[asia-apec 1286] New Report Lauds Small Farms

[Anuradha Mittal]

Small Farms More Productive than Large Farms

but Threatened by Trade Agreements

The Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First
and the Transnational Institute Release a New Report:

The Multiple Functions and Benefits
of Small Farm Agriculture

In the Context of Global Trade Negotiations

By Peter Rosset

full text of the report available at:
http://www.foodfirst.org/pubs/policybs/pb4.html

September 14, 1999

Maastricht, Netherlands --  Small farms are more productive than large
farms, yet their continued existence is threatened by international trade
agreements, according to a major study released today at a United Nations
conference here in Maastricht.*

The Institute for Food and Development Policy, also known as "Food First,"
based in California, USA, and the Transnational Institute, based in The
Netherlands, published the study authored by agricultural development
specialist Dr. Peter Rosset. Challenging the conventional wisdom that small
farms are backward and unproductive, the study shows that small farmers
worldwide produce from 2 to 10 times more per unit area than do larger,
corporate farmers.

"In fact small farms are 'multi-functional' -- more productive, more
efficient, and contribute more to economic development than do large
farms," said Dr. Rosset, Executive Director of the Institute for Food and
Development Policy and the author of the report. Dr. Rosset is an official
delegate to the Maastricht conference, representing the Global Forum on
Sustainable Food and Nutritional Security, based in Brazil.

Communities surrounded by populous small farms have healthier economies
than do communities surrounded by depopulated large, mechanized farms,
according the study.  Small farmers also take better care of natural
resources, including reducing soil erosion and conserving biodiversity.
Small farmers are better stewards of natural resources, safeguarding the
future sustainability of agricultural production.

"Despite more than a century of anti-small farmer policies in country after
country, in both industrialized and third world countries," said Dr.
Rosset, "small farmers not only still cling to the soil but continue to be
more productive and more efficient than large, agri-business farming
operations. Small farmers offer the best way to feed the world, and the
only way to effectively conserve soil resources for future generations."

Unfortunately the study shows that today the world's small farmers face
unprecedented threats to their livelihoods, thanks to free trade agreements
negotiated in recent years.  "Free trade causes the prices farmers receive
to drop through the floor", said Rosset," driving them into bankruptcy by
the millions."  Such low prices mean only the largest can survive,
according to the study.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AOA), to be
negotiated in Seattle, USA, in November, 1999, is the weapon that could
deal the final death blow to the world's small farmers, according to
Rosset.  "The U.S. Government negotiators," said Rosset, himself an
American, "have as their goal for Seattle the complete liberalization of
trade in farm products."

Rosset, and the institutes that published his report, are issuing a call to
recognize the true, multiple value of small farms, and to defeat the
American government plans for the AOA.  "Small farmers are a key resource
for our very survival into the future," said Mr. Erik Heijmans, of the
Transnational Institute, which co- published the study.  "We must oppose
trade agreements which place them in jeopardy."

* "Cultivating Our Futures," the FAO/Netherlands Conference on the
Multifunctional Character of Agriculture and Land, 12-17 September 1999,
Maastricht, The Netherlands. Information at: http://www.fao.org/mfcal

                           # # #

Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy
398 60th Street
Oakland, California 94618  USA
tel: 510/654-4400 fax: 510/654-4551
foodfirst at foodfirst.org
<http://www.foodfirst.org>

Transnational Institute
Paulus Potterstraat 20
1071 DA, Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Tel: 31-20-6626608
Fax: 31-20-6757176
tni at tni.org
<http://www.worldcom.nl/tni>


Global Forum on Sustainable Food and Nutritional Security
SGAN 905 Conjunto "B", Parte "A" 70.790-050
Brasilia, DF Brazil
Tel: +55 61 347 4914
Fax: +55 61 347 9002
agora at tba.com.br
<http://www.globalforum.org.br/index1.htm>

Anuradha Mittal
Policy Director
Institute for Food and Development Policy - Food First
398 60th Street, Oakland, CA 94618 USA
Phone: (510) 654-4400  Fax: (510) 654-4551
http://www.foodfirst.org