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A Framework for Actionon Agriculture

WEHAB Working GroupAugust 2002

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Printed on Recycled Paper


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Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments 5

Agriculture: Key Issues and Challenges 7

Addressing the Challenges in Agriculture 12

Agriculture: Frameworks for Action 17

AnnexesMajor Agreements on Agriculture and Their Objectives 23

UN System Capacities in Agriculture 27

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5

preface

The WEHAB initiative was proposed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as a contribution to the preparations forthe World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). It

seeks to provide focus and impetus to action in the five keythematic areas of Water, Energy, Health, Agriculture andBiodiversity and ecosystem management that are integral toa coherent international approach to the implementation ofsustainable development and that are among the issues con-tained in the Summits Draft Plan of Implementation.

The five thematic papers are based on initial consultationswith concerned agencies of the UN System and are notintended to be consensus documents reflecting the totality ofUN System activities in these areas. They do, however, try toprovide a broad view of existing normative and program-matic frameworks in each area, to highlight interlinkages

among the sectors, to identify key gaps and challenges andto highlight areas where further action is needed.

The WEHAB initiative also responds to resolution 55/199of the UN General Assembly that mandated the WSSDpreparatory process and decided that the Summit shouldfocus on areas where further efforts are needed to implementAgenda 21and that action-oriented decisions in those areasshould address new challenges and opportunities. In thatregard, the initiative takes fully into account the text of theDraft Plan of Implementation agreed at the fourth meetingof the Preparatory Committee for the WSSD in Bali, as wellas existing agreed multilateral frameworks. It includes pro-

posals for a number of targeted actions in each of the sectoralareas that are anchored in various intergovernmentallyagreed multilateral frameworks on the basis of an incremen-tal approach to meeting broad targets.

The UN General Assembly, in resolution 56/226 on theWorld Summit on Sustainable Development, also encour-aged new initiatives that would contribute to the full imple-mentation of Agenda 21and other outcomes of UNCED bystrengthening commitments at all levels, including by rein-vigorating global commitment and partnerships, bothamong governments as well as between governments andmajor groups. Partnerships have thus emerged as an impor-

tant aspect of the further implementation of Agenda 21.While partnerships may involve several actors and be of abroad nature, the WEHAB initiative, drawing as it does onintergovernmental frameworks, could provide a structure forpartnerships in these five areas and in this regard couldpotentially serve as a framework for benchmarking actionand monitoring progress in the follow-up to the WSSD.

Due to constraints of time, the initial approach taken in thepreparation of the WEHAB initiative was, of necessity,somewhat selective and is not meant to imply any priorities

Preface and Acknowledgmentsat this stage. If member states believe that a co-ordinatedapproach to implementation in these areas is required, how-ever, the WEHAB initiative potentially provides a frame-

work for the development of a coherent and co-ordinatedfollow-up by the UN System based on the intergovernmen-tally agreed outcome of WSSD. As such, it should be seen asthe beginning of a process of follow-up by the UN System.

More than 100 people contributed to the production ofthese booklets. The list is too long to name everyone here.The names that follow are of individuals who spent a greatdeal of their time in drafting, providing texts, reading mate-rial and giving overall advice. This project would have neverbeen possible without the exemplary joint team work. Thisis, in fact, an example of the outstanding capacities of theUN System and the World Bank and their capacity to pro-

duce team work in record time with very good quality.

Composition of the Working Group:

Leader: Luis Gomez-Echeverri (UNDP)

Water Volume Lead Authors and Co-ordinators:Manuel Dengo (UNDESA)Alvaro Umana (UNDP)

Energy Volume Lead Authors and Co-ordinators:Jarayo Gururaja (UNDESA)Susan McDade (UNDP)

Irene Freudenschuss-Reichl (UNIDO)

Health Volume Lead Authors and Co-ordinators:Yasmin von Schirnding (WHO)Vanessa Tobin (UNICEF)

Agriculture Volume Lead Authors and Co-ordinators:Volume compiled by Luis Gomez-Echeverri with inputsfrom FAO, World Bank and CGIAR

Biodiversity Volume Lead Authors and Co-ordinators:Peter Schei (UNEP High-Level Advisor)

Charles McNeill (UNDP)

The Core Team consisted of the above plus several othersfrom various agencies: Adnan Amin (UNEP), Yves Bergevin(UNICEF), Fernando Casado (UNIDO), MuhammadAslam Chaudry (UNDESA), Anilla Cherian (consultant),Mark Collins (UNEP-WCMC), Boyd Haight (FAO),Nicholas Hughes (FAO), Maaike Jansen (UNEP), KristenLewis (consultant), Kui-Nang Mak (UNDESA), NwanzeOkidegbe (World Bank), Terri Raney (FAO) and FranciscoReifschneider (CGIAR).


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Other staff members of the many agencies listed on theinside back cover provided a number of useful inputs andcontributions. Many of them, as in UNEP, FAO and WHO,spent a great deal of time reviewing and providing texts.They are too many to list but we appreciate their timely andvaluable inputs. We would like part icularly to thank UNEP,

UNDP, the World Banks Environmentally and SociallySustainable Development Network, UNDESA, UNIDO andWH O for the valuable and substantive support and for plac-ing a large number of the core staff and resources at our dis-posal.

The project benefited greatly from the contributions ofHigh-Level Advisors who took time to read various draftsand provide useful comments: Margaret Catley-Carlson,Gourisankar Ghosh, Hartwig de Haen, Thomas Johansson,Sir Richard Jolly, Calestous Juma, Izabella Koziell, StephenKarekezi, Roberto Lenton, Alex McCalla, Jeffrey McNeely,Peter Raven, Pedro Sanchez and M.S. Swaminathan. The

project also benefited from the work of the MillenniumProject and its director, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director ofthe Earth Institute of Columbia University.

For this volume on agriculture, special thanks go to SheilaAggarwal-Khan (UNEP), Shawki Barghouti (World Bank),Robert Bordonaro (FAO), Sumiter Broca (FAO), KevinCleaver (World Bank), Rodney Cooke (IFAD), AhmedDjoghlaf (UNEPGEF), Sushma Gangully (World Bank),Kristalina Georgieva (World Bank), Nicholas Hughes(FAO), Sarwat Hussain (CGIAR), Stamoulis Kostas (FAO),Manuel Lantin (CGIAR), Nwanze Okidegbe (World Bank),Francisco Reifschneider (CGIAR), Anna Tengberg (UNEP),

Terri Raney (FAO), Mohamed Sessay (UNEP), David Smith(UNEP) and James Sniffen (UNEP), and to High-LevelAdvisors Hartwig de Haen, Alex McCalla and PedroSanchez.

We would also like to thank the team that produced thebooklets, especially Jane Coppock of the Yale School ofForestry & Environmental Studies, who managed the pro-duction; Dottie Scott, page layout; and Yale Reprographicsand Imaging Services (RIS), which did the design and print-ing. They put in a great deal of effort to make this project

happen. We thank them.

Very special thanks to Linda Starke, editor of all the volumes.Her outstanding contribution and deep knowledge aboutthe issues discussed here made this project possible.

Our thanks also to Mr. Mark Malloch Brown, Administratorof UNDP, Dr. Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of UNEP,and Mr. Ian Johnson, Vice-President, World Bank, for thesupport they have provided for this project.

Last but not least, this project would never have seen thelight of day without the unstinting efforts of Luis Gomez-

Echeverri of UNDP, who came to New York to lead theWEHAB Working Group and to manage the project thatproduced these contributions to WSSD in a very shortperiod of time.

Nitin DesaiSecretary-GeneralWorld Summit on Sustainable Development

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a framework for action on agriculture


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7

Agriculture plays a crucial role in sustainable developmentand in hunger and poverty eradication. Some 70 per cent ofpoor and hungry people in developing countries live in ruralareas and depend directly or indirectly on agriculture fortheir livelihoods.

Agricultural productivity growth can bring about swift andsustainable reductions in hunger and poverty, for farmincomes rise when productivity increases. When this hap-pens, small-scale farmers and rural labourers spend the addi-tional income largely on food and basic non-farm productsand services in rural areas, which tend to be produced andprovided locally. Non-farm enterprises, both formal andinformal, offer the poor a potential escape route from pover-ty, since they usually require little capital or training to set

up. The extra income from agricultural growth can createdemand for these goods and services, creating a virtuous cir-cle in which agricultural and rural off-farm income grow andsustain each others growthand often that of the wholeeconomy. Such broad-based development opens up newopportunities for reducing poverty and hunger.

