Calling for Urgent Action, Proposing Market Corridors

Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General, with Thorleif Enger of IFA and Yara, and FAO Deputy Director-General Jim Butler at the Food and Climate Summit in Rome. (Photo: Kristen Sukalac)

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called for bold and urgent steps to tackle the global food crisis at the June 35 summit in Rome on food security and climate change, inviting private-public partnerships. In response, President of IFA and CEO of Yara, Thorleif Enger proposed the establishment of agricultural corridors in order to facilitate market access for farmers in developing countries.

Ban Ki-Moon opened the conference, attended by senior delegates from 151 countries and representatives from the private sector along with Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In his capacity as serving President of the International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA), Enger participated in a high-level panel including former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, now Chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

Challenge and Opportunity

Stating that policymakers urgently need to put in place measures to feed the world’s poor who have been hit hardest by surging food prices, Enger noted that one should not be too short-sighted. “As well as immediate relief, we need a concentrated, coordinated public-private effort to achieve the scale of reform necessary for sustainable agricultural growth. Only this has the potential to prevent similar problems from recurring”, he said.

High agricultural commodity prices provide farmers with the means and incentive to invest in enhanced productivity, but only if they can benefit from markets. The majority of the world’s farmers are net food buyers, and policymakers must help them become entrepreneurs. “We are faced with a unique opportunity to reverse years of policy neglect and under-investment in agriculture,” Enger argued, following the tone set by Ban Ki-Moon and other speakers citing the long-term opportunities that go hand-in-hand with the short-term challenges.

Noting that the recent food crisis has put agriculture back at the top of policy agendas across the globe, the IFA president welcomed the renewed focus, adding: “In addition to addressing the factors that led to the current food crisis, we need to invest now to help make global agricultural production more resilient to future challenges, not least of all climate change.”

The key message of the UN Secretary General was in line with the arguments put forward by the IFA president. Ban Ki-Moon reminded the audience of the need to improve productivity in order to raise production to meet the projected population growth. By 2030, total world food production needs to rise by 50 percent, he told the summit.

Access to Inputs

“Farmers need access to inputs such as fertilizers at affordable prices and at the right time,” Thorleif Enger said, adding: “One of the best remedies is the development of a vibrant network of private-sector agri-retailers, who can also relay information on good farming practices. Direct government handouts undermine the viability of these rural entrepreneurs.”

However, the IFA President emphasised: “The immediate prerogative to raise agricultural output should not lead to a neglect of environmental and social considerations. It is important to find solutions that support a range of sustainability objectives.

The FAO Director-General appealed to global leaders for USD 30 billion a year to re-launch agriculture and avert future threats of conflict over food. Jacques Diouf added that “the structural solution to the problem of food security in the world lies in increasing production and productivity in low-income, food-deficit countries,” which calls for “innovative and imaginative solutions” including partnership agreements.

“Agricultural Corridors”

The IFA President introduced a novel idea at the Rome FAO summit: “We need public-private partnerships to develop agricultural growth corridors,” he proposed; corridors that promote port efficiencies, a coordinated approach to regional rail/road development, storage facilities, affordable and appropriate credit, and cross-sectoral coordination/integration to accelerate agricultural growth in a given region. Research and extension efforts must include farmers, village retailers and the private sector as well as scientists.

“The time has come”, said Thorleif Enger, “for a new, more holistic approach to agricultural development that results in close cooperation of a spectrum of actors from both the public and private sectors.”

In a separate event at the summit, a new partnership among key players in agricultural development was launched. A memorandum of understanding was signed by AGRA and the UN agencies FAO, IFAD, and WFP. The food summit concluded with drawing up an emergency plan to cut trade barriers, mobilize aid and invest in farming in poor countries, vowing for a green revolution in Africa.

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