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a n n u a l
r e po
r t
w w w . f o n d a t i o n - f a r m . o r g
Postal address
Fondation FARMc/o Crédit Agricole S.A.
91-93, boulevard Pasteur75710 Paris cedex 15 (France)
Office location
59-61, rue Pernety75014 Paris (France)
More information on our websitew w w . f o n d a t i o n - f a r m . o r g
E-mail: [email protected] Des
ign:
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Cotton University
An Innovative Projecton the Way 9
NICT
The new informationtechnologies at the service
of agriculture 17
Summary
Editorial 5
The Economic PartnershipAgreements (EPAs)
A Historical Period,a Fundamental Issue 6
“Cultural” Revolution
Microfinance at the Serviceof Agriculture 12
Water
Water, a Sourceof Development 15
Perspectives 19
A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7 Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life 3
FARM founders & friends
FARM wishes to thank
Crédit Agricole S.A. French Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries
Ministry of National Education Le Conseil général de l’Agriculture, de l’Alimentation et des Espaces ruraux
Le Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD)
for their support and efforts
A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life4
o act on behalf of a type of agriculture that is efficient, respectful ofthe environment, a source of development, and enables one to fight
hunger and poverty. The ambition of the Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life(FARM) is relevant, now more than ever, in face of inflated agricultural prices worldwide andhunger riots.Originating in 2006 out of the desire of several big businesses* to improve the agriculturaland agribusiness sectors in underdeveloped countries, the activities of FARM, which isrecognized as a charity by French law, have never been more vital.
The presentation of the second progress report of the Foundation for World Agriculture andRural Life coincides precisely with the reappearance of the agricultural question as a globalissue.Risks of scarcity, product ceilings, consumption evolution, and food crises all affectdeveloping countries and, in particular, Africa.However, the leap in agricultural prices can also be viewed as an opportunity for Africa to givepriority to local production. As pointed out in the study conducted by FARM on “TheAgricultural Potentialities of West Africa”, this region would have the capacity to meetits alimentary needs.
Agriculture is again featuring as a top global priority, and the satisfaction of theworld’s agricultural needs has once more become a strategic issue.New needs for investment and for the accompaniment of the professionalagricultural organizations and of the players in non-trading companies are,likewise, arising, so that the “agro-revolution” currently taking place iscapable of inducing true economic development in the southernMediterranean countries.
In this context, the World Bank, in its own annual report for 2008, demandedthat agriculture once more be returned to the center of attention, after 20 yearsof negligence, recalling that the latter is the soundest means of development forthe southern Mediterranean countries.
FARM built its vision and its activities throughout 2007 along these lines. It deepenedits approach, established its standards, and entered into partnerships.It consolidated projects, progressed in others, and initiated new lines of action.For example, it responded to the question of the financing of small-scaleagriculture by organizing the international symposium on microcredit, “WhichMicrofinance for the Agriculture of Developing Countries?”
It continued to closely follow the negotiations on the Economic PartnershipAgreements, and helped to make the new information and telecommunicationtechnologies available to the agricultural sectors in the southern Mediterraneancountries, while also participating in the water and Cotton University projects.Strategic issues, on behalf of which FARM brought together the African professionalorganizations and their partners, with the same desire to promote modern,innovative, and promising forms of agriculture ■
5
*The French Development Agency, Air France, Casino, Crédit Agricole S.A., the National Agency for Professionals in the Seed andPlant Industry (GNIS), Limagrain, Vilmorin, Sofiprotéol, and Suez.
Editorial
T
René CarronChairman of the Board
Bernard BachelierDirector
A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7 Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life
A. Goulard
H. Thouroude
A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life6
A Historical Period,a Fundamental Issue
Initiated by the Cotonou Convention signed in 2000between 77 African, Caribbean Island, and Pacific Island
(ACP) countries and the European Union, the EPAs are thesubject of tough negotiations followed and analyzed by FARM.
he Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) currently being
deliberated constitute the commercial section of the Cotonou
Convention. Concluded on June 23, 2000 and becoming effective in 2003, they
succeeded the provisions of the 1975 Lomé Convention.
The EPAs are intended, as of 2008, to govern commercial exchanges (of goods and
services) between the European Union and 77 African, Caribbean Island, and Pacific
Island countries distributed in six regions (West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa,
Southern Africa, the Caribbean Islands, and the Pacific Islands).
These are new commercial rules, based on free trade, likewise providing accompanying
measures limiting the negative impacts of the EPAs for the ACP countries. After over
30 years of preferential access to the European market, 39 of the ACP countries are, in
effect, still listed among the most underdeveloped countries, with a per capita income
per year of under $ 900.
A New Development Measure
Today, Europe is facing a historical turning point in its relations with the developing
countries and with the poorest farming populations, especially in Africa. It has, in effect,
the possibility to conclude model agreements that will shape a new method of
development and solidarity at a time when negotiations with the World Trade
Organization (WTO) are suspended. Nonetheless, the consequences of the ongoing
negotiations and the impact of the rules that will be decided on for the agriculture of
tomorrow are underestimated.
In fact, the economies of the ACP countries are currently unable to face up to
international markets and, in particular, to tolerate cheap mass imports.
