36th World Farmers' Congress 2004

Farmers propose concrete actions to fight rural poverty and hunger

Washington, D.C., 4 June 2004 – Worldwide farmers adopted a statement in which they proposed fourteen recommendations for eliminating rural poverty and achieving food security. " It is totally not acceptable that the benefits of global economic development are not reaching a large part of the world’s people,” claimed farmers during the last day of their 36th World Congress held in Washington D.C.

For farmers, agriculture must be given increased priority in order to eliminate rural poverty. " Agriculture is the key to sustainable development for most developing countries. It must become a priority for national governments, for donor assistance and for international institutions,” stated IFAP farmers in its declaration. "Farmers’ organisations can play a crucial role in rural development, and we are willing to take on this responsability,” said the IFAP President Jack Wilkinson.

IFAP is already working very hard in this direction, through its DCC Program (Development Cooperation Committee), to strengthen farmers’ organisations by building capacity to get organised and empower farmers so they can speak for themselves. “Farmers’ organisations have had the courage to look into their own strengths and weaknesses for capacity building. We have discussed how to become more representative, more accountable, more autonomous and more gender sensitive,” said the DCC Chair Caroline Trapp (Sweden). “Since farmers’ organisations are strategically positioned in developing countries, they have a greater role and responsibility in rural development than other rural community organisations, » stressed the IFAP Vice President Philip Kiriro (Kenya).

More than 1 billion people in the world live in absolute poverty and 800 million are hungry, most of them being rural people. Farmers put forward fourteen recommendations to achieve food security and eradicate rural poverty. They are:

1 - Re-center resources to agriculture;
2- Focus development efforts on people and their organisations;
3- Build capacity of farmers’ organisations;
4- Involve farmers in decision-making processes;
5- Build partnerships;
6- Ensure secure access to productive resources on a long-term basis;
7- Invest in infrastructure
8- Increase farmers’ market power;
9- Promote research and adapted technologies;
10- Share knowledge and information;
11- Fight HIV/AIDS;
12- Involve women farmers;
13- Involve young farmers;
14- Peace and security in rural areas.

Note: The statement will be available shortly on the IFAP Website at www.ifap.org