Water - A critical Resource for Farmers

World Water Forum

IFAP, March 2003

 

Over 1 billion people – one sixth of the world’s population - still lack safe domestic water supplies; 2.4 billion people still lack adequate sanitation. Demand for freshwater is increasing from industry, and the needs of expanding urban areas. FAO predicts that it will be necessary to double world food production over the next 25 years, using essentially the same land area.

This alarming global picture shows the pressure that exists on global water resources. Currently, about 70 per cent of the world’s freshwater supplies are used for agriculture. It is clear that in future, agriculture will be called upon to increase efficiency of water use.

An IFAP delegation, including representatives from Africa, Europe and North America, attended the 3rd World Water Forum (WWF) in Kyoto, 16-23 March. The delegation contributed actively in the debates, expressing worldwide farmers views. IFAP believes that ‘farmers and water go together’. “Without water there is no agriculture and therefore no food security”, was the message delivered by farmers to the Forum.


WFF outcomes and IFAP perspectives

IFAP supports the Ministerial Recommendations that came out of this meeting since it includes many of the demands. The recommendations cover different key challenges including food security and poverty alleviation, sustainable water use and partnerships.

The Final Ministerial Declaration takes into account the thematic and regional statements and also the recommendations of the meeting of Ministers of Agriculture on Water, Food and Agriculture. Regarding water for food and rural development, which is of main interest to IFAP, the Declaration mentions that every effort should be made to reduce unsustainable water management and improve the efficiency of water use. The Declaration encourages international cooperation and investment, research and development and the promotion of community based management.

While agriculture and rural development is given fair attention in the Ministerial Declaration, farmers are disappointed that the Declaration does not clearly mention the pivotal role of farmers and rural communities in achieving the Millennium Development Goals set by the UN. Further, the Declaration fails to mention the importance of the means of achieving the expected changes and achieve community based and demand driven management schemes. In other words, despite the fact that agriculture is included in the Declaration, farmers’ real needs such as capacity building, are poorly reflected in this document.

Some stakeholders, during the Dialogue with ministers, insisted on the need to acknowledge water as a human right in an international agreement, creating a global fund for water and sanitation. This recommendation is in line with IFAP views. Developing a UN Convention on Water and Poverty and disseminating the results of the Forum are also valuable suggestions. Above all, the implementation of the Forum’s outcomes through concrete action plans at country-level is of utmost priority. As the IFAP President stated for the World Water International Day “Let’s get down to action with the support of public authorities, and transmit to future generations of farmers adequate systems for a more efficient use of water.”


IFAP farm leaders addressing the agricultural issues

IFAP focused its participation on the two agriculture related themes. The first theme was “Agriculture, Food and Water”, jointly organised by FAO (UN Food and Agriculture Organisation) and ICID (International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage). The Draft Theme Statement is along the lines of IFAP’s recommendations. The focus of this Statement is on understanding the multiple roles of agriculture, and encouraging constructive dialogues between the farming community and other stakeholders including scientists. “Researchers have the knowledge, farmers have to innovate; now how can we put the two together?” challenged an IFAP Farm leader, speaking about the role of research in helping farmers, during a session held by CGIAR on Water Management for Agriculture. The IFAP speaker continued: “I heard beautiful academic presentations but now please give us something that we can use!” She raised the lack of financial resources for water research related to agriculture. She also called for more targeted research that answers farmers needs and that is location specific and insisted on the fact that farmers’ perspectives are different from those of researchers. Therefore, the latter should not impose ready-made solutions on farmers, but rather listen to them and learn from their experiences then adjust their research work accordingly.

The need to support capacity-building for farmers so that they can participate effectively in development efforts is crucial. There is a need for a shift of approach from “the traditional participation of farmers in government projects to the participation of governments in farmers’ projects”. The use of appropriate technologies in accordance with traditional and indigenous knowledge must also be developed.