Faced with the risks of ruining their fragile economies, founded essentially on
agricultural exports, the EPAs could promote the establishment of economic zones
that would form common markets, with special foreign custom rates. Thus, the
European Union would grant access to its market to all the products of countries
signing the EPAs, without customs duty, or a quota. Agreements recognized by the WTO
could be asymmetrical.
The ACP countries also aspire to protect sensitive products, such as grains and
products of animal origin, by encouraging local products while organizing veritable
regional agricultural markets. Most ACP regions can, in fact, technically cover regional
alimentary needs, as India and China have done by dint of protected markets and a
policy of common market investments.
T
Towards competitive
farming
The
Eco
nom
icPa
rtne
rship
Agreements (EPAs)
G. Paire
/Fot
olia
A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7 Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life 7
Interim Agreements
However, whereas the signing of the EPAs should have taken place on December 31,
2007, the delay in the negotiations with the different ACP regions led the European
Commission to propose interim agreements. Signed by every country so desiring, and
not solely on the regional level, they only relate to the trading of goods.
Concretely, in the framework of the interim agreements, each signatory country,
including those from the same region, has negotiated its own list of sensitive products
and its own market openings. This national specificity does not, in the meantime, allow
a group of countries to set up common trade barriers, making it as yet impossible to
form customs unions and, thereby, regional integration.
In effect, the signing of the interim agreements enables a commercial system to be
established that complies with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Nevertheless, the signing of the agreements at the national level creates a risk for the
potential of regional integration. It is to be hoped that the additional time allowed for
the negotiations, until the end of 2008, will result in global agreements, enabling the
regional integration that constitutes the proper boost for the economic development of
the ACP countries.
Let us recall that the fundamental issue at the basis of the Economic Partnership
Agreements is to allow 450 million affected farmers to support themselves by means
of their work, providing their families with stable prospects of rural life.
The EPA negotiations
constitute a historical
period whose outcome
and actual consequences,
positive or negative, are
as yet unknown.
Analysis by Bernard Bachelier,Director of the Foundationfor World Agriculture and Rural Life:“The EPAs negotiations constitute a historical period whose outcome and actual
consequences, positive or negative, are as yet unknown. The EPAs can be an opportunity
for the agriculture of the ACP countries, their commercial section may provide an
opportunity for local production and thereby rebalance the income of farmers in favor of local
products, making them less dependent on export products. With this approach, the question of
regional integration becomes very important, as well as that of compensation for losses of tax
revenue and that of help in promoting development (investments in local sectors will be necessary).
However, in the framework of a new configuration of the EPAs, the renunciation of the promotion of
regional integration constitutes a major risk for the development of the ACP countries because, without
price support (which a regional market can reinforce), all the development activities will have only
very modest impacts.”
Miro
slav
/Fot
olia
A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life8
The Signatory Countries of the EPAsAt the end of December 2007, 35 ACP countries had signed the Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union.Faced with the delay in the negotiations, the European Commission proposed drawing up bilateral interim agreements, relat-ing only to the trading of goods. They must be completed, at a later date, by provisions regarding the accompanying services andmeasures. On the other hand, signing the agreements at the national level poses a risk to regional integration options.The signatory countries of the EPAs to date:
■ East Africa: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Namibia, Seychelles, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Comoros,Madagascar
■ Southern Africa: Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland■ West Africa: Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Ghana■ Central Africa: Cameroon■ The Pacific Islands: Papua New Guinea, Fiji■ The Caribbean Islands (15 countries): Signatory of a full EPA at the regional level
Conference/Debate
“EPAs: Assessment of the Negotiations and Issues”
Organized jointly by the Rural Development Inter-Networks
and FARM in Pairs on November 19, 2007, a round table
rallied several of the major actors in the agricultural and
economic worlds.
Enriching exchanges took place at the conference, whose
participants included Ablassé Ouedraogo, former Deputy Director
General of the WTO, special advisor for trade talks to the executive
president of the committee of the Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS); Elie Beauroy, director of the External Agricultural
Policy, Trade and Development Division of the Ministry of Economy, Finance
and Employment; Roger Blein, Bureau Issala; and Bio Goura Soulé, consultant to
the Laboratory of Regional Analysis and Social Expertise.
EPA: FARM’S Activities
The European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean Island, and Pacific Island (ACP)
countries are today facing a historical stage in their relations. They are, in fact,
negotiating new commercial agreements establishing rules that are totally different
to those of the past 30 years.
Mindful of the strategic issues actually at stake, the Foundation for World Agriculture
and Rural Life (FARM) is deeply involved in the deliberations being conducted on the
EPAs. In 2007, for example, it published a summary, pursuant to the international
seminar organized in 2006 on the theme: “How Can the ACP Countries Benefit from the
EPAs?”
In addition to organizing conferences, FARM regularly compiles progress reports on
the negotiations, clarifies the issues for the ACP countries, and suggests points to be
summarized and deliberated. On June 14, 2007, it made a presentation to the delegates
of the French Farmers International Development association, entitled: “The
Agricultural Issues of the Economic Partnership Agreement in West Africa.”
Moreover, anxious to become more familiar with Africa’s competences in the field of
farming and with the means to enhance the effectiveness of its agricultural markets for
the next 25 years, FARM examined West Africa’s ability to meet its own needs, by
conducting a survey on the “Agricultural Potentialities of West Africa.”
