News Briefs

Former IFAP President Jack Wilkinson to be inducted into the
Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame

Former IFAP President Jack Wilkinson will soon be inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame. Wilkinson was nominated by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, where he also served as President for six years. Wilkinson is one of four 2008 inductees, each being rewarded for their outstanding contributions to the agriculture and food industry. “Drive, dedication, a passion for excellence and international influence are overriding qualities of our most recent inductees,” says Kim McConnell, president of the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame Association (CAHFA). The official induction ceremony will take place on November 9, 2009 in Toronto, Canada. The purpose of the CAHFA is to honour and publicize the importance of the the contributions of strong Canadian farm leaders to the agriculture and food industry and to promote awareness and interest in agriculture in general.
http://www.cfa-fca.ca/upload/CAHF-release.pdf

Global Initiative on Commodities (GIC) – Civil Society Workshop, Geneva, March 27, 2008

The GIC is a global initiative on commodities led by four intergovernmental organizations: the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), UNCTAD, UNDP, and the ACP Secretariat. After a launch meeting in Brasilia in May 2007, the GIC held its first workshop with civil society organizations in Geneva on March 27 2008, organized by IISD . The workshop brought together 35 mainly NGO representatives, including three farmer representatives: IFAP Vice-President Raul Montemayor, IFAP Secretary General David King, and a representative from WINFA (Windward Islands Farmers’ Association). The aim of the organizers was to work with civil society to mobilize international public opinion on the importance of commodities for development and poverty reduction, since the economies of many developing countries are highly dependent on international commodity markets. The interest of IFAP was to see how producers’ organizations fit into the GIC, and in fact, a central part of the workshop outcome was a call for the ‘empowerment of producers’ and for the organization of small-scale farmers.

The workshop was broken into four working groups to come up with a ‘civil society action list.’ After some initial discussion about what the process was about, and a call for mapping of all existing commodity initiatives to see how the GIC could fit in and make a useful contribution, a consensus document was released. The document called for commodity chain policies at all levels that ensured a fair sharing of the benefits for farmers and waged workers. It also called for capacitating farmers to supply domestic markets and contributing to national food security rather than starting with the more risk high-value export products which have been the traditional focus of UN commodity programs. Strong emphasis was also placed on the need for sustainable agricultural and land use policies to underpin commodity production. Developing risk management tools for farmers was another consensus item, which was promoted by IFAP.

The conclusions of the workshop will be presented at the UNCTAD XII Conference in Accra, Ghana, April 20-25 2008, where IFAP will be represented. UNCTAD wants to launch an international action plan for commodities and hold a World Commodities Conference. The UNDP will support the follow-up as part of its ‘inclusive globalization’ program to 2011. The CFC is ready to finance a major meeting of producers’ organizations to address long-term commodity development issues later this year. IFAP will be part of these processes.

For more information, visit http://www.common-fund.org/?nid=49