2007 · postal address fondation farm c/o crédit agricole s.a. 91-93, boulevard pasteur 75710...

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Postal address

Fondation FARMc/o Crédit Agricole S.A.

91-93, boulevard Pasteur75710 Paris cedex 15 (France)

Office location

59-61, rue Pernety75014 Paris (France)

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Cotton University

An Innovative Projecton the Way 9

NICT

The new informationtechnologies at the service

of agriculture 17

Summary

Editorial 5

The Economic PartnershipAgreements (EPAs)

A Historical Period,a Fundamental Issue 6

“Cultural” Revolution

Microfinance at the Serviceof Agriculture 12

Water

Water, a Sourceof Development 15

Perspectives 19

A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7 Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life 3

FARM founders & friends

FARM wishes to thank

Crédit Agricole S.A. French Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries

Ministry of National Education Le Conseil général de l’Agriculture, de l’Alimentation et des Espaces ruraux

Le Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD)

for their support and efforts

A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life4

o act on behalf of a type of agriculture that is efficient, respectful ofthe environment, a source of development, and enables one to fight

hunger and poverty. The ambition of the Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life(FARM) is relevant, now more than ever, in face of inflated agricultural prices worldwide andhunger riots.Originating in 2006 out of the desire of several big businesses* to improve the agriculturaland agribusiness sectors in underdeveloped countries, the activities of FARM, which isrecognized as a charity by French law, have never been more vital.

The presentation of the second progress report of the Foundation for World Agriculture andRural Life coincides precisely with the reappearance of the agricultural question as a globalissue.Risks of scarcity, product ceilings, consumption evolution, and food crises all affectdeveloping countries and, in particular, Africa.However, the leap in agricultural prices can also be viewed as an opportunity for Africa to givepriority to local production. As pointed out in the study conducted by FARM on “TheAgricultural Potentialities of West Africa”, this region would have the capacity to meetits alimentary needs.

Agriculture is again featuring as a top global priority, and the satisfaction of theworld’s agricultural needs has once more become a strategic issue.New needs for investment and for the accompaniment of the professionalagricultural organizations and of the players in non-trading companies are,likewise, arising, so that the “agro-revolution” currently taking place iscapable of inducing true economic development in the southernMediterranean countries.

In this context, the World Bank, in its own annual report for 2008, demandedthat agriculture once more be returned to the center of attention, after 20 yearsof negligence, recalling that the latter is the soundest means of development forthe southern Mediterranean countries.

FARM built its vision and its activities throughout 2007 along these lines. It deepenedits approach, established its standards, and entered into partnerships.It consolidated projects, progressed in others, and initiated new lines of action.For example, it responded to the question of the financing of small-scaleagriculture by organizing the international symposium on microcredit, “WhichMicrofinance for the Agriculture of Developing Countries?”

It continued to closely follow the negotiations on the Economic PartnershipAgreements, and helped to make the new information and telecommunicationtechnologies available to the agricultural sectors in the southern Mediterraneancountries, while also participating in the water and Cotton University projects.Strategic issues, on behalf of which FARM brought together the African professionalorganizations and their partners, with the same desire to promote modern,innovative, and promising forms of agriculture ■

5

*The French Development Agency, Air France, Casino, Crédit Agricole S.A., the National Agency for Professionals in the Seed andPlant Industry (GNIS), Limagrain, Vilmorin, Sofiprotéol, and Suez.

Editorial

T

René CarronChairman of the Board

Bernard BachelierDirector

A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 7 Foundation for World Agriculture and Rural Life

A. Goulard

H. Thouroude


A Historical Period,a Fundamental Issue

Initiated by the Cotonou Convention signed in 2000between 77 African, Caribbean Island, and Pacific Island

(ACP) countries and the European Union, the EPAs are thesubject of tough negotiations followed and analyzed by FARM.

he Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) currently being

deliberated constitute the commercial section of the Cotonou

Convention. Concluded on June 23, 2000 and becoming effective in 2003, they

succeeded the provisions of the 1975 Lomé Convention.

The EPAs are intended, as of 2008, to govern commercial exchanges (of goods and

services) between the European Union and 77 African, Caribbean Island, and Pacific

Island countries distributed in six regions (West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa,

Southern Africa, the Caribbean Islands, and the Pacific Islands).

These are new commercial rules, based on free trade, likewise providing accompanying

measures limiting the negative impacts of the EPAs for the ACP countries. After over

30 years of preferential access to the European market, 39 of the ACP countries are, in

effect, still listed among the most underdeveloped countries, with a per capita income

per year of under $ 900.

A New Development Measure

Today, Europe is facing a historical turning point in its relations with the developing

countries and with the poorest farming populations, especially in Africa. It has, in effect,

the possibility to conclude model agreements that will shape a new method of

development and solidarity at a time when negotiations with the World Trade

Organization (WTO) are suspended. Nonetheless, the consequences of the ongoing

negotiations and the impact of the rules that will be decided on for the agriculture of

tomorrow are underestimated.

In fact, the economies of the ACP countries are currently unable to face up to

international markets and, in particular, to tolerate cheap mass imports.