As for the report, “Improving the Functioning of West Africa’s Agricultural Markets”, it
is based on the premise that this improvement must be the priority goal of public and
private investments in the framework of a new conception of the relations between the
players ■
Allowing 450 million
farmers to support
themselves by their work.
Clarification: From Lomé to the EPAsThe EPAs, originating in the Cotonou Convention, succeed theLomé Convention, which established asymmetrical businessrelations between the ACP countries and the European Unionsince 1975.The ACP countries then enjoyed preferential access to theEuropean Market, and their exports profited from more fa-vorable custom rates that those imposed by the EU oncommodities deriving from other countries. It was anexceptional system that was not reciprocal: The ACPcountries, in fact, were not bound to extend to Euro-
pean products special access to their markets.Neither did this system comply with the rules of
the World Trade Organization, which, never-theless, agreed to an exemption from en-forcement until the end of 2007.
The goal of the Cotton University is to contribute to a revival of
the dynamics of African cotton cultivation and to improve the
conditions and standard of living of the rural world.” Presented during a conference of
the heads of state of Africa and of France in February 2007, the Cotton
University project was widely supported by the participants, including
President Jacques Chirac and European Commissioner for
Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel.
The Cotton University was initiated by African
producers, and adopted by the professional body,
AproCA (the Association of African Cotton
Producers), which combines the producer
unions of 13 West and Central African
countries. Today, the Cotton University
is also supported by the other players
in the cotton sectors (processing
associations, traders, etc.), who are
combined under the ACA (the African
Cotton Association), by the African
countries, by the UEMOA, as well as by
the European authorities. Thanks to
the expertise of FARM and of HEC
Paris, the university is on its way to
becoming a reality, a vector for the
evolution of the cotton sector.
An Original and Unique Step
The Cotton University translates the need to
offer a training instrument genuinely adapted
to the actual challenges of the African cotton
sectors. An original step embodying the
realization of the need to invest long-term in
expertise and innovation. As the president of AproCA,
François Traoré, notes “the markets shape our income,
the durability of our farms and of our manufacturing
companies” … “It is our responsibility to assume responsibility
“
A Promising ProjectThe Cotton University will function as a network,
mobilizing the resources of its African partners,namely, the pedagogical, scientific, humane, and material
resources of a consortium of schools, universities, and traininginstitutions. It will not have any infrastructure of its own.
Partnership agreements have been concluded with the PolytechnicUniversity of Bobo-Dioulasso, with the ISM Management Institute inDakar, and with the ESCAA Business School in Yamoussoukro tocollaborate with them in the establishment of the Cotton University. The African institutional and economic players have also been extensivelyconsulted and involved in organizing the Cotton University. The ACA (the AfricanCotton Association), which combines the various African cotton organizations,supports the project, as does the West African Economic and Monetary Unioncommission. “This regional project is contributing to the promotion of a priorityagricultural sector of the West African Economic and Monetary Union and has beenendorsed through the institutional support of the Union,” stresses the Commissionerfor Development and Humanitarian Aid.According to plan, the AproCA is in charge of the overall management of the project,assuming the functions of strategic direction and supervision. The Foundation forWorld Agriculture and Rural Life (FARM) is in charge of project management at the
local level, and of mobilizing competencies and means. The HEC School ofManagement of the Paris Chamber of Commerce (CCIP), with other partners, will
contribute the pedagogical expertise and participate in training.The first sessions will be organized in September 2008. They will relate to
leadership, managing people, and the strategies of professional bodies…The university will, first of all, tackle the problems of the cotton sector, taking
into account the place it fills in African agriculture. The income of some 20million people depend on it. However, it aspires, in the longer
run, to meet the needs for product diversificationand for the development of other
sectors.
A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7 Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life 9
Designed to meet the demand of African producersrelayed by AProCA, the Cotton University raised throughout
the year FARM jointly with the HEC Paris. A unifying and innovativeproject, inspiring hope, is today on its way.
An Innovative Project on the Way
Cotton University
���
Cotton University to enable
farmers to master the
competencies of management
and innovation.
G. Paire/Fotolia
A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life10
for the development of cotton with the other players in the African
sectors. No one will do it for us…”.
A true innovator in its goals, the University is also such in
its structural approach, collaborating at each stage
with players from the sector and with teaching
scholars. And, starting with the definition of the
terms and conditions of the feasibility study
conducted in 2007 by the joint FARM and
HEC Paris team of producers from 10 or
so African countries, ranging through
the choice of pedagogical methods
and syllabi, and down to the
management and running of the
institution, the producers are at
the center of the “university’
measure.
Mobilizing the resources
of its African and inter-
national (in particular
European) partners, it
combines the pedagogical,
scientific, humane, and
material resources of a
consortium of schools,
universities, and educational
institutions. Being unique, it will have neither a campus, nor classrooms, nor its own
professorial staff, but will be based, at the highest level, on existing institutions and
organizations. HEC Paris will provide the pedagogical engineering guaranteeing the
cohesion and quality of the academic staff.
Acquiring New Know-Hows
Today, the African cotton sectors are facing profound changes connected to market
developments and to their own institutional upheavals. The volatility of cotton prices,
the depreciation of the exchange rate of the dollar compared with the euro and the CFA
franc, the American and European subsidies, added to the rising cost of the factors of
production, jeopardize the African cotton sectors. That is why FARM continues to be
active in helping the professional bodies to improve their competitiveness.