Over the past 30 years, agricultural productivity growthresulting from successful agricultural research and develop-ment meant food production in developing countriestripled, outstripping population growth. Over the same peri-od, the proportion of undernourished people dropped from35 to 17 per cent, real prices of the main cereal crops

declined dramatically and poverty decreased.

These results were achieved despite the declining availabilityof land and water resources per person, but they often result-ed in the depletion or degradation of the natural resourcebase, generating costs that are only now being realized. It fol-lows that future increases in food and other agricultural pro-duction will have to come mainly from sustainably intensi-fied and more efficient use of these limited resources, partic-ularly water. In order to accomplish this, it is necessary toassess development activities in terms of their potentialimpacts on natural resources as well as their dependence onthe availability and quality of these resources. Public and pri-

vate investment must be increased to manage the resourcebase, improve technical production efficiency and create anenabling environment for the implementation of policiesand practices that foster sustainable increases in agriculturalproduction. If this process is correctly designed and imple-mented, the economic prosperity generated through hungerreduction can create the demand and means for the sustain-able use of natural resources, which in turn can contribute toincreased prosperity.

But there are serious constraints to making agriculturalintensification and growth a vehicle for sustainable hungerand poverty reduction, including the following:

Natural resource constraints. Arable land per person indeveloping countries has shrunk from 0.32 hectares in1961/63 to 0.21 hectares in 1997/99 and is expected todrop to 0.16 hectares by 2030. At the same time, severalprocesses are contributing to declining quality of landresources. Soil erosion is responsible for about 40 per centof land degradation world-wide, while 2030 per cent ofirrigated land in developing countries has been damagedby waterlogging or salinity. Extreme poverty and hungerpush people onto marginal lands and more fragile ecosys-tems characterized by drought stress and low soil fertility.Yield growth, which contributed more than 70 per cent to

crop production increases in the last four decades, slowedduring the 1990s, and environmental stress increased.Long-term investments in land resources are needed toreverse these processes, but insecure land tenure frequent-ly limits the capacity and incentives to achieve this.Expansion of irrigated areas is expected to slow, yetincreased cropping intensity will put additional stress onwater resources, leading to more competition for fresh-water resources.

a framework for action on health and the environment

Agriculture: Key Issues and Challenges

About 70 per cent of poor people in developing

countries live in rural areas and depend directlyor indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods.

Since 1985, more than 7 million agriculturalworkers have died from AIDS in the 25 countriesmost affected by the epidemic.

About 70 per cent of the water currently with-drawn from all freshwater sources is used foragriculture.

Agricultural expansion has contributed to globalhabitat loss, including more than half of ecologi-cally high-value wetlands.

Nearly 40 per cent of the worlds agriculturalland experiences serious productivity reductionsdue to soil degradation, with rates up to 75 percent for some regions.

Of the 260 million hectares of irrigated landworld-wide, 80 million are affected by saliniza-tiona concentration of salt in the soil surfacethat severely reduces soil fertility.


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Poor rural infrastructure. Rural areas of most developingcountries face a deteriorating stock of rural infrastructureand inadequate levels of services, reducing the competi-tiveness of rural producers outside local markets andrestricting their access to current market information.Rural areas lack roads and bridges, small-scale irrigation

systems, post-harvest storage facilities, processing andmarket facilities, health clinics, electricity and telecommu-nication facilities. Upgrading these basic infrastructuresand services will stimulate private-sector investment infood processing for added value, safety, storage and mar-keting.

Poorly functi oning rural financial markets. Rural householdsin developing countries need an integrated rural financialsystem that allows small savers to save conveniently andcheaply and that provides insurance and credit.Unfortunately, this need israrely met. As a result, thepoor find it difficult to copewith risks of various sorts andcannot afford to purchaseimportant inputs such as fer-tilizer, chemicals and farmmachinery or to hire addi-tional labour even when itwould be profitable to do so.And many risky but potentially profitable investments arenot undertaken because the consequences of failure can becatastrophic for people on the edge of survival with noinsurance, no savings and no line of credit to fall back on.

Poor systems for knowledge generation and dissemination.

Research on technologies and production methods thatyield few private benefits to researchers, but that can pro-vide sustainable increases in agricultural production andimproved management of natural resources among poorpopulations, is seriously underfunded. This includes mostforms of pro-poor technology development and mostapproaches to farm development that do not depend onthe increased use of purchased inputssuch as integratedpest management and measures to raise the organic mattercontent of soils or to improve fertilizer use efficiency(through biological nitrogen fixation, for instance)orthat rely on the sustainable use of genetic resources.National agricultural research and extension systems,many of which have lost some of their effectiveness, alsoneed to increase their capacity to respond better to thetechnology needs of small farmers.

Market access and globali zati on. Markets are importantdrivers for agricultural growth, making cash crops attrac-tive and allowing specialization and diversification intonew products. In many developing countries, however,market access faces constraints such as inadequate physicalinfrastructure, sanitary and phytosanitary barriers, unsta-ble market opportunities related to production variability,

relatively small markets, lack of current market informa-tion and trading skills, uncertain policy environments andrapidly changing trade regulations. International trade inhigh-value products such as fresh fruit, vegetables, aqua-culture products and flowers has created an opportunityfor developing-world farmers to compete in export mar-

kets. On-going negotiations are aimed at making worldmarkets accessible and based on fair competition.

Unfinished policy and institutional reforms. Appropriateinstitutions and policies are necessary conditions foragricultural productivity growth. They create the enablingenvironment in which markets guide the combination ofland, water and plant and animal genetic resourceswithappropriate technologies, financial capital, labour andinfrastructure to produce growth. Legal and regulatoryframeworks, trade and taxation policies and sector-specific

policies all influence theincentives facing farmers.Overvalued exchange rates andprotection for industry, forexample, act as an implicit taxon agriculture and reducefarmers incentives to produce.

Although these constraints dopose difficult challenges, they

can be overcomeas the experience of several countries shows.

In the lead-up to the World Summit on SustainableDevelopment, it is essential to focus on issues and actionsthat target reductions in poverty, hunger and environmental

degradation and that are needed to promote sustainable eco-nomic growth. (See Box 1.) The remainder of this chapterconsiders agricultures place among the five key areasdescribed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan as critical globalchallenges of the twenty-first century: water and sanitation,energy, health and the environment, agriculture and biodi-versity and ecosystem management (WEHAB). (See Figure.)

Agriculture and Water

Agriculture dominates water consumption. The UN Foodand Agriculture Organization estimates that agriculturalwater use accounts for some 70 per cent of water withdrawals

in a range of small-, medium- and large-scale irrigation ini-tiatives. At the smaller end, stable access to reliable sources ofwater for small-scale irrigation, stock-watering and house-hold use has been instrumental in allowing poor rural com-munities to build a set of assets and break out of poverty.

The performance of many of the larger irrigation schemes ispoor, however, because water management has failed torespond to changing markets for irrigated produce, farmerpreferences, hydro-environmental limits and competition forraw water from municipalities and other productive uses. As

Extreme poverty and hunger push

people onto marginal lands and more

fragile ecosystems characterized by

drought stress and low soil ferti li ty.


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key issues and challenges

a result, there is considerable scope for improving the pro-ductivity and efficiency of certain types of agricultural wateruse, not only to maintain the integrity of natural freshwatersystems but also to be able to negotiate continued allocationsin the face of tough economic competition. This is mostapparent in the inherently water-scarce countries in South

Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, where thereliance on groundwater, in particular, has led to a significantincrease in quantity and quality of irrigated produce but alsoa rapid decline in water tables and pollution of key aquifers.

Mitigating the environmental and social impacts of irrigatedagriculture through protection of the water resource base orgeneration of alternative economic opportunities is a respon-sibility that agriculture will be increasingly called on toshoulder in the near- to medium-term future. Water-savingtechnologies and institutional adaptations are already com-ing into play, whether by default or design. The challengewill be spurring the agricultural sector to become much more

responsive to these calls for responsible water resource usewhile maintaining levels of irrigated production to meetchanging demand patterns.

Agriculture and Energy

From an energy perspective, agriculture has a double role:energy consumer and energy producer. All stages of the foodchainfrom land preparation to irrigation, fertilization,mechanization, processing, conservation, transport and con-sumptionrequire one form of energy or another. A combi-nation of fossil fuels and, increasingly, renewable energiessuch as biomass, solar and wind need to contribute to agri-

cultures sustainability and productivity.

