QUEBEC CITY – Farm leaders at a United Nations food congress here had a blunt message for political planners beginning to wring their hands over fears of a growing gap between food demand and supply.
Do not expect farmers to be instruments of social or political policy.
Give them decent prices and they will grow the food the world needs.
“If the price is right, there will be enough food,” South African Charles Van Veijeren told an Oct. 13 session on marketing. “Farmers will produce enough if governments produce a farmer-friendly environment.”
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Australian Graham Blight, president of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers, was even more blunt.
Farmers, like governments and social planners, are unhappy that 800 million people suffer from malnutrition. However, they do not accept the view that their moral obligation is to produce enough to feed the hungry.
“Farmers are not going to feed the world for nothing,” he told the assembly. “It may seem like a hard thing to say but someone has to pay the bills.”
It was a message that received little opposition and for Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Jack Wilkinson, that was good news from the 50th anniversary meeting of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
“I can’t say that this conference will have an immediate impact on farmers but I do think it is part of the process of getting farmers’ voices back into the United Nations and international decisions. That is positive.”
Farmers’ opinions sought
Some UN organizations have started to contact farmers’ organizations before they implement aid or development plans, for example.
Still, farm groups often are not invited to be heard at UN meetings on environmental or social issues.
In a speech to the FAO meeting, Blight complained that international bureaucrats, national governments and non-governmental groups that deliver aid and development programs often forget who really produces food.
“The trouble lies with the world’s lack of confidence in the wisdom and competence of farmers, especially in developing countries,” he said. “Because of this basic lack of confidence, farmers are expected to follow the higher wisdom of governments and non-governmental organizations.”
During the FAO conference, leaders from IFAP, the CFA and Quebec farm groups issued a “Farmers’ Declaration” proclaiming that “we, the people of the land” should be supported, should be allowed to market their products collectively and should then do their part to ensure “food security.”