Faced with the risks of ruining their fragile economies, founded essentially on

agricultural exports, the EPAs could promote the establishment of economic zones

that would form common markets, with special foreign custom rates. Thus, the

European Union would grant access to its market to all the products of countries

signing the EPAs, without customs duty, or a quota. Agreements recognized by the WTO

could be asymmetrical.

The ACP countries also aspire to protect sensitive products, such as grains and

products of animal origin, by encouraging local products while organizing veritable

regional agricultural markets. Most ACP regions can, in fact, technically cover regional

alimentary needs, as India and China have done by dint of protected markets and a

policy of common market investments.

T

Towards competitive

farming

The

Eco

nom

icPa

rtne

rship

Agreements (EPAs)

G. Paire

/Fot

olia


Interim Agreements

However, whereas the signing of the EPAs should have taken place on December 31,

2007, the delay in the negotiations with the different ACP regions led the European

Commission to propose interim agreements. Signed by every country so desiring, and

not solely on the regional level, they only relate to the trading of goods.

Concretely, in the framework of the interim agreements, each signatory country,

including those from the same region, has negotiated its own list of sensitive products

and its own market openings. This national specificity does not, in the meantime, allow

a group of countries to set up common trade barriers, making it as yet impossible to

form customs unions and, thereby, regional integration.

In effect, the signing of the interim agreements enables a commercial system to be

established that complies with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Nevertheless, the signing of the agreements at the national level creates a risk for the

potential of regional integration. It is to be hoped that the additional time allowed for

the negotiations, until the end of 2008, will result in global agreements, enabling the

regional integration that constitutes the proper boost for the economic development of

the ACP countries.

Let us recall that the fundamental issue at the basis of the Economic Partnership

Agreements is to allow 450 million affected farmers to support themselves by means

of their work, providing their families with stable prospects of rural life.

The EPA negotiations

constitute a historical

period whose outcome

and actual consequences,

positive or negative, are

as yet unknown.

Analysis by Bernard Bachelier,Director of the Foundationfor World Agriculture and Rural Life:“The EPAs negotiations constitute a historical period whose outcome and actual

consequences, positive or negative, are as yet unknown. The EPAs can be an opportunity

for the agriculture of the ACP countries, their commercial section may provide an

opportunity for local production and thereby rebalance the income of farmers in favor of local

products, making them less dependent on export products. With this approach, the question of

regional integration becomes very important, as well as that of compensation for losses of tax

revenue and that of help in promoting development (investments in local sectors will be necessary).

However, in the framework of a new configuration of the EPAs, the renunciation of the promotion of

regional integration constitutes a major risk for the development of the ACP countries because, without

price support (which a regional market can reinforce), all the development activities will have only

very modest impacts.”

Miro

slav

/Fot

olia


The Signatory Countries of the EPAsAt the end of December 2007, 35 ACP countries had signed the Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union.Faced with the delay in the negotiations, the European Commission proposed drawing up bilateral interim agreements, relat-ing only to the trading of goods. They must be completed, at a later date, by provisions regarding the accompanying services andmeasures. On the other hand, signing the agreements at the national level poses a risk to regional integration options.The signatory countries of the EPAs to date:

■ East Africa: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Namibia, Seychelles, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Comoros,Madagascar

■ Southern Africa: Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland■ West Africa: Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Ghana■ Central Africa: Cameroon■ The Pacific Islands: Papua New Guinea, Fiji■ The Caribbean Islands (15 countries): Signatory of a full EPA at the regional level

Conference/Debate

“EPAs: Assessment of the Negotiations and Issues”

Organized jointly by the Rural Development Inter-Networks

and FARM in Pairs on November 19, 2007, a round table

rallied several of the major actors in the agricultural and

economic worlds.

Enriching exchanges took place at the conference, whose

participants included Ablassé Ouedraogo, former Deputy Director

General of the WTO, special advisor for trade talks to the executive

president of the committee of the Economic Community of West African

States (ECOWAS); Elie Beauroy, director of the External Agricultural

Policy, Trade and Development Division of the Ministry of Economy, Finance

and Employment; Roger Blein, Bureau Issala; and Bio Goura Soulé, consultant to

the Laboratory of Regional Analysis and Social Expertise.

EPA: FARM’S Activities

The European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean Island, and Pacific Island (ACP)

countries are today facing a historical stage in their relations. They are, in fact,

negotiating new commercial agreements establishing rules that are totally different

to those of the past 30 years.

Mindful of the strategic issues actually at stake, the Foundation for World Agriculture

and Rural Life (FARM) is deeply involved in the deliberations being conducted on the

EPAs. In 2007, for example, it published a summary, pursuant to the international

seminar organized in 2006 on the theme: “How Can the ACP Countries Benefit from the

EPAs?”

In addition to organizing conferences, FARM regularly compiles progress reports on

the negotiations, clarifies the issues for the ACP countries, and suggests points to be

summarized and deliberated. On June 14, 2007, it made a presentation to the delegates

of the French Farmers International Development association, entitled: “The

Agricultural Issues of the Economic Partnership Agreement in West Africa.”

Moreover, anxious to become more familiar with Africa’s competences in the field of

farming and with the means to enhance the effectiveness of its agricultural markets for

the next 25 years, FARM examined West Africa’s ability to meet its own needs, by

conducting a survey on the “Agricultural Potentialities of West Africa.”