Box 1: Immediate Action Roll Back Hunger in Africa

When African farmers are asked what their biggestproblems are, they most often mention soil fertility andwater availability. Sub-Saharan Africa is the only regionin the world that does not produce enough food, and

farmers pay two to six times as much at the farmgate forfertilizers as other farmers do. One way forward isscaling up new agroforestry practices that replenish soilfertility and that are currently used by about 100,000farmers throughout east and southern Africa.

The key entry point is replenishing soil fertility byusing natural resources, mainly nitrogen from the airwith leguminous tree fallows and phosphorus fromsmall indigenous rock phosphate deposits in artisanalways. And there are no transportation costsbypassingthis infrastructure bottleneckbecause the trees aregrown during the dry season in the same fields where

maize grows during the rainy season.Some 22,000 farmers using tree fallows in Malawireport they are not suffering from hunger this year,because the increased water-holding capacity of soils isameliorating the current drought. Scaling up from hun-dreds of thousands to hundreds of millions is the chal-lenge. The main responses needed are transmission ofknowledge, supply systems for tree seeds and politicalwill. After the entry point is taken care of, thenimproved crop varieties, diversification towards high-value products, improved infrastructure, marketing andinformation will all follow.

Figure: Examples of the Critical Role of Agriculture in WEHAB Priority Areas

Agriculture and Energy

potential role in climatechange mitigation

bioenergy for landrehabilitation

biomass for energy services

Agriculture and Health

contribution to improvedmaternal health

globalization of animaldiseases

impact of pesticides onhumans and the environment

Agriculture

persistent hunger andmalnutrition

slowing rates of yield increase natural resource constraints

lack of rural infrastructure lack of access to capital and

markets unfinished institutional reforms

Agriculture and Water

agricultural practicesdegrading water sources

agricultural productivitygains through irrigationthreatened by increasingwater scarcity

Agriculture and Biodiversity

dependence on landraces andgenetic variety for breedingprogrammes and subsistencefarming

monocultural productioncontributes to biodiversity loss


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The key is not eliminating energy use from agriculture butincreasing the efficiency of its use and minimizing itsnegative impacts on the natural resource base on whichsustainable agriculture depends. Achieving gains in efficiencyalso addresses the concerns about climate change and itspotentially negative effects. Thisplus land use practices

aimed at lowering greenhouse gas emissions and carbonsequestrationgive agriculture important linkages to theenergy sector.

This does not mean that the energy needs of agriculture needto be curtailed. In many developing countries, human force,agricultural residues and animal power are still overwhelm-ingly the only energy sources available, with obvious impli-cations regarding human drudgery and health. Comparedwith other sectors, agriculture in developing countriesrequires relatively small amounts of energy. Meeting agricul-tures energy requirements contributes greatly to sustainabledevelopment.

Agriculture could become a major energy producer. The con-version of large amounts of biomass and agricultural residuesinto energy, taking into account nutrient recycling, can con-tribute considerably to national energy balances. Biomassgrown on purpose for conversion to solid, l iquid and gaseousfuels contributes also to the rehabilitation of degraded andmarginal landsfulfilling important environmental serviceslinked to soil fertility, offsets for greenhouse gas emissionsand rural sustainable development. It is important, however,to prevent this form of energy production from entering intocompetition with land for food production, which must takeprecedence.

Agriculture and Health

Increased food availability accounted for 25 per cent of thereduction in child malnutrition in 197095, so productivityincreases in agriculture are important for gains in child sur-vival. In addition, nutritional quality of foods is a critical ele-ment. Food-based approaches to micronutrient malnutritionshould be integrated into agricultural development efforts.In fact, agriculture is central to reducing child mortalitybecause malnutrition is a factor in more than half the deathsof children under five in developing countries.

In addition, agriculture plays an important role in improvingmaternal health because unhealthy, malnourished mothersand women farmers are more likely to have low-birth-weightbabies, who in turn are susceptible to malnutrition and dis-ease. About 25 per cent of newborns in developing countriesare considered to have low birth weights. By improvingincomes and nutrition, gains in agricultural productivity canhelp break this cycle of passing malnutrition from one gen-eration to the next.

Agriculture and health are linked in another way: combatingHIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases is good for agricul-ture. Poor people and farming communities in rural areashave been hit hardest by HIV/AIDS, with more than 7 mil-lion farm workers dying of the disease in 25 countries overthe last 15 years. This has affected productivity at the farm

level and led to depletion of assets, skills, knowledge, socialbonds and economic opportunities. Those left behind areforced to turn to less nutritious and economically valuablecrops that are easier to produce. Furthermore, malaria oftenstrikes during harvest time, threatening agriculture.

Pesticides and fertilizers used in agriculture can contaminatewater. Misuse of pesticides can have immediate and chronichealth effects on farmers and consumers. Persistent organicpollutants can cause harm to ecosystems both locally and,because of their chemical properties, at great distances fromwhere they are applied.

In addition, globalization of animal diseasessuch as theoutbreak of foot-and-mouth diseasehas caused billions ofdollars in losses and required the culling of 4 million head ofcattle in the United Kingdom. With demand for meat andmilk products expected to more than double by 2020, linksbetween livestock diseases and human health will be increas-ingly important. About half of the 1,700 organisms causingdiseases in humans are naturally transmitted from animals.

Agriculture and Biodiversity

Sustainable agriculture depends on effective management ofnatural resources and preservation of the biodiversity base.

The earth contains some 14 million species, and the majori-ty of them are in tropical forests and marine systems. Yet bio-diversity is being lost at unprecedented rates. Twenty-fivelocations around the world, occupying only 1.4 per cent ofthe earth, contain more than 60 per cent of the planets plantand animal species.

Agriculture now extends to cover about one-third of the landsurface and is the largest user of biodiversity and its compo-nents. Projections suggest that global food production willneed to double over the next half-century, either by intensi-fication or expansion. Both scenarios will have importantimpacts on biodiversity. Management of biodiversity in agri-cultural ecosystems is thus a necessary component of anyoverall approach to its conservation. Furthermore, the pro-ductive management of agricultural biodiversity will be keyto meeting future food needs while also maintaining andenhancing the other goods and services provided by agricul-tural ecosystems.


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Farmers for centuries have created an impressive storehouseof knowledge through the selection, storage and propagationof landraces as well as through livestock breeding. They con-stitute the largest group of ecosystem managers amonghumans. As such, there is an opportunity to engage them toimprove the management of biodiversity in ecosystems by

integrating ecosystem approaches into everyday agriculturalmanagement. At the same time, attention will need to begiven to reducing the negative externalities of agriculture onbiodiversity at all levels (ranging, for example, from within-field destruction of beneficial predators and pollinators upthrough the increasing load of fixed nitrogen in globalecosystems).

Activities should draw on the political will and technicalexpertise embodied in the programmes of work establishedunder the Convention on Biological Diversity, and with tar-gets exemplified by those set in the Conventions GlobalStrategy for Plant Conservation.

Agriculture and the MillenniumDevelopment Goals

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs, see insidefront cover) adopted in September 2000 provide key targetsto address the most pressing development needs. The centralrole of agriculture within the context of the MDGs is wellunderstood: agriculture is important in stimulating sustain-able economic growth and rural employment, and it is thecornerstone for food security and poverty reduction.

Most poor people live in rural areas, for example, so produc-tive on-farm and off-farm activities are critical to reducingpoverty in rural communities. Similarly, women are theengine of agricultural growth in developing countries, sopromoting gender equality and empowering women isimportant for achieving sustainable agricultural develop-

ment. At the same time, a vibrant agricultural sector helps topromote economic opportunities for women, allowing themto build assets, increase incomes and improve family wel-fareall essential steps to empowerment.

If we are to ensure environmental sustainability, reducingagricultures large and growing ecological footprint is critical.Agricultural activitiesland cultivation, freshwater use,depletion of strategic aquifers for irrigation, habitatencroachment through agricultural expansion and misuse ofpesticideshave transformed between one-third and one-half of the earths land surface, and current practices arethreatening long-term sustainability. The development of

high-yielding crop varieties in the late 1960s is estimated tohave preserved over 300 million hectares of forests and grass-lands, including considerable wildli fe habitat. This both con-served biodiversity and reduced the amount of carbonreleased into the atmosphere. Improved farming practicesand the use of agro-ecosystem approaches will help ensurethe viability of agriculture in the future and will enable farm-ers to become better stewards of the global environment.

