SMALL FARMERS & SOCIAL SUMMIT
Kathy Lawrence (klawrence@igc.apc.org)
Mon, 23 Jan 1995 04:45:31 -0800
Attached are the draft statements and amendments developed over
the past few days by the Small Farmers, Producers and
Microentrepreneurs Caucus at the Third Preparatory Meeting of
the World Summit on Social Development. As there are now more
than 10 caucuses working on different aspects of development, we
have chosen to focus quite narrowly on small producer issues.
Attached are Drafts 3 (very brief) and 2 (somewhat more
expansive, particularly with reference to the enabling
environment).
Please comments or questions to Kathy Lawrence
klawrence@igc.apc.org
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SMALL FARMERS, PRODUCERS AND MICROENTREPRENEURS CAUCUS
CAUCUS RECOMMENDATIONS AND AMENDMENTS
TO DRAFT PROGRAMME OF ACTION
DRAFT 3, JANUARY 22, 1995 10:30 P.M.
We believe that there is common cause between the Social
Summit's core objective of identifying solutions for poverty
eradication, productive employment and social integration and
the demonstrated potential of sustainable microenterprise, food
and agriculture systems, and small business development. To be
meaningful, the Social Summit final documents must be of
concrete benefit to the small-scale farmers, producers and
microentrepreneurs who represent the majority of the world's
people.
The essential contributions small producers make in forging
sustainable livelihoods and the conditions for social
development have been overlooked in Social Summit deliberations
to date. Similarly, the tremendous capacity of local,
decentralized production, processing, marketing, distribution,
and storage systems to generate broad-based, sustainable
economic development *in all countries* has not been recognized.
The following recommended amendments to the Draft Programme of
Action, Implementation and Follow-up represent the collective
contributions of concerned NGOs at PrepCom III and serve as a
starting point to improve the official documents and stimulate
dialogue among NGOs and governments.
II. ERADICATION OF POVERTY
29. Insert new para.
Recognition and utilization of a "value chain" approach to small
farm and microenterprise business development that
comprehensively embraces the origination/ production/
processing/ storing/ transportation/ and marketing continuum
inherent in the exchange of goods and services so that small
producers may realize the full profit potential of their work.
III. PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT AND THE REDUCTION OF UNEMPLOYMENT
Between para. 40 and 41 insert:
Small-scale farmers (including fishery and forestry), producers
and microentrepreneurs - many of whom are women - represent the
majority of the world's people. Special measures are needed to
assist small producers to:
- develop diversified production systems based on renewable
energy;
- expand small-scale processing and other value-added
activities
- preserve and regenerate the local resource base;
- increase land and labour productivity and incomes;
Priority policy changes include removing subsidies for
unsustainable production methods and non-renewable resource use.
46.(b) Replace with:
Promote development and utilization of technologies that are
environmentally sound, culturally appropriate, gender-sensitive
and enhances rather than displaces local knowledge and skills
and livelihoods.
46. (d) ...aiming to expand and diversify economic activities
and employment in the rural sector and to enhance food
security which is best assured where the production,
transporting and consumption of local food is a priority
and where dependence on food imports is reduced as much as
possible.
53. Add (#) Remove barriers to entry into small-scale farming
and microenterprise.
V. IMPLEMENTATION AND FOLLOW-UP
73. (a) Analyzing and reviewing micro- and macro-economic,
trade and sectoral policies...
75. Effective implementation of the Programme of Action
requires strengthening community organizations and non-
profit NGOs (delete: who) which work in the spheres of
education, health, food security and sustainable
agriculture, small business development, environmental
management, poverty alleviation, social integration, relief
and rehabilitation...
81. Insert after (b) Commission a joint south-north project
team composed of leading small producers organizations at
all levels and relevant international agencies and multi-
lateral institutions -- to be fielded for a period of five
years -- to examine the impact of and recommend changes in
the agriculture agreement in the GATT Uruguay Round and
multi-lateral lending practices to:
- Remove obstacles to the advancement of small-scale producers
and microentrepreneurs;
- Ensure local and national food security;
- Achieve para. 32.5 (b) of Agenda 21: "Promote pricing
mechanisms, trade policies, fiscal incentives and other
policy instruments that positively effect individual farmer's
(and other small producers) decisions about efficient and
sustainable use of natural resources and take full account of
the impact of these decisions on household food security,
farm incomes, livelihoods and the environment."
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SMALL FARMERS, PRODUCERS AND MICRO-ENTREPRENEURS CAUCUS
CAUCUS RECOMMENDATIONS
DRAFT 2, JANUARY 20, 1995 8:30 A.M.
We believe that there is common cause between the Social
Summit's core objective of identifying solutions for poverty
eradication, productive employment and social integration and
the demonstrated potential of sustainable microenterprise, food
and agriculture systems, and small business development. To be
meaningful, the Social Summit final documents must be of
concrete benefit to the small-scale farmers, producers and
micro-entrepreneurs who represent the majority of the world's
people.
The essential contributions small producers make in forging
sustainable livelihoods and the conditions for social
development have been overlooked in Social Summit deliberations
to date. Similarly, the tremendous capacity of local,
decentralized production, processing, marketing, distribution,
and storage systems to generate broad-based, sustainable
economic development *in all countries* has not been recognized.
The following recommended changes and additions to the Draft
Declaration, Platform, Implementation and Follow-up represent
the collective contributions of concerned NGOs at PrepCom III
and serve as a starting point to improve the official documents
and stimulate dialogue among NGOs and governments.
