Let's put trade back in the spotlight
Saturday, August 7 2010
Trade is critical to development. This is not new news. The global debate over the Doha Development Round of trade negotiations and the efforts of anti-poverty campaigners over the past decade made sure of that. This old news needs to resurface.
With negotiations at the WTO stalled and global attention focused on recovering from the worst recession since World War II, the spotlight has been taken off trade in the past few years. Yet the number of people facing food insecurity has risen to above 1 billion for the first time ever, presenting a situation where – more than ever before - development policy and trade policy need to be mutually reinforcing and integrated to ensure that efforts towards poverty reduction and food security are effective and sustainable.
For decades, agriculture and food security suffered a lack of attention similar to trade on the global development agenda, leading to devastating consequences. Global official development assistance to agriculture fell precipitously from a high of roughly $20 billion in the mid 1980s to just $5 billion in the early part of the 2000s.
The drop occurred for mainly two reasons. First, global food supply increased exponentially most visibly in the rice and wheat “Green Revolutions” of Asia during the 1960s and 1970s leading, ironically, to public complacency about investing in continued improvements in the agriculture sector in the developing world. Second, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund advised most developing countries to divest from heavy state intervention in industries and providing farmer training and support through extension systems.
Now, most agriculturally based economies, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa are facing extreme food security challenges as a result of the dilution of public research, expertise and scholarly institutions equipped to support their agriculture sectors.
Cashew processing jobs empower mainly women, and export stabilizes prices for farmers
Long-time neglect of the agriculture sector left many developing countries ill-equipped to deal with the global food and financial crises. In 2008, approximately 32% of sub-Saharan Africa’s population was already under-nourished – the highest of any region. A surge in prices of staple foods by more than 80% that peaked in the summer of 2008 pushed approximately 100 million more people into poverty globally between 2008 and 2009, putting the total number of food insecure people worldwide at 1.02 billion.
The global food crisis caught the attention of world leaders and the trend of declining investments in agriculture is finally reversing. Donors at the 2009 G8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy committed to provide $22 billion over three years for investing in agriculture and reducing food insecurity. For the first time, G8 leaders made not only financial commitments, but promises to improve the effectiveness of assistance to the sector. Donors agreed to ensure that this assistance was country-owned, comprehensive, coordinated, focused on smallholder farmers and women and leveraged multilateral institutions wherever possible.
This renewed momentum has created an opening for advocates to focus on the sustainability of global agriculture as a key driver of long-term growth and development and provides an opportunity to put trade and private sector investment back on the global development agenda.
Companies exporting to international markets have an important role to play in assuring food security.
The U.S. contribution to the L’Aquila commitments, outlined in the Feed the Future Initiative (FTF), builds strongly on the L’Aquila principles of comprehensiveness and integrates developing markets and trade as a core concept, highlighting that increasing agricultural productivity will not lead to higher incomes and reduced hunger without access to local, national, regional and international markets.
In cooperation with several West African countries and the ECOWAS regional economic community, the FTF seeks to improve access to market information and financial services, improve post-harvest market infrastructure, and create an enabling policy environment for agribusiness growth. All of which is extremely promising, especially the recognition of the role that trade plays in food security and development. Though, it is up to the participating stakeholders to make this strategic objective a reality.
The new U.S. food security and agricultural development policy is rooted in on the principles of developing-country ownership and inclusive consultation. As part of the ‘country investment plan’ (CIP) development process, FTF countries are required to undergo inclusive, consultative, multi-stakeholder discussion processes to ensure that the needs of all citizens are taken into account – from small-holder farmers to large agribusiness and international traders.
So this is the lynchpin of success: participation. If trade is to be brought back to the development agenda, the private sector needs to engage with government, civil society, women’s groups and farmer’s organizations and make the case for its inclusion. Private sector companies occupy a critical position in value chains, connecting farmers to markets, on the one hand, and supplying inputs to farmers on the other. These companies know what works in terms of production and marketing. Their input and participation is critical to the success of the initiative.
In short, without the involvement of the private sector in the CIP process, the West African region risks falling short of meeting its full growth potential: To reach the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, African countries must grow 7% or more annually.
Better ways to achieve change through advocacy are needed in Washington and in Dakar, Bamako, and Accra. As the voices in agricultural communities and those in the private sector become louder, they can also become harmonious and amplified by strength in numbers. We at ONE strongly encourage the private sector to participate in all steps of these processes in each country and regionally to make trade and agriculture work for development.
For more information about getting involved in the FTF process, go to www.feedthefuture.gov.
Erin Thornton is the Global Policy Director for ONE, an advocacy and campaigning organization with more than 2 million supporters dedicated to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease. This column reflects her views and not those of USAID, USAID's West Africa Trade Hub or the United States Government.
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