Call from Chapecó and Dakar Declaration
The Chapecó meeting is the fourth of the Dakar Process, after two meetings in Brussels in 2001 and 2002, followed by the meeting in Dakar in 2003. The Declaration of Dakar is the basis of the Call from Chapecó, it is mentioned below.
CALL FROM CHAPECÓ
Gathered in the city of Chapecó (state of Santa Catarina, Brazil) from 21 to 23 January 2005, representatives of family farmers’ and agricultural producers’ organizations from 4 continents, with the support of development NGOs and agricultural economists, publish the following call:
We, representatives of family farmers’ and agricultural producers’ organizations from the different continents, demand from our governments that they:
* stop adhering to the dogmatic view of agricultural policies promoted by the international institutions, in particular the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank. This neo-liberal view, based on market deregulation, is destructive for family farmers across the world: ten years later, we can attest to the failure of the WTO agreement on agriculture;
* reform their policies based on the legitimate needs of populations, respecting their productive and cultural diversities.
Problems are worsening Bad policies continue to be pursued
Access to land and other resources is becoming increasingly difficult
for family farmers. More and more, land is being taken over by large
corporations.
Real agrarian reforms still have not been implemented and
the priority given to the agro-export model is intensifying the concentration
of land ownership.
The already weak productive capacity of rural populations
is being further degraded in many Southern countries and in some
Northern countries, jeopardizing their food security.
Border protection is reduced under the influence of the IMF
and World Bank. Priority is given to production for export.
The sharp drop in prices received by producers is increasing
the poverty experienced by farming families. It is accelerating rural
exodus and environmental degradation. It benefits large traders and
processors rather than consumers.
Governments orchestrate this drop in prices through agreements at the WTO by imposing world prices at the national level and by practicing dumping. Governments refuse the implementation of international agreements regulation prices.
Solutions exist
Implement policies ensuring access to resources (land, water, seeds,
credit, fishing, etc.) that respect the rights of local populations.
Reinforce productive capacities in order to satisfy food needs. This
should include appropriate import protection, which must be considered
a right.
Prioritize food production for the domestic market.
Ensure remunerative agricultural prices by using a combination
of instruments suited to a variety of situations:
. border protection,
. supply management,
. collective marketing,
. sustainable production methods,...,
and excluding all forms of dumping.
At the international level, to recognize the right to protection, but
also to reinforce supply management policies on world markets
with the involvement of exporting and importing countries,
beginning with tropical products.
Responsibilities to assume
In consequence, governments must reorient their priorities. Given the
WTO’s inability to manage the specificities of agriculture, governments
must reappropriate their possibilities for action, with the participation
of the relevant actors.
We, family farm and producer organizations, must develop alliances
with other groups in society: the proposed solutions can address the
legitimate needs of populations.
Prior to Hong-Kong, All of us, rural and urban people, commit ourselves to: . Blocking the WTO’s destructive policies, . Holding our governments accountable for addressing our needs and responsible for implementing mutually supportive agricultural, food and trade policies.