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a framework for action on

Increasing agricultural productivity remains one of the mosteffective ways to combat hunger and poverty in the firstdecades of the twenty-first century. Sustainable productionpractices can improve agricultural productivity while con-serving biodiversity, soil fertility and efficiency of water useand while reducing the pressure to clear forests and overfishthe seas. In some cases, the technologies needed do not existand need to be developed. In other cases, farmers lack thecapital to acquire technologies or the human capital to usethem effectively. Policies, institutions, infrastructure andmarket access influence the production practices that areapplied and determine whether their impact on the environ-ment and on people is indeed sustainable.

Addressing the interlinked challenges in agriculture requires

co-ordinated responses that draw on the strength of all stake-holders. They must be addressed within coherent nationalstrategies for agriculture and rural development, in partner-ship with the international community, the private sectorand civil society. This requires putting in place appropriatepolicies and institutions and mobilizing resources at thenational, regional and global levels. Furthermore, if we are toaddress all the challenges facing the world today in agricul-ture, we must refocus our attention on improving the well-being of rural people and reducing rural poverty in thewidest possible sense. Average incomes in rural areas need tobe increased. At the same time, efforts must be made toimprove the quality of rural life, which is currently too often

at unacceptably low levels.

Promoting Sustainable Use of Natural Resources

If rural poverty and hunger are to be reduced and if globalfood demand is to be met, increased outputs will have tocome mainly from intensified and more efficient use of thelimited means of production. At the same time, action mustbe taken to arrest the destruction and degradation of the nat-ural resource base, because this is increasingly becoming thebarrier to increasing productivity. Achieving these tasksrequires investments to develop and deploy practices thatimprove technical production efficiency and develop prac-

tices and foster sustainable and intensified food production.The needs are institutional as much as technical. To promotethe maintenance and restoration of natural assets in ruralareas, countries should develop strategies that give overallguidance for approaching rural natural resource manage-ment issues and that set the framework for linking rural, andespecially agricultural, development with natural resourcemanagement.

The strategies for improving the sustainable use of naturalassets should include:

reducing land degradation;

improving water conservation, allocation and management;

protecting biodiversity;

promoting the sustainable use of forests; and

addressing the impact of climate change.

An integrated natural resources management approach thatmakes the best use of the natural resource base to meet agri-cultural productivity goals, protects the long-term produc-tivity and resilience of natural resources and yet satisfies thegoals of rural communities is needed. This will involve find-

ing alternative ways of maintaining soil fertility that rely lesson externally purchased inputs. It will also involve improv-ing the state of knowledge on land degradation status,impacts and causes.

One example of how the former need is being addressed isthrough the Soil Fertility Initiative for Africa, which is beingimplemented by the Food and Agriculture Organizationwith other international partners. Under this initiative,methods such as the intensification of land throughimproved crop rotations and agroforestry systems designedto enhance biological nitrogen fixation and the use of inte-grated crop-livestock systems are being promoted. Whereland is not yet a major constraint, the emphasis could be ontechnology changes that raise the sustainability of land useand labour productivity. Examples include minimum tillagesystems, which let farmers cultivate a larger area while alsocontributing to an increase in soil carbon levels. At the sametime, there may be further growth in organic agriculture inresponse to consumer concerns about the perceived risks offarming based on the intensive use of chemical inputs.

Increasing the efficiency of water use in agriculture andimproving irrigation system performance in a sustainablemanner is a key goal for agricultural development. Since the

potential for construction of new irrigation systems is limit-ed, one possible avenue for increasing irrigated agriculturalproduction is to improve the water productivitythe foodproduced per unit of water consumedof existing systems.Efficiencies can be upgraded through a combination of bothtechnical and managerial means: ensuring the integrity ofexisting infrastructure that is economically viable, addressingadverse environmental impacts and providing demand-driv-en irrigation to improve livelihoods of poor producers and

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Addressing the Challenges in Agriculture


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cost-effectiveness. It could also require strengthened co-oper-ation among farmers in the management and maintenanceof irrigation systems linked to a water pricing system thatdiscourages wastage, provides incentives for efficient use andensures adequate funding for system maintenance. Efficiencycould be further increased through promotion of small-scale

irrigation, water conservation, secure water rights for usersand user group management of systems where appropriate.

To reduce biodiversity loss, emphasis should be given toidentifying synergies between the conservation of the genet-ic variation within the species of crops and livestock and toincreasing agricultural productivity and then designing insti-tutional and technical means of promoting these. Exampleshere include promotion and implementation of theConvention on Biological Diversity and the InternationalTreaty on Plant Genetic Resources, which calls for improvedaccess and benefit sharing from the conservation of plantgenetic resources. Involving local communities in biodiversi-

ty conservation and providing mechanisms whereby they canbenefit from this is another important area for action.Finally, investments into the development of agriculturaltechnologies that reduce pressures on forested areas andimplementing these within an enabling policy framework isimportant for enhanced biodiversity conservation andprotection.

The sustainable use of forests will require increased public-sector investment. One key area of focus for such invest-ments should be the development of alternative livelihoodopportunities for food-insecure forest-dependent popula-tions. Allowing local communities to benefit from the provi-sion of environmental services that forest management maygenerate is one potential area where both institutional andtechnical developments are needed. Reforms promotinggreater transparency and accountability in policies affectingforest access and management are required, as is institution-al change at national and international levels to ensure theinclusion of non-market values associated with forests, suchas biodiversity, carbon sequestration and watershed protec-tion. In addition, reforms in logging contracting proceduresare needed.

In addressing the impact of climate change, investments in

three key areas could have significant impact: mitigation ofgreenhouse gas emissions by encouraging farmers to increasecarbon stocks in agro-ecosystems, to improve nitrogen andwater use efficiency and to improve soil organic matter;reduction of vulnerability and adaptation to climate change;and capacity building to promote and implement thesethemes, particularly through the facilitation of environmentalpayment programmes to farmers and the identification of fea-sible and sustainable means of adaptation to climate change.

Expanding Rural Infrastructure Services

Many developing countries invested substantially in infra-structure and infrastructure services throughout the 1990s.These investments have done much to improve living stan-dards and increase productivity, but the rural areas of mostdeveloping countries still suffer from insufficient invest-

ments in infrastructure, receive inadequate levels of servicesand often have a poorly maintained and deteriorating stock.This infrastructural handicap has reduced farmers competi-tiveness in domestic and international markets and hasincreased the costs of supplying growing urban markets fromnational farm production. Developing countries shouldbroaden access to infrastructure services, promote private-sector involvement in the production and financing of infra-structure investments, and encourage adequate cost recoveryand upfront contributions from users. A broad range ofstakeholders should be involved in the provision and main-tenance of rural infrastructure, including community organ-izations, local governments, non-governmental organizations(NGOs) and the private sector. The public sector shouldfocus on services that cannot be provided by the private sec-tor and should target interventions to the poorest regionsand communities, and to the poorest of the poor withinthese communities.

High priority must go to the upgrading and development ofrural roads and to ensuring their maintenance. Basic infra-structure in energy, water supply, sanitation and telecommu-nications is needed to stimulate private-sector investment infood marketing, storage and processing. Investments inmonitoring and surveillance systems and in building the

capacity of institutions responsible for food safety and forplant and animal health will help farmers and rural enter-prises tap national, regional and international markets.Unsafe food, especially due to microbial contamination, is amajor problem for domestic consumers and is emerging as akey issue in international markets.

Strengthening Knowledge Systems

Agricultural productivity growth requires technology devel-opment, dissemination and adoption by farmers. Researchwill have to be publicly funded where its outputs are suchthat people who have not paid for them cannot be stopped

from enjoying their benefits. Examples include integratedpest management (IPM) practices, measures to raise theorganic matter content of soils, biological nitrogen fixationto improve fertilizer use efficiency and genetic resource con-servation. Research will also have to be publicly funded if itspotential users are so poor that they cannot pay enough tomake the research profitable to a private researcher.

A large share of the needed research will have to be done inthe private sector since it will be impossible to achieve the

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14


desirable level of funding from the public sector alone. Theprivate sector can be expected to focus on areas whereresearch outputs can be protected or are profitable or both.Biotechnology development is a particularly key exampleit has important potential contributions, such as in combat-ing drought stress in plants, although questions regarding

safety, bioethics, ecological and environmental consequencesand equity still remain.

