In fact, the actions actually undertaken generally bear a very distant reference to the strategic orientations. Thus the problem of a lack of policy elaboration at the national level gets translated at the regional level into an absence of the foreseen development of the agricultural pol- icy process where, upon analyzing the situation at a regional level, an agricultural plan strategy and means aiming at structuring the sector operation should be implemented through public intervention.
In fact, administrations in most cases opt for a rather passive position, entrusting the task of policy formulation to outside consultants, ex- traneous to the political arena and often promptly taken on by the fund providers. Such foreign interventions do not favour the appropriation of the debate on the part of the concerned parties, nor its development in the public domain, and hinder the em- ployment of apprentices and the capitalization of experience by operators in the field.
The peasants, who have long been very poorly organized, did not have any weight in most African countries and were rarely associated to the formulation of agricultural poli- cies. For example, when preparing the agricultural strategy for the CAEMC countries, 8 years of meetings among more or less involved experts were needed for improving a document which no peasant of the area has ever seen and which has not been vali- dated nor implemented.
Agriculture, generally under-financed in Africa, has undergone workforce reductions and the loss of its most experienced and competent elements to the benefit of internal competition or foreign entities which offered them better work conditions international development organizations, financial institutions, non-governmental organizations, pro- grams financed by sponsors. Public institutions therefore continue to suffer from lack of personnel, both on the quantitative and the qualitative level, and in spite of their best intentions are incapable of effectively fulfilling their main function: This lack of material and human resources to be mobilized inside the agricultural sec- tor at the regional and national level is a major problem and hinders the effectiveness of the African CAPs.
At the regional level the situation is similar. Beyond the motivations due to which certain regional groups have chosen agriculture as the unifying axis of integration, the CAP initiatives have had limited success, and their results in terms of impact and implementation have contributed very little to eco- nomic and commercial development. As for the process, the crucial passage from the phase of plan elaboration to that of implementation is often marred and weakened by a relatively scarce involvement of the national and regional players.
Moreover, the ab- sence of clear and coordinated national agricultural policies which effectively norm the agricultural sector causes a climate of fragility and confusion at the regional level which renders the creation of the CAPs, if not paradoxical, certainly a challenge in terms of op- eration, coordination and implementation.
MYTHS AND REALITY How to concretize Common Agricultural Policies Improving possible links between national and regional levels We have seen that the implementation of common markets for agricultural products, which entails the establishment of customs unions, creates winners and losers in re- lation to the profile of national economies and of the competitiveness of the various sectors. In fact, in the absence of effective compensation mechanisms, the less in- dustrialized countries in a customs union come out losers on two fronts: In order not to endanger the plan of regional integration, when conceiving customs unions it is useful to include some effective financial compensation mechanisms.
The ex- ample of SACU offers an interesting compensation mechanism in favour of the less in- dustrialized countries of the Customs union. In Africa, expectations in the field of coherence for the agricultural and rural sector are high. The European example with structural funds shows the degree of involvement required notably financial and institutional in order to reduce the unevenness of development among the various areas.
In the case of the WAEMU, the principle of financial solidarity seems to be crucial, since fund redistribu- tion is done favouring the more backward areas in the region. Nevertheless, it will be necessary to wait for several five-year terms in order to verify whether in fact this prin- ciple has been well respected. Thus, policy measures are the actual bearers of cohesion. Therefore, depending on the situation, on the objectives of a policy, on tariff options or production support, or the stocking of cereals to be utilized at times of food crisis, they will be more or less con- ductive to cohesion.
Moreover, the cohesion power of agricultural policy at the regional level obviously de- pends on its degree of implementation. In Europe, agricultural issues were initially addressed at the national level, through strongly institutionalized sector policies, then subsequently brought to the community 24 Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Swaziland. However, coherence of agricultural policies at the regional level presupposes a situation where the policies of the regional and national levels correspond, complete and rein- force each other. This in turn requires a thorough work of inventory and analysis of the existing policies to be done at the national level, before starting the formulation of a common agricultural policy.
The coherence of measures of the policies decided at the regional level, in relation to what exists at the national level, more than the correspon- dence of objectives, will allow the two levels to be connected and complementary. The result is a series of contradictions between the ob- jectives and instruments defined in the regional and national plans, and sometimes a lack of continuity from the national to the regional level, for example when a country em- barks directly into the formulation of a CAP while still lacking an agricultural policy at the national level covering the whole sector, and actually implemented.
Finally, diagnosis needs the contribution of several experienced players, among which it is essential to find representatives of the producers and consumers which are interested by the agri- cultural policy. The issue of coherence joins with that of a lack of strategic vision and clear priorities at the national level. The persistence of a large number of overlapping regional inte- gration mechanisms Graphic 2 causes implementation problems in many domains and a technical impossibility in others. The harmonization and rationalization of regional convergences as well as an effective coordination of regional integration mechanisms would allow the concentration of resources onto a limited number of organizations, en- suring the coherence of objectives and eventually, effectively promoting commercial in- terests and development plans in Africa.
