Second Day of the Agriculture G8: Towards the Final Paper
19/04/2009
The second day of the Agriculture G8 opened with a meeting of the G8 agriculture ministers.
The ministers were working “in a cooperative atmosphere that gives good grounds for hopes of a compromise solution,” Minister Zaia reported. Indeed, all the ministers were focusing their efforts on identifying agriculture policy development guidelines for submission to the G8 Summit, “in which the governments and the major organisations can commit themselves to fighting world hunger, to working towards food security and against farm price volatility and to defending the local identity of farm produce”.
Speaking at the customary mid-morning briefing at Castelbrando, the minister illustrated a number of the priority issues expected to feature in the paper: bio-fuels, and stepping up the use of biomass in particular, guarantees for sustainable agriculture and the outlines of a market model to be advocated for the future. In particular, Mr. Zaia explained, what was needed was “a modern form of agriculture that will ensure all countries of development, while safeguarding farmers at the same time, and that will keep our producers competitive.” Putting effective tools in place for countering the financial speculation to blame for the world economy’s profound shift in balance was by no means least of the main goals.
After reiterating his thanks to the delegations for the support shown to the communities hit by the earthquake in Abruzzo, the minister repeated that all the countries’ governments held great responsibility for the future of the planet’s agriculture: “the public may complain that land is being sold to foreign countries out of speculation, but the nations’ leaders have the means to prevent it,” Mr. Zaia said, so “the statements that come out of this summit will be politically binding on the people who sign them”.
The proceedings continued in the afternoon with an informal session attended by the major international organisations: the World Bank, FAO, IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development), OECD, PAM, the High Level Task Force on Food Security and the African Union.