During the FAO session on Food Security, an IFAP panellist pointed out the link between environment protection and sustainable agricultural practices: “If you give economic opportunities to farmers, then they will have the means to protect natural resources.”

The idea here is that only an economically-viable agriculture will have the means to be proactive in overcoming the negative effects of farming on the environment and enhancing its positive benefits.

The other main agriculture-related session in which IFAP actively took part was on “Water, Food and Environment” convened by the Secretariat of the Dialogue on Water, Food and Environment” - a consortium of different organisations including IFAP. The Dialogue’s main objective is to reconcile the apparent diverging interests of the agriculture and environment sectors, striking a balance between “water for food” and “water for nature” through transparent dialogue and knowledge sharing. One of the main recommendations of the Draft Statement is the adoption of water resources management at the river basin level as the guiding principle to reconcile the above-mentioned diverging interests.

During one of the dialogue sessions, the Chairman of the IFAP Committee on Agriculture in Developing Countries said that farmers must be involved in all decision-making processes pertaining to agriculture and related matters, in order to achieve solutions for a better management of water resources. “ He who talks about water talks about food, and therefore must talk about agricultural producers” he insisted, and we are open to sharing experiences and views with other stakeholders.


Agriculture Ministers’ meeting on “Water Food and Agriculture”

Prior to the Ministerial Conference, which generated a Ministerial Declaration, three events were convened as a link between the Forum and the Conference. IFAP Took part in one of them, the Agricultural Ministers’ meeting on Water, Food and Agriculture held in Shiga and organised by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries with FAO. Chairman Oshima, Japan’s Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries recalled the UN Secretary General’s appeal for a Blue Revolution that would generate “more crop per drop”.

IFAP President Jack Wilkinson asked agriculture ministers for their support to ensure that agriculture was treated as a priority at the upcoming Ministerial Conference to be held in Kyoto. The IFAP President urged representatives of Ministries of Agriculture worldwide, as well as specialised international institutions, to take action in order to secure sustainable access to water for all farmers. “Protecting the quality and quantity of water is everybody’s business. It is a prerequisite for sustainable development,” claimed Wilkinson, “the responsibility for protecting water resources cannot lie only with farmers. All stakeholders and water user groups must share the responsibility of protecting this scarce resource.”

IFAP presented concrete recommendations on behalf of farmers, particularly in the areas of legislation, financing, participation and capacity building, as well as research and technology. The IFAP President called for the establishment of transparently legal frameworks: “Farmers need secure water supply rights in order to provide them with equitable access to water resources, so that they are able to plan their operations in a decent way.

The economic aspect of access to water is a key dimension in the eradication of poverty in rural areas. “Even if public authorities face difficulties to finance access and management of the water, total privatisation of water access is not acceptable,” said the IFAP President. One solution to address structural financial impediments is the promotion of public/private partnerships. IFAP wants to see the mobilisation of all sources of funding, ranging from public to private investment, and including funding from International Financial Institutions and Official Development Aid. “Farmers worldwide propose the creation of an international solidarity fund in each country to support sustainable water management initiatives,” Wilkinson said.


World Water Forum (WWF)

Created in 1996 by the World Water Council (WWC), the third World Water Forum is held on a three years basis. The main objectives of this Forum include formulating concrete proposals and bringing political commitment. At the last Forum held in The Hague, the Netherlands in March 2000, the resulting Ministerial Declaration included a progress review on implementation as well as support to the UN organisations to re-assess the state of freshwater resources.

This third WWF was orientated a follow-up of the WSSD (World Summit on Sustainable Development) process, which produced a Declaration supporting the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Halving the number of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015 is among the targets identified by Ministers to achieve these MDGs.

The WWF was organised around many Issues, Topics, and Special programmes, including Major group events and Regional Days. There were a total of 351 different sessions. Each of these sessions generated Final Theme Statements (see www.world.water-forum3.org/), which were meant to feed into the Ministerial Declaration, the main outcome of the Forum.