In the Direction of Equitable and Biologic CottonA sector of “equitable cotton” and of “bio-equitable” cotton in West and Central Africa (combining Benin, Burkina Faso,Cameroon, Mali, and Senegal) is currently being developed. The goal is to enable cotton producers to benefit from high value-added market niches, the demand for which is rapidly growing. Thus, at the end of the five-year project, 55,000 tons of equitablecotton fiber and 8,600 tons of bio-equitable cotton fiber will have been marketed.This project capitalizes on the deliberations held by the FARM “equitable and bio-equitable cotton” working group, which broughttogether players from the manufacturing (TDV Industries Laval, Hacot-Colombier, Dagris), the institutional (directors ofdevelopment at AEM, the AFD, the Regional Council of Brittany, and the CIRAD), and the NGO (Helvetas, Max Havelaar) sectors.The previous experiences in “equitable cotton”, implemented since 2003 in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, and Senegal, showedthat they were a powerful factor in improving quality and responsibility on the part of producers.One method for the forward valorization of African cotton production.
Continuingand Initial Education
The Cotton University is, first and foremost, a program of continuingeducation for agricultural professionals, the chosen heads ortechnical personnel of agricultural and rural organizations, and of theirpartners, in particular cotton associations and national administrations.It will provide the competencies and the know-hows necessary in order to:
■ offer a strategic vision that integrates market and technicalopportunities: strategic management;
■ share this vision with all the members of its organizationand the associations in the cotton sectors: leadership;
■ stimulate its staff to implement the vision: operational management;■ and get the national and regional political leaders to consider this vision:
advocacy and lobbying…A first initial training course will be held next September in Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso), the
registered address of the Cotton University. The continuing education program will be a roving one,and will circulate between the various cotton-growing sea basins.
The continuing education program will be completed by a master’s degree, designed forworking junior executives and for students. This degree will be granted by the Cotton
University to students completing their training courses and to junior executivesbenefiting from their first professional experience. This training will take place at
Bobo Dioulasso (Burkina Faso), in the heart of the cotton-growing sea basinsof West Africa, and will lead to a Masters' degree in Agricultural
Management, specializing in cotton.
Promoting the valorization
and differentiation of cotton
production in Africa.
The University provides
hope and a future.
���
A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7 Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life 11
In response to these challenges, the Cotton University intends to catalyze the
knowledge gained in the past in order to share it in the best possible manner, while
mastering the innovations in preparation for the future. It is a matter, in fact, of enabling
the producers and their organizations to acquire the new know-hows and competencies
indispensable for them in order to effectively meet their growing responsibilities and
to establish themselves as vital players and partners on the international scene.
A Strategic Tool
In this sense, the Cotton University is designed to be a strategic tool dedicated to the
professional bodies and its partners. Similarly, it sets itself up as a source of
managerial stimulation and a framework for training and sharing experiences
connected to the issues of the cotton sectors, namely, the new market opportunities
and the promotion of innovative productivity.
The idea is to establish new ways of thinking and acting in order to enhance the sector’s
economic and social performances, while structuring it in its relations with the
professional bodies and the cotton associations.
Thus, at the first stage, the university aims at meeting the training needs of the leaders
and managerial staff of the professional bodies and the cotton associations in the
manufacturing areas in West and Central Africa (Benin, Burkina, Cameroon, Central
African Republic, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Senegal,
Chad, and Togo).
Providing hope for millions of farmers and their
families, the Cotton University aims, in the
longer term, to meet the needs of
product diversification and of
development in all the agricultural
sectors ■
Contributing to the revival
of African cotton activity.
The Advantages of African CottonThe methods of cultivation practiced in Africa place African cotton among thosepresenting the least risks of pollution for producers and their environment, as well
as for the end-user. In effect, while upholding intensification programs necessaryfor competitiveness and for the durable farming, the African cotton sectors offertechnical paths that take into account ecological exigencies and the tougheconomic conditions of the producing countries. These constraints lead to alow use of fertilizers and pesticides whose active ingredients comply with thenorms determined by the WHO. The consumption of fuel and CO2 emissionsconnected to cultural practices are practically non-existent. Moreover,cotton cultivation in Sub-Saharan Africa is strictly pluvial, and does notcall for any irrigation techniques whatsoever, not even as a backup.Added to that, manual harvesting and, consequently, the absence ofdefoliants, contributes to making African cotton a cultivation that isamong the most respectful of the environment.
Extract of letter from Dagris, n° 25, November 2007: “African cotton: acotton unlike the others…”by Reynald Evangelista
In Africa, the cultivation
of cotton allows 10 million
people to live.
G. Paire/Fotolia
ccess to financing has been identified since its origination as
one of the priorities of institutions. It covers a large range of
credit products, in particular short-term loans of small sums of money intended for
farmers and for product marketers, to finance their professional activities, including
education and family health, or to have access to vital goods and services. The offer is,
moreover, very diversified and currently encompasses saving services, insurance con-
tributions, etc.
