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| | Agriculture: An Essential Factor in Development, Says Bill Gates |
At a conference on corporate social responsibility during the Davos World Economic Forum, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation1 announced a $306 million donation for agriculture in developing countries, stating, "If you look at the countries that have succeeded in their economic development, all of them except the oil producers have made agriculture a key component."
This donation falls under the Agricultural Development Initiative launched by the foundation in 2006 as part of its Global Development Program, which was created because, despite the urgency of the situation, international aid for agriculture had dropped from 16 percent in 1980 to less than 4 percent in 2004.
Through the initiative, the foundation hopes to stimulate production by improving the quality of seeds and soil and by creating new outlets to help increase income for small farmers in Africa and Asia, who are particularly affected by poverty and famine.
Beyond the impact of the announcement itself, the stance adopted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation illustrates the need for a new approach to development issues that is based on agriculture and calls into question the relevancy of the policies adopted by the international institutions.
Indeed, isn't it strange that a private entity was the one to overcome the international community's inertia in the face of these questions?
The initiative by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is part of a global approach that was just recently launched but is already changing the way agriculture must be perceived.
One initial sign of this is the fact that, in its 2008 World Development Report published in October 2007 entitled "Agriculture for Development," the World Bank cited agriculture as one of the essential vehicles of global growth, food security and poverty reduction – for the first time in 25 years. Similarly, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has been ceaselessly touting the role of the agricultural sector in developing countries.
The World Trade Organization (WTO), however, has an entirely different view of agriculture. It is considered an essential component of the Doha Round, but only to serve as an adjustment variable and move discussions forward in the Industries and Services segments. And yet current events over the past few months have invalidated this strategy. Indeed, tensions over this subject are running so high that they could cause the entire negotiations process to grind to a halt.
Furthermore, the WTO seems to be completely out of phase with:
> The positions taken by leading thinkers and prestigious institutions on the impossibility of reaching the Millennium Development Goals through complete trade liberalization
The increasing influence of NGOs and foundations that, like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are emphasizing the importance of agriculture
> The adoption by major international decision-making bodies and think tanks of agricultural questions in broad application (economic growth, food safety, environment, etc.), as happened at the Davos World Economic Forum
> The increasing number of studies run on food security by companies in the financial and insurance sectors (Citigroup, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Swiss Re, Wharton School Risk Center and Zurich Financial Services)2.
In this context, it is not surprising that the founder of computer giant Microsoft – a service company that is theoretically far removed from agricultural issues – should be the one to emphasize the benefits of agriculture for developing countries, and even for countries like India that have great potential in the area of new technologies.
Just two pieces of data are enough to explain how urgent it is to act: 75 percent of the world's poor population lives in rural areas and depends on agriculture; and almost two-thirds of Indian and 70 percent of African workers work in the agricultural sector.
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Because it echoes our own concerns, WOAgri applauds the initiative by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and hopes that other voices, whether public or private, global or regional, will take up the cry to recognize the determining role agriculture plays not only in development, but also in terms of economic growth and environmental protection.
WOAgri éditorial
| 1 The main objective of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is to reduce inequalities in the United States and around the world in terms of health, access to knowledge and the fight against poverty.
2 See our Points of View article entitled "Food Security, a Strategic Issue at the 2008 World Economic Forum in Davos" dated January 28, 2008
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