The following guest blog commentary was provided via José van Gelder

Farmers are key to fighting poverty

It's strange that we give so little thought to farmers, yet our very survival depends on them. Is this because in the developed world we only spend about 10- to 20 per cent of our monthly income on food? Maybe. I believe urban people have simply lost their conscious connection with the food chain’s starting point. Otherwise, food production and worldwide food problems would receive more attention in the media.

Small farmers in developing countries play a crucial role in local food supply. But they've been overlooked by policymakers for the past 25 years. Many have been forced to stop producing, or fall back on self-sufficiency. Three-quarters of the people who suffer from hunger and malnutrition live in rural areas, and that's where the fight against poverty and hunger must start.

This fight needs to involve small farmers and their organizations. Farmers establish new enterprises that create employment opportunities for their children. Rural democracy, economic growth and income distribution benefit from their determined action. Heads of state and large multi-lateral donors agree. Since early last year, we've seen them pledge billions of dollars at every summit meeting on agricultural development in the developing world. But very little of this funding has trickled down to the farm level.

Farmers' organizations operate on the principle of democracy, with real farmers feeding their views into local associations, provincial, national, regional and even worldwide federations. As such, farmers' organizations are powerful machines to disseminate new ideas, new technologies and knowledge over vast areas. They reach the people who live on less than two dollars a day, and are themselves a form of social media, transmitting the voice of the poor to others.

To help, in some OECD countries agri-agencies are established, such as UPA-DI in Canada and Agriterra in the Netherlands. These are development cooperation organizations, with a mandate to promote farmer-to-farmer cooperation, through project ideas generated by farmers and cooperative organizations in developing countries. These agri-agencies have joined forces in AgriCord to better coordinate their work, and in 2007, they came together to implement a program called Farmers Fighting Poverty. It supports activities by 145 farmers' organizations in 59 countries, such as cultivation-technical aspects, starting cooperatives, setting up agricultural extension and training in lobby and advocacy.

It is paramount that the organizations supported by Agriterra become stronger to better serve their members and be enabled to deliver their contribution in the fight against hunger and poverty. The G8 last year in Italy promised US$20 billion for investments in agriculture worldwide, this can only pay off with the direct involvement of farmers and their organizations. So far, it’s only promises, the farmers concerned have seen very little happen. Something’s gotta happen! Agriterra asks heads of state to agree that only 0.2% of the billions of dollars pledged for aid should be dedicated to support farmers' organizations in the developing world.

If you support this position, please visit the Youtube wakeup call video, sign the petition at www.farmersfightingpoverty.org and send the link to those who also believe farmers fight poverty.

Author:

Mrs. José van Gelder

Head of communications at Agriterra (since 2002)

Living in Stokkum, the Netherlands

Born: August 20, 1964

Education: bachelor in public relations and communications