A tool for fighting poverty, inequality, and vulnerability, microfinance addresses those
who cannot benefit from classic banking systems. However, there is no denying that if
it is thriving in numerous countries as much in the north as in the south, it is not very
developed in rural areas, where it still inadequately finances agricultural activities. The
agricultural sector is at a disadvantage due to the constraints connected to its rural
context: lack of infrastructures and its remoteness, as well as by its insufficient level
of professional organization, even if it has been shown that agriculture plays a
leading role in the economies of developing countries.
And if access to financing appears to be one of the conditions for the
modernization of agriculture indispensable for the mitigation of poverty,
for all that, the loans granted to the agricultural sector by the financial
organizations frequently remain poorly adjusted. The poor population
impacted by microfinance services is thus assessed at 130 million
clients, primarily urban and suburban, whereas the needs impact
one billion people.
In this context, the challenge that FARM is meeting is
considerable, since it aims at making financing accessible to
the most impoverished agricultural populations.
A
A Reflectionon Partnership
As of 2006, FARM has put together a working groupon agricultural microfinance, in partnership withCrédit Agricole S.A., Crédit Agricole Consultant, theInstitute for Public Management and EconomicDevelopment (IGPDE), the AFD (the French DevelopmentAgency), the Committee of Exchange, Reflection, andInformation for Savings and Credit Systems (CERISE), andPlaNet Finance.Throughout 2007, male and female field workers, experts andscientists, collected the data, the experiences, and thetheoretical analyses of the projects conducted in Madagascar,in West Africa, and even in Ethiopia. So many factors, enabling
the organization of the conference of the microcredit playersduring the Paris International Agricultural Show, and the
laying of the foundations for the symposium, “WhichMicrofinance for the Agriculture of Developing Countries?”
A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life12
Microfinanceat the Service of Agriculture
The rapid growth of microfinance must be instrumentalin fighting exclusion by the banking systems, whose victims
are the overwhelming majority of farmers in the developingcountries. A “cultural” revolution backed by FARM.
Access to funding
is one of the conditions
for the modernization
of agriculture
indispensable for the
mitigation of poverty.
“Cul
tura
l”Revolutio
n
The challenge is considerable, because it relates
to making financing accessible to the most
impoverished agricultural populations.
M. Nznen
gou/
PNUD
RCA
A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7 Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life 13
Hope for Agriculture in the Developing Countries
In the developing countries, three out of every four poor persons live in the rural areas.
They depend heavily, directly or indirectly, on agricultural activities for their
subsistence. Sixty to 90% of all rural households thus derive their income from it, even
if the latter rarely constitutes their entire resources.
Family agriculture is, in fact, characterized by low productivity, mainly due to
insufficient investment in factors of production (fertilizers, phytosanitary products,
herbicides) or in equipment. Now, the implementation of such investments involves
access to sources of financing in the form
of short, medium, and long-term loans.
However, the farmers’ distance from
urban centers, coupled with the low-
income population’s lack of collateral,
have for a long time constituted major
obstacles for the development of formal
financial services accessible and adapted to
the characteristics of poor populations, whose
future is guaranteed by activities dependant
on exogenous factors (climatic hazards,
phytosanitary illnesses, evolution of selling
prices, etc.).
In this context, the development of
numerous microfinance initiatives,
designed to serve the rural populations
who, until now, have been denied access to
financial services procured through the banking
sector, creates real hope for the financing of
agriculture in the developing countries.
A Financial Tool for Global Development
Microfinance was tried out successfully in the 1980s, and currently holds promise
for agriculture. After being improved in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, it, in effect,
very soon became a favorite instrument in the politics of the fight against poverty.
International financial backers supported its expansion by issuing lines of credit and
subsidizing initial investment (premises, equipment, education, etc.).
Establishing a readiness to structure a credit market, the microfinance institutions
(MFIs) were subsequently prompted to expand their scope, and to become autonomous
and profitable. In this context, the strategies of many rural MFIs evolved in the direction
of a more financial logic, favoring the more profitable, smaller risk, rural zones, or
Peer-to-Peer Lending Symbolic of MicrofinanceDeveloped in Bangladesh in 1976 by Professor Muhammad Yunus, and continued by the Grameen Bank as of 1983, peer-to-peer lending is based on the idea that even the poorest population in the rural areas can valorize and manage credit.Credit, which can be a very small amount of money, is given to a group of borrowers, who together are guarantors for itsrepayment. If one member of the group defaults in a payment, the group settles his debt in his place. If the group does not repaythe loan, all the members of the group are denied access to credit.Grameen Bank and its founder were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Today, the bank has 1,400 branches in 50,000villages. Furthermore, as of 1992, India has developed the Self Help Groups, groups of investors with less than 20 members. Thesector has been growing rapidly for several years, with one million Self Help Groups benefiting from a bank loan in 2006. Withregard to microfinance, it is experiencing enormous growth, increasing annually by 36% since 2000.
The rate of the spread
of banking services
in the agricultural world
in Africa does not exceed
5% or 6%.
The Principlesof Microfinance
The goal of microfinance is to allow populationsexcluded from the classic banking system to haveenduring access to financial services. The premisesunderlying microfinance are as follows:
■ Those excluded, and in particular the poor, havethe capacity to develop economic activities
■ This capacity is impeded by the lack of capital■ If capital is made accessible to them, by an organization
adapted to their needs and constraints, they will becapable of valorizing this credit, repaying it, and ofimproving their standard of living: the poor will themextricate themselves from their poverty
■ Having the capacity to develop their economic activities, thepopulations currently excluded will contribute to global economicgrowth.
