Two months before the G20 Agriculture Ministers Meeting, the Republic of Senegal, in cooperation with momagri --the think tank that calls for a world organization for agriculture-- organized the second Dakar Agricole Forum on April 18 and 19, 2011 to further explore the issues of regulation and world agricultural governance. The event gathered several heads of state and government, numerous ministers and ambassadors from forty nations as well as delegates of international organizations. Over seventy scientific experts, research officials, representatives from government agencies, civil society entities, farmers organizations and producers and consumers associations were asked to present their contributions to the 2011 Dakar Agricole issues (visit Detailed Program): Under which principles can we regulate agricultural markets to prevent food emergencies and avoid repeated agricultural crises? What instruments and international cooperation should be implemented to improve food security and fight poverty? On which grounds must we set up a new global governance system to make agriculture, food and environmental preservation top priorities?
Beyond the consensus on the mandatory coexistence of all agricultural activities throughout the world and the risks tied to the intrinsic volatility of agricultural prices and excessive speculation, a unanimous agreement was reached concerning the urgent need to establish a World Organization for Agriculture (WOA), a project that was presented by momagri Chairman Pierre Pagesse during the Forum. Such organization--a light structure that could report directly to the G20 organization-- could be coordinated by the FAO, whose responsibilities should therefore be clarified and supplemented. This new WOA would harmonize, at the highest level, the strategies of the various international institutions with agricultural objectives (WFP, IFAD) or with some agricultural purposes (World Bank, UNDP, WTO, etc
) to meet the agricultural and food challenges of the 21st century. It could be headquartered in Africa in order to show the weight of that continent in the development of agricultural production to cope with a strong population growth. The proposals presented at the 2011 Dakar Agricole Forum (please see summary of Dakar Agricole Workshops) should facilitate the development of agriculture in poorer nations and safeguard the free-trade practice needed for global economic growth. In Africa, the proposed global governance must previously be based on a local and regional governance system, which is currently inadequate.
The Dakar Agricoles permanent secretariat and momagri took upon themselves the task to further enrich thinking and research on regulation and agricultural governance. As such, momagris website welcomes feedback to move opinion and political decision-making forward.
Please forward your contributions to DakarAgricole2011@momagri.org .
           PROGRAM OF THE 2011 DAKAR AGRICOLE |
WRITTEN CONTRIBUTIONS TO TH DAKAR AGRICOLE FORUM |
The 2011 Dakar Agricole signaled a clean break with the prevalent theory supporting the unfettered liberalization of international agricultural trade. The Forum generated new consensuses and innovative proposals. The Dakar Declaration laid the foundation of a new framework for thinking to promote the development of agriculture in poorer countries and to prevent farmers impoverishment throughout the world. |
| | FORUM INTERNATIONAL LES 18 ET 19 AVRIL 2011 Advocating for agricultural market regulation and global food governance |
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