Innovative partnerships between public research institutes,universities, the private sector, NGOs and producer organiza-tions, including collaborative R&D activities with members ofthe Consultative Group on International AgriculturalResearch and other global programmes, can be a source ofimportant synergies. Developing-country governments shouldalso focus on building capacity among producer organizationsto contract research and extension services and provide farm-ers with a menu of technology options. (See Box 2.)

To achieve pro-poor agricultural growth, any policy onresearch, education, extension and communication shouldbe based on some key principles: first, that research shouldserve the needs of the poor; second, that it should promotediversified and sustainable production systems; third, thatdisseminating existing technologies and best practices shouldreceive as much importance as the development of new tech-nologies; and fourth, that extension services should beresponsive to farmers needs.

To serve the needs of poor farmers, research should focus onsuch topics as improving drought tolerance and yieldresponse to scarce plant nutrients and building pest and dis-ease resistance. It should also put farmers in decision-makingroles and make use of their knowledge of crops, productionconstraints and local ecosystems.

Promoting diversified and sustainable production systemsrequires technologies that promote precision use and effi-ciency of inputs, conservation tillage and integrated nutrientmanagement. Integrating livestock into small farm systemsprovides a means of recycling nutrients and creates incomegeneration opportunities, especially for women farmers and

poor landless people.

Finally, research policy should focus in the short run on iden-tifying and removing constraints to the adoption of practicesthat promote optimal use of existing technologies, such asconservation agriculture and IPM. Scaling up these tech-nologies to reach millions of small farmers is likely to pro-duce large benefits in agricultural productivity in a shorttime. For example, scaling up new soil fertility-replenishingpractices can have significant payoffs for farmers. So canimproved water harvesting and the use of small-scale dripirrigation technologies for high-value vegetable and fruitproduction. Measures to enhance the adoption of integrated

pest management practicesfor instance, by eliminatingpesticide subsidies and including IPM in farmer educationprogrammesare also likely to be beneficial.

Governments should attempt to make agricultural extension,education and communication more responsive to farmersneeds through decentralization. Building sound institutionsfor extension requires investment in human capital, access todatabases of best practices for technology generation and dis-semination and the application of new information andcommunication technologies.

Improving the Functioning of RuralFinancial Markets

Access to working and investment capital can substantiallyaccelerate the adoption of appropriate production methodsand the use of agricultural inputs and can improve the abili-ty of the rural poor to produce a marketable surplus as wellas meet their subsistence needs and cope with risk.Developing countries in collaboration with their develop-ment partners should therefore focus their support on thedevelopment of viable and well-functioning rural financialinstitutions to allow households, farms and non-farm enter-prises to save, borrow and safeguard themselves against vari-ous risks. These institutions should be adequately regulatedand supervised to ensure that sound banking principles arefollowed, including discipline in financial contracts and loanrepayment. Emphasis should be placed on improving thepolicy, legal and regulatory environment and on building thecapacity to deliver appropriate credit (short-, medium- andlong-term), savings, insurance and payment services. There isan unexploited opportunity to mobilize domestic rural sav-ings even among low-income rural people for investing insustainable agriculture and rural development.

Box 2: Good Practices in Agricultural TechnologyGeneration and Dissemination

In Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador, national competitivefunds have forged new research partnerships involvingnational research institutes, universities, farmers organ-izations, NGOs, the private sector and foreign andinternational organizations. Projects in Venezuela,Uganda and Burkina Faso are building the capacity ofrural producer and community organizations and localgovernments to contract extension services and monitortheir implementation, resulting in services that areresponding to farmer demands, including information

on marketing and business management. Several pro-grammes are incorporating new technologies, such asresearch in the new field of genomics to target cropbreeding more precisely in India and multimediaapproaches to disseminating information in Russia.


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Creating a financial system that is capable of lending to low-income households must be an integral part of any strategyfor developing the indigenous private sector and reducingpoverty. The goal should be to increase access to financialservices by rural households, especially smallholder farmersand women farmers, by addressing policy, legal and regula-

tory frameworks that allow innovative financial institutionsto develop and operate effectively; to increase exposure toand training in best practices that banks and microfinanceinstitutions need to expand their outreach and sustain theiroperations, along with performance-based support for capac-ity building; and to increase innovative financial technolo-gies, products and methods that are adapted to local condi-tions and demands of poor populations.

Completing Policy and Institutional Reforms

Market liberalization and policy reforms in many developingcountries have significantly reduced the isolation of rural

poor and smallholder farmers from direct involvement intrade and markets at local, national and, to some extent,global levels. (See Box 3.) Still, these farmers are preventedfrom fully sharing the benefits of market liberalization. Inmany cases, the reforms have been incomplete and they haveoccurred in the absence of the necessary policy, regulatoryand institutional structures that would enable farmers torespond and benefit. Achieving sustainable economic devel-opment and substantial reductions in poverty and hungerdepends on completing the policy reform process and build-ing and strengthening the necessary regulatory and institu-tional frameworks at global, national and local levels.

The international community should support measures thatincrease market access and reduce unfair competition foragricultural products. On-going negotiations are aimed atmaking production and export policies more supportive ofdeveloping-country needs, particularly in the area of agricul-tural production. According to a recent World Bank study,global agricultural trade reform has the potential to increasethe aggregate welfare of the developing world by someUS$145 billion annually. Most of these gains would comefrom trade policy reforms within developing countries, butindustrial countries also have a clear responsibility in thisregard, as art iculated in the Doha Ministerial Declarationthat launched a new round of trade negotiations under theWorld Trade Organization. While further trade reforms arenecessary, the potential negative impacts of these forces onthe poor and vulnerable groups should not be ignored.

Developing-country governments need to adopt policies andlegal and regulatory frameworks that are conducive to thedevelopment and functioning of markets and that improvethe investment climate not only for farmers but also for mar-

keting co-operatives, non-farm private-sector entrepreneursand other off-farm activities in rural areas. Further reformsare needed in domestic rural and agricultural policies to cor-rect remaining urban biases. (See Box 4.)

Building and strengthening the capacity of rural institutionsis essential because of their key roles in service delivery andin the formulation and implementation of policies, regula-tions and legal frameworks. Sound institutions are necessaryfor ensuring growth, food security, poverty alleviation andthe development of human and natural resources. Capacitybuilding for rural institutions should recognize the role ofrural producer organizations, co-operatives and other com-munity groups and should strengthen and involve them inservice delivery. Governments could concentrate on policiesthat create an enabling environment for the strengtheningand renewal of insti tutions, including for extension and foodsafety.

Box 3: Breaking the Logjam

The logjam in agriculture is clear: Farmers in poor areasdo not produce because there are no accessible marketsand agro-industries; there is no investment by the pri-vate sector because there is no rural infrastructure; gov-

ernment does not invest in rural infrastructure becausethe farmers are poor and do not produce and becausethe private sector is absent.

Private-public partnerships can turn this situationaround. To get out of poverty, smallholder farmerscould produce things that have potential markets.There are some good examples of this in Latin America,Asia and Africa (French beans produced by smallhold-ers air-freighted from Kenya to France, for example).Daimler Benz do Brazil has a contract with small-scaleagroforesters in the State of Para to supply coconuthusks, other fibers and resins used in the manufactureof seats and fenders of Mercedes cars made in SoPaulo. The possibilities seem endless at this point.However, these efforts have to be drastically scaled upby intensifying and diversifying agriculture so that itproduces high-value products that take advantage of theyear-round good temperatures in the tropics as well asthe high solar radiation needed for photosynthesis.

A major effort is envisioned to build capacity in the pri-vate sector and farmer organizations to make neededlinks, and for local governments and NGOs to providesupport services to partnerships. This is particularly

important for the hundreds of millions of landless poorand hungry people in Asia.

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17

part one: a framework for action

The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) isa unique opportunity for the international community toprovide inputs on specific initiatives, including institutional-ized approaches that would enable the recommendations ofinternational meetings and multilateral agreements, conven-tions and treaties on agriculture and sustainable developmentto be translated into practice. It is also the appropriate timeand place to take up the recommendations on sustainableagriculture and rural development that were made by theEighth Session of the Commission on SustainableDevelopment.

