World Young Farmers Congress

Paris, June 11-15 2003

Address by Mr. Jack Wilkinson, President of IFAP

Dear Prime Minister,

Dear colleagues,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 
It is a great pleasure for me to be here with you and express my support to this first gathering of young farmers under the aegis of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers, of which I am the President.

This is a good sign that the younger generation of farmers are aware of and interested in the challenges posed by globalisation and world events.

It is also a good sign for our farmers organisations that me make space for young farmers leaders to contribute their ideas to discussions on future farm policies. 

This event, here is Paris, is the first world conference held by the Young Farmers Committee of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers. Our host the Young Farmers of France, have done an excellent job in receiving us in the Louvre Palace and in obtaining support for the conference at the highest levels in their country. They also obtained sponsorship for the participation of many young farmer leaders from developing countries. Your organisation, well-known for its independence is indeed well structured. It is a good example of how capable young farmers are, in getting organised to express and advocate their own views on their agricultural activity. 

 
I also would like to pay tribute to Prime Minister Raffarin and to his government for his support to agriculture and to the farmers of France. France is one of the largest agricultural countries in the world, and a key player within the European Union. The orientations of its agricultural policies have an important impact at the European and consequently at international level. When I attended the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg last September, I was pleased to hear President Chirac say that sustainable development cannot be achieved without developing a sustainable agricultural sector, and without considering the specific situation of the farmers.

 
Let me take you a few years back and give a sense of how we established a platform where young farmers would meet within our Federation.

At the last World Young Farmers Congress held in Orlando, USA in the year 2000, several young farmers groups met informally under the auspices of the American Farm Bureau. At the end of this conference, it was decided to seriously consider the establishment of a permanent structure through which young farmers from around the world could meet regularly to ensure follow up to debate and discussions at the international level.

After consultations, Young Farmers leaders called upon IFAP to establish a Young Farmers’ Committee. Given its experience in the realm of international agricultural policy as an established international forum, IFAP was thought to be the right place and the most appropriate organisation to provide such a structure. The 34th IFAP World Congress held in Hanover in 2000 endorsed the proposal submitted by the French Young Farmers organisation to establish a permanent body within IFAP. The IFAP Young Farmers Committee officially met for the first time during the 35th World Farmers Congress in Cairo in 2002. Bernard Layre, from the French Young Farmers was elected to Chair this IFAP Standing Committee, and became a member my Executive committee. The French Young Farmers then proposed to hold the First IFAP World Congress for Young Farmers in Paris, and Bernard accepted the challenging task to Chair the Organising Committee of this event.

 
Since then, IFAP is mobilising Young Farmers organisations from throughout the world, and helping to raise their awareness of international issues. The feed-back received so far is very encouraging. We just have to look at the important number of international delegations which, have accepted to participate in this event. I also hope that the follow up work to be carried under the agenda of this new Committee will confirm this enthusiasm and that it will bring positive results. You are the future. As Young Farmer leaders, you have to be well prepared  on international issues if you are to ensure a promising outlook for the millions of farm families that you represent.

 
The IFAP Young Farmers Committee provides a Channel to feed information and ideas from grassroots Young Farmers Organisations into the International institutions through IFAP. It also monitors actions undertaken at the international level which, affect the lives of Young Farmers and then disseminate the information to national member organisations, and mobilise them to react.

The agenda of this event covers a number of topical issues. These issues range from examination of the different agricultural commodity sectors, to regional issues, the challenges of achieving food security and environmental stewardship, not to forget issues pertaining to the specific conditions of Young Farmers.  But of course, the key issue is “what policies for what type of agriculture?”

And here, I will be interested to hear your views. As you know, this question is at the heart of the discussions in the World Trade Organisation, and IFAP is very much involved. 

It is important for us, farm leaders from adult generations, to be aware of your own experiences, concerns, expectations. Indeed, we can benefit from your dynamism and creativity to give a new breath to our sector and to sustain the endangered future of our activity. We recognise that you have to be proactive of your own development, because tomorrow, you are going to take over the leadership and to take crucial decisions be it at the local, national, regional or international level. In brief, you represent important actors for the design of future agricultural policies. In fact, the sustainability of our activity will depend on you. The link between the old and young generation will be even stronger if you are well prepared to face the reality of the international markets.

Thus, we have to work hand in hand to find common solutions in order to attract young people to farming. In other words, we must find ways to polish and promote the image of our activity by promoting its nobility since agriculture is essential to those who live from and by the land.

 

 For these reasons, it was very important for IFAP to welcome you, Young Farmers, in our Federation. Your contribution in the work of our Federation cannot but add value to our continuous lobbying towards the well being of Farmers and agriculture.  The challenges are important given the alarming world situation.

The agenda of the IFAP young farmers committee goes in the lines of the IFAP.

Your agenda will complement other IFAP committees and initiatives by putting forward the specificity of your point of view. The questions that will be examined will not only be specific to your condition but will also reflect horizontal concerns in the light of the international context.

What are the challenges facing us, Farmers, Young and older, men and women? The world picture is quite grim.  We could argue on the drawbacks  of globalisation, which vary from one country to the other. But, for sure, we cannot argue on the fact that globalisation does not benefit the farmers as well as the poorest communities especially those in developing countries.  The facts are speaking for themselves.

At the international level, Agriculture is being marginalized in development agendas. At the national level, a great number of national governments do not pay enough attention to the importance of agricultural and rural development, as it is the mainstay of many developing countries economies.

And yet, poverty is still increasing and the gap between developing and developing countries is widening. In other words, hunger and nutrition are far too high in a world of plenty.

These problems won’t be solved unless both international institutions and national governments involve the farmers and their organisations in the decision processes which, implies considering them as real players and not as mere consultation groups.

IFAP, thanks to the quality of its work and to its increasing number of member organisations is gaining credibility on the international arena. Our different partners from related international organisations listen more and more to the voice of our farmers. However, much remains to be done. Farmers need to get organised. They need strong organisations to voice out their concerns. IFAP, with the creation of the Development Cooperation Committee which helps strengthen.

I sincerely hope that the discussions during this three-day Congress will come up with some concrete resolutions emanating from a common understanding and agreement. I hope that young farmers will find the ways to reconcile their apparent divergent views and bear in mind that we are, above all, farmers and thus you must be united and get organised in order to maintain our noble activity and be good ambassadors for the future.

 

I thank you for your attention.