After the publication in December 2006 of the results of its internal audit outlining the conclusions that correspond to WOAgri’s analysis1 , the World Bank is continuing to question its policies. The international institution has in fact declared in its forthcoming World Development Report, which will be published next September, a turnaround in strategy: it now believes that agriculture should be placed at the heart of the development policy and that regulation is necessary.
Structural Adjustment Policies have not proven to be successful and are under review
Since its creation in 1944, the World Bank has financed the economic restructuring of sectors or administrative bodies in developing countries. In return for its investments, the World Bank has stipulated until now that “structural adjustment policies” must be implemented. This condition encouraged the opening up of new markets and privatization and is today under review: it has often been accused of undermining public authorities in favor of private foreign companies. In the agricultural sector “structural adjustment policies have swept away previous agricultural public policies without replacing them” Michel Griffon, Director of Agriculture and Sustainable Development at the National Research Agency, stated to Le Monde newspaper.
And poverty has not abated…
We must now invest in agricultural development and the idea of market regulation is emerging.
The World Bank’s services have always covered the industrial sector, often ignoring the agricultural sector, even though three quarters of the poor people in developing countries live in rural areas, and agriculture is the foundation for economic development.
Jacques Diouf, Director General of the FAO, during World Food Day on October 16th 2006, said that the long-term solution to the problems of food and poverty was to enable farmers to produce food to feed themselves and to sell some of their products in order to earn an income.
The World Bank underlines the strategic importance of agriculture in development: as stated in the 2007 World Development Report “agriculture is an extremely efficient source of growth”.
But this growth needs the support of the public sector and is therefore today not compatible with neoliberal dogma: “the implementation of agricultural development strategies require solid national strategies and public administration working to create efficient redistribution and financial responsibility”. This approach is in line with strategies for the promotion of good governance and the fight against corruption approved on March 20th 2007 by World Bank administrators.
By restoring the role of the State, the World Bank ensures that its new investment policy cannot be implemented without public support for farmers. Agriculture has therefore reclaimed its specific and strategic place and the necessity for the regulation of international agricultural markets is emerging.
We must now hope that the Bank’s Member States, which are currently evaluating the report with an aim to validate it, will confirm the objectives shared by WOAgri and support investment in agricultural development.
1 Voir la tribune de Jacques Carles, délégué général du MOMA, mise en ligne sur ce site le 15 janvier 2007
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