Regional food security given attention

At the Bangkok meeting (photo from asiadhrra.org)

On September 6-7, 2012 in Bangkok, Thailand, AWCF Executive Director Ms Salome A. Ganibe participated in the “Private Sector (Civil Society Organizations [CSOs] and Business Groups) Preparatory Workshop” held for the “2^nd ASEAN AMAF-Public Private Sector Dialogue (PPD) on Food Security” that had been scheduled on September 27, 2012 in Vientiane, Laos. AWCF was invited by the Asian Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Asia (AsiaDHRRA) that had been tapped by the Association of South East Asian Nations or ASEAN-US MARKET Project, together with the ASEAN Secretariat, to help mobilize strong CSO participation in the Preparatory Workshop. The objective of the Preparatory Workshop was to prepare and ensure that CSO perspectives will be fittingly incorporated in the action agenda in the PPD event in Laos. Ms Ganibe likewise attended the PPD event, also upon invitation of the organizers. The three themes of the dialogue process were “Agricultural Productivity,” “Agriculture Credit,” and “Women in Agribusiness.” The invitation to the Asian regional CSOs, which included AWCF, to the events was based on their engagement with ASEAN on the three mentioned themes and also their expertise on those themes.

The first day of the Preparatory Workshop in Bangkok had 26 participants from farmers organizations, co-ops, and CSOs from national and regional levels. Observers came from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and national governments. The participants were joined on the second day by 23 representatives from the ASEAN Senior Officials and Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (SOM-AMAF) from eight ASEAN member States (AMS), to learn about the issues identified by participants in the previous day’s proceedings.

On September 26, 2012, the “CSO Forum on ASEAN Engagement” was held in Laos as a self-organized process of the CSO delegation to further prepare for the PPD to be held the next day. The CSO delegation reviewed and discussed the summary of CSO issues and recommendations that emerged during the Preparatory Workshop in Bangkok, for presentation at the PPD. 

At the PPD on September 27, 2012 in Laos, AsiaDHRRA Secretary General Ms Marlene D. Ramirez presented a paper containing the summary of CSO inputs to the discussion. She addressed her message to the ASEAN Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) in attendance. In her talk, Ms Ramirez said outright that the presence of the CSOs in the event indicates their commitment to pursue the dialogue process through the PPD platform in order to pursue a shared policy agenda among members of civil society in the ASEAN region, in relation to the common fight for food sovereignty/security. She added that it was hoped that the key messages and recommendations from the CSOs, which are deemed essential to the process of institutionalizing the AMAF-private sector partnerships, can be acted upon by the ASEAN through the AMAF in the immediate future (see below: “Summary of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Inputs—2^nd AMAF-Private Sector Dialogue on Food Security”).

Summary of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Inputs (Cross-cutting)

“2^nd AMAF-Private Sector Dialogue on Food Security”

September 27, 2012

Vientiane, Laos  

Delivered by Ms Marlene D. Ramirez

Secretary General, Asian Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas (AsiaDHRRA)

Your excellencies from the ASEAN Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF),  once again, on behalf of the [Civil Society Organizations] CSO delegation, please accept our sincere appreciation for this opportunity to dialogue with you. Our strong presence here indicates our commitment to pursue this dialogue process through the [Public Private Sector Dialogue] PPD platform to pursue a shared policy agenda among members of civil society in the ASEAN region, in relation to our common fight for food sovereignty/security. We also come to hear updates from the 1^st PPD in Jakarta in 2011, and to reiterate our intent and actions to contribute to the progression of this important dialogue process.

The CSO delegation during the CSO Forum on ASEAN Engagement yesterday, our self-organized process to further prepare for the PPD, reviewed and discussed the summary of CSO issues and recommendations that emerged during the Bangkok Preparatory Workshop. In that process, we affirm three key messages around cross-cutting issues that we hope to convey to you today. We believe that these recommendations are essential to the process of institutionalizing the AMAF-private sector partnerships.