As for the report, “Improving the Functioning of West Africa’s Agricultural Markets”, it

is based on the premise that this improvement must be the priority goal of public and

private investments in the framework of a new conception of the relations between the

players ■

Allowing 450 million

farmers to support

themselves by their work.

Clarification: From Lomé to the EPAsThe EPAs, originating in the Cotonou Convention, succeed theLomé Convention, which established asymmetrical businessrelations between the ACP countries and the European Unionsince 1975.The ACP countries then enjoyed preferential access to theEuropean Market, and their exports profited from more fa-vorable custom rates that those imposed by the EU oncommodities deriving from other countries. It was anexceptional system that was not reciprocal: The ACPcountries, in fact, were not bound to extend to Euro-

pean products special access to their markets.Neither did this system comply with the rules of

the World Trade Organization, which, never-theless, agreed to an exemption from en-forcement until the end of 2007.

The goal of the Cotton University is to contribute to a revival of

the dynamics of African cotton cultivation and to improve the

conditions and standard of living of the rural world.” Presented during a conference of

the heads of state of Africa and of France in February 2007, the Cotton

University project was widely supported by the participants, including

President Jacques Chirac and European Commissioner for

Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel.

The Cotton University was initiated by African

producers, and adopted by the professional body,

AproCA (the Association of African Cotton

Producers), which combines the producer

unions of 13 West and Central African

countries. Today, the Cotton University

is also supported by the other players

in the cotton sectors (processing

associations, traders, etc.), who are

combined under the ACA (the African

Cotton Association), by the African

countries, by the UEMOA, as well as by

the European authorities. Thanks to

the expertise of FARM and of HEC

Paris, the university is on its way to

becoming a reality, a vector for the

evolution of the cotton sector.

An Original and Unique Step

The Cotton University translates the need to

offer a training instrument genuinely adapted

to the actual challenges of the African cotton

sectors. An original step embodying the

realization of the need to invest long-term in

expertise and innovation. As the president of AproCA,

François Traoré, notes “the markets shape our income,

the durability of our farms and of our manufacturing

companies” … “It is our responsibility to assume responsibility

“

A Promising ProjectThe Cotton University will function as a network,

mobilizing the resources of its African partners,namely, the pedagogical, scientific, humane, and material

resources of a consortium of schools, universities, and traininginstitutions. It will not have any infrastructure of its own.

Partnership agreements have been concluded with the PolytechnicUniversity of Bobo-Dioulasso, with the ISM Management Institute inDakar, and with the ESCAA Business School in Yamoussoukro tocollaborate with them in the establishment of the Cotton University. The African institutional and economic players have also been extensivelyconsulted and involved in organizing the Cotton University. The ACA (the AfricanCotton Association), which combines the various African cotton organizations,supports the project, as does the West African Economic and Monetary Unioncommission. “This regional project is contributing to the promotion of a priorityagricultural sector of the West African Economic and Monetary Union and has beenendorsed through the institutional support of the Union,” stresses the Commissionerfor Development and Humanitarian Aid.According to plan, the AproCA is in charge of the overall management of the project,assuming the functions of strategic direction and supervision. The Foundation forWorld Agriculture and Rural Life (FARM) is in charge of project management at the

local level, and of mobilizing competencies and means. The HEC School ofManagement of the Paris Chamber of Commerce (CCIP), with other partners, will

contribute the pedagogical expertise and participate in training.The first sessions will be organized in September 2008. They will relate to

leadership, managing people, and the strategies of professional bodies…The university will, first of all, tackle the problems of the cotton sector, taking

into account the place it fills in African agriculture. The income of some 20million people depend on it. However, it aspires, in the longer

run, to meet the needs for product diversificationand for the development of other

sectors.


Designed to meet the demand of African producersrelayed by AProCA, the Cotton University raised throughout

the year FARM jointly with the HEC Paris. A unifying and innovativeproject, inspiring hope, is today on its way.

An Innovative Project on the Way

Cotton University

��

Cotton University to enable

farmers to master the

competencies of management

and innovation.

G. Paire/Fotolia


for the development of cotton with the other players in the African

sectors. No one will do it for us…”.

A true innovator in its goals, the University is also such in

its structural approach, collaborating at each stage

with players from the sector and with teaching

scholars. And, starting with the definition of the

terms and conditions of the feasibility study

conducted in 2007 by the joint FARM and

HEC Paris team of producers from 10 or

so African countries, ranging through

the choice of pedagogical methods

and syllabi, and down to the

management and running of the

institution, the producers are at

the center of the “university’

measure.

Mobilizing the resources

of its African and inter-

national (in particular

European) partners, it

combines the pedagogical,

scientific, humane, and

material resources of a

consortium of schools,

universities, and educational

institutions. Being unique, it will have neither a campus, nor classrooms, nor its own

professorial staff, but will be based, at the highest level, on existing institutions and

organizations. HEC Paris will provide the pedagogical engineering guaranteeing the

cohesion and quality of the academic staff.

Acquiring New Know-Hows

Today, the African cotton sectors are facing profound changes connected to market

developments and to their own institutional upheavals. The volatility of cotton prices,

the depreciation of the exchange rate of the dollar compared with the euro and the CFA

franc, the American and European subsidies, added to the rising cost of the factors of

production, jeopardize the African cotton sectors. That is why FARM continues to be

active in helping the professional bodies to improve their competitiveness.