However, the convergence of interests within production zones is not automatic. On the other hand, an in-depth analysis and better knowledge of the chain po- tential and competitiveness might evidence the existence of complementarities which are worth exploiting. It is preferable to spell out the issues and make the motivations of each community of players explicit, in order to avoid, after a policy has been adopted, the surfacing of claims which are difficult to take into consideration.
Yet there are cases in which agricultural interests are compatible and convergent. In such cases it is easier to defend these interests at the regional level, provided they are conveyed by organized and determined players. The issue of interest convergence is still current today in the context of negotiating the Economic Partnership Agreements EPA with the EU, and also in sight of partnerships with new players such as China, India or Brazil.
Promoting pragmatic and basic policy measures Although the promotion of trade, notably intra-regional trade, is a classic objective of re- gional integration, the actually adopted measures remain ambiguous. Most often it is a matter of generalized rate reductions, which are more conductive to international trade than to intra-regional exchanges. Even if the development of transport and mar- ket infrastructures is globally promoted, this needs to be complemented by measures of support or backing to production and marketing in order to effectively stimulate intra- regional trade in conjunction with a correct use of tariff instruments.
The participation of public powers through adequate policies is actually a priority measure, needed to ensure the development of the rural and agricultural sector. Some measures of production coordination and harmonization and trade policies can sometimes take the form of public welfare and thus not distort competition.
They could be measures of product promotion on certain markets, market analyses, the availabil- ity of new production or processing techniques and so on.
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For example, considering the evolution of consumption modalities of an African population which is becoming more and more urban, resulting in an increasing use of imported products such as wheat and rice , the revaluating of local alternatives could contribute to develop intra-regional trade and again give a preponderant place to more traditional local productions. It is essen- tial, for agricultural production issues as well as for preserving biodiversity, to revalue the consumption of staple products such as millet, sorghum, cassava and so on.
Actually, even though informal obstacles to goods trading rarely pose a problem, two es- sential factors heavily penalize intra-African trade. One is the wide occurrence of infor- mal costs notably transaction costs [Anderson, ] and the other is the relative weakness of formal trading in relation to informal trading, especially in trans-border areas, as shown by the case of un-estimable exchanges along the border between Niger and Nigeria originating from the recent surge of foodstuff prices.
More- over, the application and enforcement of sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures still constitute major issues which hinder exchanges, notably for cattle on the hoof and fresh produce. From this point of view, the regional level could play a key role by ensuring the coordination and follow-up of national policies. Likewise, the regional level can have the vocation, as shown by the European example, to set up a unique and coherent sys- tem of standards and regulations.
Finally, research has also abundantly highlighted the need for a better coordination of price policies for foodstuff, in order to curb parallel exchanges of imported cereals, gen- erated by price differences within the different countries. The first is unfavourable to consumers and induces income effects to the benefit of the less com- petitive producers.
The second is unfavourable to exports including those towards re- gional partners, in the absence of a currency union. Together, these two aspects hinder economic development. To be effective, protection must be accompanied by certain performance criteria, as was the case in South-East Asia, and evolve in a tapering and strategic way.
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The texts adopted by the WTO include specific facilitations for developing countries de minimis clause, special and differentiated treatment, safeguard clause, definition of a list of special or sensible products which are rarely fully utilized by the concerned coun- tries in the context of bilateral negotiations with the EU, for example, or multilateral ones within the WTO. So they are left with major rate protection means. Therefore it is possible to raise common rates.
However, as we will see later, it is important to note that the implementation of the Com- mon External Tariff CET within customs unions has often induced a much more pushed liberalization than that achieved by countries in the context of multilateral trade nego- tiations. Moreover, the tariff measures must be coherent with the policy objectives. Thus, an ob- jective of food sovereignty or self-sufficiency will necessarily be accompanied by high tar- iffs for the main staple products if the concerned region does not have absolute comparative advantages, nor access to the direct and indirect support enjoyed by its main competitor countries.
Agriculture, one of the sectors which were long considered secondary together with sanity, education, culture in relation to others, regarded as primary infrastructure, de- fence and so on , bears the cost of inter-ministerial budget arbitrations. As we have mentioned earlier, the means of financing a policy are an integral part of it. A larger autonomy in the definition of policies is necessarily tied to in- creasing the portion of a budget allocated for agriculture. In other words, Africa must take care of its agriculture and devote a substantial part of its own financial resources to it.
This would also over- come another limitation, that is the need to give the financing of a policy a time-frame [Ribier, Le Coq, ]. The difficulty often lies in the fact that the revenue portion of a national budget is the most difficult to account for. It could be envisioned that revenues generated from tariffs applied to for- eign exchanges be directly allocated to the agricultural budget at the regional level. Thus, revenues originated from agricultural exchanges, notably tied to the usage of im- ported primary goods and to the export of income generating products, would return to agriculture in order to finance the measures envisioned in the policy plans.
