1. TRIAS and IFAJ International Federation of Agricultural Journalists The role of agricultural journalism in North and South Ostend, 16 April 2010 Farmers Fighting Poverty Strengthening producer organisations in developing countries ignace.coussement@agricord.org

2. WTO Ministerial meetings > Geneva, 30 November - 2 December 2009 > Hong Kong, 13-18 December 2005 > Cancún, 10-14 September 2003 > Doha, 9-13 November 2001 Seattle, November 30 – December 3, 1999 > Geneva, 18-20 May 1998 > Singapore, 9-13 December 1996Geneva, 30 November - 2 December 2009 Hong Kong, 13-18 December 2005Cancún, 10-14 September 2003Doha, 9-13 November 2001 Seattle, November 30 – December 3, 1999Geneva, 18-20 May 1998Singapore, 9-13 December 1996 1Family farmers, all over the world, have shared interests. 2Farmers Speak For Themselves.

3. The core dimensions for measuring strengths and weaknesses are Degree of organization (facts) Diversification of incomes (facts) Participation (facts and opinions) Representativity (facts and opinions) Accountability (facts and opinions) Professional capacity (facts and opinions) Strategic potential (facts and opinions) Gender (facts and opinions)

4. « Out of 1.3 billion of people active in farming all over the world, only 30 million (2%) work with a tractor, about 350 millions (25%) are using animal traction, and nearly 1 billion (the three quarters) work with manual tools. » (M. Mazoyer, Histoire des Agricultures du Monde) tractor driven animal traction manual tools

5. An initiative from the 10 professional farmer organisations from 8 OECD countries : Belgium > Boerenbond, Landelijke Gilden, KVLV and KLJ. > FWA, Fédération Wallonne de lAgriculture Canada > UPA, Union des Producteurs Agricoles (Québec) Finland> MTK, Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners France > FNSEA, APCA, Jeunes Agriculteurs, CNMCCA > Céréaliers de France (AGPB, AGPM, ITCF et UNIGRAINS) et autres Netherlands> LTO, NCR, NAJK, Plattelandsvrouwen, Passage a.o. Italy> CIA, Confederazione Italiana Agricoltori Spain> UPA, Unión de Pequenos, Agricultores y Ganaderos Sweden > LRF (Lantbrukarnas Riksförbund)

6. AFDI, Agriculteurs Français et Developpement International, France Agri-agence de la FNSEA, APCA, Jeunes Agriculteurs, CNMCCA AGRITERRA, Netherlands Agri-agency of LTO, NCR, NAJK, Plattelandsvrouwen, Passage a.o. CSA, Collectif Stratégies Alimentaires, Belgium Agri-agence de la FWA, Fédération Wallonne de lAgriculture FERT, Formation pour lEpanouissement et le Renouveau de la Terre, France Agri-agence des "Céréaliers de France (AGPB, AGPM, ITCF et UNIGRAINS) et autres Trias, Belgium Agri-agency of Boerenbond, Landelijke Gilden, KVLV and KLJ. SCC, Swedish Cooperative Center, Sweden Agri-agency of LRF (Lantbrukarnas Riksförbund), Federation of Swedish Farmers UPA DI, Union Professionnelle Agricole – Développement International, Canada Agri-agence de lUPA, Union des Producteurs Agricoles (Québec)

7. Financial and advisory support to >150 farmer organisations from 61 countries (60% in Africa) among which 60 national federations. Support to farmer organisations for poverty reduction (37%), for civil society building (50%), for advocacy and lobby (13%) Farmer organisations realize 11,4% increase in membership. Farmer organisations diversify their income by 12,5%. 24 new cooperatives … 4 new insurance companies … 11 organisations organised farmer field schools … Improved relations with government (16 organisations), with processors & traders (11), with suppliers (7). Farmers Fighting Poverty in practice (2008-2009)

8. 1.Only proposals from membership based farmer organisations are eligible. 2.Support combines funding with advisory services (2-pronged approach). 3.Funding is mobilised by the agri-agencies, with the support of OECD farmer organisations and their governments. 4.Advisory services are based on the peer-to-peer principle: advise provided by farm leaders and staff from other farmer organisations North & South. 5.Flexibility (short/long duration, small/larger budgets) of funding and advisory services. 6.Comprehensiveness (cover all genuine needs of farmer organisations). Farmers Fighting Poverty: basics

9. AgriCord Board Meeting 17 October 2007, Leuven (Belgium) Dialogue between Farmers Organisations

10. Elisabeth Gauffin LRF, Sweden Vice president of IFAP René Ladouce FWA, Belgium AgriCord Board Meeting 17 October 2007, Leuven (Belgium) Dialogue between Farmers Organisations P. Chengal Reddy CIFA, India

11. 1.Do farmers speak for themselves ? 2.Is government listening to the representative farmer organisations ? 3.How can we promote and document farmer-to-farmer exchanges within a country, and between countries (N/S, S/S) ? 4.Is the private sector providing the necessary services to farmers ? What services should the farmer organisation provide to members ? Is government creating the necessary enabling environment ? Farmers Fighting Poverty: communication issues