International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP)

Tropical products (cocoa, coffee, cotton) suffered from dramatic price decreases since the 1980s. Indeed, the international real prices of major tropical agricultural products fell by between 50 percent and 86 percent from 1980 to 2002. Among these products, the situation of coffee and cocoa is dramatic. The prices of coffee on world markets, which averaged around 120 US cents/lb in the 1980s, were around 50 cents in the 1990s, the lowest in real terms for 100 years. Consequently, the share of final prices received by farmers for unprocessed green beans has fallen dramatically from 64 percent of the US retail price in 1984 to just 18 percent of that price in 2001. For cocoa, the real price fell by as much as 6.9 percent per year between 1977 and 2001.This situation is mainly the result of a chronic oversupply. In the case of cotton, the price was reduced by half between 1997 and 2002, the lowest annual level in thirty years. This situation is partly due to the use of subsidies by some major exporters.

IFAP tropical products group: IFAP meetings on tropical products started in 1975, following the severe difficulties facing producers since the end of 1974. Discussions covered coffee, cocoa, tea, and natural rubber. Much emphasis was placed on international commodity agreements and revenue stabilization schemes, in line with UNCTAD’s integrated commodity program. The Group on Tropical Products of IFAP was officially established at the World Farmers’ Congress in Egypt in 2002 to deal with issues relating to coffee, cocoa and cotton. It held its first regular session in Pretoria, South Africa in May 2003.

Activities: Farmers agree that there is an urgent need for the international community as a whole to start thinking of long-term solutions in order to break the downward spira, such as price stabilisation mechanisms and; international agreements. One major role of IFAPis to ensure the involvement of farmers in managing the crisis in the tropical commodities markets.

Officers of the Group 2008-2010:
President: Mathias N’Goan (Côte D’Ivoire)
Vice-Presidents: Jack Bigirwa (Uganda), Peter Corish (Australia).

Promotion of Tropical Horticulture: Risks and Opportunities for the Poor, Rémi Kahane, Executive Secretary of the Global Horticulture Initiative

Situation of Vanilla Producers and Fair Certification (Case of the Union of the Comoros), Mr. Issa Mhadji, President of Syndicat National des Agriculteurs Comoriens (SNAC)

Situation and Outlook for Cotton, Terry Townsend, Executive Director, International Cotton Advisory Committee

Presentation: International Cotton Advisory Committee

Global Principles & Criteria, Mr. Allan Williams & Ms. Lise Melvin, Better Cotton Initiative

Farmers’ situation and challenges in coffee production in Uganda, Hon. Gerald Ssendaula, Chairman, NUCAFE

Vietnam Farmers’ UnionCoffee production

Market-based price risk management: An exploration of commodity income stabilization options for coffee farmers, Lamon Rutten, Joint Managing Director, Multi Commodity Exchange of India, and Frida Youssef, Coordinator, Commodity risk management and Finance, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

IFAP Commodities Conference. Bruges, Belgium, 19-20 April 2005

- Summary of the Plenary Session

- Report of the Tropical Products Group

Report of the IFAP Tropical Group, 29 May-4 June, 2004,

IFAP World Congress report.

This bulletin was published quarterly until June 2007. It provided information related to commodities and the activities of the IFAP Secretariat, its members and other relevant international, regional and research organizations.