This kind of proposition is likely to generate political tensions, since it goes against the well established principle of the universality of revenues and expenses in a public budget. Obtaining a consensus in favour of the priority represented by the agricultural sector would at least partially meet the need for autonomy in agricultural expenses. Reinforcing the institutional mechanism of intra-regional negotiations Certain African POs have become more and more important interlocutors in regional and international debate [Bosc et alii, ; McKeon et alii, ], asking for more participative and appropriate agricultural policies.
Although appropriation of the debate is one of the main objectives of the POs, it is not enough. The POs must obtain their legitimacy through a strong proposing capacity, be- yond denouncing the world governing system; in other words, they must elaborate an influence strategy through defining policy objectives and activating concrete instru- ments for their implementation, so as to construct a precise, inventive and structured approach. However, it is important to reflect on the representativeness of such structures in the elaboration of their lines.
Which level of dialogue does the NPOAP or the other struc- tures carry out with the agricultural producers of which it is supposedly the spokesman? Which are the debate spaces within the POs themselves? Are there are- nas where decisions are made after consulting with the peasants themselves, or the de- bate appropriation is rather done at the level of representatives and leaders of the POs? The stake concerns the appropriation of common agricultural policy which can only be at- tained when the debate spaces where deciders, functionaries and peasant organiza- tions meet, exist and are organized.
Likewise, it is essential that prior to regional negotiations, the representatives of national authorities have the possibility of meeting with the representatives of producers and consumers to originate and elaborate a de- bate on agricultural policy, and if possible forge a national consensus.
As previously mentioned, knowledge of the reality of national and local agriculture is in- dispensable for the elaboration of policies which address real issues. This knowledge is based on mastering the capacity of analysing policies and their elaboration process, on the knowledge of supply chains, on institutional analysis, on the participation of a wide spectrum of agricultural and rural players and so on.
It is therefore necessary to concentrate efforts on the development of analytic capacities, in particular spend time and allocate means for the identification of agricultural interests in each country and also in each national zone within the elaboration process of a CAP. Regional integration, under certain conditions, and provided some policy measures are adopted in reference to the local context, can bring to the definition of real supply chain policies, allowing certain products to find their place in the regional and world market.
Under regional incentive, some supply chains might evolve, reshaping themselves. Supply chain analysis is a tool which allows the identification of competition sources, chokepoints which make exchanges difficult, or the most vul- nerable categories of producers. An integration space may find a stake through analytical capacities, by identifying the chains which represent a stake for food safety or those which need support to survive. Once again, the phase of dialogue with professional representatives is essential.
It is however difficult to reinforce the analytical capacities of the various players when information circulates badly, for lack of human and financial means. The texts adopted at the regional level are sometimes unknown to the ministries of the member coun- tries Simple and inex- pensive measures, like the strengthening of capacities at the institutional level, or the development of infrastructures having an appropriate placement, cost and accessibil- ity, or also a choice of technologies adapted to the local reality, will lead to a better 26 - Audience, functionaries working especially in Guinea Bissau and Niger.
In all cases, a bit more transparency and less double talk would maybe allow the play- ers themselves to see the situation more clearly and to get hold of their political des- tiny more directly. It is not sufficient to lay the foundations of formal manifestations of democratization. A change in mentality is needed, implying a better appreciation of the role of law in modern society, at the service of the regional integration process.
The scarce preparation at the national level, notably the lack of prioritization of strate- gic interests at the table of regional negotiations can originate a badly administered in- tegration mechanism with regrettable consequences for the agricultural sector, as exemplified by the TCE negotiations of the WAEMU. This TCE, born of a liberal conception, does not allow the pro- tection of family-based agriculture, by far the most common within the member countries. Burkina Faso, like the other countries of the WAEMU, imports large quantities of rice coming from the world market at very low prices, lower than the pro- duction cost of rice in Burkina Faso up to the sudden surge recorded in the first months of Rice producers, discouraged, abandoned the fields and went back to truck farming.
Similarly, while a few years ago Mali could sufficiently provide its population with rice, nowadays in Bamako the stores are full of Asian rice. This means the impossibility, on the part of the member countries, to exert their right to apply policies defined within the strategic plan of fighting poverty and shows the in- coherence of countries which, on the one hand, have laboured, and are still labouring greatly on the definition and implementation of this strategic plan, and on the other hand accept an opening without limits to the world market.
In this context, an appro- priate capacity of analysis of the policy situation at the national level, the prioritization of the stakes and issues to be addressed, and a real understanding of the national agri- cultural reality previous to negotiations could constitute an effective lever for conveying a certain political message at the time of negotiations at the regional level and sub- sequently, during international negotiations ; it could also allow national and interna- tional decision makers to promote and defend their agricultural interests.
We have shown that clenching commercial agreements has not prompted an increase of intra-regional trade, due to the weak complementarity of African economies and to problems tied to liberalization, to the absence of coordination and streamlining of production and marketing policies, and by the overlapping of intra regional agreements having different and contradictory objectives. We have noticed that different CAPs, resulting from various integration plans, converge in envisioning ambitious objectives which however are often translated into non-implemented instru- ments, similarly to what happens at the national level.