During the preparatory process leading up to the WSSD, a

number of stakeholders expressed interest in a range of broadareas for action that could be expanded further throughappropriate initiatives. Such initiatives are expected to iden-tify partners and to specify clear targets, timetables, co-ordi-nation and implementation mechanisms, methods for mon-itoring progress, systematic and predictable funding sourcesand arrangements for technology transfer. This chapter isintended to facilitate this process by providing frameworksfor action addressing the major challenges discussed in theprevious sections. These include, but are not limited to, therole of partnerships on agriculture and sustainable develop-ment, which it is hoped will help to re-establish the promi-nence of agriculture on the global development agenda and

to channel appropriate financial, human and technicalresources to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

At the national level, possible frameworks for action on agri-culture and sustainable development include:

integrating national agriculture and food security policieswith the economic, social and environmental goals ofsustainable development;

ensuring equitable access to agriculture-related servicesand products, with a particular focus on food securityand sustainable livelihood needs of the poor;

orienting market forces towards environmentally optimalsolutions through appropriate policies and regulations;

exploit ing and expanding locally available resources forimproved food security and promoting diversification formore effective risk management; and

focusing on needs of rural areas through decentralizedco-operative initiatives and improvements in rural infra-structure.

At the regional and international levels, frameworks foraction on agriculture and sustainable development consist of:

strengthening regional and international co-operation forfood security and market stability;

transferring and adopting appropriate sustainable agricul-ture practices and technologies;

building insti tutional and human resource capacitiesrelated to agriculture; and

mobilizing international financial resources in support ofnational efforts.

The scale and magnitude of the tasks involved in progressingtowards the objective and goals of agriculture for sustainabledevelopment are so enormous that national efforts by them-selves will not meet the challenges involved. (See Box 5.)Thus building public/private partnerships and encouraginginternational and regional co-operation are of critical impor-tance. The goals and targets proposed in this publication areonly indicative and are by no means prescriptive. They canbe modified to suit country-specific circumstances andundergo further changes as experience is gained.

Agriculture:Frameworks for Action

Box 5: The Agriculture Perception ParadoxThe term agriculture often evokes negative connota-tions of overproduction, pollution and subsidies inwestern industrial countries. Agriculture in Europe andNorth America is extremely important domestically,but it was dropped by donor organizations as a priorityfor world development in the 1990s. This led to drasticreductions in research and development investments.Many developing countries took this cue and did thesame.

But agriculture continues to be the main engine of eco-nomic growth of practically all developing countries,

providing many multiplier effects. In Africa, US$1 ofnew farm income results in US$2 of additional house-hold income. Rates of return on agricultural researchare very high, 4070 per cent. And African govern-ments have identified agriculture as a priority sector inthe New Partnership for Africas Development. It istime to recognize agriculture as one of the top prioritiesin world development.


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Frameworks for Action

The global community has an opportunity now to highlightthe key entry points for action on agriculture, with a view toreducing poverty and hunger, facilitating growth and pro-tecting the environment. This can be pursued through creat-ing an enabling environment for policies, improving market

access and investing in the generation and transfer of knowl-edge and in outreach services.

Increasing sustainable agricultural productivity is a necessarycondition for combating hunger and poverty in the nextdecade in ways that are economically beneficial, promoteequity, provide global environmental benefits and improvehuman health and well-being. The proposed frameworks foraction are based on the following principles:

the broad participation of farmers, local communitiesand decision-makers through the R&D process, with aparticular focus on addressing the needs of vulnerable

groups;

the generation and adoption of ecologically sound tech-nologies that enhance natural resource management andgenetic improvement and that provide food security;

the ability to scale up successful projects and initiatives;

revitalization of research, extension and outreach services;

adoption of enabling policies in support of new tech-nologies, products and services;

expansion of improved infrastructures for t ransportation,processing, marketing, communication and information;

and the mainstreaming of agricultural policies and services

within broader policy frameworks, including the role ofstrengthened linkages between agriculture, trade andother development sectors such as education, health andnutrition.

When devising frameworks for action, it is important to setgoals and indicative targets. In the case of agriculture, the tar-gets and examples of activities included here contribute toachieving the Millennium Development Goalsin particu-lar, those on eradicating extreme poverty and hunger and onensuring environmental sustainabilityand other relevantinternational agreements related to agriculture and foodsecurity. The frameworks for action in this chapter are anal-ogous to road-maps that will allow a wide range of actors toimplement a variety of initiatives, actions, projects andpolices in order to better fulfil the intent and scope of workenvisaged at the relevant global, regional or national level.

Action Area 1: Increase agricultural productivity andsustain or enhance the natural resource base, par-ticularly in sub-Saharan Africa, contributing toefforts to eradicate poverty and ensure environ-mental sustainability.

Indicative Targets/MilestonesSixty million rural households in developing countries bene-fit, contributing to halving the number of people who sufferfrom hunger by 2015.

Examples of Activities

Focus on key entry points that will facilitate increasedand sustainable agricultural productivity, especially insub-Saharan Africa, through scaling up of proven tech-nologies to arrest land degradation and improve soil fer-tility, water management and use practices.

Promote synergies and build capacity in planning andimplementation of interventions at national, communityand local levels between agriculture, land degradationand water management.

Empower communities, including through capacitybuilding, to implement projects and programmes toenable small farmers to take up improved technologies.

Develop appropriate international and regional co-opera-tive programmes on integrated land use and waterresource planning and management by taking stock ofexisting knowledge and local, national and internationalexperience in a more systematic and detailed manner.

Improve opportunities for the poor to strengthen, diver-sify and sustain their livelihoods by taking advantage ofsynergies and linkages between farming, fishing, animalhusbandry, forestry and non-farm activities.

Action Area 2: Encourage knowledge generationand transfer through research, extension, educa-tion and communication.

Indicative Targets/Milestones

Increase the generation, adaptation and adoption of new andimproved varieties of plants and animals through effectivesynergies between international, regional and nationalresearch systems and extension services (Agenda 21andInternational Code of Conduct for Plant GermplasmCollecting and Transfer, 1993).

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Strengthen the establishment of national food insecurityand vulnerability information mapping systems.

Encourage co-operative efforts at international, regionaland national levels in capacity building, transfer of tech-

nology, research and development. Strengthen national capacities in developing countries to

address and to benefit from appropriate technologydevelopment related to agricultural services.

Promote cross-boundary partnerships and alliances relat-ed to the generation, adaptation and dissemination oftechnologies.

Promote a participatory, demand-driven approach totechnology design and generation involving farmers andwomens associations and civil society groups.

Design national policies that facilitate the establishment

of functional linkages among research, extension, educa-tion and communications.

Promote information exchange, networking and technol-ogy generation and dissemination related to best practicesin agriculture, including crop and livestock breeding;integrated crop management and crop livestock systems;soil, water and nutrient management; conservation ofvital riparian and watershed areas; integrated pest man-agement; and productive use of renewable energy.

Ensure that the poor share the benefits of advances inbiotechnology in areas such as drought tolerance, pestresistance, deeper roots and improved nutritional value

(although questions regarding safety, bioethics, ecologicaland environmental consequences and equity still exist).

Promote more ecological practices in agriculture at thelocal level by disseminating information on success sto-ries around the world.

Explore new methods for measuring the performance ofagricultural practices that take into account not onlyyield-per-crop contributions but also contributions to theecosystem as a whole.

Action Area 3: Establish innovative public-privatepartnerships to stimulate joint implementation ofsustainable agriculture and natural resource con-servation.


Reverse the declining trend in yields through adoption ofsustainable resource management practices (Agenda 21).

Rapidly implement international treaties for the conserva-tion and use of genetic resources (Code of Conduct forResponsible Fisheries, 1995).


Enhance capacities, policies and institutions that pro-mote sustainable agriculture practices and systems,including food production and distribution.

Strengthen appropriate resource networks and informa-tion exchange to enable small farmers, agricultural work-ers, rural communities and other disadvantaged stake-holders to make the agricultural and economic transitiontowards sustainable agriculture.

Strengthen agricultural environmental information devel-opment, including building capacity for improved land,water, agro-climatic, forest, fisheries and biodiversityinformation, monitoring and assessment.

Design policies that provide incentives for efficiencygains in agricultural water use and that ensure that waterscarcity is signalled appropriately to water users.

Establish stable and transferable rights to the use ofresources by individual users or groups of users in a man-ner that promotes efficiency and distributional equity.

Enhance the capacity of developing countries to adoptand implement international agreements such as theInternational Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Foodand Agriculture and the Code of Conduct forResponsible Fisheries.

Promote the conservation of aquatic ecosystems andmanage associated capture fisheries through co-operationbetween governments and fishing communities.

Strengthen institutions and co-ordination at the nationaland international level to ensure that due account istaken of non-market values associated with forests, suchas biodiversity, carbon sequestration and watershed pro-tection.

