Commonwealth Agriculture Conference

**1**

To Minister Russell, Lord Vestey, and to all at the Royal Agricultural Society of the Commonwealth, I thank you warmly for this invitation to join you today at the 24th Commonwealth Agriculture Conference.

I am delighted to be here.

I am delighted, too, to be attending the Commonwealth Forestry Conference immediately afterwards.

How powerful a signal that two such meetings should take place side-by-side today.

I may counsel, literally and metaphorically, against ‘encroachment’, which is a very serious challenge when forests are being cut down for agricultural use.

But I actively encourage ‘engagement’: the Commonwealth is unique because of its ideas, its reach, its networks, its partnerships – and we see that writ-large in Edinburgh today.

Sadly, I was unable to join you for the 23rd Commonwealth Agriculture Conference in Christchurch, New Zealand, two years ago.

But four years ago, I know that my predecessor Don McKinnon joined you in Calgary.

Don, of course, was a farmer by trade, and he has now exchanged his 400 or so charges at the Commonwealth Secretariat, not to mention 54 Commonwealth Heads of Government, for 10 acres, 2,000 newly planted trees and 12 head of cattle in Pukekohe, south of Auckland.

On occasions such as these, he would often make very effective use of the language of one who has lived on the land.

It may take a farmer weeks to build the wooden fence of democracy, he would say, but it takes just seconds for one angry mule to kick it down.

Another fencing metaphor he used to highlight the possibility of achieving change through persistence and time: if you lean against a post long enough, it will eventually give way.

Today, I am the first to admit that I bring you no such farming wisdom or experience, other than a certain tender Indian affiliation with cows ....

But what I share with Don and with you all is a deep concern – in part for those who live on the land, but abidingly for those who live off it ... and who, in doing so, live very precariously.

It is a concern of which the whole world is especially conscious today, with the UN calling for emergency support for the people of Niger, who face starvation in the wake of severe crop failure after a serious drought last year, and a major hike in food prices.

They are not alone: the FAO tells us that over 10 million people in the West African Sahel are also at risk of hunger and malnutrition due to drought.

It is a concern for the one billion people worldwide who, the FAO tells us, go hungry to bed each night.

It is a concern for the one billion people on this planet who eke out a living on an income of one US dollar a day ... and indeed for the two billion faring not much better, on two dollars.

It is a concern that food prices, though lower than at their peak at the end of 2008, are still appreciably higher than they were five years ago.

And, further, it’s a concern which might have worried someone like Thomas Malthus.

If we are struggling to feed a world of six and three-quarter billion people in 2010, how will we manage to feed the nine billion who may be walking this earth in the year 2050?

**2**

There is one word which is at the heart of all these concerns, and which should be at the heart of the ‘Cooperation and Collaboration’ which is your title for this conference.

That word is ‘Values’.

I might go further, and add the word ‘Rights’.

Food security is more than a question of economics, or of emergency aid.

The right to food is a fundamental human right, as set out in the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

I adopt this rights-based approach because, above and beyond the ties of history, language, shared institutions – even those of The Queen, of cricket, scholarships, the Commonwealth Games – we in the Commonwealth are bound, voluntarily, as equals, by our shared principles and by our highest aspirations.

And here, if I may, I take you back to the last Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago in November, when this association – on its 60th anniversary – set those down and affirmed them anew.

Further still, they pledged to observe them ever better.

The Commonwealth was and is pioneering in this respect, and others have sought to replicate its model.

You would have seen other manifestations of the ‘Commonwealth of Values’ at the Meeting, as well.

I refer to new pledges to support young people, and women, and to help our smaller and more vulnerable states to gain access to the funding and the technology which will allow them to adapt to climate change, and to mitigate its impacts.

You also saw the Commonwealth of Values at work, in the way that we embraced a 54th member, Rwanda.

We did this not on the strength of traumas past or challenges present – but on the strength of the values with which Rwanda will go forward.

The decision to admit Rwanda was an act of political will and affirmation, based on the premise and the promise of a shared journey in the pursuit of shared values.

So that is the humanity which we bring to this agriculture conference, and which we must apply to it at every turn.

We are firstly the ‘Commonwealth of Values’.

We are secondly the ‘Commonwealth of our Times’, moving – over six decades so far – with the need to address the ever-changing challenges of our members.

We are thirdly the ‘Commonwealth of the Vulnerable’, whose first priority is the poorest, the smallest, the most vulnerable countries – and, within them, the poorest, the ‘smallest’, the most vulnerable of people.

And we are fourthly the ‘Commonwealth of Partnership’ – partnering both ‘within’ and ‘without’, sharing our wisdom and best practice across our networks, and exercising what I call a ‘wisdom function’ for the world.

On that score, let me tell you also that we are just about to launch an Eminent Persons Group.

Its task will be to recommend ways that together we can sharpen the impact, strengthen the networks, and raise the profile of the Commonwealth.

All will have an opportunity to contribute, and I hope the Royal Agricultural Society of the Commonwealth will study how it can offer its thoughts at the start, and support the outcome at the end.