I. ENABLING ENVIRONMENT
Bolstering small enterprise requires policy formulation
processes that involve all sectors of society at all levels.
Central to a broad policy framework that maximizes the potential
of small-farmer, producers and micro-entrepreneurs are the:
- promotion of equity in the access to and distribution of
resources, in the sharing of productive and household
responsibilities and in the transfer of knowledge and skills
- explicit recognition that empowering women -- most of whom
are small producers -- is central to the achievement of over
arching socio-economic goals
- small producers' participation in deciding research and
development priorities and technologies consistent with the
needs of sustainable communities;
- national accounting systems and institutional mechanisms that
recognize small producer contributions and incorporate social
and environmental costs and benefits into resource allocation
and targeted government investments
II. ERADICATION OF POVERTY
25. Add new para.
...Strengthening women's skills and capacity in managing
land, food and food aid resources to enhance the economic
viability of primary food producers and household food
security and ensure that women's priorities and their
families' well-being are fully served.
29. Insert new para.
Recognition and utilization of a "value chain" approach to
small farm and microenterprise business development that
comprehensively embraces the origination/ production/
processing/ storing/ transportation/ and marketing continuum
so that small producers may realize the full profit potential
of their work.
III. PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT AND THE REDUCTION OF UNEMPLOYMENT
New para. 40: Begin with:
In low-income countries, up to three-quarters of the national
workforce is engaged in agriculture. Special measures are
needed to diversify production in order to increase land and
labour productivity and incomes, expand small scale agro-
processing and other value-added activities and generate
additional agriculture-related work opportunities, while
preserving the natural resource base.
46.(b) Replace with:
Promote development and utilization of technologies that are
environmentally sound, culturally appropriate, gender-sensitive
and enhances rather than displaces local knowledge and skills
and livelihoods.
46. (d) ...to diversify economic activities and employment in
the rural sector and enhance food security, putting
priority on food for domestic consumption over food or
products for trade.
46. (f) Revise to read:
Encouraging the sustainable management and use of renewable
resources, conservation of non-renewable resources while
renewable substitutes are developed, protection of
biodiversity, the promotion of alternative livelihoods in
fragile ecosystems, and the rehabilitation...
47. (a) Removing excessive legal and administrative obstacles
to small- and medium-sized enterprises, and avoiding or
simplifying regulations and procedures that place them at
a disadvantage with respect to larger enterprises while
safeguarding and enhancing health, safety, environmental
and other standards;
(d) Improving opportunities and working conditions for small
producers and micro-entrepreneurs, especially women, by
eliminating discrimination in access to credit, productive
resources and social security protection, and providing such
infrastructure facilities as transport, storage, appropriate
tools and technologies, markets, communication, safe accessible
water and fuel.
(e) ... and encouraging them to mobilize local capital,
validate local informal credit systems, reinvest in the local
economy, develop innovative...
(#) Assist small producers to develop production systems based
on renewable energy and on regenerating local resource
endowments while reducing intensity of energy use, eliminating
over-consumption of local and global resources.
48. Change to: Encouraging people to work productively in
today's rapidly changing global environment and for them to
improve productivity, requires:
48. (c) Ensuring that education and training programmes respond
to changes in the economy and the environment, provide
equitable access to training opportunities, offer
incentives for micro-enterprises to provide and for workers
and small producers to acquire, training on a continuous
basis and stimulate entrepreneurial creativity and skills;
53. Add (#) Remove barriers to entry into small-scale farming
and micro-enterprise.
V. IMPLEMENTATION AND FOLLOW-UP
72. Bullet 2:
- partnerships to raise the standards of living of those at the
bottom of the economic strata and thereby reduce the downward
pull on everyone else globally, involving government, civil
society, private (delete: business) sector, trade unions,
primary food producers and microentrepreneurs, academic and
research institutions, the media, families and individuals;
73. (a) Analyzing and reviewing micro- and macro-economic,
trade and sectoral policies...
75. Effective implementation of the Programme of Action
requires strengthening community organizations and non-
profit NGOs (delete: who) which work in the sphere of
education, health, food security, sustainable development,
micro-enterprise development, and environmental management,
poverty alleviation, social integration, relief and
rehabilitation..
76. New para (c): Building capacity of small farmers and
producers to organize themselves and participate in the
formulation and implementation of sustainable agricultural
and rural development policies and programmes; enabling and
encouraging farmers' representative organizations to
promote their interests and help articulate and transmit
their concerns to governments.
78. Change (c) to read: Increasing the share of ODA devoted to
priority needs for human development and specifically
women's empowerment through access to skills and leadership
training and productive and value-adding tools and methods
for farming and micro-enterprise development, with
recipient countries devoting an increased proportion of
their national budgets to such programmes by at least 20%
no later than 1996.
81. Insert after (b) Commission a joint south-north study by
UNEP, UNDP, UNCTAD, FAO, CSD, WTO and representatives of
NGOs and civil society -- to be fielded for a period of ten
years -- to examine the impact of and recommend changes in
the agriculture agreement in the GATT Uruguay Round and
multi-lateral lending practices to:
- Remove obstacles to the advancement of small-scale producers
and microentrepreneurs;
- Ensure local and national food security;
- Achieve para. 32.5 (b) of Agenda 21: "Promote pricing
mechanisms, trade policies, fiscal incentives and other
policy instruments that positively effect individual farmer's
(and other small producers) decisions about efficient and
sustainable use of natural resources and take full account of
the impact of these decisions on household food security,
farm incomes, livelihoods and the environment."