Three fourths of those who earn less than one dollar a day live in rural areas and rely on farming.
The “liberalization” and deregulation of agricultural trade—pushed by the WTO, IMF and Bretton Woods institutions—and the bilateral free-trade agreements (EPAs) are major sources of harm to farmers.
While the international community has mobilized to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), nothing is planned to prevent the pauperization of nearly three billion farmers, the vast majority of whom risk being excluded by 2015. At that time, another reality looms: that of several hundreds of millions of farmers pushed into poverty through over-indebtedness after having over-exploited the natural resources on their farms. Agricultural prices are a central issue that must urgently be tackled as a top priority in the international trade negotiations.
Coordination SUD’s Monitoring of Agriculture and Food
Coordination SUD’s Agriculture and Food Commission brings together NGOs conducting field activities and advocacy actions to defend smallholder farming by encouraging government authorities to adopt rules of the game that aim to regulate agricultural trade.
The Commission publishes C2A Notes, a periodic newsletter that aims to be informative and offers thematic reports written for both the general public and sector professionals :
C2A Notes n°1 : “THE RIGHT TO FOOD: AN OPERATIONAL TOOL FOR WORLD FOOD SECURITY”
C2A Notes n°2 : “THE CAP AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES”
C2A Notes n°3 : “LAND GRABBING, A THREAT TO FOOD SECURITY”
C2A Notes n°4 : “POLICY COHERENCE FOR DEVELOPMENT: IN FAVOR OF AN APPROACH BASED ON HUMAN RIGHTS”