The vicious cycle of low productivity and exposure to price hikes

Olivier de Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food says that the urbanisation trend can be slowed by implementing a form of sustainable, low input agriculture, known as agroecology, as this would improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and preserve healthy ecosystems for future generations.

"In the short term, lower import tariffs to let in food ensure urban populations are fed, but in the long term it is a disaster because local farmers can't compete," says de Schutter, adding that cheap food imports make the country extremely vulnerable to price hikes in the global markets – such as those we are now seeing in North Africa.

The cycle of poverty that is driving urbanisation

DFID Review defies expert advice and fails to address food security crisis

Despite the looming world food crisis and the fact that one billion people are already undernourished world-wide, DFID’s new funding priorities completely exclude all mention of the need to improve food security or support smallholder agriculture. 

The recent expert report on Food and Farming has lamented DFID’s long neglect of smallholder farmers and urged greater priority be given to rural development and agriculture as a driver of broad-based income growth, and to provide more incentives to the agricultural sector to address malnutrition and gender inequalities.  Amongst their recommendations for low and middle income countries are the revitalisation of the extension services, the facilitation of market access and the strengthening of land rights.  

Last year, a report sponsored by the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Agriculture and Food for Development, also criticised DFID for its poor record of funding agriculture, particularly African agriculture, which is just 0.3% of the total DFID budget.  Twenty-nine local and international experts in agriculture and food security expressed concern that DFID is not taking advantage of the considerable agricultural expertise that is present in British institutions to seize upon the opportunity to take the lead in such a vital sector for rural development. 

In his preface to the report, FAO’s goodwill ambassador said that agriculture must be put back at the top of the international development agenda because of the crisis that is stalking the small-scale farms and rural areas of the world, where 70 percent of the world’s hungry live and work. 

In recent times UK’s pubic funds have been channelled through multilateral, mainly UN institutions, such as FAO and UN Habitat, which DFID has simultaneously sought to reform. 

One of DFID’s priorities has been to support UN Habitat’s work in improving the lives of slum-dwellers in an effort to reach the poverty reduction Millennium Goal.  The UK government considers that urbanisation is positive because ‘cities are the engines of economic growth’ in a globalised world.  

This policy is now in disarray following the Coalition Government’s recent review: 

DFID will soon cut the funding of UN Habitat because it has failed to prove that it was delivering significant change on the ground.  There are also threats to cut funds to the FAO, if its performance does not improve. 

The UN’s Special Rapporteur on the right to food said recently:

‘Only by supporting small producers can we help break the vicious cycle that leads from rural poverty to the expansion of urban slums, in which poverty breeds more poverty.’

Reforming the CAP in favour of small-scale farmers

The European Common Agricultural Policy or CAP is one of the big challenges facing farmers in developing countries who want to market their produce.  This is because the CAP subsidises European farmers and allows them to export produce throughout the world at prices that are lower than the cost of production.  At the same time tariffs are imposed on produce exported to the EU, making it uncompetitive.

The European Union is currently debating reform of the CAP – this process is due to be finalised before 2013.  

However, the UK Coalition Government’s contribution to this debate does not sound promising:  According to Defra the government continues to regard food merely as a commodity and wants to drive down prices still further to ensure ‘greater market orientation and agricultural competitiveness’.  They say that this will enable European Food Processing Companies to compete more successfully in the global food market.  UK Environment Minister, Caroline Spelman has also called for the halting of food exports to be made illegal, even at times of national crisis.

These proposed CAP reforms would flood the world with junk food and do nothing to protect vulnerable farming communities from the impact of ‘low cost’ imports. 

Furthermore, preventing countries suffering from food shortages from banning the export of essential food commodities is likely to lead to increased starvation and political unrest.

A more much radical alternative to the UK government’s proposed, conservative reforms for the CAP can be found here .

This alternative European Food Declaration (or Missing Option) is calling for sustainable, family farming to be emphasised in EU food production with movement towards a food sovereignty framework, as well as changes in international trade in agricultural products according to principles of equity, social justice and ecological sustainability.  It stresses the right of all nations and regions to protect themselves from food speculators and low cost imports.

Most importantly, ‘the CAP should not harm other countries’ food and agriculture systems’.

By signing this Declaration you will be providing hope for small-scale farmers and health-conscious consumers the world over!