The Agenda and Actions of Small Men and Women Farmers

Presentation -Panel Session
November 3, 2007
ACSC+, Peninsula Excelsior, Singapore

The Agenda and Actions of Small Men and Women Farmers

by Mr. Niran Buasiri
Executive Committee Member, Sor Kor Por

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, fellow people from Southeast Asian countries. I am glad to be here, side by side with representatives from grassroots organizations of fishers, and indigenous peoples, and rural women as well as partner NGOs. We welcome opportunities such as this whereby we collectively discuss our common concerns, agenda and action points.

During the plenary session this morning, we have spoken about the main issues and concerns besetting small men and women farmers in Southeast Asia. We have also outlined some specific policy recommendations on agriculture.

At this point, may we further AFA’s agenda and efforts in the promotion of its agenda.

Who We Are

AFA is a regional alliance of farmer federations and organizations in eight countries in East Asia, representing ten million farmers. As a regional organization, we aim to be:

a. an advocacy group on farmers’ rights and development, at national, regional
and international levels
b. a facilitator of our members’ commercial activities
c. a venue for solidarity and exchange

Our members are in Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. We hope to expand our membership to other East and South Asia countries in the next three years.

Farmers’ Situation and Issues

1. Asia is the world’s largest and most populous continent, with more than 60% of total human population. It is the largest consumer of rice; it has the most extensive forestry and fishery resources as well.

2. The farming population in Southeast Asia is on the average 40-80%, as compared to Europe, which has only 5% farming population, and US, 1.7%.

3. As of 2002, the population of poor people or those who earn less than US$ 1/day is 1.2 billion, of which 75% (or 900M people) is found in the rural areas, and in which 600M people alone are found in rural South Asia.

4. The poverty situation in ASEAN countries (2002) range from 32% in Thailand up to 77.7% in Cambodia, mainly from the rural areas.

<$1/day $2/day cambodia 34.1% 77.7% indonesia 7.2 52.4 lao pdr 26.3 73.2 malaysia 2 9.3 Philippines 14.6 46.4 thailand 2 32.5 vietnam 17.7 63.7 5. The typical farmer in East and South Asia is : -small scale, subsistence farmer , working on lands less than 2 hectares , either a man or a woman. 6. Our main problems are: a. lack of access and control over natural resources, mainly land and water. If we do not own the lands we till, we cannot decide on how best to use them for our own benefit. We will remain to be poor however big the income from the farm will be, as much of the income go to the landowners. b. insecure incomes and massive displacement due to global agricultural trade liberalization. Advocates of free trade promised development to developing countries. But our experience in the ten years of implementation of WTO, and ASEAN economic integration through free trade, say that this is not so. The rules of global agricultural trade are unfair. It is like Sumo wrestling where one contestant weighs 200 kilos, and the other, just 50 kilos. Agricultural products from the developed countries are heavily subsidized, thus they are sold cheaper in our markets. Governments of developing countries subsidize very little, if at all. We can hardly compete. The entry of cheap agricultural products in our countries have lowered our incomes and made us more insecure. Many of us have lost our livelihoods. c. food security risks We are asked to plant export crops – asparagus, cut flowers, etc. But many of us are afraid to do this, because we do not know how to plant them, we don't have the capital, and we don’t know where to sell them. We want to plant staple crops because at least we will be assured we will have something to eat. If our countries will depend on imports for even our staple food, like rice, chicken and vegetables, what will happen to us if suddenly there is shortage of supply from them? Even if we will have the money, we will go hungry. d. increasing dependence on big national and translational agribusiness corporations -Agriculture technologies being promoted by governments rely more and more on seeds, systems, inputs produced and sold by big agribusiness corporations. e. climate change – We are becoming more and more vulnerable to global climate change. We still do not know how we can cope us with the effects of global warming in our farms and communities. f. inadequate government support to agriculture, specially to small men and women farmers- We find governments' inadequate support g. weak organization of farmer’s groups and representation in government decision making bodies – except in Vietnam and Korea, only 10-20% of farmers are organized , able to put a significant number of people in government offices. Our Bases of Unity Farmers' organizations came together in Afa to promote an 8-point peasant agenda, which includes: 1. promote sustainable agricultural policies and practices 2. study and promote alternatives to globalization 3. promote agriculture towards the young 4. promote fair and just treatment of farmers in developing countries 5. promote food security measures to small farmers 6. promote farmer-to-farmer market exchanges 7. push for an ASEAN provision on access to farm resources, and rural development and protection of human rights 8. strengthen AFA at national and regional levels, so it becomes able to participate in international development processes. Current Efforts in Advocacy and On-Ground Projects In promoting the above agenda, one of our strategic aims is to influence key inter-governmental regional and international decision-making bodies on common agricultural issues affecting small men and women farmers, namely: a. ASEAN economic integration, including ASEAN charter and FTAs with various countries b. GATT-WTO-AoA /Doha Round c. FAO - for pro small farmer policies and programs and support to on-ground SA projects d. IFAD Farmers' Forum – for genuine representation of farmers in agricultural policies and programs , and for support for capacity building work and on-ground poverty alleviation projects e. WB - for more pro-small farmer agricultural framework and policies We also would like to be actively involved in discussions about climate change and bio-fuels, as these emerging issues are likely to impact seriously on us. We know we have to increase our efforts in providing and delivering projects that have tangible benefits to our members, be it in the area of agrarian reform, sustainable agriculture, pro-small farmer marketing and trading. We need support in project development, technical assistance and financing of on-ground initiatives. What we have discussed so far are possibilities of up scaling systematic rice intensification and SA for several fruits and vegetables in selected countries. AFA has been engaging ASEAN, WTO, WB, IFAD and FAO in the promotion of these issues. Although, admittedly, we are still very new in this field. Advocacy is still weak, and needs a lot of improvement in terms of policy research/analysis, proposal formulation, and lobby work. We also need to know what specific units in these organizations should we target in pursuing our agenda. In ASEAN, we have collaborated with the SAPA, and this year with APA. With the help of AsiaDHRRA, we have conducted a dialogue with ASEAN Sec Gen Ong Keng Yong last March 2007. The dialogue was a culmination of our consultation workshop on ASEAN- related issues. What we hope we can do during this panel session is to organize ourselves as a constituency of farmers, fishers and IPs and their partner NGOs, whom ASEAN can consult on matters affecting our sectors – for example through an ASEAN Farmers' /Fishers/IPs Council. Thank you very much. Have a good day!