Regulation of agricultural markets and prices : a necessity in the context of an agricultural and food processing project.
The existence of remunerative and stable agricultural prices is a major challenge to guarantee peasantry in different parts of the world decent incomes and give them the capacity to develop and be part of an agroecological transformation of agricultural systems.
In terms of international cooperation, priority should be given to States and regions of the South commited to food security policies based on the protection and support of peasant agricultural production, the agroecological revolution and the establishment of local product processing sectors and strengthening territorial food systems, including through the use of appropriate market regulation and trade protection policies. This would require abandoning support at the same time for the development of European or French agricultural or food exports, which compete with local production.
Free trade agreements involving the liberalization of agricultural products should be called into question, with a view to considering genuine cooperation agreements aimed at strengthening territorialized food systems and implementing principles of global social and ecological responsibility.
Dumping should be abolished by establishing an export tax equivalent to the amount of financial transfers receivd by farmers for the production of the products concerned.
Discussions should be initiated within the framework of the United Nations system with a view to regulating world markets for agricultural raw materials with a view to maintaining prices within a certain price band, in particular through the existence of buffer stocks held by the major exporting countries. Alternatively, bilateral or regional agreements could allow countries heavily dependant on imports to benefit from such stability while developing their own production.
Mr. Jacques Loyat