Even though regional integration for agriculture appears to be a challenge in terms of operation, coordination and implementation, we have highlighted that the setting up of CAPs may be successful provided financial and institutional instruments and arrange- ments for their realization are available. This process implies improving all possible con- nections between the national and regional levels, promoting pragmatic and basic production and marketing policies, strengthening the institutional mechanism of intra regional negotiations, notably acquiring debate power through a strong and structured proposal ability.
Priority must be set on giving debate space to the base players — peas- ants and civilian population — through a serious analysis of the stakes and the elabo- ration of a well conceived line of thought, supported by inventive and clear propositions. To this effect, concrete and detailed sector research, especially on chain production mechanisms, may contribute to define the ways and means to stimulate regional ex- changes with an eye to long term economic viability. Likewise, the scalability of priori- ties and construction of influence strategies in preparation for regional and international negotiations may help to guarantee coherent policies which address the envisioned ob- jectives.
We have mentioned the mediocre results of regional integration projects aiming at de- velopment. However, we could indeed revise the meaning of failure; it all depends from the point of view from which we observe. For example, we cannot speak of failure if a project re- sults in the allotment of some funds for development. Actually, the integration process has its foundations in wellness economy: Such market non-fulfil- ments can prompt a much more effective intervention at the regional level, rather than at the national or international ones; the ensuing effectiveness would largely outweigh any diversion effect trade hijacking which would not be a problem any more.
Moreover, any development strategy even partially based on agriculture entails the de- velopment, on the part of the governments, of a common vision of the agricultural stakes, allowing them to conceive a common strategy and consequently elaborate a gradual stream-lining of policies in the fields which are essential to the realization of such vision: However, it is important to remember that CAPs have a slim chance of succeeding in fields where the countries themselves have failed, or where they did not want to go in the past.
In fact, a strong national basis is needed in order to conceive a concrete strat- egy for agriculture at the regional level. Therefore, a political arena on agricultural issues at the national level — like the one present within the Organization for Economic coop- eration and Development OECD — is not possible if not backed, at the national level, by the existence of agricultural policies including diagnostics, formulation and imple- mentation , leading to a consensus on development strategies and a year plan for agriculture, and resulting from consultation among the main players government, civilians, peasants.
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D Johnson et E. The mean productivity of European agri- culture, low in comparison with that of the USA, had made the growth of staple food imports inescapable. Wishing to increase its level of food self-sufficiency, Europe gave itself an instrument: At the time of its creation, it was conceived and set up with the aim of attaining food self-sufficiency. On the other hand, chances of setting up the necessary agricultural policies to address this issue are reduced.
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In order to ensure community preference, effective in- struments were employed, such as variable levies, which imposed high import tariffs when needed to counter-balance low world prices. The CAP was subject to many criticisms, also from the producers themselves. This plan called for the gradual reduction of small farm numbers, the increase of the average farm surface and production intensification. Several aspects are to be taken into consideration when conceiving a food self-suffi- ciency plan: Therefore we should ask ourselves if the population truly wants the advent of a model which calls into question the peasant model of production, even if it has undoubtedly allows a rapid increase of food production.
Similar doubts can arise in the field of food policy. As to the impact of the CAP on food self-sufficiency of the other populations, the question was not raised, but it was not so important at the beginning, since the EU was in heavy deficit. The five objectives of the CAP to increase productivity, by promoting technical progress; to ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural Community; to stabilize markets; to secure availability of sup- plies to consumers and food processing industry; to provide consumers with food at reasonable prices.
PANTOFOLA D’ORO
It is based on three principles: The common organization of the cereal market provides a good example for the Euro- pean system, which, for certain products cereals, milk, beef, sugar It is the price at which the EU guarantees the purchase of any national production for sale. The intervention al- lows for absorbing and stocking surplus, while controlling the market. In the event of market saturation, the intervention organisms are obliged to acquire surplus at the intervention price, with a European subsidy.
In order to allow the outflow of European products to foreign markets, export refunds fill in the difference between external and internal prices. The challenges encountered by the CAP The CAP originated a production increase of the main agricultural products, but also encountered numerous problems. Recently, major efforts were made in the environment field, but such improvements are thwarted by the continuous decrease of prices to producers. The other major problem is the agree- ment on import at null duties or much reduced ones of livestock feed, which reinforces the production of surplus cereals, milk, meat Moreover, the CAP protects its markets without envisioning instruments to manage the over-production resulting from its success, nor the protection unbalance originating at its borders.
And the surplus outflow will strongly affect other producers around the world. Production concentration and intensification The system of guaranteed prices for unlimited quantities favors the most productive farms and areas. Agricultural structures evolve and concentrate production into large farms and in the most favorable regions. This process speeds up the reduction of agricultural employment, the impoverishment of numerous farmers and the economic decline of certain areas.
It causes a regression of the natural environment tied to agriculture, as well as environmental pressure on in- tensively cultivated areas. This in turn causes negative consequences on the sanitary level crises, allergies The CAP and the situation of agricultural producers At the time of expansion of the EU to 15 members, one family farm was disappearing every 2 minutes. At the time of expansion of the EU to 27 members, two such farms dis- appeared every minute. Other data are to be pondered, at the European level: Exodus in the agricultural sector takes place following a bankruptcy or, more often, sim- ply because of moving when closing down business.