In order to reduce the risks (lack of collateral) and the costs (small totalsof transactions, assessment of repayment capacity), the microfinance
institutions have introduced innovations so that their modes ofintervention will promote the inclusion of the financially
excluded.
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A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life14
even opening offices in urban areas. Nevertheless, this retreat towards more privileged
areas has not impeded the rapid growth of microfinance, which is booming in most
southern countries. Consequently, a new conception of microfinance is being formed.
And, in spite of the commercial banks’ recent modest interest for the rural
environment, microfinance is still, today, often the only alternative for rural populations
to gain access to financial services ■
A Guide Dedicated to Financial Institutions and PAOsConceived and developed by the Tropical Agronomy School of Montpellier, France, SupAgro, in collaboration with IRAM (Institutefor Research and Application of Development Methods) and the CERISE network (Committee of Exchange, Reflection, andInformation for Savings and Credit Systems), the guide, “Farmer Organizations and Rural Financing Institutions: Building a NewAlliance Dedicated to Family Agriculture”, has benefited from the definite support of FARM.A comprehensive piece of work, designed as a practical tool for building partnerships between agricultural and rural professionalorganizations, on the one hand, and financial institutions, on the other. Originating in research work and training conductedprincipally in West Africa and Madagascar in the past decade, with insights developed more recently on South East Asia and LatinAmerica, its main objective is to strengthen the capacity of the PAOs and the financial institutions to analyze the needs andfinancing constraints of the PAOs and of their producers.The guide addresses the chosen leaders and technical staff of agricultural and rural organizations, the directors and technicalpersonnel of the financial institutions called on to work with the PAOs, as well as the systems supporting these players (NGOs,planning departments, training institutions, sponsors, etc.).
Symposium
FARM Mobilizes the Microfinance PlayersOn December 4 – 6, 2007, FARM, in partnership with the Institute for Public Managementand Economic Development (IGPDE), organized the symposium, “Which Microfinance forthe Agriculture of Developing Countries?”Bringing together almost 350 participants from various countries in Africa, LatinAmerica, Asia, and Europe, the conference was distinguished by the presence ofseveral leading personalities, among them Richard Meyer, Michel Petit, Henri Rouilléd’Orfeuil, Jacques Attali, Jean-Michel Servet, René Carron, and Jacques Diouf.So many microfinance players participated, showing that they formed a dynamic,involved and creative, international community, and reaffirming that microfinancecould allow the agricultural sector veritable access to financing tools.
FARM compiled a summary of the debates and contributions to thesymposium, discussing and analyzing them. As an extension of the FARM
symposium, CERISE and IRC Supagro are working on an operationalguide designed to bolster the consolidation of the partnership between
professional agricultural organizations and microfinance, entitled,“Farmer Organizations and Rural Financing Institutions: Buildinga New Alliance Dedicated to Family Agriculture” – AnOperational Guide. They propose a virtual conference inorder to discuss and validate its contents.
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Looking to foster the development of microfinance
institutions in developing countries and emerging
economies, Crédit Agricole S.A. and Grameen Trust
create a dedicated foundation.
A.Go
ular
d
A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7 Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life 15
Launched in 2006, the working group bringing together the
professionals and experts of FARM, SUEZ, the AFD (the French
Development Agency), and the major accepted institutions in the fields of drinking
water, decontamination, and irrigation in developing countries, accomplished its goal
in December 2007.
On the basis of the findings of the surveys conducted, FARM defined its lines of
activity, prioritizing support for users and operators deprived of water
services, the outlook for the equilibrium of resources and of water uses,
and the launching of pilot projects focusing on innovative techniques
in irrigation and in decontamination in rural areas, such as that of
the Network of Farmers in Mediterranean Irrigated Systems.
The water in the Mediterranean is, in effect, a rare, fragile, and
unequally distributed resource. In many countries in both the
northern and southern Mediterranean Basin, the depletion
of water is approaching the lower limit level of available
resources, and the predicted climatic changes will only
increase the difficulties in meeting demands, whether urban
or agricultural. In the southern Mediterranean countries,
irrigation alone represents 80% of the total demand.
Consequently, water is one of the top-priority problems for the
durable development of the Mediterranean.
Good Water Management
Strengthening its collaboration with the organization,
“Mediterranean Exchanges for Water, Forests, and Development”,
FARM lent its backing to the seminar organized in Spring, 2007, in Paris,
on water management in situations of scarcity in the Mediterranean area,
bringing together some 60 participants, mainly from Morocco, Tunis, Algeria,
Lebanon, Mali, and Germany.
It was an opportunity to focus on the global situation of water resources in the region,
and to study specific measures connected to sea basins and their perimeters in order
to gain better control over the consumption of water.
Faced with the rarefaction of water resources due both to demographical growth in the
southern Mediterranean region and to climatic changes that have considerably reduced
L
MediterraneanExchanges
Mediterranean Exchanges, with which FARMcooperates in the field of water, is an
international organization that was founded in June2000. Its goal is to pool the expertise and experienceof its members in the fields of water, forests, and, ingeneral, all the systems contributing to ruraldevelopment and the management of natural resources.Chaired by Georges de Maupeou, it intervenes in France,Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Lebanon, andcontinues to grow rapidly throughout the Mediterraneanperimeter, in Italy, Greece, and Egypt. The organization todaynumbers over 200 members, the majority of whom intervene
in rural planning and the sustainable development of theircountries. In the middle of March last year, Mediterranean
Exchanges organized in Paris, with the support of FARM,a seminar on “Water Management in Situations of
Scarcity in the Mediterranean Area”.