In the Direction of Equitable and Biologic CottonA sector of “equitable cotton” and of “bio-equitable” cotton in West and Central Africa (combining Benin, Burkina Faso,Cameroon, Mali, and Senegal) is currently being developed. The goal is to enable cotton producers to benefit from high value-added market niches, the demand for which is rapidly growing. Thus, at the end of the five-year project, 55,000 tons of equitablecotton fiber and 8,600 tons of bio-equitable cotton fiber will have been marketed.This project capitalizes on the deliberations held by the FARM “equitable and bio-equitable cotton” working group, which broughttogether players from the manufacturing (TDV Industries Laval, Hacot-Colombier, Dagris), the institutional (directors ofdevelopment at AEM, the AFD, the Regional Council of Brittany, and the CIRAD), and the NGO (Helvetas, Max Havelaar) sectors.The previous experiences in “equitable cotton”, implemented since 2003 in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, and Senegal, showedthat they were a powerful factor in improving quality and responsibility on the part of producers.One method for the forward valorization of African cotton production.

Continuingand Initial Education

The Cotton University is, first and foremost, a program of continuingeducation for agricultural professionals, the chosen heads ortechnical personnel of agricultural and rural organizations, and of theirpartners, in particular cotton associations and national administrations.It will provide the competencies and the know-hows necessary in order to:

■ offer a strategic vision that integrates market and technicalopportunities: strategic management;

■ share this vision with all the members of its organizationand the associations in the cotton sectors: leadership;

■ stimulate its staff to implement the vision: operational management;■ and get the national and regional political leaders to consider this vision:

advocacy and lobbying…A first initial training course will be held next September in Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso), the

registered address of the Cotton University. The continuing education program will be a roving one,and will circulate between the various cotton-growing sea basins.

The continuing education program will be completed by a master’s degree, designed forworking junior executives and for students. This degree will be granted by the Cotton

University to students completing their training courses and to junior executivesbenefiting from their first professional experience. This training will take place at

Bobo Dioulasso (Burkina Faso), in the heart of the cotton-growing sea basinsof West Africa, and will lead to a Masters' degree in Agricultural

Management, specializing in cotton.

Promoting the valorization

and differentiation of cotton

production in Africa.

The University provides

hope and a future.

��


In response to these challenges, the Cotton University intends to catalyze the

knowledge gained in the past in order to share it in the best possible manner, while

mastering the innovations in preparation for the future. It is a matter, in fact, of enabling

the producers and their organizations to acquire the new know-hows and competencies

indispensable for them in order to effectively meet their growing responsibilities and

to establish themselves as vital players and partners on the international scene.

A Strategic Tool

In this sense, the Cotton University is designed to be a strategic tool dedicated to the

professional bodies and its partners. Similarly, it sets itself up as a source of

managerial stimulation and a framework for training and sharing experiences

connected to the issues of the cotton sectors, namely, the new market opportunities

and the promotion of innovative productivity.

The idea is to establish new ways of thinking and acting in order to enhance the sector’s

economic and social performances, while structuring it in its relations with the

professional bodies and the cotton associations.

Thus, at the first stage, the university aims at meeting the training needs of the leaders

and managerial staff of the professional bodies and the cotton associations in the

manufacturing areas in West and Central Africa (Benin, Burkina, Cameroon, Central

African Republic, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Senegal,

Chad, and Togo).

Providing hope for millions of farmers and their

families, the Cotton University aims, in the

longer term, to meet the needs of

product diversification and of

development in all the agricultural

sectors ■

Contributing to the revival

of African cotton activity.

The Advantages of African CottonThe methods of cultivation practiced in Africa place African cotton among thosepresenting the least risks of pollution for producers and their environment, as well

as for the end-user. In effect, while upholding intensification programs necessaryfor competitiveness and for the durable farming, the African cotton sectors offertechnical paths that take into account ecological exigencies and the tougheconomic conditions of the producing countries. These constraints lead to alow use of fertilizers and pesticides whose active ingredients comply with thenorms determined by the WHO. The consumption of fuel and CO2 emissionsconnected to cultural practices are practically non-existent. Moreover,cotton cultivation in Sub-Saharan Africa is strictly pluvial, and does notcall for any irrigation techniques whatsoever, not even as a backup.Added to that, manual harvesting and, consequently, the absence ofdefoliants, contributes to making African cotton a cultivation that isamong the most respectful of the environment.

Extract of letter from Dagris, n° 25, November 2007: “African cotton: acotton unlike the others…”by Reynald Evangelista

In Africa, the cultivation

of cotton allows 10 million

people to live.

G. Paire/Fotolia

ccess to financing has been identified since its origination as

one of the priorities of institutions. It covers a large range of

credit products, in particular short-term loans of small sums of money intended for

farmers and for product marketers, to finance their professional activities, including

education and family health, or to have access to vital goods and services. The offer is,

moreover, very diversified and currently encompasses saving services, insurance con-

tributions, etc.

A tool for fighting poverty, inequality, and vulnerability, microfinance addresses those

who cannot benefit from classic banking systems. However, there is no denying that if

it is thriving in numerous countries as much in the north as in the south, it is not very

developed in rural areas, where it still inadequately finances agricultural activities. The

agricultural sector is at a disadvantage due to the constraints connected to its rural

context: lack of infrastructures and its remoteness, as well as by its insufficient level

of professional organization, even if it has been shown that agriculture plays a

leading role in the economies of developing countries.

