The World Social Forum, which is being held in Nairobi, Kenya, is focusing on a variety of demographic and food security related challenges that are facing developing countries (DCs), particularly those in Africa, during the 21st century.
It is for this reason that the World Social Forum is calling for a new agricultural production model that is able to meet these challenges.
While Europe, through the CAP, just as entire regions within Asia and Latin America, through the "Green Revolution", have been able to create the conditions required for improving agricultural productivity and to rely on successful agriculture as a vector for growth, Africa has not undergone a similar development.
The majority of policies advocated by major international institutions have resulted in abject failures, and the accumulation of unfavourable factors (recurring climatic crises, soil types and weakness of the State) have led to a food crisis.
In 2004, the FAO estimated that agricultural productivity was insufficient to ensure food autonomy for around 39 countries in sub-Saharan Africa!
This is why WOAgri is very pleased about the strategy of positioning agriculture as the principal developmental lever for African countries and therefore calling for a new model for agricultural production, as put forward by the World Social Forum.
Indeed, these concerns are in line with the positions backed by WOAgri. Since WOAgri was created in December 2005, it has demonstrated that there is no single model for development or "one best way" that can be uniformly applied to all of the world’s agriculture without taking account of regional specificities. Such a strategy would subject the most fragile countries to international competition, which would affect their security in relation to supplies and lock them into a dramatic situation.
The success of such a strategy remains, however, subject to two conditions.
Firstly, an ambitious investment policy comprising an irrigation programme, infrastructure development and network organisation is imperative for African countries to be competitive and to gain access to the international market.
Secondly, establishing a certain degree of customs protection is necessary to allow African farmers to develop and to supply their national and regional markets.
This is a vital matter, constituting the first stage towards gaining fair access to world trade.
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