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Parallel aan een FAO-zitting in Rome die plaatsvond op 23 april 2007 en die vooral gericht was op problemen rond landbouwgrondstoffen, vond er een bijeenkomst plaats waarbij aandacht werd gevraagd voor de rol van de FAO met betrekking tot nationale en internationale marktregels om de familiale landbouw te ondersteunen.

Dat leidde tot onderstaande verklaring die door organisaties en instellingen uit zeer verschillende landen, zowel uit ontwikkelingslanden als uit hooggeïndustrialiseerde landen, werd ondertekend.

Zie hieronder de tekst in het Engels.

Side event in Rome

“What is the role of FAO with respect to national and international market regulations in order to support family farming?”

A side event in the context of the 66th session of the FAO Committee on Commodity Problems

Declaration

As organisations of producers and NGOs having organised the side event “What is the role of FAO with respect to national and international market regulations in order to support family farming?” and observer organisations to the CCP who have endorsed this declaration, we make the following points to the CCP:

–         We ask the members of the Committee on Commodity Problems to take note that the results of the Uruguay Round are unfavourable overall to family farming, as acknowledged in various FAO publications, and that the on going negotiations of the Doha Round will further decrease the possibilities of market management, which will again be unfavourable to family agriculture, in particular with regard to the markets for foodstuffs;

–         We stress that poverty is mainly rural, and that remuneration to producers constitute the most direct means to fight against poverty by supporting employment and rural income. By no means does this represent a more costs for consumers; rather, it ensures a security of supply and an economic dynamism beneficial to the entire population;

–         We argue that the implementation of supply management and collective marketing measures is vital in order to increase the market power of farmers, such that these markets can constitute real opportunities for them. This is true for international markets, but even more so for domestic markets which constitutes the majority of transactions ; and

–         We remind the CCP that the recognition of supply management and the regulation of markets as effective tools available for both developed and developing countries, must urgently be taken into account in the Doha Round negotiations.

To this end, we request FAO support for the availability to States and farmers protective measures and mechanisms that limit or stop all forms of negative market impacts on food sovereignty for all countries that choose this solution. We remind the FAO that the establishment of supply management measures supposes:

–         The use of efficient protective measures at the borders; and

–         Strengthening the structure of family farmers’ organisations so that they may fully play their role in the implementation and running of supply management and collective marketing instruments.

In this context, we ask the Committee on Commodity Problems to intervene to the FAO directing bodies in order for the CCP to be provided with a strong mandate to enable the use of all dispositions to effectively improve the condition of rural populations, in particular:

–         To rehabilitate supply management and collective marketing tools by making an inventory of all successful examples that have demonstrated their effectiveness;

–         To support farming organizations in the implementation of such instruments;

–         To support the establishment of product agreements as requested by the African group at the WTO; and

–         To make sure that farming can benefit from a particular treatment in trade agreements and that governments can use import control measures necessary for the development of domestic markets in favour of family farming and of rural communities’ economic development.

Rome, 23rd of April 2007

List of the signatory organizations

–         Réseau des organisations paysannes et des producteurs agricoles d’Afrique de l’Ouest ROPPA (Ouagadougou)

–         East African Farmers Federation – EAFF (Nairobi)

–         Dairy Farmers of Canada

–         Chicken Farmers of Canada

–         Canada Egg Marketing Agency

–         Canada Turkey Marketing Agency

–         Canada Broiler Hatching Egg Marketing Agency

–         Windward Island Farmers Association – WINFA

–         Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions – SACAU

–         Plateforme Sous-régionale d’organisations paysannes de l’Afrique Centrale – PROPAC

–         Collectif Stratégies Alimentaires – CSA (Brussels)

–         Terra Nuova (Rome)

–         Crocevia (Rome)

–         Norwegian Development Fund

–         SOS Faim Luxembourg

–         Vredeseilanden (Belgium)