Origins - World Rural Women's Day

“Peace for Rural Women to Achieve Food Security”

Kampala, Uganda, 15th – 17th October 2001

As Vice President of the IFAP Standing Committee on Women in Agriculture, I would like to convey a message on behalf of IFAP President, Gerard Doornbos, who fully supports our activities. Please accept his apologies for his not being among us for the celebration of this important event.

Honourable Minister of Agriculture, I would like to thank your country, UNFA and UCA for hosting this event, and I am sure that they didn’t fail to their usual warm hospitality. I still have a very good memories of the 1998 IFAP African Committee meeting which took place here in Kampala.

I would like to address my acknowledgement to you, Dear Chairperson, for the efforts you are making to strengthen women’s role within our organization.

The International Federation of Agricultural Producers being a platform organization for farmers from throughout the world, I have made it a priority during my presidency, to substantially strengthen the development activities.

IFAP maintains good working relationships with FAO and other UN Agencies and with non-governmental organisations in its efforts to improve the situation of farmers.

World Food Day is an occasion to acknowledge the efforts of farmers, agricultural co-operators, and others who labour throughout the year to produce our food. Farmers as a group are all too often taken for granted. Yet, the most important world event every year is perhaps the success of the harvest, for it sustains human life itself on this planet.

Agriculture remains the mainstay of the economies of most African countries. In Uganda, the great majority of the population is engaged in farming. Therefore, those farmers have to be targeted for poverty eradication.

Agriculture is not merely a production activity. It is a means of livelihood and an activity for poverty reduction. Agriculture is critical for food security, and contributes to the management of natural resources and to the vitality of rural communities.

The development agenda is failing to include agriculture at the top of its priorities as it did in the past :

§ Concerning FAO, there has been little progress over the last five years in achieving the World Food Summit target of halving the number of people suffering from hunger by 2015. Many governments have not even drawn up a strategy to tackle hunger and poverty.

§ Last year, the rural lending portfolio of the World Bank was the lowest in history; rural poverty is not receiving the attention it deserves.

§ The level of bilateral development assistance, and investment in agriculture has fallen significantly.

This must be changed. As farmer leaders, we need fight to move questions of rural poverty and food insecurity back to the top of the international development agenda.

As FAO Director General Jacques Diouf recently declared : “A sharper focus is needed on hunger and agricultural development within the broader objective of poverty reduction.”

Poverty and hunger are among the major problems facing mankind in the world today. They are problems that will only be solved if greater efforts are made to motivate and mobilize the farmers. Greater political will, and the necessary resources, must be applied to support the efforts of the farmers.

We have to bear in mind that most of the food is provided by women. They are the custodians of natural resources in their daily activities. And yet, development programs are not geared to the real needs of rural women. Therefore women have to be included in development activities. Even more, their equal participation in developing and implementing policies is a prerequisite for sustainable global development i.e. equal rights and opportunities, access to education, employment, the decision-making process, resources, health care services, and so on.

Lasting peace and sustainable development will result from the establishment of genuine dialogue between men and women. Such dialogue will bring together individual and collective knowledge, and share values and behaviour, which are essential components of the peace and development process.

Rural women cannot however, single-handedly change current trends. Governments, national or international bodies, farm organizations, NGOs and other agencies working with rural women must also adopt the appropriate measures to help achieve true equality between men and women that will lead to the enhanced well-being of all individuals.

Peace and food security are of the biggest challenges that we, farmers, have to meet in order to fight poverty and to provide a stable agricultural environment around the world.

In closing, I would like to again express my appreciation to the dynamic chairwoman of the IFAP Standing Committee on Women in Agriculture, Hon. Victoria Kakoko Sebagereka for her involvement in the organisation of this celebration and also congratulate her on being elected to the Uganda Parliament. I would also like to thank our host organisations UNFA and UCA for holding this meeting in the Pearl of Africa with a special gratitude to the many people in the Paris and Kampala secretariats who worked so hard to put this event together.

We hope that it will be the starting point for giving a much higher profile to agricultural concerns within the national and international development agendas.



