Ian Johnson. The Bank partnership with producer organizations. IFAP 34 World Farmers Congress. Hanover May

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1 Ian Johnson The Bank partnership with producer organizations IFAP 34 World Farmers Congress Hanover May I am particularly grateful and honored that IFAP has invited the Bank to participate in this 34 World Farmers Congress I am particularly happy because this is a strong manifestation of the strong partnership that IFAP and the World Bank have recently initiated. This is a partnership which is fully supported by Bank President James Wolfensohn, who unfortunately could not be with you today. I am happy, however, to be representing him and to be with so many leaders of the world's producer organizations. Our challenge: a world free from poverty. Producer organization are key actors to eliminate rural poverty Today large shares of the world poor live in rural areas and agriculture or agriculture-related activities are their primary occupation and pre-occupation, and it is from these activities that they derive their basic livelihood 1. Our challenge is to work in partnerships with producer organizations such as IFAP to reduce poverty, by addressing its three most important components namely: food insecurity, low rural employment and lack of opportunities for on and off-farm income generation, and unsustainable use and management of natural resources. We are aware of the other dimensions of poverty over and above the lack of economic opportunity and access to resources. Among these is that the poor very often cannot make their voices heard, they cannot access or influence services; they often do not even know what services are available or what services to ask for because of lack of information and education. The poor have limited capacity to negotiate access to means of production, and generally have very limited bargaining power.. One way for the poor to overcome these obstacle and lift themselves out of poverty is to organize strong networks that will guarantee that their voices are 1 Over three quarters of the poor in much of Asia and Africa live in rural areas, about half in Latin America. Three billion people live on less than $2 a day; 1.3 billion do not have access to clean water, 130 million children do not go to school. Over 800 million are hungry every day children die every day because of hunger-related diseases.

2 heard, and will give them access to the resources they need to increase their potentials for improved livelihood. The World Bank is committed to fight against poverty. One way of doing that effectively is to work with small holder producers the rural poor to organize for empowerment and better access to the resources and services they need. Bank experience in working with POs Since 1970, the Bank has provided support to herder associations, dairy cooperatives and water user associations in many developing countries. A remarkable example is Operation Flood in India that started in Since then the Bank has invested more than 500 millions US$ to support 53,000 dairy cooperatives, reaching 6.3 millions dairy farmers. The Bank has also financed Cooperative reforms in former Eastern European countries and Morocco. More recently, the Bank has provided support for institutional reforms of producer organizations in Cote d Ivoire, Togo and Ecuador. In 1995, the Bank, through the Africa region and with support from the French Government and CIRAD, undertook an initiative for the promotion of effective partnerships between producer organizations and rural development stakeholders. That initiative has resulted in the involvement of producers in the design and implementation of Bank support to agricultural services and producer organizations projects in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali (in Burkina Faso and Senegal, 12 Millions US$ have been allocated to strengthen producer organizations capacity at local, regional and national level). The Bank has also supported annual regional workshops to enhance exchange of experiences between producer organizations in these countries.. The Bank collaboration with IFAP. (a) As a result of the renewed interest in strengthening its collaboration with IFAP, the Bank and IFAP have co-sponsored two regional workshops, designed as for a for in-depth stakeholders' consultations, primarily to ascertain the views and position of producers organizations on issues relating to sustainable agricultural technologies, institutions and policies (May 1999 in Turkey; July 1999 in Belize. As you know, a third workshop will be held in June 2000 in Senegal. (b) The priority issues identified through these stakeholder meetings have by and large been related to: the following key components of sustainable agriculture: land and water management; biotechnology; financial and sector support institutions; empowerment of producers organizations; trade; land reform and land administration; environmental impacts of agricultural intensification; knowledge sharing and networking among farmers; and performance indicators for sustainable agriculture.

3 (c) IFAP has also been invited to participate in an International Task Force (ITF) on Commodity Risk Management in Developing Countries. ITF is exploring new marketbased approaches to assist developing countries to better manage their vulnerability to commodity price fluctuations. The World Bank and IFAP are working closely on test cases studies. (d) In June, 1999 in collaboration with the Dutch and the French governments and IFAP, a workshop was organized in Washington on how to support producer organizations. We were particularly happy that President Wolfensohn himself was able to participate in the opening ceremonies for that w/shop, and to make a key statement on IFAP/World Bank collaboration.. At that workshop we were able to define some guiding principles for the design of rural development projects integrating a support to PO s component and for the involvement of PO s in policy dialogue with the governments (for example during Country Assistance Strategy preparation). Workshop participants also identify the Bank comparative advantages to working with POs. We believe the World Bank has a comparative advantage in supporting POs. through its projects and through its policy dialogue with governments in improving the enabling environment for empowering producers and to give them access to financial resources. Specifically with regard to improving POs enabling environment, the Bank will pursue policies that will : (a) Encourage governments to recognize the value of POs and to assist in reassuring governments and public services of the benefits that would accrue from a partnership with strong and effective POs. (b) Ensure that POs are recognized as full-fledge indispensable partners of government, donors and private sector in rural development, poverty alleviation, and in achieving food security targets. at local and national levels: To this end,the BANK will invite POs to participate in preparation and negotiations of rural development policy or strategy (CAS, PFPs, etc) and; work with POs in all phases of rural development projects/programs: preparation, appraisal, negotiation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation; (c). Support the preparation of draft laws and ensure their adoption to promote a conducive legal environment for a well-regulated economic program especially for partnerships between POs and private sector. (d) Promote effective decentralization through Community Action Programs (CAP). Decentralization mechanisms that are being put in place through CAPs are the basis for the empowerment of local communities. CAPs provide the conducive environment for rural development, essential for the development of the agricultural sector. In an effective decentralized environment, POs can concentrate on their economic, technical and advocacy function and leave local development functions to rural communes. A decentralized context allows for a devolution of responsibilities away from centralized institutions and provides a favorable environment for POs to obtain local answers to their local needs.

4 (e) Promote institutional reforms to ensure client-responsive services and accountability to users. (f) Strengthen the capabilities of public and private service providers. Because of increasing international competition, PO s need quality professional services. World Bank projects should contribute to improving the competence and quality of expertise of service providers and trainers. (g) Promote a dialogue among donor agencies. Our partnership will also facilitate POs access to financial resources This may be effected through : (a) the establishment of a demand driven fund to allow local producer organizations to buy the services they need (b) simplification of Bank procurement and disbursement procedures (cf. Guidelines for simplified procurement and disbursement for community based investment). (c) other innovative approaches which will facilitate a learning by doing process for the Bank, the governments and producer organizations. Working with producer organization as full fledged partners to contribute in shaping rural development policy and rural development projects and programs at local, national and international levels is new for the Bank. But as Mr Wolfensohn told some of you in Washington in June 1999 if we are to make a big impact on the issue of poverty and the issue of development the impact can not be project by project it has to be done on the basis of linking with ongoing organizations that themselves have links with the many farmers in those organizations.... I believe we must now move forward in specifying the areas in which our partnership can best contribute to your empowerment It can for example be in the area of extension services, production, marketing, or rural finance... In whatever area of endeavor, we are willing to find new ways in which we can work together and be better supportive of you. We in the Bank believe that under the current complex circumstances in which developing countries have to compete in what is popularly called the global market, the producers of agricultural goods and services need to be at center stage, hence our renewed effort in working as partners with IFAP. To this end, the World Bank recently organized an internal Producers Organization task force to move into action, and promote partnerships with farmer organizations in policy formulation and project design and implementation, in Bank operations. The task force is to show that working with producer organizations makes a difference. It

5 will provide guidance in the design of enhanced partnerships with producer organizations