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Info Service on Sustainable Agriculture World Bank Continues to Promote Agribusiness at the Expense of Poor Farmers Small-scale agriculture has a significant role to play in reducing extreme poverty since 80 per cent of people living below the global poverty line are based in rural areas. Access to a wide diversity of seeds is vital for farmers to be able to grow the food that is needed for the world痴 population and to provide nutritious diets for all. A recent Africa-focused analysis by the international development charity CAFOD, however, shows that the World Bank has made it easier for big agribusinesses to expand their role in markets around the world. Through its subsidy programmes, the Bank has focused almost exclusively on promoting the commercial seed market and supporting farmers to buy hybrid seeds and fertilisers. The second policy condition used by the Bank for loans has been the promotion of seed certification laws which have made it illegal for local communities to propagate, grow, exchange and sell their own seeds. Women farmers are particularly disadvantaged by the shrinking of the farmer seed system because they have less access to finance to buy seeds in commercial markets. Through its policy and funding instruments, the Bank has systematically overlooked support to the wide range of local food and farming systems that are essential when it comes to tackling poverty and the climate crisis, in spite of its mission to end extreme poverty. Success has been measured by the Bank in terms of greater participation of the private sector in providing access to hybrid seeds and fertilisers, as opposed to measuring impacts based on poverty reduction or increased food security for poor farmers. This report provides four priority areas for action by the World Bank: (1) Stop supporting restrictive seed laws, (2) Invest in an agroecological transition, (3) Support farmer seeds systems, and (4) Measure what matters e.g., increased incomes; market access; reduction in levels of poverty, hunger and malnutrition; gender equity; soil and water quality; access to indigenous seeds; and crop diversity. With
best wishes, 覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧・ SOWING
THE SEEDS OF POVERTY By
Dario Kenner and Ruth Segal 24 April 2023 Executive Summary Agriculture is a key sector for many countries in the global South and has the potential to be a vital engine to help reduce poverty. In particular, small-scale agriculture has a significant role to play in reducing extreme poverty since 80 per cent of people living below the global poverty line are based in rural areas, and the vast majority of these depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Small-scale farms are also highly efficient, producing around 35 per cent of global food production on 12 per cent of agricultural land. Seeds are the starting point for this food production and access to a wide diversity of seeds is vital for farmers to be able to grow the food that is needed for the world痴 population and to provide nutritious diets for all. Genetic diversity means that crops can adapt to their environment, develop resistance to pests and diseases, and evolve in response to changing conditions including those created by climate change. However, the World Bank is promoting a 双ne size fits all・ model of agricultural development that benefits large-scale agribusiness at the expense of supporting poor smallholder farmers in many of the world痴 low- and lower middle-income countries. CAFOD痴 analysis shows that the World Bank has made it easier for big agribusinesses to expand their role in markets around the world, to increase the availability of hybrid seeds and chemical fertilisers. Through its policy and funding instruments, the Bank has systematically overlooked support to the wide range of local food and farming systems that are essential when it comes to tackling poverty and the climate crisis, in spite of its mission to end extreme poverty. Our research focuses mainly on the use of development policy lending and the corresponding 叢rior actions・(or conditions) that countries need to take before loans are received from the Bank. We analysed World Bank materials, including policies, project documents and data sets, to find out what conditions the Bank has placed on its loans, over several decades and multiple countries. We examined academic studies and other reports to understand the impacts of these conditions. We focused on countries in Africa because this is the region where the industrial agriculture model is least embedded and where the greatest expansion is happening. We also drew on experience from organisations that CAFOD works with, including from countries where such 叢rior actions・were implemented many years ago. The two main prior actions in agriculture have been subsidy programmes and seed certification laws. Through the subsidy programmes, the World Bank has focused almost exclusively on promoting the commercial (or formal) seed market and supporting farmers to buy hybrid seeds and fertilisers. It has ignored the role of the farmer (or informal) seed system in enabling small-scale farmers to tackle poverty and enhance food security. These subsidy programmes are unsustainable in the long-term, a drain on government resources, and lock farmers into relying on unaffordable and environmentally destructive chemical fertilisers. The second prior action or policy condition used by the World Bank has been the promotion of seed certification laws. These laws have made it illegal for local communities to propagate, grow, exchange and sell their own seeds, meaning farmers become more dependent on outside interventions and expensive inputs, including seeds, fertilisers or pesticides. The laws have favoured the certification ・and therefore sale and use ・of a small range of commercial seeds at the expense of the variety of seeds within farmer-led seed systems. This is happening even though the farmer seed system provides around 80 per cent of farmers・seeds across Africa and is central to tackling poverty and enabling farmers to have greater control over what they grow. Women farmers are particularly disadvantaged by the shrinking of the farmer seed system because they have less access to finance to buy seeds in commercial markets. In addition, commercial breeders often do not produce seeds for the crops that women grow for home consumption. A further issue our research has highlighted in the World Bank痴 promotion of an industrialised agricultural model is its flawed metrics. Success has been measured by the Bank in terms of greater participation of the private sector in providing access to hybrid seeds and fertilisers, as opposed to measuring impacts based on poverty reduction or increased food security for poor farmers. As a result, large-scale agribusiness companies have been the main beneficiaries of the Bank痴 involvement, profiting from increased sales and further concentrating their market share and control of agricultural systems. The results are not surprising. In many cases, the Bank痴 programmes have not been effective in reducing poverty or increasing food security, nor have they supported diverse seeds, crops and diets that are essential to farmers・livelihoods. Instead of promoting and recognising diverse approaches to agriculture within any given country, the programmes can criminalise farmers for developing and planting the range of seeds they have used for generations. They have also contributed to destroying soil quality and undermining the long-term resilience of farmers to shocks such as climate change and supply chain disruption. World Bank staff have repeatedly raised concerns about the viability of this model in internal papers and evaluations over the past decades, yet it remains the dominant approach, based on a persistent narrative that the only way to feed the world is through intensified agriculture. In contrast to this industrialised agricultural model, diverse local food systems rooted in agroecological approaches are increasingly showing higher crop yields compared with methods that are dependent on chemical inputs, as well as improved soil health and biodiversity. These local food systems are rooted in supporting small-scale farmers・ rights over their own seed varieties to ensure long-term food security and climate resilience, yet they receive limited support or interest from either the public or private sector. To realise the transformational potential of agriculture and support global efforts to eliminate poverty and build a sustainable food system, these local diverse approaches need to be front and centre of future policy and financial support. This report takes a detailed look at why the current system is unsustainable, and concludes with four priority areas for action for the World Bank:
The UK government is a Board member and major shareholder in the World Bank. We call on the UK to act in that role, and in its wider trade and development policies, to support a transformation of our food system to build long-term food security and reduce poverty. The UK government should:
Scale up investment in an agroecological transition: Shift public finance, including UK Aid, towards agroecological production approaches that start with farmer seed systems.
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