The operators who leave had been lingering on without investing up to retirement, unable to find a buyer. The situation is tied to a context of price reduction and incessant reforms of the CAP, creating an unstable environment which cannot guarantee the future of family agricul- ture. Evolution and future of the CAP. Commission Proposals, february 92, preface by Ray Mac Sharry. Many farmers who have invested hoping to fare better in the future are overwhelmed by heavy debts which forces them into extra work or complementary activities.
The disappearance of agricultural workers in our regions creates serious problems for the society: The creation of structural agricultural surplus The CAP contains some elements which are at the basis of a vicious circle. In fact, it guarantees a price to farmers, whatever the quantities of commodity produced. Since this guaranteed price decreases regularly, farmers intensify their production and in- crease the cultivated surface in order to maintain their revenues.
This process is rein- forced by the structural reforms Mansholt Plan aiming to increase productivity. Eu- ropean production largely surpasses its demand. Stocks are accumulated cereals, but- ter, milk powder, meat , and they are extremely costly. On the world market, increasing agricultural product quantities causes a fall in prices. Incomplete market protection and livestock feed Right from the start, the orientation of the agricultural sector of the EU has been de- termined by the GATT, and the ensuing results are irreversible.
In , during the Dillon Round, Europe granted to the USA the right to export at null, or almost null, customs duties some traditional American items soy, corn by-products The impact of these measures is considerable. Actually, following the Dillon Round trade-off, 2 very different levels of protection ap- peared at the EU borders, resulting in by 2 very different price levels inside its borders. Cereals, milk, beef, sugar are well protected and circulate at high prices within the EU; cereal substitutes CS needed for animal feed are scarcely protected and circulate at very low prices.
Hence, internal markets for the former products disappear, while cereal surplus is generated. And the Commission finances the subsidies necessary for exporting surplus The disequilibrium of EU foreign trade ensuing from the agreements of is shown in the graphic below, illustrating the consequences of the incomplete protection of the European market. The two curves develop inversely, while their total remains relatively stable: The effect on the common agricultural policy budget is drastic: In-stable breeding is highly favored.
Nitrate pollution in- creases. Outside the EU, large subsidies to producers are criticized within the GATT by the pro- moters of agricultural liberalization, in particular by big exporters from both the north and the south. Five times in , , , and it proposed taxes on oleaginous products, and each time the proposal was refused due to pressure from the food products lobby in Europe and in the USA.
In , for climatic reasons, the production of oleaginous seeds in the USA dropped, prices rose and the government decreed a soy export embargo to protect the soy in- dustry. Sub- sequently, Europe promoted the production of oleaginous seeds and enacted a plan which, since , has subsidized production with premiums. However, the USA was soon to react. Community subsidies to oily seed production were opposed, at the GATT, by the USA, supported by Brazil and Argentina, which pressed charges in front of the special group concerning the erosion of the concessions made by the EU in The EU countered with a plea on food safety, but the special group concluded that the subsidies allocated to the oily seed transformers reduced the advantages of previous concessions and in- fringed the rules of the GATT.
In order to reduce its CS imports, in the Community negotiated a self-limitation cassava agreement with Thailand. As for the corn gluten feed coming from the USA, it became the most risky CS for European agriculture, soon to be the subject of a new lit- igation between the USA and the EU, since it also benefited from null import taxes. In May , the reform of the CAP envisioned a major decrease of cereal and beef prices, aiming at re-aligning with the level of international prices, the long-term objec- tive being export without restitutions and the recovery of the European cereal market for animal feed.
Oily seeds were the first cultures to be subject to this new regime, in order to allow the EU to conform to the GATT decisions. Although the heavy fall of cereal prices favors a larger incorporation of European cere- als into animal feed, the reform heavily disadvantages hay and some other green fod- ders.
By favoring corn and other cereals in animal feed, we are still increasing our protein needs. In conformity with the agricultural policies decided by the USA and the EU, this agree- ment ratifies the principles of decoupling production and subsidies, and it defines its modalities. A peace clause, enacted starting in , forbade the USA from re-calling into question the European compensatory subsidies agreed upon in May The Blair House agreements unblocked international negotiations on agriculture and foreshadowed the final terms of the Agricultural Agreement of the Uruguay Round, in vigor since Commercial war for agricultural markets In , at the dawn of the Uruguay Round which was to address agricultural produc- tion, commercial war broke up again between the USA and the EU, with agricultural sur- plus reaching its historical peaks.
For the countries originating surplus, all means were fair to dispose of their production, including using it as food aid. USA practices were the result of an aggressive policy of market conquest, motivated by a considerable agricultural potential. Those of the EU were dictated by the need to dis- pose of surplus resulting from a lack of offer control, and from gaps in the European market protection concerning livestock feed resulting from the Dillon Round of Such gaps, together with the intensification and specialization of the CAP, had driven the EU towards an agro-exporting policy, to the detriment of seeking self-sufficiency.
