Food security concernsin ACP countries:

The role of ACP-EUCo-operation

By Martin BertramPELUM Association

Research and Organization DevelopmentOfficer

What is PELUM?

Participatory Ecolocical Land-Use Managementfounded 1995, Secretariat of 10 national PELUM DesksKenyaTanzaniaUgandaRwanda 216 member organizationsMalawiZambiaZimbabweBotswanaLesothoSouth Africa

Who are we

Issuesfor Africa’s rural poor

• Knowledge and Skills• Agricultural policies and funding• Trade arrangements• Access to resources and infrastructure• Participation by marginalized groups• Promotion of appropriate technologies• Response to HIV /AIDS• Mitigating impact of climate changes

What are we doing

Socio-Economic Tendencies in Africa The poor and food production will suffer

Economic growth / new investments, employment

commercial farming

Livelihood of the poor, smallholder production / c

Population

employment through labor intensive production

tlow

higher

Marketreforms

transitionalproblems

Present tendency

Fears: What EU might cause

Food security is threatened

• Market opening will lead to• a collapse of existing, low developed production• raise un-employment and purchasing power for

food• temporary reduction of commercial farms• reduction of prices for smallholder produce• reduction of food production• more poverty, AIDS, births…

…. If smallholders are not supported via operational NGO-networks

Less foodLess income

“It’s only the poorwho suffer !”

• Who are those poor?70% of all Sub-Saharan Africans70% of the populationsThe 70% small-holder farmersThe producers of 85% of the food in Sub-S. AfricaThe producers of 50% of the GDPs

The back-bone of Africa’s economy based on small-scale farming and agro-services

Food insecurity for whom

They can’t afford anydeterioration of their livelihoods

• Because they are already in deep water

Why to consider“side-effects”

NB: even slight worsening of the situation• Causes hunger and death• Collapse of food production• Unemployment with hunger• Raising birth-rates• Destabilization

= a vicious circle of decline

Because here, un-equal to Asiathe MAJORITY is more vulnerable

The critical elementnot mere sufferingbut starvation

How to developand to mitigate problems?

• Concentrate on the economy of themajority and develop it into the market!

⇒ Develop small-scale farming

The poor are not the locomotives of development but in Africa nothing works

without them

What to do

How to do that?• Open the market for un-disputed activities• Do not confront African food- markets with subsidized

EU-produce• Source Food aid within the region without dumping• Respect reservations against irreversible damage by DDT and GMOs or provide

liability• Leave the EU market open for fair and organic produce • Provide ACP politicians training in clear holistic policy making• Supply infra-structure to rural centers• Include marginalized stakeholders into your consideration• Promote ranch-fencing and dipping not border fences against game

Support small-scale farmers by

• upgrading their skills,• their sustainable (!) access to water,• markets• land • group-credits• political representation and participation

recommendations

Do not just dump money mainly in governments

it has proved not to reach at therural poor*

• But make sure it reaches at the level of• the farms

*a Study to proveThe statement is available

There is a gapin development structures

• The flow of services and funds stops above the village level

$$$$$€€€€€ $€

Enough for planning

Nothing for the “objects” of planning in their

villages

How to get benefits to thevulnerable

EU-funds and ACP governmentimplementation

• Un-conditioned funds for rural poor via Agricultural ministries not reaching the poor

• Sophisticated, supply-dependent High Input agro-production

• Fertilizer subsidy programs creating dependence and reducing arable land

Present problems In agricultural policy

Green Revolution= more input than output

A small-scale farmer in Africa gets 10 times moreenergy out of her produce than she invests

A European farmer puts 8 times more inthan he receives in the produce

African small-scale farmerscan not afford

and handle High Input Methods

NOT a solution

Small-scale farmersneed special help

• The small-scale farmer is the critical element in African development

• She doesn’t need Workshops or subsidized input

• But skills for better production provided on the own farm

• And access to markets

Specialists neededTo get impact

In the farm

How to open the gapbetween development activities

and the farmer• qualify and multiply field-workers• train Trainer-trainers• train Village Promotion Farmers• train and support District Agricultural