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Action Area 4: Develop enabling policies and asso-ciated institutional reforms and regulatory frame-works, including improved infrastructure andaccess to markets, capital and financial services.


Increase market access by exploiting fully the comparativeadvantages of developing countries in both domestic and for-eign markets (GATTAgriculture Agreement, 1986).

Protect small farmers in developing countries by reversingthe declining share of agricultural exports from developingcountries in total trade flows (World Trade Summit in Doha,2001).


Ensure that agricultural, food security and nutritionalobjectives are integrated into broader national develop-ment policies and plans.

Increase market access, with a particular focus on theneeds of low-income, food-deficit, least developed, land-locked and small island developing states.

Reduce high costs to market access by poor and smallproducers.

Strengthen developing countries capacities to participatein multilateral trade negotiations.

Mitigate the negative impacts of globalization on poorand vulnerable groups, through, for example, the provi-

sion of social safety nets. Promote associations, organizations, and private-public

partnerships that can contribute to reducing market fail-ures and high transaction costs in developing countries.

Strengthen capacities in developing countries related tothe assessment, adaptation and implementation of rele-vant international policy and regulatory frameworksrelated to agriculture, food security and food safety.

Expand public and private investments and partnershipsin rural infrastructure, such as building and maintainingrural roads and bridges, small-scale irrigation systems,post-harvest facilities, processing and market facilitiesand so on.

Strengthen capacities in developing countries for improv-ing food safety and quality.

Improve access to rural financial services for small-scalefarmers and rural entrepreneurs, and build viable andsustainable rural financing schemes and banking services.

Provide access to agricultural resources for people livingin poverty.

Building and Implementing Partnerships

The international community has a vital role to play in help-ing developing countries achieve objectives in agriculture forsustainable development. Clearly, various co-operativeactions are needed on the part of governments, businesses,civil society, international organizations and other relevant

stakeholders to address the challenges. Forging partnershipsamong all stakeholders therefore constitutes a key compo-nent of this action agenda. This section provides a brief sum-mary of some of the critical elements required for buildingand implementing partnerships in agriculture.1

The CSD, based on the preparatory process leading up to theWSSD, has envisaged that forming and promoting new andinnovative partnerships will be critical to meet the challengesarticulated in this paper. These partnership initiatives areforeseen to be basically of a voluntary natureagreed onthrough mutual consultations among the stakeholders. Themain focus of these initiatives will be to supplement andcomplement the WSSD-negotiated outcome and the ongo-ing work by governments and other stakeholders in theimplementation of Agenda 21. As such, the partnership ini-tiatives will give rise to a series of commitments and action-oriented coalitions focused on deliverables and would con-tribute to translating the political commitments into action.In response to a wish for additional guidance on the elabora-tion of partnerships expressed during the informal meetingson partnerships in PrepCom 3, an addendum to theChairmans explanatory note, entitled Further Guidance forPartnerships/Initiatives, has also been provided.2

The critical issue is how to translate the idea of partnershipbuilding from global or regional-level discussions and advo-cacy campaigns into local actions. New and innovative part-nerships will have to be formed that may involve a widerange of stakeholders and may have many different kinds ofways for partners to participate.

A framework is proposed here to facilitate this process with-out which individual partnership initiatives devised by awide range of actors may result in duplication of efforts andrestrictions on resource inputs by stakeholders:

Consultative process. All partnerships begin with a dialogue.

This can be initiated by a lead partner or partners, by a glob-al consensus or by some other catalyst. The role of a champi-on or lead partner in moving the partnership forward in theearly stages is critical. A broad consultative process for part-nerships may also be necessary to assist in sharing experiencesand learning at all levels (local, national, regional and global),as individual initiatives will not be isolated but can beinformed by and grow from broader processes and initiatives.

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Defini ti on of objecti ves. The next step is scoping and defini-tion of objectives, targets, activities and implementation andco-ordination arrangements associated with the partnership.This requires consultation among different actors in order toharmonize the views and needs of all stakeholdersdonors,participating institutions, technical groups and recipients.

Underlying principles around which partnership objectivescould be defined are: ensuring mutuality of interests, pro-moting a shared sense of purpose, and engendering respectfor all stakeholders.

Mobili zation of resources. This stage in the process is crucialto the overall success of the partnership, as it results in theprovision of actual (financial, institutional and human)resource inputs. This stage often needs to be ini tiated in con-junction with the task definition work done by stakeholders.3

Implementation of partnerships. All partnerships are dynamicprocesses or works in progress, and the stage at which the

partnership is actually launched or implemented provides allstakeholders with an opportunity to see partnership activitiesand organizations in operation. Partners can also use this asan opportunity to examine whether additional skills andresources are needed to strengthen the partnership.

Tracking progress and resul ts. At this stage, the partnership ini-tiative is already under way and all stakeholders can nowreview and evaluate existing operations and experiences. Thetracking of short-, medium- and long-term results is crucialin the evolution and growth of a partnership and shouldallow for modifications and further refining of tasks andactivities based on results/targets achieved.

Scaling-up of partnership ini ti atives. Once a partnership ini-tiative has been established, appropriate steps are needed to

scale up and link with other activities in contiguous areas.Going to scale requires the adoption of partnership strategiesand linkage mechanisms that can meet challenges involvedin achieving agreed objectives.

All initiators of partnerships were invited to complete andsubmit an Information Sheet related to a specific initiative tothe WSSD Secretariat.4 The Secretariat has posted on itsWeb site all partnership proposals received. Detailed infor-mation on these may be obtained from the official Web siteof the Summit. A number of proposals for partnerships havebeen developed, and many more are still in the process ofbeing developed.

Endnotes

1 A listing of some selected partnerships is available in Annex K ofthe World Bank document (2001) Making SustainableCommitments: An Environment Strategy for the World Bank,

at http://gefweb.org/Documents/Council_Documents/GEF_C17/C.17.Inf15.Annexes.pdf.

2 The document entit led Further Guidance is a two-pageaddendum available at http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/documents/prepcom3docs/summary_partnerships_annex_05040.doc.

3 Different financing mechanisms, such as those related to region-al development banks, the World Bank and the GlobalEnvironmental Facility, are potential sources of finance. In addi-tion, an active role for commercial banks and investment compa-nies is envisaged.

4 The Information Sheet is available at http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/sustainable_dev/partnerships2_form.doc.

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In the lead-up to the World Summit on SustainableDevelopment, it is important to take stock of existing agree-ments and goals reached in previous UN-sponsored summitsand related conventions, treaties or protocols that affect agri-culture. This chapter reviews the major UN forums since1951 and identifies key agreements reached, including theirintended objectives and sources of further information.

The review shows that there is a great effort to reach consen-sus among the international community on how to addressmost of the issues facing all the subsectors of agriculture. Infact, most of the agreements are complementary and collec-tively made important contributions to achieving sustainable

agriculture development. For example, Agenda 21, adoptedby world leaders at the 1992 Earth Summit, serves as a blue-print for attaining sustainable development, including agri-culture, in this century. Since its adoption, significantprogress on sustainable agriculture has been taking place andmany identified challenges have either been addressed or arebeing tackled. In addition, the Millennium DevelopmentGoals, especially the one with the target of halving the num-ber of the poor and undernourished people by 2015, havefocused the attention of the international community on theimportance of sustainable agriculture in low-income coun-tries. There is therefore a consensus that international agree-ments under UN auspices have played important roles in

promoting sustainable agriculture.

Despite progress in many areas, the international communi-ty is continuing to address a number of outstanding impor-tant issues for agriculture in order to either come to equitableagreement or to reach a consensus. These include such areasas market access, agricultural trade and the use of biotech-nology. The respective roles of governments, civil society andthe private sector in addressing these issues are also a subjectof debate.

Conference/Agreement: International PlantProtection Convention

Date: 1951 (adopted)

Main Focus: Secure common and effective action to pre-vent the spread and introduction of pests of plants and plantproducts. Promote measures for their control.

Revised in 1979 and 1997 to make allowance for the settingof international phytosanitary standards as recognized by theWTO-SPS Agreement.

http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FaoInfo/Agricult/AGP/AGPP/

PQ/Default.htm

http://www.ipcc.int

Conference/Agreement: United NationsConvention on the Law of the Sea

Date: 10 December 1982

Main Focus: Conservation of living resources and the study,protection and preservation of the marine environment.