*Origin* *Events* *Archive* *Proclamations*		WORLD RURAL WOMEN DAY 2001 “Peace for Rural Women to Achieve Food Security” Kampala, Uganda, 15th – 17th October 2001 Message from IFAP President Gerard Doornbos Honourable Minister, Dear Guests, Dear Friends, As Vice President of the IFAP Standing Committee on Women in Agriculture, I would like to convey a message on behalf of IFAP President, Gerard Doornbos, who fully supports our activities. Please accept his apologies for his not being among us for the celebration of this important event. Honourable Minister of Agriculture, I would like to thank your country, UNFA and UCA for hosting this event, and I am sure that they didn’t fail to their usual warm hospitality. I still have a very good memories of the 1998 IFAP African Committee meeting which took place here in Kampala. I would like to address my acknowledgement to you, Dear Chairperson, for the efforts you are making to strengthen women’s role within our organization. The International Federation of Agricultural Producers being a platform organization for farmers from throughout the world, I have made it a priority during my presidency, to substantially strengthen the development activities. IFAP maintains good working relationships with FAO and other UN Agencies and with non-governmental organisations in its efforts to improve the situation of farmers. World Food Day is an occasion to acknowledge the efforts of farmers, agricultural co-operators, and others who labour throughout the year to produce our food. Farmers as a group are all too often taken for granted. Yet, the most important world event every year is perhaps the success of the harvest, for it sustains human life itself on this planet. Agriculture remains the mainstay of the economies of most African countries. In Uganda, the great majority of the population is engaged in farming. Therefore, those farmers have to be targeted for poverty eradication. Agriculture is not merely a production activity. It is a means of livelihood and an activity for poverty reduction. Agriculture is critical for food security, and contributes to the management of natural resources and to the vitality of rural communities. The development agenda is failing to include agriculture at the top of its priorities as it did in the past : § Concerning FAO, there has been little progress over the last five years in achieving the World Food Summit target of halving the number of people suffering from hunger by 2015. Many governments have not even drawn up a strategy to tackle hunger and poverty. § Last year, the rural lending portfolio of the World Bank was the lowest in history; rural poverty is not receiving the attention it deserves. § The level of bilateral development assistance, and investment in agriculture has fallen significantly. This must be changed. As farmer leaders, we need fight to move questions of rural poverty and food insecurity back to the top of the international development agenda. As FAO Director General Jacques Diouf recently declared : “A sharper focus is needed on hunger and agricultural development within the broader objective of poverty reduction.” Poverty and hunger are among the major problems facing mankind in the world today. They are problems that will only be solved if greater efforts are made to motivate and mobilize the farmers. Greater political will, and the necessary resources, must be applied to support the efforts of the farmers. We have to bear in mind that most of the food is provided by women. They are the custodians of natural resources in their daily activities. And yet, development programs are not geared to the real needs of rural women. Therefore women have to be included in development activities. Even more, their equal participation in developing and implementing policies is a prerequisite for sustainable global development i.e. equal rights and opportunities, access to education, employment, the decision-making process, resources, health care services, and so on. Lasting peace and sustainable development will result from the establishment of genuine dialogue between men and women. Such dialogue will bring together individual and collective knowledge, and share values and behaviour, which are essential components of the peace and development process. Rural women cannot however, single-handedly change current trends. Governments, national or international bodies, farm organizations, NGOs and other agencies working with rural women must also adopt the appropriate measures to help achieve true equality between men and women that will lead to the enhanced well-being of all individuals. Peace and food security are of the biggest challenges that we, farmers, have to meet in order to fight poverty and to provide a stable agricultural environment around the world. In closing, I would like to again express my appreciation to the dynamic chairwoman of the IFAP Standing Committee on Women in Agriculture, Hon. Victoria Kakoko Sebagereka for her involvement in the organisation of this celebration and also congratulate her on being elected to the Uganda Parliament. I would also like to thank our host organisations UNFA and UCA for holding this meeting in the Pearl of Africa with a special gratitude to the many people in the Paris and Kampala secretariats who worked so hard to put this event together. We hope that it will be the starting point for giving a much higher profile to agricultural concerns within the national and international development agendas. Thank you.