We need to have our networks of partnership working better in the 21st Century.

**3**

It is from this vantage point – of ideas, networks, partnerships – that we look at some of the issues facing the world of agriculture today.

The first is high food prices, which are all the more serious when you consider that the poor are estimated to spend anything up to three-quarters of their budget on food, and that social safety nets, if any, are so flimsy.

What is more, so many of our Commonwealth smaller and/or island states are food importers.

A recent Commonwealth study found that a rise in rice prices of just 10% in Bangladesh would push another 400,000 households into poverty.

The issue of food security is coupled with that of energy security – a separate topic in itself, but one which impacts directly on food security.

As the Director General of the FAO recently put it, the world spending over $10 billion a year in biofuel subsidies and protective tariff policies has the effect of diverting 100 million tonnes of cereals from human consumption, quote, “mostly to satisfy a thirst for vehicles”.

The second issue we see is the decreasing levels of agricultural production in some parts of the world, notably Africa and the Pacific.

It is a fact that there is enough food in the world to feed us all.

But another fact of reality is that demand and supply are two parallel tracks, with a barrier between them.

The third of our ongoing challenges is the degradation of natural resources – of land, water, and animal and plant diversity.

Normally, this is the result of taking nutrients out of the soil, and leaving the soil to the ravages of wind and water.

Africa alone loses about 8 million tonnes of usable soil nutrients every year.

The fourth is climate change: a subject which may come onto our TV screens as the stuff of obtuse and bloody-minded negotiation in places like Copenhagen and Bonn, but which – in Commonwealth countries like the Maldives, Kiribati and Bangladesh – is quite literally a matter of having your head above or below water.

Or in drought-ridden Kenya or desert-encroached Nigeria or Namibia, it is a matter of having food and water.

The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change has forecast declining agricultural yields in Africa and Asia by anything up to 40% by 2050.

The fifth is the lack of investment in agriculture.

We have seen this clearly in a fall in development assistance.

17% of it went to agriculture in 1982; and only 3% in 2006.

And we see it all the time in the fact investors (whether in agribusiness or not) fear to tread in so many developing countries, on account of the weak investment and regulatory climate which cannot guarantee the safety of that money.

The lack of such investment translates into more than a lack of agribusiness: it also means a lack of scientific research, and a lack of infrastructure, such as the road and rail networks which transport foodstuffs.

And the sixth, and perhaps the most persistent, is the need for an end to the artificial structure of tariffs, quotas and subsidies, which so distorts prices and competition in agricultural goods.

The Doha Development Agenda is dragging its feet.

It holds the key to unlocking a huge surge in economic activity in Africa, if it could allow that continent’s agricultural products to penetrate other markets.

And all these impediments, I fear, are at play in a Commonwealth in which agriculture remains the bedrock of the vast majority of our societies.

65% of my own countrymen and women work on the land – as against 2% of British people.

Commonwealth countries are farmed largely by families, as small-holdings.

Often, they are farmed by women: 85% of farmers in The Gambia are female.

And many of these women face cultural and legal obstacles to lay claim to what is rightly their own land.

And these are the very same countries in which farming in particular, and society in general, is crippled by shocking levels of disease, lack of education, and lack of water.

Some have seen their farming destroyed by civil conflict, or even conflict which, itself, is born of a struggle for land and natural resources like water.

I am painting a gloomy picture of a sector which needs three things in particular: stable food prices; significantly increased yields, which in some parts of the world need to rise by 70%, before 2050; and the ability to trade and sell surplus production freely.

It must be abundantly clear that the scale and the scope of these development challenges mean that they can only be tackled through international cooperation and collaboration – in the Commonwealth, and beyond.

Collectively, we have the level of resources, skills and scientific know-how to do so – and we have a precedent, in the Green Revolution of the 1970s.

Cooperation and collaboration is needed on several fronts:

· In directing finance and investment into agriculture to raise productivity, for instance through improved seeds and fertilisers, better pest control, and better storage facilities

· In scientific research to combat the spread of plant and livestock diseases, and in promoting good agricultural practice, food safety and quality assurance

· In capacity building to improve the knowledge and skills of farmers, researchers and policy advisors in developing countries

· In developing adaptation and mitigation measures to combat climate change.

**4**

So how can we in the Commonwealth help to make these things happen?

Where can the Commonwealth – whether its Governments, or its inter-governmental body the Commonwealth Secretariat, or indeed you yourselves, with the huge constituencies of 48 Commonwealth Agricultural Shows across 21 countries – reinforce this collaboration?

On the surface, let us face it, there are limitations as to what every single one of us can do.

One such concern is that we do not convene meetings of our Agriculture Ministers, in the way that we do with other Ministers.

This partly reflects the political sensitivities of a sector which pits subsidisers against non-subsidisers, those who raise tariffs against those who don’t, and those who subsidise cows with more than the daily income of much of the developing world.

Even so, we should support such Ministers in pressing the case for increased investment in the agricultural sector – in research and extension, in rural feeder roads, in storage facilities and in market development – to ensure food security and prosperity for the large majority of people who live in rural areas, and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods.