FARM is conducting and backing innovative initiativesin the field of water in the rural areas of the developing
countries. These activities likewise relate to accessto agricultural water, to drinking water, and to decontamination.
Water,a Source of Development
Water
Prioritizing localized
irrigation.
Developing solutions
for the better management
of water resources.
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G. Paire/Fotolia
A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life16
the average annual rainfall (by roughly 20%) in 20 years, certain subterranean areas
are being exploited much beyond their capacity of natural regeneration.
There are ways to handle the scarcity of water resources in the Maghrib
countries, and to meet the demand for drinking water and improve the
standard of living (public infrastructure projects, desalination of seawater,
reuse of water after purification), but it transpires that they are costly
and require behavior changes (fighting leakages, water saving).
Consequently, the participants insisted on the importance of
conducting active water saving policies, especially in the agricultural
sector, the biggest water consumer, in close association with the
farmers affected.
Localized Irrigation at the Core
of Agricultural Development in the Maghrib
In the Maghrib, the adoption of drip irrigation systems, which use less water, can thus
enable marked savings of this resource, and better valorization by the various
converging sectors (grain, milk, market gardening, citrus fruit, etc.).
In fact, in this region of North Africa, where sustainable water resources are less than
1,000 cubic meters per person per year (the poverty line), access to water for irrigation
is an essential factor in agricultural product systems.
The reversion from gravity irrigation to localized or drip irrigation, which uses less
water, is a priority method in the southern Mediterranean countries. Localized
irrigation is, however, a costly option for farmers, and requires an intensification of
existing cultivations, indeed the introduction of higher value added cultivations.
Thus, in Morocco, the vast majority of irrigated ground is located in small and medium-
sized family farms (less than 50 hectares), representing over half of the one and a half
million farms there, but they do not have the same assets at their disposal as the big
farms.
In this context, support of this type of irrigated system, to accompany this indispensable
modernization, constitutes a priority in terms of agricultural development ■
Network of Farmers in Mediterranean Irrigated Systems Project
The first phase of the project, Network of Farmers in Mediterranean Irrigated Systems (RIM) (2008-2009), will take placemainly in Morocco, in the regions of Agadir, Casablanca, Fez, and Meknes.
Backed by FARM, the goal of the RIM project is to lend a helping hand by offering training in the modernization of irrigation inthe southern Mediterranean countries. It will be designed for the members of family farming groups and for developmentexecutives, to accompany water valorization projects.Launched in Morocco, the Network of Farmers in Mediterranean Irrigated Systems project relies on the experience of otherjoint measures relating to the training of agricultural professionals, in particular the regional project, SIRMA (Water Saving inIrrigated Systems in the Maghrib), financed by a Priority Solidarity Fund of the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs.Besides training farmers and executives, the first phase of the project also aims at arousing the awareness of the localadministrations and executives.Organized around components of individual and collective experiences, the implementation of new water saving technologies,the new adapted production systems, and the management of collective networks, the RIM project likewise envisages specificactivity designed for executives, to accompany farmer groups.Training will be accompanied by information, awareness raising, and a meeting with the relevant administrative executives.
PartnershipsFARM collaborates with the NationalSchool of Agriculture in Meknes, the JointResearch Unit of Water Management, players,Usages of Montpellier, the MediterraneanExchanges for Water, Forests, and Development
organization, the Chamber of Agriculture in the Lotdépartement, as well as Moroccan professionals,
to help with the implementation of new techniquesof agricultural water management in the
Mediterranean Basin, with the supportof the French Ministry of Foreign and
European Affairs.
Conducting working
policies to save water.
Water is a resource that
is scarce, fragile, and
unequally distributed.
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A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7 Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life 17
he utilization of satellite images to guide the flocks of the
Tuareg and of the Fula in the desert to areas where biomass
is adequate for the number of animals, the prediction of livestock epidemics, access to
market rates with the help of the cell phone in Senegal, utilization of Geographic
Information Systems in Jamaica as a phytosanitary surveillance tool… The modern
means of telecommunication (Internet, cell phone) today make operational information,
which is so important in product planning and marketing, accessible to farmers and
growers in the southern countries.
Aware of the importance of the issues at hand, FARM collaborated with the Tech for
Food forum, organized last year in Paris and designed to promote the new
technologies for the benefit of agriculture and food products in the southern
countries. Subject, nonetheless, to their managing to control their assets
and their insufficiencies.
The NICT at FARM
The realization of the potential of the new communication tools
and methodologies for agriculture depends, in effect, on the
adequacy of these technologies for local contexts, on the one
hand and, on the other, on a change of the model for their
utilization for collaboration, transparency, and sharing.
The information and communication technologies (ICT) can
play a key role in increasing the effectiveness of the production
and the marketing of agricultural products in developing
countries. That is why FARM is conducting studies and is putting
together working groups on the consistent and responsible
application of the ICT by and for farmers in the southern countries.
