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Making the voice of farmers heard in the international arena |
April 14, 2014 |
The General Assembly of the World Farmers’ Organization (WFO) met in Buenos Aires between March 26 and 29, 2014. The international meeting gathered over 70 farming organizations from 50 different countries, and elected Peter Kendall––the former British National Farmers’ Union (NFU) president––as the WFO new president for a two-year term. “Feeding the world's rapidly growing population is one of the biggest challenges facing the world today, and it is vital that the world farmers have a strong and united voice as we seek the best solutions to meeting this demand” – said Peter Kendall.
Established in 2011 and based in Rome, the WFO’s objective is to represent farmers’ interests in international arenas such as the UN, the WTO or the IMF, and to work toward food security. How can we adapt in an unstable environment marked by disseminated natural and market risks? How can return farmers at the heart of decisions regarding the future of agriculture and food security? These are some of the many issues that are discussed in the general assemblies each year.
For the WFO, agriculture is specific and must be recognized as such, especially in trade negotiations. Farmers––whether in industrialized nations and even more so in developing countries––must be able to successfully fight the structural hyper-volatility of agricultural markets through pertinent mechanisms and structures, such as risk management and reinforced cooperatives businesses.
In issues of agriculture and food security, improving global governance is no longer an option but a requirement. As recommended by momagri, it could be embodied in a Food Security Council that would coordinate the activities of all involved international organizations. Yet, without political will, without the genuine commitment of governments to pursue such objectives, without the shared responsiveness to the dangers of unregulated liberalism, the implementation of such global agricultural governance system could turn out to be a particularly challenging venture.
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