Day 1 Updates: CSO Side Event

Civil society organizations convene today to deliberate on concrete proposals for the promotion of responsible investments in agriculture to address world hunger, by ensuring that the smallholders who are food producers do not themselves experience hunger and undernourishment by enabling them to become active, viable, empowered partners of governments, donors, international communities, and various other sectors, through responsible and responsive rural investments.

More than 60 delegates from CSO and people’s organizations from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, India, China, India, Tonga, Pakistan, Taiwan and the Philippines are attending the meeting from July 5 to 6 in Crowne Hotel, Ortigas, Pasig City Philippines.  Entitled “Investment for Whom or What?,” the meeting is a CSO side event to organize their meaningful engagement at the joint ADB/FAO/IFAD Investment Forum for Food Security in Asia and the Pacific which will be held in Manila from July 7 to 9.

The forum opened with the sectors briefly presenting their situations as food producers to properly situate the two-day discussions. The sectors expressed hope and openness to the possibility of real changes that could happen in the countryside as a result of a more engaged dialogue with ADB/FAO/IFAD on rural investments.

The co-organizers affirmed the same optimism in their opening messages. Katsuji Matsunami, ADB’s Advisor for Agriculture, Food Security, and Rural Development, hoped that “this is going to be the platform for all of us to look at some possible framework, for addressing the task at hand in a multipronged manner.” The same message is reiterated by Thomas Price, chief of the FAO Partnership Branch, and by IFAD’s Country Manager for the Philippines, Sana Jatta.

The first session consisted of thematic plenary presentations on the following: (1) Enhancing Productivity, (2) Building Resilience Against Vulnerability, (3) Innovative Financing; and (4) Connectivity Solutions from the Private Sector Food Security through Regional Cooperation.

Jacqueline Haessiq-Alleje of IFOAM, presenter for the theme “Enhancing Productivity,” stressed the imperative of a paradigm shift to organic agriculture as “the only way to solve the growing problem of hunger in developing countries. She cited studies that confirm how the world can be adequately and sustainably fed, and ecologically regenerated, through organic agriculture. She further commented on ADB’s Operational Plan for Sustainable Food Security and put forward proposals which include, among others, encouraging policies that call for a shift in public spending for chemical agricultural research in favor of organic production research.

On Innovative Financing, Afab Khan of the Action Aid explained that in order to reverse the dire situation of small agricultural producers and bring the region closer to reducing the number of poor people, 10% of national budgets should be allocated to smallholder agriculture.  Khan added these investments should go to the improvement of land ownership, access to water and other natural resources of small farmers and fishers, agricultural research and development to upscale farmers’ pilot projects, and the promotion of ecologically-sound  farming and fishing systems.

Elpidio Peria of TWN, panel presenter for “Natural Resources Management” observed that natural resources is nowhere in the priorities or core areas of operation of ADB’s Long Term Strategy (2009-2020) or Strategy 2020. He said ADB has categorized agriculture under “Other Areas of Operation.” In 2009, ADB allotted only 7 loans totaling to a measly $443M, which is “a dismal failure” considering that ADB targeted to increase its lending for agriculture and rural development to more than US $2 B.  He proposed to put Farmers Rights at the center of NRM projects and investments, which is based on Art. 9 of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources on Food and Agriculture of the FAO, and from the UN Human Rights instruments which includes the Right to Food.

The presenter on “Building Resilience Against Vulnerability,” Souly Quackchangkham of AFA highlighted climate change as the situation that has caused the most vulnerability to food-producing sectors who live close to nature for their survival. She noted that it is the energy and chemical intensive agriculture that accounts for the huge GHG emission, primarily as a result of overuse of fertilizers, land clearance, soil degradation and intensive animal farming. She discussed proposals on investment to build resilience,  which includes, among others, community-based reforestation programs, and upscaling of sustainable agri/aquaculture systems done and managed by and with small scale women and men farmers, fishers and indigenous peoples.

Before the morning session ended, the delegates convened into workshop groups following the four themes and proceeded to a working lunch to analyze ADB’s existing investment policies and projects and propose concrete investment policies and projects to advocate for adoption by the Bank.