International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP)
My name is Jack Wilkinson, I am a farmer from Canada and I am here as the President
of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP).
Mr Chairman, I would like to address the following points regarding sustainable energy
and climate change:
First, agriculture is the sector which the most impacted by climate change and its
effects.
In this regard, I would like to point out the critical role of agricultural research for
adaptation and in particular when it relates to climate change and transfer of
technologies. Research needs to introduce new crop varieties to adapt to changing
weather patterns such as drought resistant plants.
Technology transfer is critical. Small scale farming agriculture needs to benefit from
research findings in this field.
Existing knowledge is underutilised and the use of existing research findings is lacking.
There is thus an urgent need to transfer existing information and technology to
developing countries.
Second, the development of bioenergy may provide an answer in giving economic hope
to rural areas. Therefore, the production of bio energy represents an opportunity for
farmers to improve incomes in rural areas and therefore to fighting poverty. It provides
an additional market for farm products.
This production has the potential to create employment and benefit farmers in
particular, small scale producers provided proper regulations are put in place by
governments. Bioenergy production also has the potential to balance market
concentration.
Farmers can produce food, fibre or bio energy, depending on what the market demands.
What farmers care about is improving their incomes to provide a good living for their
families and rural communities.
This leads me to the third point regarding the ?food versus fuel?? issue, which is of
concern to many of you.
We too often forget to point out the positive role of Bioenergy and biofuels and
particularly, in stabilising world commodity prices. In many countries, biofuel
production created additional markets for agricultural products.
Besides, in this debate, we too often hear that the production of bio energy raises the
cost of food for poor people. We need to take the positive side of the increase in food
prices.
In fact, most of the poor people are living in rural areas, and this will continue until
2015, and the majority of them are farmers. For too many years, the prices of food have
been too low and considerably hurt farm incomes causing poverty, in particular in
developing countries. If the development of bioenergy helps farmers to receive better
prices for their products, then this will improve the livelihoods of their families and
rural communities. There well may be a negative impact of rising food prices on urban
poor people but this is an issue that must be addressed at the governmental level. For
too long, there has been an urban bias in government which favoured a ?cheap food
policy?. This needs to change.
Regulatory and support mechanisms need to be put in place to help poor people buy
food. It is not the responsibility of farmers to manage the social consequences of
competing uses for their products. The responsibility of farmers is to produce high
quality crops, using sustainable farming practices that are environmentally friendly.
Governments need to create enabling investment environments and support mechanisms
to make sure farmers own the value chain from production to distribution of bioenergy.
Bioenergy in rural areas has the potential to bring hope in rural areas. Farmers need to
become real partners in the formulation of national and international strategies
regarding energy efficiency.
Thank you for your attention.