Dumping creates problems in ill protected markets The disposal of surplus in the direction of Southern countries has taken the form of food aid, but also, mostly of sometimes subsidized commercial export. This has ex- posed the populations of the South to new products, not locally produced like bread in Africa. The offering of imported foodstuff at low prices has become a source of com- petition with the hinterland, which traditionally provided staple food.
Thence, peasants are deprived of the indispensable complementarity with towns. They replace their locally grown and consumed plant varieties with export products, the latter heavily controlled by public powers, aware of the fact that food imports need a source of income. But due to price fall and competition, the making of sufficient revenues is never assured. Customs pro- tections must be clarified, and then reduced. Subsidized exports and the subsidy amount paid to the farmers must be reduced, and the subsidy form must be regulated. Offer management Production quotas for sugar were established in In , milk production quo- tas were established to contain the over-production of milk, thus stabilizing European production.
As for cereals, maximum guaranteed quantities MGQ were fixed and agreed upon yearly at the time of reaching price agreements. In case of surpassing MGQ, prices would be lowered. Land freezing was originated in the reform of These instruments of production management in the surplus sectors were effective, al- though their application could be improved. These new instruments came to supple- ment those already in place, such as stocking, support to commodity outflow towards foreign markets and stock destruction. Although originally conceived to solve European problems and not to limit attempts at reaching food sovereignty, these measures had a positive impact on the world markets and could have been used more effectively abroad Subsequently they were progres- sively abandoned as the CAP changed its orientation in , just before the agricul- tural negotiations of the Uruguay Round.
The quota system is still in place for milk production, but its phasing-out has been planned. It allows them unlimited ac- cess to the EU market, but at very low prices which do not cover production costs, al- lowing for their productivity. Pollution and threats to the environment were problems of the industry and urban settings.
Guaranteed prices led to a very rapid production growth. Quickly, product surplus appeared, accompanied by increasing threats to the environment pollution, hormone laden poultry, excessive specialization, variety disappearance… Between and , environment progressively makes its appearance in the agenda.
The defined objectives for Agenda are widely different than those es- tablished by the Rome Treaty. As well as agro-environmental regulations — Aids per hectare and livestock unit compensating price falls are subject to environmental conditions: Environmental protection components In concrete terms, the environmental issues addressed by the CAP are the following: Presently, agro-environmental measures are implemented through the following ac- tions: The reforms of the CAP and agricultural liberalization Starting from , several reforms succeed one another, in the wake of the liberal- ization movement which, starting with the Uruguay round of the GATT, systematically addressed the agricultural sector.
In spite of the criticism raised against the European CAP system which includes vari- able levying, tariff quotas, export restitutions, market organization, advantages given only to LDCs and so on.. A system which, however, would be quite useful to DCs developing countries and LDCs least developed coun- tries in particular. The EU preferred to progressively move towards a totally different system, taken from the model used by the USA. It is a system of direct aids which supports farmers with- out the need to use tariff barriers.
This system, which has the advantage of being accepted by the GATT, can still be criti- cized for a number of reasons; it is only accessible to States having major resources and it causes distortion effects on the world markets, even in the case of decoupled subsidies. The CAP was reformed in , following this new direction, during the agricultural ne- gotiations of the Uruguay Round which was just about to be concluded.
Since then it has gradually moved away from its original model, eliminating the instruments needed for food self-sufficiency, and it has became a major protagonist of liberalization. The passage from a system of internal price support to one of direct aid to producers is a pivotal one. The planned phasing-out of the sugar quotas and protocol in favor of the ACPs and some other countries30, as well as the milk quota system which will be abandoned in are some of the first steps in this direction.
Likewise, in its commercial cooper- ation policy, the EU is putting an end to the preferential agreements in favor of the ACPs. The reform of the CAP in The reform was articulated around a major lowering of the price of cereals and beef, bringing them close to the level of international prices, with the objective of exporting without restitutions and reacquiring the European market for animal food products.
The aid is conditioned by a with- drawal from production land freeze. Oily seed products are the first cultures to be sub- ject to this new regime. This new reform confirmed the priority granted to exports, by means of price reductions which opened the possibility of exporting without subsidies. By exporting at very low prices, the EU becomes poorer and its animal product exports entail massive imports as well as animal feed processing.
The revision of the market policy of the CAP mainly involves cereals, some dairy prod- ucts, quotas will be maintained until , rice, durum wheat, nuts, potato starch and dry fodder. Price decreases are compensated by increasing direct payments to producers of arable cultures, taking the form of a single payment per farm, independent of production de- coupling. Direct payments are subordinated to the respect of extra legal regulations concerning the environment, food safety, animal well-being, health and land management.
A reduction of direct payments is planned to take place between and , and the saved amounts will partially be allotted to rural development. The reduction will vary in relation to the amount of farm income. A portion of the saved funds will be redirected towards rural development, whose scope has been widened; food quality, animal well-being… The reform of the European sugar regime Due to its peculiarities, the common organization of the sugar market was especially in- teresting.
