The first meeting of the Farmers Forum in conjunction with the IFAD Governing Council endorsed the concluding statement of last year's workshop which provides the basis for the Farmers Forum process and its future development.

The Forum acknowledged the results and recommendations of the national and regional consultations that occurred in 2005.

Rich discussions in regional and thematic working groups reported in the plenary revealed both the regional diversities and a number of common understandings and recommendations shared by all regions. What follows is a brief synthesis of these shared understanding and recommendations. 

Persistent rural poverty in a world of wealth is not merely due to lack of international development assistance. It is due to the neglect of the rural sector by national public policies and to the outcome of prescriptive models that do not address the critical issues confronting smallholders and family farmers, artisanal fishers and other resource poor producers in the specific conditions under which they are making their living. All participants stressed the issue of insufficient returns to family farming due to unfair prices and the weak position of small farmers' in value adding processes. They stress that the ever increasing concentration of power and wealth where fierce competition is the norm threatens the livelihoods of the poor and any prospect for improvement.  Many organisations expressed strong concerns and disagreements with the current polices of institutions such as the IMF, WB and WTO.

The deterioration of rural livelihoods is, in no small measure, due to lack of capacity of rural organisations to influence policies and negotiate with other actors. It is also due to the fact that governments and international institutions provide little space for inclusive social dialogue whereby the perspectives of rural people are taken into account. Participating FOs called on IFAD to support their own capacity building efforts in the domain of policies, both at national and regional levels. They called on IFAD for direct support so that they empower their members to interact with the market in a more equitable and profitable way.

All participants stressed the difficult situation of rural women and youth and the lack of livelihood prospects for them. Both IFAD and farmers' organizations must address this situation

Most conclusions and recommendations of the Forum relate to two major areas: IFAD-supported operations and the Farmers' Forum Process.

In both those areas, the issues should not merely be for farmers' organizations to engage with IFAD's agenda, but for IFAD to engage with theirs.

IFAD-SUPPORTED OPERATIONS

Partnerships between IFAD and Farmers' organizations span strategy development and investment programmes. It was recommended that farmers' organizations participate – and in all cases be at least consulted - in the development of IFAD's strategies at both the national (COSOPs) and regional levels. FOs should be systematically involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of programmes and projects, financed either through loans or grants. Similarly in each of its intervention, IFAD should allocate specific direct funding for rural organizations to, independently, evaluate the effectiveness and impact of these interventions.

As IFAD is in the process of revising its Strategic Framework, participants recommended that national FOs are considered as key actors in the empowerment of the rural poor. 

THE FARMERS' FORUM PROCESS

Participants confirmed their engagement with the Farmers' Forum as an on-going bottom-up process, a space of consultation and dialogue focused on rural poverty reduction.  It respects existing organizations, their diversity and autonomy and does not create parallel structures.

The Farmers' Forum cycle 2006-2008 will comprise a significant number of national consultations in each region, to be fed-into regional or sub-regional fora, before the 2008 Governing Council. The planning of these consultations should be elaborated region per region together with regional and international organisations. Coordination with other international agencies, in particular with FAO, would strengthen the process of the Forum and minimize the demands on the time and resources of farmers' organizations.

The interface of the Farmers' Forum and IFAD's Governing Council must be institutionalized.

The participants of the Forum proposed the development of agreed-upon principles of engagement or code of conduct to guide interactions and partnerships between farmers' organizations and IFAD.

THEMATIC DISCUSSIONS

During the Farmers' Forum there were three thematic working group discussions on:  a) pro-poor access to natural resources (land, water, forest, and fisheries); b) building capacity of grassroots rural institutions and pro-poor institutional development; and c) regional market integration and family agriculture
 
The discussions were very rich in terms not only of the various regional and national realities, but also the diverse positions and approaches of the organizations present.

Below are the main recommendations addressed to IFAD for its engagement and partnerships with farmers' organization in relation to those issues. In all cases, due attention should be given to the regional and national specificities and differences. 

Pro-poor access to natural resources (land, water, forest and fisheries)

Put access to natural resources on the agendas at all levels. Facilitate dialogue between governments and representatives of small farmers and pastoralists, rural women, indigenous peoples, coastal communities, and other marginalized groups.

Provide support services to beneficiaries of agrarian reform for them to make productive use of their lands. In certain countries, to help regularise use and/or ownership rights.

Strengthen the capacity of people organisations in order for them to participate in land policy formulation, implementation, enforcement and evaluation.
 
Capacity building

Direct financing was recommended for capacity building of farmers' organizations.  Priorities in this regard have to be set by the farmers' organizations themselves.  It is crucial to understand that farmers-led processes take time and require long-term engagement and openness to trial and error.

Capacity building can relate to engagement with policies, the economic role of farmers' organizations, better communication among farmers and with the broader society, or the development of a charter, at the national level, between farmers' organizations and governments.

Regional markets integration and family farming

IFAD should support the undertaking of an evaluation of the impact of regional market integration policies and market liberalization on family agriculture and the livelihoods of the rural poor. IFAD should contribute to a broad information campaign of the findings of this evaluation.
 
IFAD should continue and broaden its support to the set-up of regional platforms of dialogue and negotiations between farmers' organizations and governments within sub-regional and regional institutions involved in the integration processes (e.g. (REAF/MERCOSUR).

It should also continue its support to regional consultations among farmers' organizations in their lobbying and advocacy initiatives vis-à-vis these processes of integration and the development of regional common agricultural policies (e.g. the IFAD support to FOs for the NEPAD Initiative).