Extension Officers= government structures on the lowest level• improve the co-operation between NGOs

and the states on district-level

SpecialTrainersneeded

The effect will be poverty reductionand development

Best practice is knownbut funds

for training and field-trainersare missing

The recipeexists

There are existing capacities to implement that

NGOs like the PELUM Network• of 200 small-holder supporting organizations• in 10 countries of South- and East Africa• translate aid-funds into rural development• Information sharing,• campaigns for the improvement of small-scale

farmers livelihoods through advocacy and lobbying and

• Empowers smallholders politically

Capacities toConvert fundsInto impact exist

Bridging the gap

• The NETWORK makes sure funds are serving the farmers organizations

• It co-ordinates 10 countries activities• And 216 member organizations

What the NGO-Network can do

Co-ordinationfor the benefit of the rural majority

• Adjustments of agro-policies • Adjustment of trade-policies• Political networking within SADC,

COMESA, EAC and AU• Exchange of best practice• Qualification of members to up-scale and

up-grade their capacities to create impact

services

To link forces

• As problems are global• international concepts, based on participatory

approach are required to solve some of them• The link development programs• The link expertise• The supply relevant information to politicians• NGOs, CBOs, Trainers and farmers• synergy with Government programs

mainly on District level

directing funds to receivers in need

accounting as a block

The partners

• Funding organizations• NGOs for smallholder-support• CBOs• Ministries of Agriculture• Farmer unions• Researchers

and farmers

The difficultyto reach the farmer

• Farmers are in remote places• They live under harsh conditions• They hesitant to change• They have very limited means• They need capacity builiding

• That is why few qualified trainers are available to work there

Why it didn’ workYet in sufficient scale

How to reach them

• Field activities are still limited locally and sectorally due to a lack of funds for field-work and the lack of funds for the co-ordination of field-work

• The ministerial extension officers lack proper training in sustainable small-holder farming and are not well equipped to reach all farmers

To develop the poor countrysidemeans to

qualify thousands ofLEISA on-farm trainers

and to give support to their organizations

Trainer training= missing key

Low External InputSustainable Agriculture

is what develops the rural poorinto subjects of the market

Training of LEISA on-farm Trainersis the tool to do it

Intensive, sustainable agriculturefor the poor

Avoid a catastrophe !ponder the transitional problems !

• Train farmers to survive• To develop into surplus food production• Into resource saving and using producers

Suggestion to takepreventive measures

Food security by skilled farmingenough and highly qualified

LEISA- trainers the key for rural development

PELUM offers LEISA trainer-training for improved rural livelihoods

Food security more land arable through soil-maintenance, productivity raisedland secured against climatic extrema and pests, mixed crop

HIV labor extensive farming, perma-culture, minimum tillage, biological weed-suppression, short ways to fire-wood, cattle and water

Climate extrema soil protection against drought, and flood-erosion, , basic supply self-sufficient

Cheap input farm produces fertilizer, pest-management, energy- and water-supply

Fair prices conjoined market-approach through co-ops, partnership with fair processors and exporters, excellent quality and yield

Water water-harvest on the soil through trenches, from the roof for people and livestock, communal water-supply

Group loans (communal) grameen-banks mbertram@pelum.org.zm

To solve the problem, we have to apply methods different from those

that caused the problem withfree cit.Einstein

Some services/training,management needed in rural development

honey/waxmarketing

rural income

bee keeping

perma-culture

agroforestryzero grazing

fodder cultivation

grass harvest

respect of other’sLand use

privateafforestation

soil/nutrient management

domestic energy

cheapwater cisterns

improved stoves

Spring buildingWater supply

Erosioncontrol

purification byreposition plants

sewageprocessing

water harvest

ecologic hydrofarming

ecologic forestmanagement

less bush fire

natural fertilizer

milk/meet/heiferstimber/fire woodfish/shrimpproduction

fruit/vegetablesnuts, plants

private nurseries

water for cattleAnd farm

mangrovemanagement

Looks quiteA bitComplicated ?

It is reallyNot just training

Start now !

• Decent on-farm trainer multiplication• Progresses in two-year steps• Empowerment of small-holder unions

Grows slowly• Lobbying with governments takes time

International activitiesneed international

partners

The PELUM NETWORKis one

to safeguard funds reaching the poorand to help to up-grade de-central

government structures

Summary• High impact rural development Aid is

needed to prevent “transitional” catastrophes through market reforms

• The finances should be channeled to NGO-Networks co-operating with government field-workers or visa versa

• The focus should be on LEISA on-farmtrainer-training and funding for training

ThankYou

Improves rural livelihood