CAP is not just a common policy. Why is agriculture a priority? The future of all common policies will be determined by the financial perspectives, which will set out how the EU's resources are allocated over the 2014-2020 period. So far, it is only for the common agricultural policy (CAP) that it is possible to indicate principles and orientations, and even the amount of funding appears to have been agreed at almost the current level. This special position is due to the growing acknowledgment that the future of agriculture is not an economic sector like all the others but a challenge that will determine the future of Europe and that of humanity. Obviously, the debates are still ongoing, positions are being taken and pressure is being exerted by all the different interest groups in this field, like in any other. Farmers cannot expect all their demands to be met. Political leaders and, increasingly, the public appear to understand, however, that the stakes at play go far beyond demands made by the agriculture sector and the demonstrations in front of the European institutions. Farmers have the right to make their demands known regarding the state of play in the agriculture sector but the vision provided by the political leaders has to take all aspects into consideration.
Two ways ahead. I will let two figures have their say because they will clarify matters better than I can with regard to the overall impact of the agricultural sector, although I do not necessarily share all their opinions.
Olivier de Schutter, the special UN rapporteur on the right to food, considers that at the moment, the greatest threat comes from “the monopolisation of land and resources”. In Africa, entire farming communities are being “decimated by the arrival of foreign investors who want to get rid of everything else, to make way for the big plantations. Backed up by governments or the local ruling elite, farmers have been thrown off the land… according to the World Bank, in the space of just a few months (October 2008-August 2009) 56 million hectares were subject to this kind of negotiation in sub-Saharan Africa: the equivalent of 1/5 of arable farming in Europe.” Obviously, corruption has played a part in this.
The second greatest threat to the world's food supply is agri-fuels. According to an assessment made at the beginning of 2010, 30% of all major investment in agriculture was directed towards agri-fuels. Mr De Schutter will be organising an international discussion on this subject next October. The third major scourge is that of waste: 30 - 40% of harvests in southern countries are lost due to storage and transport difficulties. The fourth problem is that of the major industrial plantations, which have tractors, chemical fertilisers and pesticides, which consequently speed up climate damage. Mr de Schutter says that the solution can be found in ecological farming methods which promote a natural complementarity between plants, trees and small animals. He subsequently explains that “soil covering plants can be used as fodder or compost. Plants help to maintain humidity and animal excrement is used to fertilise the soil”. In his opinion, this does not constitute a return to the past but rather a very modern and indispensable vision to be promoted.
Mr De Schutter's mandate has been confirmed by the UN for three years. He considers that his greatest advantage is being able to say exactly what he thinks and to have privileged access to where the decision-making actually takes place.
The criticism made by Pierre Rabhi, philosopher, writer and farmer of Algerian descent, when he describes the situation in poor countries, is equally important. Particularly in Africa “farmers have been encouraged to abandon their traditional farming in order to produce cotton, groundnuts and cocoa for export. They have subsequently become dependent on chemical fertilisers and synthetic pesticides, which have, nonetheless, not enabled them to compete at international level… small agricultural concerns are disappearing and with them, the farmers, which impoverishes the local populations' ability to respond to their food requirements.” At the same time, “the West will continue to seek food from thousands of kilometres away, to the detriment of its own production. It has become dependent upon international transport.” In Europe, “circumstances require a response to soil destruction, the pollution of groundwater layers and the disappearance of traditional seeds which have been confiscated by the multinationals and replaced by their own”.
Mr Rabhi concludes that “we live in an illusion of abundance. Food stocks are depleting and they will not be enough in the event of serious shortages. There is a paradox - growth aggravates poverty. The Congo has granted another concession to a Chinese company for the exploitation of its wood and the Chinese are not about to forsake millions of dollars earned on the backs of the Congolese people while destroying their forests.” Tomorrow, we will see how the EU could respond in order to tackle this situation. (F.R./transl./fl)