HALIFAX – There was a sense of history being made two years ago when Canadian Jack Wilkinson turned over the presidency of the world farmer lobby to Zambian farmer Ajay Vashee.
He was the first leader of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers from a developing country. Until then, leaders came from developed countries, which pay most of IFAP’s bills.
At the time, Vashee’s election in Warsaw was considered an historic turning point for the organization.
In an interview at the time, he said his goal was to work with members to “create a strategy to solve the world food crisis, help farmers to develop and get paid for the ecosystem services they provide humanity, address agriculture and climate change and evaluate sustainable bio-energy production.”
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Two years later, IFAP is in the midst of a financial crisis and Vashee’s leadership is under fire from some key IFAP members, including Canada.
Ron Bonnett, president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and an IFAP executive member, said a recent IFAP meeting left him concerned about the leadership and the direction of the organization.
“IFAP is an extremely valuable organization, but we have to make sure it is sustainable and has a viable business plan and strategy to move forward,” he said. “I didn’t see that.”
Bonnett suggested the president may find himself challenged for a second term when the federation’s members meet later this year.
“I think a challenge is possible, certainly,” he said.
“Part of it may be a different leadership style. We are used to a very inclusive type of leadership and perhaps politicians from developing countries are more authoritarian and less inclusive in decision-making. That might be part of it.”
There is also a debate about the focus of the organization.
Bonnett is part of a group that believes the Paris-based federation is best suited to policy development and advocacy in world forums.
Others think it should also have a program delivery role, running agriculture development programs.
In fact, it is this program delivery direction that is partly to blame for the current financial crisis.
IFAP has been delivering programming financed by Agriterra, an organization founded in 1997 by Dutch farm and development groups to help farmers in the developing world organize themselves to increase their power in society.
However, Agriterra withdrew its funding after a disagreement between the two organizations, leaving IFAP with programs it cannot fund and employees it cannot pay. It has enough funding to pay the bills until September.
IFAP has asked its developed country members to guarantee loans to give the organization access to funds.
Bonnett said CFA has agreed, on the condition that IFAP develop a business plan and a strategy on how to get past this crisis.
He said IFAP members from the United States, Sweden, Finland, Austria and Japan have also written to impose the same caveat on their loan guarantee support.
CFA has budgeted to pay dues of $84,000 to the international farmers’ federation next year.
