Press Releases

37th World Farmers’ Congress of IFAP

 World Farmers Adopt New Agricultural Policies

Seoul, 19 May 2006 – The 37th World Farmers’ Congress of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) adopted four new agricultural policy statements with recommendations that will empower farmers and their professional organisations. They cover the critical issues of desertification, climate change, balanced diets, and food labelling.

Environmental issues are a priority for farmers, and IFAP will be promoting farmers’ views in the coming years on combating desertification, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, conserving biodiversity, and developing renewable energies. In presence of the Executive Secretary of the UNCCD, Mr. Hama Arba Diallo, farmers reached consensus on combating desertification and said that it is closely linked to food security issue for farmers.  2006 being the International year of deserts and desertification, farmers agreed during the Congress to actively promote this new IFAP policy statement within the framework of the United Nations Convention Combating Desertification (UNCCD). A policy statement on climate change was also adopted.  Farmers identified the renewable energies as an essential environmental issue for the coming years.  This question is seen by farmers as a new opening for rural development and income generation.  It was decided that this will be the topic of a new policy paper to be submitted to the IFAP 38th Congress to be held in 2008, with recommendations by IFAP to make sure that renewable energies benefit farmers’ income.

The Congress adopted IFAP Recommendations on Dietary Guidelines Issues.  This paper expresses farmers’ views for promoting healthy and balanced diets among consumers. Agricultural organisations wish to be involved in the national and international debates that will establish the bases of the policy strategy for nutrition, physical exercise and health, given that farmers directly feel the consequences of changes of the dietary behaviour of consumers.

Recommendations about food labelling were also discussed by the 37th Congress. The work of empowering the farmers’ position in the food chain is a long-term work, and labelling is an important part of this work.  Farmers decided that this issue will continue to be addressed by IFAP in the coming years.

The critical issue of farmers fighting poverty was introduced by a keynote presentation from the Minister for Development Cooperation of the Netherlands, Hon. Agnes van Ardenne-van der Hoeven.  She spoke to the Congress about public-private partnerships for sustainable agricultural development.  “Ever since the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg,” said Minister Ardenne–van der Hoeven, “we have come to understand that though the private sector is the main catalyst for growth, it could benefit from partnering with the public sector. This was a logical next step after decades in which first government and then the market were regarded as the main powerhouses of development. Joining hands, that is what development is all about – partnership and dialogue. We should not follow up Johannesburg with even more words, but with more action.”