And if access to financing appears to be one of the conditions for the

modernization of agriculture indispensable for the mitigation of poverty,

for all that, the loans granted to the agricultural sector by the financial

organizations frequently remain poorly adjusted. The poor population

impacted by microfinance services is thus assessed at 130 million

clients, primarily urban and suburban, whereas the needs impact

one billion people.

In this context, the challenge that FARM is meeting is

considerable, since it aims at making financing accessible to

the most impoverished agricultural populations.

A

A Reflectionon Partnership

As of 2006, FARM has put together a working groupon agricultural microfinance, in partnership withCrédit Agricole S.A., Crédit Agricole Consultant, theInstitute for Public Management and EconomicDevelopment (IGPDE), the AFD (the French DevelopmentAgency), the Committee of Exchange, Reflection, andInformation for Savings and Credit Systems (CERISE), andPlaNet Finance.Throughout 2007, male and female field workers, experts andscientists, collected the data, the experiences, and thetheoretical analyses of the projects conducted in Madagascar,in West Africa, and even in Ethiopia. So many factors, enabling

the organization of the conference of the microcredit playersduring the Paris International Agricultural Show, and the

laying of the foundations for the symposium, “WhichMicrofinance for the Agriculture of Developing Countries?”


Microfinanceat the Service of Agriculture

The rapid growth of microfinance must be instrumentalin fighting exclusion by the banking systems, whose victims

are the overwhelming majority of farmers in the developingcountries. A “cultural” revolution backed by FARM.

Access to funding

is one of the conditions

for the modernization

of agriculture

indispensable for the

mitigation of poverty.

“Cul

tura

l”Revolutio

n

The challenge is considerable, because it relates

to making financing accessible to the most

impoverished agricultural populations.

M. Nznen

gou/

PNUD

RCA


Hope for Agriculture in the Developing Countries

In the developing countries, three out of every four poor persons live in the rural areas.

They depend heavily, directly or indirectly, on agricultural activities for their

subsistence. Sixty to 90% of all rural households thus derive their income from it, even

if the latter rarely constitutes their entire resources.

Family agriculture is, in fact, characterized by low productivity, mainly due to

insufficient investment in factors of production (fertilizers, phytosanitary products,

herbicides) or in equipment. Now, the implementation of such investments involves

access to sources of financing in the form

of short, medium, and long-term loans.

However, the farmers’ distance from

urban centers, coupled with the low-

income population’s lack of collateral,

have for a long time constituted major

obstacles for the development of formal

financial services accessible and adapted to

the characteristics of poor populations, whose

future is guaranteed by activities dependant

on exogenous factors (climatic hazards,

phytosanitary illnesses, evolution of selling

prices, etc.).

In this context, the development of

numerous microfinance initiatives,

designed to serve the rural populations

who, until now, have been denied access to

financial services procured through the banking

sector, creates real hope for the financing of

agriculture in the developing countries.

A Financial Tool for Global Development

Microfinance was tried out successfully in the 1980s, and currently holds promise

for agriculture. After being improved in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, it, in effect,

very soon became a favorite instrument in the politics of the fight against poverty.

International financial backers supported its expansion by issuing lines of credit and

subsidizing initial investment (premises, equipment, education, etc.).

Establishing a readiness to structure a credit market, the microfinance institutions

(MFIs) were subsequently prompted to expand their scope, and to become autonomous

and profitable. In this context, the strategies of many rural MFIs evolved in the direction

of a more financial logic, favoring the more profitable, smaller risk, rural zones, or

Peer-to-Peer Lending Symbolic of MicrofinanceDeveloped in Bangladesh in 1976 by Professor Muhammad Yunus, and continued by the Grameen Bank as of 1983, peer-to-peer lending is based on the idea that even the poorest population in the rural areas can valorize and manage credit.Credit, which can be a very small amount of money, is given to a group of borrowers, who together are guarantors for itsrepayment. If one member of the group defaults in a payment, the group settles his debt in his place. If the group does not repaythe loan, all the members of the group are denied access to credit.Grameen Bank and its founder were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Today, the bank has 1,400 branches in 50,000villages. Furthermore, as of 1992, India has developed the Self Help Groups, groups of investors with less than 20 members. Thesector has been growing rapidly for several years, with one million Self Help Groups benefiting from a bank loan in 2006. Withregard to microfinance, it is experiencing enormous growth, increasing annually by 36% since 2000.

The rate of the spread

of banking services

in the agricultural world

in Africa does not exceed

5% or 6%.

The Principlesof Microfinance

The goal of microfinance is to allow populationsexcluded from the classic banking system to haveenduring access to financial services. The premisesunderlying microfinance are as follows:

■ Those excluded, and in particular the poor, havethe capacity to develop economic activities

■ This capacity is impeded by the lack of capital■ If capital is made accessible to them, by an organization

adapted to their needs and constraints, they will becapable of valorizing this credit, repaying it, and ofimproving their standard of living: the poor will themextricate themselves from their poverty

■ Having the capacity to develop their economic activities, thepopulations currently excluded will contribute to global economicgrowth.