Integrate and balance the right to exploit natural resourceswith the duty to manage and conserve such resources and toprotect and preserve the marine environment.

http://sedac.ciesin.org/entri/register/reg-125.rrr.html

Conference/Agreement: International Code ofConduct on the Distribution and Use ofPesticides

Date: 28 November 1985

Main Focus: Establish voluntary standards of conduct forall public and private entities engaged in or affecting the dis-tribution and use of pesticides.

http://www.fao.org/waicent/FaoInfo/Agricult/AGP/AGPP/Pestic

id/Code/PM_Code.htm

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part two: major agreements and their objectives

Major Agreements on Agricultureand Their Objectives


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Conference/Agreement: Convention on theProtection and Use of TransboundaryWatercourses and International Lakes

Date: 17 March 1992

Main Focus: Prevention of introduction of alien species to

watercourses, which could have adverse transboundaryimpacts.

http://sedac.ciesin.org/entri/register/reg-167.rrr.html

Conference/Agreement: U.N. Conference onEnvironment and Development

Date: 14 June 1992

Main Focus: Agenda 21: Chapter 14PromotingSustainable Agriculture and Rural Development.

Statement of Principle on Forestsadoption of environ-

mental impact assessment for forest activities

Convention on Climate Change

Convention on Biological Diversitymajor CBD agricul-tural biodiversity decisions related to a programme of workon agricultural biodidiversity

http://www.ciesin.org/datasets/unced/unced.html

http:www.biodiv.org

Conference/Agreement: International Code ofConduct for Plant Germplasm Collecting and

TransferDate: Adopted by FAO conference in November 1993

Main Focus: Protect the interests of both donors and col-lectors of germplasm. Promote the rational collection andsustainable use of genetic resources.

http://www.fao.org/biodiversity/CCPGCT_en.asp

http://www.fao.org/ag/cgrfa/PGR.htm#ITWG

Conference/Agreement: International TropicalTimber Agreement

Date: 26 January 1994Main Focus: Ensure that by 2000, exports of tropical tim-ber originate from sustainably managed sources.

Establish a fund to assist tropical timber producers.

http://sedac.ciesin.org/entr i/texts/ITTA.1994.txt.html

Conference/Agreement: WTO Agreement onAgriculture

Date: 1 January 1995

Main Focus: Improve market access. Reduce trade-distort-ing subsidies in agriculture.

http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/gatt_e/gatt_e.htm

Conference/Agreement: TRIPS Agreement

Date: 1 January 1995

Main Focus: Patent protection of agricultural chemicalproducts. Protection of plant variety.

http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/t_agm0_e.htm

Conference/Agreement: World Summit for SocialDevelopment

Date: 512 March 1995

Main Focus: Re-examining the distribution of subsidies,among other things, between industry and agriculture, urbanand rural areas, and private and public consumption.

http://www.iisd.ca/linkages/wssd95.html

Conference/Agreement: Agreement for theImplementation of the Provisions of the United

Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10October 1982 Relating to the Conservation andManagement of Straddling Fish Stocks andHighly Migratory Fish Stocks

Date: 4 August 1995

Main Focus: Conservation and sustainable use of straddlingfish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks through effectiveimplementation of the relevant provisions of theConvention.

http://fletcher.tufts.edu/multi /texts/i lm1542.txt

Conference/Agreement: World Conference onWomen

Date: September 1995

Main Focus: Facilitate womens equal access to resources,employment, markets and trade.

http://www.undp.org/fwcw/daw1.htm

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Conference/Agreement: Code of Conduct forResponsible Fisheries

Date: 31 October 1995

Main Focus: Establish principles for responsible fishing andfisheries activities.

Establish principles and criteria for the elaboration andimplementation of national policies.

Facilitate and promote technical, financial and other co-operation in conservation of fisheries.

Promote research on fisheries.

Provide standards of conduct for all persons involved in thefisheries sector.

http://www.fao.org/fi/agreem/codecond/ficonde.asp

Conference/Agreement: World Food Summit

Date: 1996

Main Focus: Pursue participatory and sustainable food,agriculture, fisheries, forestry and rural development policiesand practices in high and low potential areas. Ensure thatfood, agricultural trade and overall trade policies are con-ducive to fostering food security for all through a fair andmarket-oriented world trade system.

Promote optimal allocation and use of public and privateinvestments to foster human resources, sustainable food,agriculture.

http://www.fao.org/wfs/homepage.htm

Conference/Agreement: United NationsConvention to Combat Desertification

Date: Adopted in June 1994 and entered into force on 26December 1996

Main Focus: Aims to promote effective action to combatdesertification and protect drylands through innovative localprogrammes and supportive international partnerships.

Conference/Agreement: Rotterdam Convention onthe Prior Informed Consent Procedure for CertainHazardous Chemicals and Pesticides inInternational Trade


Main Focus: Promotes a shared responsibility and co-oper-ative efforts between exporting and importing countries inthe international trade of certain hazardous chemicals inorder to protect human health and the environment frompotential harm. It contributes to their environmentallysound use by facilitating information exchange about theircharacteristics, by providing for a national decision-makingprocess on imports and exports and by disseminating thesedecisions to exporting and importing countries.

http://pic.int

Conference/Agreement: International Plan ofAction

Date: 1999

Main Focus: Conservation and management issues thathave been identified by the international community asneeding urgent attention.

Management of fishing capacity.

Incidental catches of seabirds in longline fishing operations.

Conservation and management of sharks.

Policy on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is in the

process of elaboration.http://www.fao.org/fi/ipa/ipae.asp

Conference/Agreement: Millennium Declaration


Main Focus: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger andhalve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of peoplewhose income is less than US$1 a day.

http://www.developmentgoals.org/

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annex: major agreements and their objectives


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Conference/Agreement: Stockholm Convention onPersistant Organic Pollutants (POPs)

Date: May 2001

Main Focus: Sets out control measures covering the pro-duction, import, export, disposal and use of an initial list of

12 POPs (chemical substances that persist, accumulate in thefatty tissue of living organisms and pose a risk of causingadverse effects to human health and the environment). Nineof the first 12 POPs subject to the convention are pesticides.

http://www.chem.unep.ch/sc

Conference/Agreement: World Trade Summit inDoha

Date: November 2001

Main Focus: Protection for small farmers in the developingworld.

http://www.wto.org/engli sh/thewto_e/minist_e/min01_e/min01

_e.htm

Conference/Agreement: International Treaty onPlant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

Date: November 2001

Main Focus: Conservation and sustainable use of plantgenetic resources for food and agriculture.

http://www.fao.org/ag/cgrfa/News.htm

Conference/Agreement: Draft Plan ofImplementation for the World Summit onSustainable Development Declaration

Date: 2002

Main Focus: Provide access to agricultural resources forpeople living in poverty.

Build basic rural infrastructure, diversify the economy andimprove transportation and access to markets to support sus-

tainable agriculture and rural development.

Enhance in a sustainable manner the productivity of landand the efficient use of water resources in agriculture.

Enhance the participation of women in all aspects and at alllevels relating to sustainable agriculture and food security.

http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/documents/prep-

com4docs/bali_documents/draft_plan_1206.pdf


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Agricultural development is central to the sustainable devel-opment agenda. The United Nations System and its special-ized agencies address the challenges of agricultural develop-ment from differing perspectivesfood security, nutrition,rural poverty, agriculture-environment linkages, broad-basedrural development, mobilizing science for sustainable agri-culture, or technical and policy assistance at regional levelsbut with a common aim of increasing efficiency and effec-tiveness of the agricultural sector so that it can contributefully to the overall sustainable development agenda.

The self-description of UN agencies activities provided heregives an overview of UN involvement in agriculture anddemonstrates the many perspectives that are taken by UNagencies in line with their respective core mandates. One of

these, the Food and Agriculture Organization, is the special-ized agency for agriculture. Others include agriculture as anentry point to a variety of activities in sustainable develop-ment. At the country level, and through instruments such asthe Common Country Assessment, the UN DevelopmentAssistance Framework and Poverty Reduction Strategies, theUN System, including the World Bank, ensures that thewhole of its work in agriculture is greater than the sum of itsparts.

This is an indicative list of the UN entities most active in thefield of agriculture, their main focus areas and some of theirkey initiatives. Its purpose is to give World Summit partici-

pants an overview of the work of the UN family as a wholeas well as an indication of the breadth and depth of the orga-nizations programme in this area. It is not a comprehensiveor authoritative listing of all UN system activities in agricul-ture. The information was gathered primarily from the Websites of the organizations featured. Any omissions or errorswere inadvertent and are sincerely regretted.

Food and