Folks,
This is an article from the Agriculture column of The Daily Observer and I want to share it with you. I must again apologize in advance should there be any grammatical or typographical errors. I had to type the whole article myself as this, like many other columns of the Observer are not available online. I often wonder why. Anyway here it goes.
Have a good day, Gassa.
Networking food security for poor Gambians.
In The Gambia, Agriculture is an important economic activity for the majority of rural inhabitants and all those living below the poverty line. About 75% of the labour force are engaged in the sector for their livelihood. Agriculture is characterized by subsistence rain-fed production of food crops comprising cereals (rice and coarse grains); semi-commercial production of groundnuts, cotton and sesame, livestock and fisheries practices and horticultural production. Production and productivity in the sector is generally low but with great potential for expansion. Food production barely meets half the consumption requirements of the people with large segments of both the rural and urban populations experiencing food insecurity.
The overall premise is to collectively fight hunger in order to reduce poverty.
The promises of globalisation and corresponding market liberalization have generated great hopes thus forcing small farmers to shift from subsistence farming in favour of market oriented cash crop production. the lessons drawn from such experiences have shown all too clearly that the guiding structural adjustment programmes and other macro-economic policies intended to increase the prosperity of developing countries like The Gambia, have failed to eliminate hunger especially of the poor. Indeed the number of people living with or threatened with hunger in this country has increased dramatically.
The Foodrights Campaign is an ActionAid initiative and was launched in 1998 basically to safeguard poor people’s right to food. The purpose is to ensure that international Agricultural trade benefits the poor, and protects their right to seed and plant generic resources required for food production.
This approach is aimed at complementing our grass-roots work to enhance food self-sufficiency at the household as well as community level.
Working in partnership with other civil society organizations, ActionAid shall continue to support poor people in our communities and at the same time press for policies that guarantee their food security and livelihood.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is responsible for setting and enforcing international trade regulations and standards. Some of these agreements, for example aspects of the Agreements on Agriculture (AoA) militate against the poor and hinder their ability to provide food for themselves.
Since the establishment of the WTO in 1994 at the Uruguay Round negotiations, it has been realized that global trade has not been working well especially for the less economically endowed nations – Developing and Least Developed.
Main Areas – Agreement on Agriculture (AoA).
This is the extent to which a country allows importation of foreign products into its markets. While The Gambia continues to liberalise its markets, its products have to undergo rigorous scrutiny and are often blocked access to markets in Europe and other potential locations in the North who institute trade barriers such as health and safety conditions (Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary Standards – SPS) to protect their own goods/products against any serious competition.
The groundnut crop, for example has to be screened for aflatoxin content and the standards used are based on their own judgements and beyond our capacity. The un-seasonal rains, which we have absolutely no control over, are critical factors influencing the level of aflatoxin in our groundnuts.
Allows countries to export goods on the world market at prices lower than those in their domestic markets. Under the agreements, trade-distorting subsidies are illegitimate. Countries in the North however, provide facilities to enable their farmers to export their excess produce into our markets without undue financial stress on them.
The study in the poultry sector is a glaring testimony to this. The study revealed that the impact of such an action has been enormous in terms of making domestic production uncompetitive thus sending most producers out of business, and overall affecting returns to The Gambian economy.
C) Domestic support.
Is the annual monetary support given by the government to agricultural producers, either for production or infrastructure and research. Through certain domestic rules such as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union, farmers in these countries enjoy agricultural support mechanisms, which enable them to produce enough both for consumption and the export markets.
On the other hand, Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) introduced in the mid eighties by the International Monetary Fund/World Bank (IMF/WB) have restricted farmers’ access to productive inputs such as fertilizers, thus limiting their capabilities to maximize production through the implementation prescribed conditions.
The above scenarios have generally led to unfair dealings between trade competitors in Europe and The Gambia supposedly termed equal partners under the WTO rules, which was not expected to discriminate against members.
The National Foodrights Network
A taskforce has been formed following the World food Day/Telefood conference in October 2000, to facilitate the establishment of the National Foodrights Network that will enhance information exchange and co-ordinate food security activities in The Gambia. The network shall be reputable, representative, accountable, transparent and committed to contributing effectively in improving poor peoples’ food rights/security conditions based on tolerance and mutual respect.
The taskforce comprises officials from the Department of State For Agriculture, Department of State For Natural Resources, Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN, National Nutrition Agency, Horticultural Women Farmers Group, ActionAid and GRTS.
To improve food security especially for poor people in The Gambia.
1. To help promote national policies that safeguard poor peoples’ right to food security.
2. To support and strengthen government’s negotiating position for the protection Gambian farmers’ rights in international agricultural debates.
3. To improve relationship and closer co-operation between the government, farmers and all stakeholders in the sector.
The network shall among others have the mandate to perform the following responsibilities/duties.
· Promote dialogue with government and other policy makers on matters affecting food security of The Gambian poor, e.g., budget allocation to the food sector.
· Support and strengthen government of The Gambia’s position in agricultural trade negotiations.
· Mobilize resources e.g., funds, and initiate and support programmes that enhance food security for the poor.
· Encourage cop-operation between different interest groups such as environmentalists and farmers, politicians and active civil society etc.
· Enable small farmers and other interest groups to represent their own views/voice in relevant for a on security issues.
· Identify and promote gender concerns in ongoing Foodrights/security agenda.
· Identify research needs and conduct relevant studies with appropriate institutions and use the finding to support our policy arguments.
· Raise awareness and increase communication flow to build capacity within the network and also outside.
Participation is open and voluntary. It can include, Civil Society Organizations, Scientists, Researchers, Academics, Policy Makers, Media, lawyers and other interest groups and individuals etc.
For details please contact:
ActionAid The Gambia: email – [log in to unmask]