Although the European market is organized by public powers, its financing is influenced by the producers. The volume of exports ensuing from imports at preferen- tial conditions sugar protocol is financed by the EU budget. The effect of the sugar CMO on the European budget is therefore neutral.
The indicative price, preferred within the EU, is obtained due to the protection of the internal market, purchase guarantees and export support. Price guarantee in ensured by purchases at the intervention price. Production surplus bene- fits from restitution upon export, leveling the price difference with the world market. Compen- sation to producers in the form of direct aids was determined, at Farm re- structuring as well as dismantling of activities was also implemented.
Following the reform, in the EU decided to put an end to the protocol, beginning in October As a result, the ACP countries will pay no customs duties when exporting sugar to the EU, but this will happen only if the producers are competitive enough. The new proposals aim at simplifying the single payment scheme SPS while making it more effective, to adapt the CAP to modernization and to an ex- panded EU of 27, and to face the most recent challenges climate changes, bio-fuels, water management and so on….
Decoupling of direct aid to arable cultures: Payment limits, establishing floor and ceiling levels proposal rejected in Revision of market management tools: Suppression of obligatory land set-aside: Modulation through financial transfers from the first to the second pillar: The diagnosis takes into account both experience from the past and the increasing opening of agricultural markets. Due to new challenges, social and environmental demands, the agricultural budget was latched beforehand, to the detriment of the necessary policies.
The reform completely abandons market regulation and offer management, opting for a single direct aid instrument tied to the farm surface, completed by systems of open- handed revenue insurances. European farmers, having to face tighter bonds connected to the specificity of European agriculture, social, sanitary, environmental needs be- come more dependent on market fluctuations.
Different visions have already surfaced during the health check- up. From there on, all of the proposals must fit into a latched budget frame, all the more limited since it will also include the new member countries. According to the Commission and certain member States31, decoupling remains the central support instrument to revenues, and market instruments are eliminated, with market signals having to orient production choices.
In a context of constantly elevated prices, direct aid risks becoming delegitimized, as well as badly distributed. Such a situation might lead, in the future, to the disappear- ance of European agricultural policies all together. On the contrary, other member States32 assert that market management and regulation has a role to play to counter price instability, which could lead to a comeback of food un- certainty. According to these states, the CAP must stand strong in its economic vocation around the first pillar, which the most recent modulations tend to weaken.
They pro- pose the redistribution of direct aids at large within the first pillar and the financing of risk management instruments. Export of agricultural goods accounted for 2. As for the presence of Belgium in the total agricultural production of the EU in , it was 2. In , Belgium numbered , professional operating farms. This decrease in farm numbers goes hand in hand with the increase in their average size, which more than tripled over the same period, growing from 7. Work Farms have kept their familial character, therefore the workforce is found within the family of the farmer generally the farmer himself, his wife, his sons and daughters..
The way to create income In Belgium, a large proportion of the farmed surface is rented land. But the family nature of the business creates income. Mechanization developed in order to increase productivity in the agricultural sector. The average number of tractors per farm has grown from 1 in to 1. Some productions have been almost totally mechanized, also thanks to structure outfitting. The increase in farm surfaces and mechanization might lead one to think that farmers make significant revenues.
However, the revenue level of a farmer is generally lower than that of other professional categories. Moreover, statistical data do not reflect the real weight of agricultural work absence of vacations and week-end rest, over 8 hours of daily work If we compare the index of net agricultural revenue per worker to that of factory workers, we notice that the gap between agricultural work in- come and the reference income never ceases to increase.
Obviously not all farmers make the same income, and major disparities exist. Table 1 shows the distribution of farming businesses by revenue class. Since , the 1st pillar includes decoupled aid or single prizes which, starting from , also include compensatory aid for dairy products and for the sugar sector as well as some coupled aid mainly for lactating cows. Before , the 1st pillar included all of the compensatory aids to cultures, cattle and ovine prizes and compensatory aid to dairy products starting from In a compensatory aid to the sugar sec- tor was granted, due to the decrease of the institutional price of sugar.
This aid was im- mediately incorporated within the single prizes. The 2nd pillar notably includes agro-environmental subsidies, aid to disadvantaged areas, aid to organic agriculture and aid to integrated productions. The following table illustrates, sector by sector, the importance of aid in revenues over the last 3 budget years The actual amount of aid varies with the years, in relation to revenue levels, the in- crease of pre-existing prizes milk in and or the introduction of new ones sugar in DGA 1st pillar 2st pillar Agricultural cultures Highly specialized dairy production Less specialized dairy production Mixed cattle Beef cattle Cultures and dairy production Cultures and non-dairy cattle Wallonia region Transformation of agricultural production methods In an effort to maintain their income, farmers are forced to modify their production tech- niques.
In a context of de- creasing prices, the farmers who stay in business are often those who started early to improve their situation in terms of revenue, by enlarging their property and intensifying or specializing production. This yield increase per hectare is mainly due to genetic selection selected seeds, hybrid varieties, selected animal breeds as well as the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and so on.