List of family farmers’ and agricultural producers’ organizations signatories of the Call from Chapecó and the Dakar Declaration
West Africa WEST AFRICAN NETWORK OF FARMERS’ ORGANIZATIONS (ROPPA) . President of the ROPPA, Ndiogou Fall, West Africa . Conseil National de Concertation et de Coopération des Ruraux (CNCR), Samba Gueye, Saliou Sarr, Senegal . Fédération des Unions des Producteurs du Bénin (FUPRO), Jacques Bonou, Benin
East Africa East African Farmers Union (EAFU) . President of EAFU, Philip Kiriro, Kenya . Syndicat de Défense des Intérêts Paysans (SYDIP), Mivimba Paluku, DR of the Congo . Imbaraga, Jean-Claude Hategekimana, Rwanda . Kenya Federation of Agricultural Producers (KENFAP), John K. Mutunga, Kenya
Southern Africa . União Nacional de Camponeses (UNAC), João Ronaldo Chingore, Mozambique . Coalition Paysanne de Madagascar (CPM), Jean Berthin Rabafeno, Madagascar
Europe . Fédération Wallonne de l’Agriculture (FWA), Yves Someville, Belgium . Coordination Paysanne Européenne (CPE), membro da Via Campesina: Gérard Choplin, Belgiuem, Heike Schiebeck, Austria, Xosé Ramón Cendán, Galice . Confédération Paysanne/CPE, Gérard Durand, Claude Girod, France . EHNE/CPE/Via Campesina, Paul Nicholson, Spain . Associazione Rurale Italiana (ARI), Francesco Benciolini, Italy . Confédération des Betteraviers Belges (CBB), Richard Eeckhaut, Jean- François Sneessens, Belgium . Coordinadora de Organizaciones de Agricultores y Ganaderos (COAG), Andoni García Arriola, Spain . Coordination Rurale, Nicolas Jaquet, France . Mouvement International de la Jeunesse Agricole et Rurale Catholiques (MIJARC), Markus Moser, Germany . Norsk Boncle - og Smabrukarlag, Ole-Jacob Christensen, Norway . Platform Land, Farmer, Consumer (ABC Platform), Willem O. van Middendorp, Netherlands . Uniterre, Coordination Paysanne Européenne (CPE), Gérard Vuffray, Switzerland
North America . National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC), George Naylor, USA . American Corn Growers Association (ACGA), Keith J. Dittrich, USA . Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC)/Producteurs Laitiers du Canada (PLC), Bruce Saunders, Yves Leduc, Canada . National Farmers Union (NFU), Jan Slomp, Canada . Unión Nacional de Organizaciones Regionales Campesinas Autónomas (UNORCA), Ernesto Ladrón De Guevara, Mexico
Central America . Unión Nacional de Agricultores y Ganaderos (UNAG), Douglas Alemán Benavidez, Nicaragua . Consejo Coordinador de Organizaciones Campesinas de Honduras (COCOH), Rigoberto Perez, Orellano Carlos Alberto Mencias, Honduras
South America . Federação dos Trabalhadores na Agricultura Familiar da Região Sul (FETRAFSul)/ Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT), Volmir Santolim, Altemir Tortelli, Brazil . FETRAF - Ceará/CUT, Rosely Lopes, Brazil . FETRAF - Minas Gerais/CUT, Teresa dos Santos Silva, Brazil . Federação da Agricultura Familiar de São Paulo (FAF- SP/CUT), Nivaldo Gomes, Brazil . Movimentos dos Trabalhadores Sem terra (MST), Francisco Dalchiavon, Brazil . Confederação Nacional dos Trabalhadores na Agricultura (CONTAG) e Coordinadora dos Produtores Familiares do MERCOSUL (COPROFAM), Alberto Bloch, Luis Vicente Facco, Jose Geronimo Brumatti, Valter José Dresch, Brazil . Unión Agrícola Nacional (UAN), Ottmar Hahn, Maria Edina Strickner, Paraguay . Movimento Campesino Paraguayo (MCP), Elvio Trinidad, Paraguay . Confederación Campesina del Peru, Wilder Sanchez, Peru . Coordinadora de Integración de Organizaciones Económicas Campesinas (CIOEC-Bolivia), Zacarias Calatayud, Bolivia . Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU), Seepaul Narine, Guyana
Asia . All Nepal Peasants Association (ANPA), Prem Prasad Dangal, Nepal . Sahabhagi Vikash Abhiyan (SVA)/Paschim Orissa Krushijeevi Sangha (POKS), Jagadish Pradhan, India
Support this call: . Africa-Europe Faith and Justice Network (AEFJN international), Maru Bastarreche, Belgium . AEFJN - Portuguese Desk, Fàtima Pinho, Portugal . AEFJN - Dutch Desk, Cor van den Brand, Netherlands . Collectif Stratégies Alimentaires (CSA), Belgium . Coordination SUD, Henry Rouille d’Orfeuil, France . Departamento de Estudos Sócio-econômicos Rurais (DESER), Germano Batista, Brazil . Focus on the Global South, Sajin Prachason, Thailand . Groupe de Recherche et d’Echanges Technologiques (GRET), Christian Castellanet, France . Groupe d’Appui aux Organisations Paysannes d’Afrique, Nora McKeon, Italy . Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), Alexandra Strickner, USA . International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC), Beatrice Gasco Verdier, Italy . Oxfam-Solidarité, Thierry Kesteloot, Belgium . Red de Ecología Social (REDES) & Amigos de la Tierra de América Latina y el Caribe (ATALC), Marcel Achkar, Uruguay . XminusY Solidarity Fund, Guus Geurts, Netherlands . Oxfam- Magasins du Monde, Stéphane Parmentier, Belgique
