aison alejandro sy garcia philippines [email protected]
TRANSCRIPT
Increase of Private Investments in Agriculture
Most first world countries and going to third world countries for agricultural land for supply for food and raw materials
Increasing instances of landlessness and displacements due to “commoditization“ of land
VGLT, UNIDROIT and RAI are mainly voluntary
42 years of Agrarian Reform ◦ land redistribution
Average of 1 hectare farm owned by a family Multinational investors for agriculture are
coming in but there is a farmland ownership ceiling of 5 hectares per individual
Not all farmers are capacitated to negotiate on equal footing which resulted to iniquitous agribusiness arrangements
How to sustain inclusive development in rural areas?
Unfair contracts (no voice, skewed distribution of income)
Provisions of the contracts are not understood
Problematic implementation No recourse to an effective dispute resolution Lack of capacity of Government and NGOs to
support the farmers in agribusiness contracts
Agrarian Reform = (LTI+SSD) x SIBS
Where: LTI – Land Tenure Improvement
SSD – Support Services DeliverySIBS - Social Infrastructure Building and Strengthening
Pre formulated provisions with “fine prints” “Take it or leave it” Pressure and undue influence Divide and conquer
Parties have full information and they freely decide on it
Reasonable Term, Price, Delivery and sharing of profit
Sustainable
Ensuring Good Faith in negotiation (incentives?)
International standards on responsible agricultural investments
Information Access vs. Trade Secrets Legal and Economic Empowerment Government’s investment in infrastructure
adds value to the smallholders produce
Rule of law and Strengthen Relationship Correcting bargaining/starting positions strengthens the bargaining and negotiating
position of smallholders to enter into agribusiness contracts
Preparatory activities to ensure good faith contracting (due diligence, contract review, etc.)
Empowering smallholder to negotiate
Enterprise Lawyering Teams 72 provinces with 3 members in each
province 2 trainings 41 female, 47 male (only 30% are lawyers)
Industry Profile and Value Chain Negotiation Entering into Contract and crafting the
provisions Dealing with problematic contracts Dispute Resolution
Success factor: sharing of best practices from industry players and government intervention
Better contracts, empowered farmers, happy investors
“Checkered” Farms◦ Started with lease agreement and negotiated for a
growership with a price of 2.5 $ per box◦ Renegotiated because economic conditions have
changed and got 4$ per box “at packing plant” contract◦ Able to build their packing plant and operate a profitable
banana business Sumifru Contracts
◦ 4.5$ per box
Buy-in from the stakeholders◦ 1. smallholders◦ 2. lawyers ◦ 3. Other government offices◦ 4. Non-government organizations
Strengthening capacity of the current “Enterprise Lawyering” Teams
Legal framework for smallholder agriculture is lacking◦ Juridical entity, taxation, incentives, technology
Formulate Legal and Policy Framework for Smallholder Agribusiness incorporating relevant international principles and standards
Strengthen negotiation fundamentals of smallholders by conducting more “enterprise lawyering” trainings and creation of IEC materials
Create an office on responsible agricultural investments which reviews agribusiness contracts and provides enterprise lawyering services to both investors and farmers
[email protected], +63-998-378-1199