In order to reduce the risks (lack of collateral) and the costs (small totalsof transactions, assessment of repayment capacity), the microfinance

institutions have introduced innovations so that their modes ofintervention will promote the inclusion of the financially

excluded.

��


even opening offices in urban areas. Nevertheless, this retreat towards more privileged

areas has not impeded the rapid growth of microfinance, which is booming in most

southern countries. Consequently, a new conception of microfinance is being formed.

And, in spite of the commercial banks’ recent modest interest for the rural

environment, microfinance is still, today, often the only alternative for rural populations

to gain access to financial services ■

A Guide Dedicated to Financial Institutions and PAOsConceived and developed by the Tropical Agronomy School of Montpellier, France, SupAgro, in collaboration with IRAM (Institutefor Research and Application of Development Methods) and the CERISE network (Committee of Exchange, Reflection, andInformation for Savings and Credit Systems), the guide, “Farmer Organizations and Rural Financing Institutions: Building a NewAlliance Dedicated to Family Agriculture”, has benefited from the definite support of FARM.A comprehensive piece of work, designed as a practical tool for building partnerships between agricultural and rural professionalorganizations, on the one hand, and financial institutions, on the other. Originating in research work and training conductedprincipally in West Africa and Madagascar in the past decade, with insights developed more recently on South East Asia and LatinAmerica, its main objective is to strengthen the capacity of the PAOs and the financial institutions to analyze the needs andfinancing constraints of the PAOs and of their producers.The guide addresses the chosen leaders and technical staff of agricultural and rural organizations, the directors and technicalpersonnel of the financial institutions called on to work with the PAOs, as well as the systems supporting these players (NGOs,planning departments, training institutions, sponsors, etc.).

Symposium

FARM Mobilizes the Microfinance PlayersOn December 4 – 6, 2007, FARM, in partnership with the Institute for Public Managementand Economic Development (IGPDE), organized the symposium, “Which Microfinance forthe Agriculture of Developing Countries?”Bringing together almost 350 participants from various countries in Africa, LatinAmerica, Asia, and Europe, the conference was distinguished by the presence ofseveral leading personalities, among them Richard Meyer, Michel Petit, Henri Rouilléd’Orfeuil, Jacques Attali, Jean-Michel Servet, René Carron, and Jacques Diouf.So many microfinance players participated, showing that they formed a dynamic,involved and creative, international community, and reaffirming that microfinancecould allow the agricultural sector veritable access to financing tools.

FARM compiled a summary of the debates and contributions to thesymposium, discussing and analyzing them. As an extension of the FARM

symposium, CERISE and IRC Supagro are working on an operationalguide designed to bolster the consolidation of the partnership between

professional agricultural organizations and microfinance, entitled,“Farmer Organizations and Rural Financing Institutions: Buildinga New Alliance Dedicated to Family Agriculture” – AnOperational Guide. They propose a virtual conference inorder to discuss and validate its contents.

��

Looking to foster the development of microfinance

institutions in developing countries and emerging

economies, Crédit Agricole S.A. and Grameen Trust

create a dedicated foundation.

A.Go

ular

d


Launched in 2006, the working group bringing together the

professionals and experts of FARM, SUEZ, the AFD (the French

Development Agency), and the major accepted institutions in the fields of drinking

water, decontamination, and irrigation in developing countries, accomplished its goal

in December 2007.

On the basis of the findings of the surveys conducted, FARM defined its lines of

activity, prioritizing support for users and operators deprived of water

services, the outlook for the equilibrium of resources and of water uses,

and the launching of pilot projects focusing on innovative techniques

in irrigation and in decontamination in rural areas, such as that of

the Network of Farmers in Mediterranean Irrigated Systems.

The water in the Mediterranean is, in effect, a rare, fragile, and

unequally distributed resource. In many countries in both the

northern and southern Mediterranean Basin, the depletion

of water is approaching the lower limit level of available

resources, and the predicted climatic changes will only

increase the difficulties in meeting demands, whether urban

or agricultural. In the southern Mediterranean countries,

irrigation alone represents 80% of the total demand.

Consequently, water is one of the top-priority problems for the

durable development of the Mediterranean.

Good Water Management

Strengthening its collaboration with the organization,

“Mediterranean Exchanges for Water, Forests, and Development”,

FARM lent its backing to the seminar organized in Spring, 2007, in Paris,

on water management in situations of scarcity in the Mediterranean area,

bringing together some 60 participants, mainly from Morocco, Tunis, Algeria,

Lebanon, Mali, and Germany.

It was an opportunity to focus on the global situation of water resources in the region,

and to study specific measures connected to sea basins and their perimeters in order

to gain better control over the consumption of water.

Faced with the rarefaction of water resources due both to demographical growth in the

southern Mediterranean region and to climatic changes that have considerably reduced

L

MediterraneanExchanges

Mediterranean Exchanges, with which FARMcooperates in the field of water, is an

international organization that was founded in June2000. Its goal is to pool the expertise and experienceof its members in the fields of water, forests, and, ingeneral, all the systems contributing to ruraldevelopment and the management of natural resources.Chaired by Georges de Maupeou, it intervenes in France,Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Lebanon, andcontinues to grow rapidly throughout the Mediterraneanperimeter, in Italy, Greece, and Egypt. The organization todaynumbers over 200 members, the majority of whom intervene

in rural planning and the sustainable development of theircountries. In the middle of March last year, Mediterranean

Exchanges organized in Paris, with the support of FARM,a seminar on “Water Management in Situations of

Scarcity in the Mediterranean Area”.