Contact addresses:
Federação dos Trabalhadores na Agricultura Familiar do Sul
Fetraf-Sul/CUT - Brazil - Tel: + (55) 49 324 77 68
Email: fetrafsul@fetrafsul.org.br
Collectif Stratégies Alimentaires (CSA) - Tel: + (32) 2 412 06 61
Email: info@dakardeclaration.org
To subscribe to the Declaration of Dakar and to the Call
from Chapecó, click here
Dakar Declaration
For mutually supportive agricultural and trade policies
Gathered in Dakar from 19 to 21 May 2003, a few months before the crucial deadline of WTO negotiations in Cancun, the representatives of farmers organisations and agricultural producers from Africa, Americas, Asia and Europe publish the following declaration:
I. WTO vision: the world upside down
The "liberalisation" of agricultural trade and deregulation, promoted by the WTO, the IMF, the Free Trade Agreements, etc. are substantial causes of damage all over the world: hunger, unemployment, inequality, poverty, and degradation of natural resources are increasing in the rural world, particularly in the South. Farmers are forced into rural exodus and migration. Increasingly, large corporate agri-business is taking their place and taking up their lands.
The assumption on the basis of which the WTO subjects farmers to world prices, the assumption that the international market can produce valid results, uniform for all the countries, has been disproved by the facts. Agricultural prices are unstable, chronically depressed and tend to fall over time.
The WTO aims to ban import protection, an instrument available to all, including the poor countries. The WTO favours, on the contrary, protection instruments which are available only to rich countries (aids decoupled from production, placed in the WTO green box). This allows, among other things, the whitewashing of dumping.
The WTO’s highest priority is to reduce agricultural prices, and it does it
in two ways:
At the level of internal markets, by lowering customs duties and dismantling
market organisation instruments.
Externally, through export-orientation, which depresses world prices
paid to farmers.
WTO encourages extreme competition among producers: the producers are losers, and the consumers are not the winners. The decrease of the agricultural prices benefits mainly large corporate agri-business and retail sector.
WTO weakens the weakest and benefits the strongest.
II. For agricultural policies founded on rights
Agricultural policy must respond to the fundamental rights and needs of populations, in particular women:
. Right to (healthy, culturally adapted, ...) food
. Right to produce this food
. Access to resources (land, seed, water, credit, ...)
. Respect for environment (sustainable production modes, biodiversity)
. Equity (right to decent income),
. ......
The market cannot ensure that these rights are respected. It is the responsibility of the public authorities, at the local level, at the scale of a country or a group of countries. These elements are the very basis of food sovereignty.
In order to ensure these rights, there is a need for instruments, particularly import protection and supply management. Agricultural prices must cover production costs, including a decent remuneration for the farmer.
Financial resources must be available in order to insure sufficient levels of infrastructure and services, in particular in the Southern countries.
The desire to export must not take precedence over fundamental rights, whether within a country or vis-à-vis other countries.
III. For mutually supportive international trade
Trade is indeed necessary, but it does not have prevalence over fundamental rights.
The most fundamental demand in terms of solidarity is that exports should not lead to the destabilisation of domestic markets in the other countries. Priority should be given to supplying the domestic market.
Market access should take place without deregulating the market of the importing country. The aim must be to eliminate all forms of dumping.
Agricultural subsidies are legitimate if they are granted on the basis of the populations’ rights and expectations and are not used for promoting exports.
Trade rules must not prevent countries from encouraging sustainable production systems based on family farming.
