in
poor countries are driven down, with an "inevitable" increase in hardship, he
said.
De Schutter's report is being hailed as the first by an independent adviser to
the UN to assess how the international trade system affects the right to food.
In it, he warns against relying on foreign trade to bolster agriculture. As
farming accounts for 70 percent of agriculture in countries where at least
one-third of the population suffers from malnutrition, there is "no
alternative" to supporting small-scale producers, he stated.
One "major imbalance" identified is that while the international trading
system seeks to place limits on the amount of government support that might
be given to farmers, it does not limit the freedom of multinational companies
to exert their influence on markets. Rules to address this imbalance are
required, according to the report.
The seminar Wednesday heard that vast tracts of arable land in Africa are
being taken over by biofuel companies. Philip Kiriro, president of the Eastern
African Farmers Federation, said that this is being done "in total disregard"
for the concerns of local people.
In Tanzania, he said, five regions are being targeted as part of a 'land
grabbing' spree by foreign firms. British Sun Biofuels and the Swedish
company Sekab are both seeking land in Mkuranga district, for example.
Julian Quan, a researcher at the University of Greenwich in Britain, said that
"in principle" small-scale farmers can be more efficient per hectare than
more commercial farms. "But in practice because of the way global trade
works, it is much easier for agribusiness to produce food at a scale that can
meet the standards required for global markets," he said.
Lorenzo Cotula from the International Institute for Environment and
Development in London noted that investment in sub-Saharan Africa has
grown from less than 2 billion dollars in 1980 to almost 45 billion dollars in
2007. While extractive industries - particularly oil in Nigeria - account for the
bulk of this increase, there has also been a surge of interest in biofuels. In
Mozambique around two million hectares have been allocated to biofuels.
According to Cotula, there is a widespread perception that land is "available"
in Africa. Little data exists on who holds the titles for land, he added.
Paul Mathieu, representative of the Food and Agricultural Organisation, noted
that 73 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa lives in rural areas
and that 90 percent of agricultural production is undertaken by small-scale
producers, who have an average holding of two hectares. Titles may not be
available for 80 percent of the land concerned, he suggested, although de
jure most of this land is in public hands.
Greater foreign control of land often leads to forced evictions of peasants.
"There is a need to secure land rights," he added. "If land rights are secured,
farmers are in a better position to negotiate and to avoid being expelled."
(END/2009)
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