Thus, one essay is being prepared, devoted to the utilization of
information and communication technologies by farmers in the
developing countries, from the perspective of the conditions for an
agricultural information system, guaranteeing cultural and cognitive
adaptation to the reality on the ground, to succeed.
The employment of information and communication technologies in the
development of agriculture in the southern countries must, in effect, confront
important challenges. Besides their limited accessibility in the rural areas of
developing countries, the need to train their users, and the fact that these tools and
T
The First Techfor Food Forum
Organized in the framework of the ParisInternational Agricultural Show, the first Tech forFood forum enlisted the help of FARM, alongside TVAgri and CNES. The objective of this joint workshop wasto demonstrate how the new technologies represented anasset for the development of agriculture and of foodproducts in the southern countries.With the explosion and relative democratization of the newtechnologies, agriculture today benefits from the progressmade in other sectors, such as space, Internet, cell phones,and mobile laboratories. Tech for Food is based on the
principle that these technologies should likewise act asdriving forces in the development of agriculture in the
southern countries. Technology should not merely be aconsequence of development – it should be its driving
force.
Helping with information, commercial exchanges, landand natural resource management, the prevention of natural
risks, etc., FARM is helping place the new technologiesat the service of agriculture in the southern countries.
The new information technologiesat the service of agriculture
NICT
The new information
and communication technologies
at the service of agriculture
in the southern countries.
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P. Ayala/Fotolia
A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life18
applications are not adapted to the reality of the rural world in developing countries,
which often suffer from a high rate of illiteracy, it is also necessary, for example, to
make the farmers aware of the usefulness and the contribution made by these
information tools and of sharing this new form of literacy.
With the aim of generating operational projects that will strongly impact the
development of agriculture in the southern countries, FARM would like to approach
these challenges concretely. This includes the development of tools and methodologies
that meet the needs of farmers in developing countries,
the examination of the potentialities of
information and communication
technologies for agriculture, and
evaluating the pertinence and
effectiveness of the findings ■
Selling Your Crops Thanksto the Cell Phone and the InternetAccess to the market, knowing daily prices and the best time to sell yourcrop, being able to choose from different sales offers, and setting upremunerative sectors are some of the applications offered by the Internet andthe cell phone. It is a technological boom that is currently revolutionizing themarketing of agricultural products in the southern countries. Internet platforms andcell phones, which are increasingly accessible there, meet the information needs, andenhance the income, of farmers and producers in these countries, who at times wouldotherwise know nothing about the functioning of a particular sector or about prices.
In Africa, the number of subscriptions to cell phones has thus been increasing by 50% a yearfor the past five years. Together with Web platforms, the cell phone already represents a
wonderful springboard for access to information (prices and markets for staple agricultural productsin Cameroon) and for training. It also provides opportunities for online trading and selling (electronicmoney in the Philippines), and allows for improved adaptation to the markets (diversification of products
in Colombia).However, as pointed out by Director-General of FARM, Bernard Bachelier, who is deeply involved in
the possible applications of the Internet and the cell phone for the development of agriculture inthe southern countries, the new technologies are still absent from agriculture in some
developing countries, West Africa still being slow to benefit from this progress. So, thereis an immediate need to unite all forces – scientific communities, professional
organizations, microfinance bodies, etc. – so that the promises embodied inthese new tools can be materialized for the benefit of those needing them.
Being better informed,
producing better,
marketing better.
Internet and the cell
phone as tools
of development.
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DR
A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7 Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life 19
n the course of 2007, and still more sharply at the beginning
of 2008, the world began to realize the full extent of the
agricultural issues. The international community is rallying in the face of the alimentary
crisis. Plans of action are being launched to improve the situation with regard to
alimentation and agriculture.
However, the broad reality has not yet been modified. The agreements between the
European Union and the African regions are unsigned, and regional integration is not
moving forward. There has been no progress in the negotiations with the World Trade
Organization, and the measures for promoting development have not been decided on.
Agricultural prices have indeed risen, but those of the factors of production and, in
particular, of fertilizers have skyrocketed.
In this context, the priority is make the facts clear, to rally forces, and to support
activities promoting investment for the benefit of agriculture in the poor countries.
FARM is proceeding with the work it is committed to, and is increasing its efforts. FARM
is acting with its partners in the northern and southern countries, so that their
developing agriculture can profit from the international context and from France’s
involvement on the occasion of its presidency of the European Union. FARM is, in
particular, active in:
■ enabling everyone to express themselves, by way of the Internet forum
www.nourrirlemonde.org;
■ providing clarifications on the reality of production potential,
and on the effect of agricultural prices on producers locally
(end of year seminar on agricultural prices);
■ reinforcing its partnerships with the French players – in particular
with the agricultural organizations; joint statement with AFDI, FERT,
and CAF: “Developing World Agriculture: Towards a Renewed
Partnership between Professionals”;
■ participating in operational initiatives among the Mediterranean players
in the framework of a Mediterranean Union project.
Moreover, in this time of crisis, FARM is granting priority to emergency activities
supporting local food-production, so that the farmers in the developing countries can
themselves respond to, and profit from, the general dynamics, and guarantee that
their fellow citizens have enough food.
I
Perspectives R. Razvan/Fotolia
Mirosla
v/Fotolia