FARM is conducting and backing innovative initiativesin the field of water in the rural areas of the developing

countries. These activities likewise relate to accessto agricultural water, to drinking water, and to decontamination.

Water,a Source of Development

Water

Prioritizing localized

irrigation.

Developing solutions

for the better management

of water resources.

��

G. Paire/Fotolia


the average annual rainfall (by roughly 20%) in 20 years, certain subterranean areas

are being exploited much beyond their capacity of natural regeneration.

There are ways to handle the scarcity of water resources in the Maghrib

countries, and to meet the demand for drinking water and improve the

standard of living (public infrastructure projects, desalination of seawater,

reuse of water after purification), but it transpires that they are costly

and require behavior changes (fighting leakages, water saving).

Consequently, the participants insisted on the importance of

conducting active water saving policies, especially in the agricultural

sector, the biggest water consumer, in close association with the

farmers affected.

Localized Irrigation at the Core

of Agricultural Development in the Maghrib

In the Maghrib, the adoption of drip irrigation systems, which use less water, can thus

enable marked savings of this resource, and better valorization by the various

converging sectors (grain, milk, market gardening, citrus fruit, etc.).

In fact, in this region of North Africa, where sustainable water resources are less than

1,000 cubic meters per person per year (the poverty line), access to water for irrigation

is an essential factor in agricultural product systems.

The reversion from gravity irrigation to localized or drip irrigation, which uses less

water, is a priority method in the southern Mediterranean countries. Localized

irrigation is, however, a costly option for farmers, and requires an intensification of

existing cultivations, indeed the introduction of higher value added cultivations.

Thus, in Morocco, the vast majority of irrigated ground is located in small and medium-

sized family farms (less than 50 hectares), representing over half of the one and a half

million farms there, but they do not have the same assets at their disposal as the big

farms.

In this context, support of this type of irrigated system, to accompany this indispensable

modernization, constitutes a priority in terms of agricultural development ■

Network of Farmers in Mediterranean Irrigated Systems Project

The first phase of the project, Network of Farmers in Mediterranean Irrigated Systems (RIM) (2008-2009), will take placemainly in Morocco, in the regions of Agadir, Casablanca, Fez, and Meknes.

Backed by FARM, the goal of the RIM project is to lend a helping hand by offering training in the modernization of irrigation inthe southern Mediterranean countries. It will be designed for the members of family farming groups and for developmentexecutives, to accompany water valorization projects.Launched in Morocco, the Network of Farmers in Mediterranean Irrigated Systems project relies on the experience of otherjoint measures relating to the training of agricultural professionals, in particular the regional project, SIRMA (Water Saving inIrrigated Systems in the Maghrib), financed by a Priority Solidarity Fund of the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs.Besides training farmers and executives, the first phase of the project also aims at arousing the awareness of the localadministrations and executives.Organized around components of individual and collective experiences, the implementation of new water saving technologies,the new adapted production systems, and the management of collective networks, the RIM project likewise envisages specificactivity designed for executives, to accompany farmer groups.Training will be accompanied by information, awareness raising, and a meeting with the relevant administrative executives.

PartnershipsFARM collaborates with the NationalSchool of Agriculture in Meknes, the JointResearch Unit of Water Management, players,Usages of Montpellier, the MediterraneanExchanges for Water, Forests, and Development

organization, the Chamber of Agriculture in the Lotdépartement, as well as Moroccan professionals,

to help with the implementation of new techniquesof agricultural water management in the

Mediterranean Basin, with the supportof the French Ministry of Foreign and

European Affairs.

Conducting working

policies to save water.

Water is a resource that

is scarce, fragile, and

unequally distributed.

��


he utilization of satellite images to guide the flocks of the

Tuareg and of the Fula in the desert to areas where biomass

is adequate for the number of animals, the prediction of livestock epidemics, access to

market rates with the help of the cell phone in Senegal, utilization of Geographic

Information Systems in Jamaica as a phytosanitary surveillance tool… The modern

means of telecommunication (Internet, cell phone) today make operational information,

which is so important in product planning and marketing, accessible to farmers and

growers in the southern countries.

Aware of the importance of the issues at hand, FARM collaborated with the Tech for

Food forum, organized last year in Paris and designed to promote the new

technologies for the benefit of agriculture and food products in the southern

countries. Subject, nonetheless, to their managing to control their assets

and their insufficiencies.

The NICT at FARM

The realization of the potential of the new communication tools

and methodologies for agriculture depends, in effect, on the

adequacy of these technologies for local contexts, on the one

hand and, on the other, on a change of the model for their

utilization for collaboration, transparency, and sharing.

The information and communication technologies (ICT) can

play a key role in increasing the effectiveness of the production

and the marketing of agricultural products in developing

countries. That is why FARM is conducting studies and is putting

together working groups on the consistent and responsible

application of the ICT by and for farmers in the southern countries.