Another limitation arises from our capacity.

Commend as I do the work done by my Secretariat team, I am the first to admit that it constitutes a drop in the ocean, or more suitably, perhaps, a small corner of a very large field.

At times, that Commonwealth assistance brings practical aid.

I call to mind the Tanzanian farmer whom we funded in Grenada, running powerful and practical sessions with both civil servants and farmers, on rebuilding the country’s livestock industry which was blown away by Hurricane Ivan.

Let me mention another Commonwealth project in five member countries in the Eastern Caribbean, which is developing new agricultural value chains that focus on spices, fruits and vegetables.

It does so, in an effort to diversify agricultural production and reduce the dependence of farmers on the traditional crops of sugarcane and banana.

This support is critical at a time when these small island states can no longer count on preferential access to the EU market for their products.

Meanwhile at other times, Commonwealth assistance has taken the form of lobbying in international fora for the developing world.

The Commonwealth has brought high quality policy advice to the agricultural world.

Our technical assistance is especially being targeted at helping developing country farmers meet standards of food safety and quality, and the requirements of labelling, packaging and traceability.

In this area, we have been working alongside the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation, and we have just published a manual with them.

**5**

The Commonwealth is in the business of solutions – either of our own making, or those in which we mobilise and galvanise others.

In the field of increasing yields and minimising post-harvest losses, we will continue to join forces with the FAO, to organise training courses for government agricultural extension agents and civil society trainers, to bring about better advice and services to farmers.

In the field of climate change, we will continue to carry out important research on the carbon footprint of agriculture, and particularly the international transport of goods – the so-called ‘food miles’.

We made the interesting finding, for instance, that it is less damaging environmentally to bring naturally-grown flowers to this country from Kenya, than hothouse-grown flowers from the Netherlands.

And as I mentioned, we are now actively helping poorer and smaller countries access the mitigation and adaptation finance which was first promised at Copenhagen.

In the field of technology, we will press ahead with the Commonwealth Connects initiative, designed to establish national information and communications technology strategies in all Commonwealth member countries, with benefits that will of course reach their agricultural sectors.

So far, it has developed strategies in three countries (Seychelles, Tonga, Belize), and given assistance to a further 25.

There is much more to do.

We believe that it is through technology that we make most effective use of our networks and our combined wisdom.

With the blessing of those same Commonwealth leaders at CHOGM, a new project is currently underway to create a massive Commonwealth portal website: the Commonwealth Partnership Platform Portal, or CP3.

The CP3 is three things, and more: it is a source of information; it is a conduit to a network; and it is a place to ‘do business’ – to find a partner, launch a project, or make a connection.

Three initial windows of the site are currently being developed (broadly, on governance, youth, and education) – but I welcome the prospect of a virtual Commonwealth farmers network that could ultimately bring together the public and private sectors and civil society, including farmers, scientists, agriculture-related bodies, policy makers and entrepreneurs.

The RASC could be involved in the creation of this window, when the time comes.

Here, we have a good reference point in the work of our sister intergovernmental organisation, the Vancouver-based distance learning body, the Commonwealth of Learning.

Its ‘Lifelong Learning for Farmers’ programme piloted in Tamil Nadu in India, and is now being replicated across places as diverse as Sri Lanka, Jamaica, Kenya, Mauritius and Papua New Guinea.

It is an experimental programme using ICT kiosks set up in villages, and creating associations of farmers which encourage them to think communally about challenges and priorities.

It mobilises people – for example, local universities and agricultural colleges – who can provide information and advice, via the internet.

It mobilises private sector banks, which deal with newly created associations of farmers and give loans to individual farmers.

It uses other companies to market farmers’ goods.

Villagers are provided with internet learning to log on to the service.

The Commonwealth of Learning calls this ‘Development without Donors’ – and we call it a microcosm of what we can do on a pan-Commonwealth and even a global basis, using our expertise and the power of technology.

So how do we reach the next generation of farmers?

We believe that so much of the answer lies in technology.

It is the fastest way to scale up some of your excellent initiatives – like your study visit to Papua New Guinea – and our own.

**6**

And it is the great democratising reach of technology which can also remind us that this Commonwealth is a Commonwealth of 54 nations, and not just those eight Dominions which formed the backbone of the association, back in 1949.

It is for this reason that I join you today in warmly welcoming back RASC members like Botswana and Malawi.

I am also delighted that, after Canada, New Zealand and now the UK as the venues for numbers 22, 23 and 24, you will convene for the 25^th Commonwealth Agriculture Conference in Zambia in 2012.

In Calgary, you focussed on ‘Expectations and Realities’.

In Edinburgh, you have focussed on ‘Cooperation and Collaboration’.

So I would like to leave you with two further words.

‘Cooperation and Collaboration’ will prosper if they are based on Values, and if they are enhanced by Technology.

We stand ready to work with you in this most ancient and contemporary of challenges – that of feeding ourselves and the world.

Thank you.

ENDS