There must be consultation and effort to manage supply on world markets. In particular, producer and consumer countries should work together to stabilise markets and ensure fair prices for products mainly destined for export (coffee, cocoa, etc.). Preferential import agreements may also play a positive rule, notably for the small countries with a vulnerable economy.
Populations’ legitimate choices, refusing for instance GMOs, hormones ..., must prevail over the trade companies’ interests and be respected by the international trade rules.
Given the risks involved in the present WTO negotiations, and with a view to defending the choices stated above, farmers organisations and civil society organisations must urgently be mobilised on the largest possible scale. Governments are urged to reject the current WTO vision and proposals and defend in Cancun [and today in Hong-Kong] the principle of food sovereignty.
List of family farmers’ and agricultural producers’ organizations signatories of the Dakar Declaration:
West Africa WEST AFRICAN NETWORK OF FARMERS’ ORGANIZATIONS (ROPPA) . Association des Organisations Professionnelles Paysannes (AOPP), Coordination Nationales des Organisations Paysannes du Mali, Ibrahima COULIBALY * . AREN, Coordination Nationale de la Plate-forme Paysanne du Niger, Djibo BAGNA * . ANOPACI, Désiré PORQUET *, Côte d’Ivoire . Fédération Nationale des Femmes Rurales du Burkina (FENAFER\B), Confédération Paysanne du Burkina Faso (CPF), Françoise BANGRE * . Fédération des Paysans du Fouta Djalon, Afpha Oumar DIALLO *, Guinée . Association of Farmers, Educators and Traders (AFET), Manlafi GASSAMA *, Gambia . Conseil National deConcertation et de Coopération des Rureaux (CNCR), Samba GUEYE *, Bara GOUDIABY *, Sénégal . Asprodeb, Awa DIALLO *, Ousmane NDIAYE *, Sénégal . Président du ROPPA, Ndiogou FALL *, Afrique de l’Ouest
East Africa EAST AFRICAN FARMERS UNION (E.A.F.U.) . Uganda National Farmers Federation, E.A.F.U., Henry Mutebi KITYO*, Chebet Maikut *, Uganda - Afrique de l’Est . National Network of Farmers’groups Tanzania (Mviwata), Mwadini MYANZA*, Tanzania . Sydip, Mivimba PALUKU *, RD Congo . Urugaga Imbaraga, Sebastien BITANUZIRE *, Rwanda . Kenya Federation of Agricultural Producers (KENFAP), Mercy Karanja*, Philip Kiriro*, Kenya
Central Africa (voir aussi les membres de l’EAFU ci-dessus) . Concertation Nationale des Organisations Paysannes du Cameroun (CNOPC), Abbo FODOUE *, Cameroun
Southern Africa . União Nacional de Camponeses (UNAC), Renaldo CHINGORE JOAO *, Amade SUCA*, Mozambique . Coalition Paysanne de Madagascar, Jean Chrysostôme RAZAFIMANDIMBY *, Madagascar
Europe . Fédération Wallonne de l’Agriculture (FWA), Pierre Ska *, Yves Someville *, Belgique . Jordberga, Confédération Internationale des Betteraviers Européens (CIBE), Otto von Arnold *, Suède . Coordination Paysanne Européenne (CPE), membre de Via Campesina, Gérard Choplin *, Belgique - Europe . Uniterre/CPE, Gérard Vuffray *, Suisse . Sindicato Labrego Galego/CPE, Xosé Ramon *, Espagne . Confédération Paysanne/CPE, Christian Boisgontier*, France . EHNE/CPE/Via Campesina, Paul Nicholson *, Espagne . Confédération des Betteraviers Belges, Jean-François Sneessens *, Belgique . Jeunes Agriculteurs Français, Jérome Despey, France . Front Uni des Jeunes Agriculteurs, membre CPE, Xavier Delwarte, Belgique . Mouvement d’Action Paysanne, Jacques Bossuyt, Belgique . Coordinadora de Organizaciones de Agricultores y Ganadores del Estado Español COAG - Via Campesina, Javier Sanchez Anzo, Espagne . Coordination Rurale Union Nationale, François Vienne, France