First, we call on your support to strengthen the mechanism for regular dialogue between the Private Sector and AMAF.  An institutionalized mechanism, such as the PPD, will help in creating a more integrative and multi-sectoral approach in addressing priority issues they themselves identify. We want to see this dialogue process strengthened by expanding it at the national levels where CSOs and private business groups and governments can sustain their confidence building process, and discussions or debates on prioritized issues coming from the regional PPD. We hope that this can done at least twice annually.

With a more sectoral focus, we take this opportunity to reiterate our major call during the 1^st PPD in Jakarta for ASEAN to support the creation of a Small Farmers/Producers Council, which shall be composed of representatives from small farmers and fishers/producers organizations in ASEAN Member States. Strongly organized at the national and regional levels, they can bring a representative voice and become one of ASEAN's strongest allies in pursuing a more sustainable agricultural development in the region. Their support institutions and partners from the broader development community commit to support this agenda, in cooperation with existing and appropriate working group or body within ASEAN, through the national SOM-AMAF focal points, and the ASEAN Secretariat.

Secondly, we call upon ASEAN to promote international guidelines and mandates by the United Nations and its attached agencies for food and agriculture, in particular, the Voluntary Guideline on responsible governance of land tenure, forest, fisheries in the context of national food security, and the principles for responsible agricultural investment, for which the latter is still under discussion by the World Food Security Committee. We request ASEAN to strengthen its role in monitoring the adherence to and in translating these mandates into regional operational guidelines. Building on what has been sanctioned by some, if not all, ASEAN Member States, it is a good strategy toward institutionalization. CSOs in the region have actively participated in pursuing these mandates at the global level, and we would like ASEAN to partner with CSOs to help us in making these global guidelines or treaties really matter for our countries and the rural communities that we work with. ASEAN should develop Common Standards and Monitoring system, to protect and prepare smallholder agriculture especially in the context of the ASEAN 2015 economic integration and to create opportunities for communities to engage and benefit from fair intra-regional trade. We would like to work with you, and the private sector, in developing the following:

1. Regional Standards for Sustainable Agricultural Investments

2. Sustainability Reporting Guideline (developed by the Global Reporting Initiative)

3. Land Monitoring (land use and land rights)

4. Good Aquaculture Practices

5. Agribusiness Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Practices

In addition, we wish to call on ASEAN's attention to the International Year of Cooperatives (2012) in relation to the Bangkok Preparatory Workshop recommendations to strengthen agricultural cooperatives and the International Year of Family Farming (2014) in relation to the recommendations to promote and support smallholder agriculture. We have two years to rally behind the UN sanctioned IYFF and we call on ASEAN and its Member States to support efforts of CSOs to drumbeat and showcase the support for small men and women farmers, especially the rural youth, at the national levels.

Finally, we strongly encourage ASEAN to strengthen its role as a Learning Platform for smallholder agriculture development. Where good practices both from the public and private sectors (CSOs and business groups) are harnessed to optimize opportunities for cross-learning, as input to policy making, and to build farmers/fishers capacities to improve agricultural productivity, access to credit, and women's economic role in agriculture. ASEAN should facilitate and support regional knowledge and learning exchanges on priority areas for action, such as:

·         Farmer-private sector partnership models

·         Women empowerment in agribusiness

·         Enabling legal frameworks (e.g., co-op laws, social credit policy, organic agriculture act)

·         Small farmers/producers access to markets

·         Agriculture financing services, especially for small farmers/producers

·         Sustainable land use and land reform models

·         Sustainable agriculture technologies including post-harvest management

·         Crop insurance and other social protection programs for small farmers

These are some of our priority recommendations which we hope ASEAN through the AMAF could act on in the immediate future. Among us CSOs,  we also task upon ourselves to strengthen our ranks and our bases of unity, to build our capacities for constructive engagement, and to rally behind the efforts of those in the frontline of development work, our partner Farmers/Producers' Organizations. We extend our hands to sustain the dialogue with the business sector, and together let us aim to fulfill our sustainable development bottomlines of people, planet, profits, and peace. 

Thank you.