Thus, one essay is being prepared, devoted to the utilization of

information and communication technologies by farmers in the

developing countries, from the perspective of the conditions for an

agricultural information system, guaranteeing cultural and cognitive

adaptation to the reality on the ground, to succeed.

The employment of information and communication technologies in the

development of agriculture in the southern countries must, in effect, confront

important challenges. Besides their limited accessibility in the rural areas of

developing countries, the need to train their users, and the fact that these tools and

T

The First Techfor Food Forum

Organized in the framework of the ParisInternational Agricultural Show, the first Tech forFood forum enlisted the help of FARM, alongside TVAgri and CNES. The objective of this joint workshop wasto demonstrate how the new technologies represented anasset for the development of agriculture and of foodproducts in the southern countries.With the explosion and relative democratization of the newtechnologies, agriculture today benefits from the progressmade in other sectors, such as space, Internet, cell phones,and mobile laboratories. Tech for Food is based on the

principle that these technologies should likewise act asdriving forces in the development of agriculture in the

southern countries. Technology should not merely be aconsequence of development – it should be its driving

force.

Helping with information, commercial exchanges, landand natural resource management, the prevention of natural

risks, etc., FARM is helping place the new technologiesat the service of agriculture in the southern countries.

The new information technologiesat the service of agriculture

NICT

The new information

and communication technologies

at the service of agriculture

in the southern countries.

��

P. Ayala/Fotolia


applications are not adapted to the reality of the rural world in developing countries,

which often suffer from a high rate of illiteracy, it is also necessary, for example, to

make the farmers aware of the usefulness and the contribution made by these

information tools and of sharing this new form of literacy.

With the aim of generating operational projects that will strongly impact the

development of agriculture in the southern countries, FARM would like to approach

these challenges concretely. This includes the development of tools and methodologies

that meet the needs of farmers in developing countries,

the examination of the potentialities of

information and communication

technologies for agriculture, and

evaluating the pertinence and

effectiveness of the findings ■

Selling Your Crops Thanksto the Cell Phone and the InternetAccess to the market, knowing daily prices and the best time to sell yourcrop, being able to choose from different sales offers, and setting upremunerative sectors are some of the applications offered by the Internet andthe cell phone. It is a technological boom that is currently revolutionizing themarketing of agricultural products in the southern countries. Internet platforms andcell phones, which are increasingly accessible there, meet the information needs, andenhance the income, of farmers and producers in these countries, who at times wouldotherwise know nothing about the functioning of a particular sector or about prices.

In Africa, the number of subscriptions to cell phones has thus been increasing by 50% a yearfor the past five years. Together with Web platforms, the cell phone already represents a

wonderful springboard for access to information (prices and markets for staple agricultural productsin Cameroon) and for training. It also provides opportunities for online trading and selling (electronicmoney in the Philippines), and allows for improved adaptation to the markets (diversification of products

in Colombia).However, as pointed out by Director-General of FARM, Bernard Bachelier, who is deeply involved in

the possible applications of the Internet and the cell phone for the development of agriculture inthe southern countries, the new technologies are still absent from agriculture in some

developing countries, West Africa still being slow to benefit from this progress. So, thereis an immediate need to unite all forces – scientific communities, professional

organizations, microfinance bodies, etc. – so that the promises embodied inthese new tools can be materialized for the benefit of those needing them.

Being better informed,

producing better,

marketing better.

Internet and the cell

phone as tools

of development.

��

DR


n the course of 2007, and still more sharply at the beginning

of 2008, the world began to realize the full extent of the

agricultural issues. The international community is rallying in the face of the alimentary

crisis. Plans of action are being launched to improve the situation with regard to

alimentation and agriculture.

However, the broad reality has not yet been modified. The agreements between the

European Union and the African regions are unsigned, and regional integration is not

moving forward. There has been no progress in the negotiations with the World Trade

Organization, and the measures for promoting development have not been decided on.

Agricultural prices have indeed risen, but those of the factors of production and, in

particular, of fertilizers have skyrocketed.

In this context, the priority is make the facts clear, to rally forces, and to support

activities promoting investment for the benefit of agriculture in the poor countries.

FARM is proceeding with the work it is committed to, and is increasing its efforts. FARM

is acting with its partners in the northern and southern countries, so that their

developing agriculture can profit from the international context and from France’s

involvement on the occasion of its presidency of the European Union. FARM is, in

particular, active in:

■ enabling everyone to express themselves, by way of the Internet forum

www.nourrirlemonde.org;

■ providing clarifications on the reality of production potential,

and on the effect of agricultural prices on producers locally

(end of year seminar on agricultural prices);

■ reinforcing its partnerships with the French players – in particular

with the agricultural organizations; joint statement with AFDI, FERT,

and CAF: “Developing World Agriculture: Towards a Renewed

Partnership between Professionals”;

■ participating in operational initiatives among the Mediterranean players

in the framework of a Mediterranean Union project.

Moreover, in this time of crisis, FARM is granting priority to emergency activities

supporting local food-production, so that the farmers in the developing countries can

themselves respond to, and profit from, the general dynamics, and guarantee that

their fellow citizens have enough food.

I

Perspectives R. Razvan/Fotolia

Mirosla

v/Fotolia

2007 · postal address fondation farm c/o crédit agricole s.a. 91-93, boulevard pasteur 75710...

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