North America . National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC), Mme Dena Hoff *, USA . UNORCA, Ernesto LADRON DE GUEVARA *, Mexique . American Corn Growers association, Keith J. Dittrich, USA
Central America . ATC, Eduardo Vallecillo *, Nicaragua
South America . COPROFAM, Silvio Mazaroli *, Uruguay - Mercosur . CONTAG, Alberto Broch *, Brésil . Confederación Campesina del Perú, Victor Torres *, Pérou . Fetraf-Sul/Cut, Volmir Santolim *, Brésil
Caraïbean Islands . Winfa, Renwick Rose *, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Asia . FSPI, Indra Lubis *, Indonésie . South Asian Peasants Coalition, Biblap Halim *, Inde . Korean Farmers League, Jung Hyeon Chan *, Corée du Sud . Bangladesh Krishok Federation, Badrul Alam, Bangladesh
Support this declaration: . AEFJN (Africa-Europe Faith and Justice Network), Maru Bastarreche, Belgique . Afrique Verte Burkina Faso, KI Philippe de Kassan, Burkina Faso . Afrique Verte, Caroline Bah, France . Agir Ici, Céline Trublin, France . Asociacion Ambientalista GUERREROS VERDES A.C., Elena Kahn, Mexique . Centre de Promotion des Valeurs Africaines (CEPROVA), Victor Youmbi, Cameroun . Centre National d’Actions et d’Accompagnement Comunautaire (CNAC) Olivier Bakali Kosumba, République Démocratique du Congo . Centre National de Coopération au Développement 11-11-11, Gérard Karlshausen, Belgique . CIEPAC, Jacques Berthomé, France . Collectif Stratégies Alimentaires (CSA), Belgique * . Comité de Bienvenida a Cancun, Juan Carlos Núñez Fernández, Mexique . Cooperacció, Tono Albareda, Espagne . Coordinadora de Organisaciones de Agricultores y Ganaderos del estado español (COAG), Sanchez Anso, Espagne . Coordination SUD, Henry Rouille d’Orfeuil, France . Ecologistas en Acción de Calatayud, Ismael Callejero Guillen, Espagne . Ecologistas en Acción de Majadahonda, Consuelo Sanz, Espagne . Ecologistas en Accion, Tom Kucharz, Espagne . Fédération Artisans du Monde, Laurent Levard, France . FIAN Belgium, Marie Teller-Peron, Belgique . Fondation René Dumont, Marie-Hélène Aubert, France * . GEYSER, Philippe Pouchin, France . Groupe de Recherche et d’Echanges Technologiques (GRET), Pascal Bergeret, France . IATP (Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy), Steve Suppan, USA * . Institut de recherches et d’applications des méthodes de développement (Iram), Jean-Bernard Spinat, François Doligez, France . Les Amis de la Terre, Ben Lefetey, France . Oxfam-Solidarité, Thierry Kesteloot, Belgique * . Pesticide Action Network Belgium, Barbara Decupere, Belgique . Plataforma Rural, Jeronimo Aguado, Espagne . Plate-forme Souveraineté Alimentaire, Belgique . Réseau d’Agriculture Urbaine de Kinshasa, Ir. Pierre Ongala, République Démocratique du Congo . Solidarité Socialiste, Pascale Bodinaux, Belgique . SOS Faim, Freddy Destrait, Belgique * . Terra Nuova - Centro per il volontariato, Caterina Imbastari, Italie . Terra Nuova, Nora McKeon, Italie * . The Development Fund, Alice Ennals, Norvège * List of family farmers’ and agricultural producers’ organizations signatories of the Declaration of Dakar (The organizations present in Dakar are indicated with an *)
Contact addresses:
Conseil National de Concertation et de Coopération des Rureaux (CNCR)
Tél: (221) 824 71 03 / Email: cncr@cncr.org
Collectif Stratégies Alimentaires (CSA) - Tél: (32)2 412 06 61
Email: info@dakardeclaration.org
To subscribe to the Declaration of Dakar and to the Call from
Chapecó, click here