Because of the major investments necessary for specialized mecha- nization, farmers cannot opt for a highly diversified production. Single farms tend to specialize on a few crops, which are grown with reduced culture rotations. Farmers might choose land farming or livestock raising. Breeders might specialize further and opt for reproduction or fattening, or else choose product specialization, such as beef or milk… Concentration: Specialization and mechanization have still another consequence: On a parallel, we notice a higher geographical specialization and concentration.
Farmers have control of fewer and fewer elements input, marketing, stock , thus be- coming similar to a sub-contractor. This is the case with stock fattening farms also called indoors livestock farms. In these stock farms, which work best with mono-gastric animals pigs and poultry in particular , animals are never free to roam in the open and are fed exclusively with com- pound feed based on cereals and by-products from industrial food processing of soy, cassava and so on. Farms tend to cluster near the areas where animal feed is produced, and also in major import zones near commercial harbours in the Netherlands, north- ern Belgium, North-west Germany but also in France and Italy.
This way they benefit from inexpensive industrial by-products and low transport ex- penses. Changes will probably ensue in response to price increases in these sectors. But production changes do not modify the essence of agriculture, still characterized by a highly diversified structure. In in Wallonia, farm apportionment according to techno-economic orientation showed that Specialization mainly concerned beef production As for mixed farms with two or more orientations , they mainly combined cultivations and cattle raising However, this scheme does not thoroughly reflect farm reality; in fact a large number of farms specializing in cultivations still continue stock raising and vice-versa.
Taking into account the techno-economic orientation of farms in relation to geographi- cal regions, in Wallonia we find both regional specialization and agricultural production concentration. The following can be noticed: Some other considerations should be made: Agro-industry is heavily present in the agricultural field; it provides input and machinery, and intervenes in an increasingly diversified and complex food processing stage.
Thus farmers are bound up both upstream and downstream of their production. Schemati- cally, they purchase intermediary products at retail prices and sell their production at wholesale prices. Production backing, dependency and loss of added value Following in the wake of agricultural changes, the production sectors situated upstream seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, animal feed, drugs, agricultural machinery, installations, various services and downstream of agricultural production have undertaken radical changes.
Downstream, basic processing of raw materials, which was previously done within the farm, is now carried out in a factory setting an example is dairy production. However, the constant price value of intermediary goods generally decreased between and , thanks to a higher productivity in the sector. Therefore it was the usage which increased. Animal feed accounted for over one third of the total value of intermediary goods in Another important header was structure up-keeping expenditure.
Fuel and lu- bricant expenses increased between and The volume of animal feed increased, then decreased after Fertilizers and vol- ume conditioners decreased sharply between and Between and , some intermediary goods fuel and lubricants decreased in volume due to the high increase of their purchase price. Agriculture under contract Sometimes the bond between farmers and the agro-industry gets even stronger, and the latter gains control over the farm, which gets bound by a contract and consequently supplied with all input and livestock.
The farmer then becomes similar to a subcon- tractor. Companies like these make the air we breathe, the water we drink and the foods we eat are deadly cocktails of molecules produced in the lab. The harmful effects of poisons on living organisms are so many: Another unpleasant legacy of this war against nature is climate change. Obviously even a company like Adama could not have its own list of lies and environmental rhetoric: This is the biological meaning for the agri-food industry: Nothing further away from the sensitivity and culture of those who still produce food without using poisons.
How can economics and capitalism be sustainable? In other words, how is it possible that endless exploitation and accumulation in a finite planet are sustainable? This is what the economy does: There seems to be the same process that is happening for most organic farming products: Human bodies and other animals, as well as the surrounding environment, are saturated with these poisons, and the best way to keep up with them, in addition to economic blackmail, is by deceiving a rustic, bucolic, green and natural.
To promote their world model, the various G7, Expo, need characters such as Martina and all those who have seen in the biological and in the harm management industry the new chance to go ahead and grind profits. But where were the small producers then? There are plenty of reflections to be done and we hope each one begins to make them with their own head and confronting others.
We think it is important to realize that we live in a condition of obvious dependence on this system and that if it is its abatement we want, we will have to begin to act concretely every day, trying to tear more and more spaces of freedom and autonomy. By colonizing with each message channel its information channel, the system often makes us believe that there is no chance of living and thinking of a radically different world.
One thing is certain, another world is possible, but we have to get rid of it before that. Whoever tells us that it is possible to co-exist with this exemplary exploitation, perhaps speaking of labeling, precautionary method, traceability and security, often represents the impostor who is not going to change anything but simply seeks an ethical and solidal niche where to settle and nudge.
With this coordination of critical people against the G7 we want to try to make sense of what these official meetings are and to uncover who from these meetings are profitable to continue to keep things as they are, declaring themselves an opponent but, concretely, sustaining and serving the powers always Tall and strong. Our path of criticism and struggle does not start with the G7 agriculture and will definitely not end with the October summit here in Bergamo.
Il fatto di tingersi di verde fa parte della necessaria veste con cui il potere si presenta in queste occasioni ufficiali: