38th IFAP World Farmers' Congress: Working Together for Profitability, Sustainability and Development

May 31, 2008, Warsaw, Poland - With the theme "Working together for Profitability, Sustainability and Development," the 38th edition of the IFAP World Farmers' Congress takes place for the first time in the Polish capital, Warsaw, May 30 - June 6, 2008. The Congress will address climate change, the sustainability of biofuels and the world food crisis, among many other issues. The Congress will transmit a Declaration on the World Food Crisis to the FAO High Level Conference on World Food Security from June 3-5. The Declaration will call for new national plans for agriculture, developed with farmers' organizations, to ensure world food security for consumers and secure livelihoods for producers throughout the world.

Farmers worldwide are being challenged to respond to concerns over the sustainability of bioenergy developments, escalating food prices, persistent hunger and poverty, and difficult world trade negotiations. Farmers, on the other hand, are looking for answers in order to face the adverse effects of global warming, as they are also part of the answer to mitigate these effects. The Congress will attempt to address these challenges through discussions among farmer leaders, sharing experience and ideas, and dialogues with international institutions. It will work to develop key policy recommendations for decision makers and for society (the consumers).

Supply chain problems are at the forefront of the international agenda as a result of commodity shortages, an escalation in consumer food prices, as well as a lack of organization. The Congress will explore ways to encourage investment into agriculture to alleviate supply chain shortages and generate economic development and rural development, and to devise systems to help farmers better organize themselves in commodity supply chains.

IFAP is presenting the results of a global dialogue between farmers' organizations from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean is presenting their reactions to the the World Bank's World Development Report 2008 on agriculture, the first in 25 years, to ensure that the recommendations of farmers are included into this report.

The effects of climate change on agriculture will be emphasized throughout the Congress, with keynote speeches and special sessions devoted to managing the risks and market volatility resulting from climate variabilities and assessing the implications for the future model of agriculture.

Farmer leaders will point out the need for farmers to be rewarded for ecosystem services they render to nature, and will exchange and identify mechanisms to encourage farmers to use environmentally friendly practices in both developing and developed countries.

Farmers will also deliberate upon and issue the Draft Declaration from the Congress titled 'The World Food Crisis: Farmers' Solutions,' which will be transmitted to the FAO. The world's farmers' organizations have put together a six-point action plan to feed urban populations and to provide a living to farm families. Its success depends upon investing in agriculture and allocating resources appropriately within the agricultural sector. IFAP expects the FAO, governments and other intergovernmental agencies present at the United Nations Summit from June 3-5 2008 in Rome to work with farmers' orgazations to take tangible steps to overcome this crisis and build a sustainable food supply.

International trade issues figure prominently on the IFAP agenda, and the Congress will give farmers the opportunity to dialogue with the Chair of the WTO agricultural negotiations, Crawford Falconer, on the proposals to conclude the Doha Round of agricultural negotiations.
On Thursday June 5, elections for IFAP President, Vice Presidents, Treasurer and the Executive Committee will take place.

Outgoing IFAP President Jack Wilkinson stated, "Agriculture is taking center stage on the world agenda. The world's farmers are taking the charge to solve the world's food problems very seriously, and we expect for governments and world leaders to include farmers' organizations as full partners in the discussion of how to develop a strategy to ensure a sustainable food supply for the world's population."

IFAP is the farmers' voice at the world level, and has been advocating farmers’ interests at the international level since 1946. IFAP’s mission is to develop farmers’ capacities to influence decisions that affect them at both the domestic and international levels. www.ifap.org

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