NH-80-07-160-EN-C EUROPEAN COMMISSION Second European …kisi.deu.edu.tr/yunusemre.ozer/EU RURAL FORUM CONFERENCE... · 2012. 3. 20. · on Sustainable Rural Development Berlin, June

Second European Forum on Sustainable Rural Development

Berlin, June 18-21, 2007

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Conference Report

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This report has been published in English and French by the European Commission, Directorate-General for Development and Relations with African, Caribbean and Pacific States

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Printed in Belgium, November 2007

Development has become an inherently political issue today. Of course, the main objective is still to

combat poverty and to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, but development is also the best

structural response to problems of migration, security, protection of the planet's natural resources and,

quite simply, international stability.

Europeans can be proud of having played a central role in development over the past two years. Not only is the

European Union the world's biggest donor and the number one contributor to the aid increase agreed in New York

in September 2005, but it has also approved the European Consensus on Development. For the first time in 50 years

of co-operation, the Consensus provides a common European vision of development assistance, based on shared

values, common principles and objectives, and considerably increased means. The Union has also adopteded a

European Strategy for Africa, that is to say a collective response to the challenges facing that continent. Europeans

have also been the most committed, determined and ambitious participants in the aid effectiveness agenda put in

place by the Paris Declaration of March 2005.

A new political framework has been outlined. It is important now to implement it, notably by making a clear commit-

ment to a division of labour.

It is common knowledge that few if any countries have ever experienced economic progress or improved the well-

being of their population without first making progress in agriculture. Everyone knows that poverty cannot be

stamped out effectively if rural development is neglected. Rural development is the most difficult, the most demand-

ing and the least visible area – at least in the short term – in terms of impact, and the most complicated by virtue

of its multi-sectoral nature and the number of public and private actors involved in the process. Rural areas are

home to three fourths of the planet's impoverished people, who will have to confront additional challenges such as

climate change and the need to adapt, population growth and rising demand for food, spiralling energy costs, etc.

Everyone also knows that if there is any one policy area where a participatory approach makes sense, it is rural

development. This participatory approach is, moreover, the very essence of democracy. The challenge is huge.

The good news is that after decades of this sector being left on the sidelines by donors, there is an awareness today

amongst policy makers, including in Europe, that rural development and its external funding need to be given their

rightful place once more. We cannot allow this opportunity to pass us by! This Forum, with its pooling and compari-

son of experiences and frank debate, has been a rich event and an exceptional experience for all those involved in

sustainable agricultural and rural development – farmers, scientists and experts, producers, planners and other

stakeholders. The Forum also represents a privileged starting point for making a difference, for ensuring that polit-

ical discourse becomes a reality on the ground tomorrow, particularly through the rural development network, to

which it has given new impetus, and the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development.

In accordance with the resolution adopted by the participants, the Forum’s momentum must be sustained and the

links within the European Union and beyond must be strengthened. The organisers are firmly committed to con-

tinuing the work begun, spreading the messages of the Forum throughout their institutions and networks and

beyond, and initiating concrete actions to respond optimally to the Forum's proposals. It is hoped that the participants

and their respective organisations will do as much.

Second European Forum on Sustainable Rural Development 1

Foreword

Michael HOFMANN

Director General, BMZ

Bernard PETIT

DDG DG DEV

2 Second European Forum on Sustainable Rural Development

T a b l e o f C o n t e n t

3 Introduction

5 Executive Summary

GOALS OF THE FORUM

THEME 1Rural livelihoods in the face of globalisation

THEME 2Environmental issues in rural development

THEME 3Economic and political reforms required to support rural development in Africa

THEME 4Regional integration in Africa and its implications for rural development

THEME 5Aid effectiveness, harmonisation and alignment

FOLLOW UP

11 Theme 1

Rural livelihoods in Africa in the face of globalisation

Supporting FarmersRisk and VulnerabilityMigration

13 Theme 2

Environmental issues in rural development

Ecosystem ServicesMitigation of climate changeAdaptation to the effects of climate changeIntegrating environment issues into broader socio-economic policies for rural development

15 Theme 3

Economic and political reforms required

to support rural development in Africa

Conducive political systemsLand administrationStrengthening producer associations and civil society advocacyDecentralisationRural investment climateRural finance servicesResearch and extension

18 Theme 4

Regional integration in Africa and its implications

for rural development

The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP)Advancing African Agriculture (AAA)Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs)

20 Theme 5

Aid effectiveness, harmonisation and alignment

New code to enhance effectivenessSector-wide Approach (SWAp)AlignmentDivision of Labour

23 Conclusion and Way Forward

Three out of four of the almost one billion peopleliving on less than one dollar a day and of the 850

million chronically undernourished live in rural areasof developing countries; most depend directly or indi-rectly on agriculture for their livelihoods. Policyreforms and greater investments in rural and agricul-tural development are therefore necessary precondi-tions for making progress in the struggle againsthunger and poverty.

The need to give greater priority to agriculture and ruraldevelopment has recently been recognised by donorsand by governments of developing countries on numer-ous occasions including gatherings at the highest polit-ical levels. There are encouraging signs of a growingpolitical will to allocate greater resources to agricultureand rural development at national and internationallevels. Various developing country governments, inter-national financing institutions and donors, including theEuropean Commission (EC), are giving renewed atten-tion to agriculture and rural people by projectedincreases in funding of investments in agriculture, ruraldevelopment and sustainable management of naturalresources. Higher priority for rural areas in strategiesfor food security and poverty alleviation is alsosupported by evidence from the experiences of success-ful countries summarised in the recently publishedWorld Development Report 2008. Recent researchshows that investments in agriculture in poor countriescan result in greater reductions in poverty than equiva-lent investment in non-agricultural sectors.

There are also indications that agriculture and ruraldevelopment is receiving added attention in Africancountries. After almost two decades of stagnating andeven decreasing investment in agriculture, the leadersof the African Union have embarked on a Comprehen-

sive Africa Agriculture Development Programme(CAADP). In the Maputo Declaration of 2003 they havecommitted to increase significantly the share ofnational budgets for agriculture and rural developmentto ten percent within five years.

At the 2007 G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany, thegovernments of the world’s eight leading industrialisednations confirmed that funds for Africa must be consid-erably increased. By expressing their determination tostep up action to address the negative impacts ofclimate change, they have also sent positive signals torural people in the developing world, in particularAfrica, who are disproportionately affected by climatechange and need assistance in their efforts to cope withits consequences and to reduce green house gas emis-sions. The Joint AU-EU Strategy will be endorsed byHeads of State in November 2007.

The Second European Forum on Sustainable RuralDevelopment from June 18-21, 2007, in Berlin was thusvery timely. Five years after the First European Forumtook place in Montpellier in September 2002, theSecond Forum focused on the question of how sustain-able growth and the struggle against poverty can bepromoted in the rural areas of Africa, and how Europecan be a more effective partner in this task.

The Forum was the initiative of the meeting of the EUHeads of Agriculture and Rural Development and theEuropean Commission. It was organised by the GermanEU Presidency and the European Commission with thesupport of the United Nations Food and AgricultureOrganisation (FAO) and the Global Donor Platform forRural Development. The Global Donor Platform forRural Development consists of 29 donor agencies asmembers and ten associate organisations. It was

I n t r o d u c t i o n



I n t r o d u c t i o n

established shortly after Montpellier seeking to oper-ationalise many of the principles agreed upon at the FirstForum. The Second Forum has continued the process,bringing together a larger group of participants andsharpening the focus on agriculture and rural develop-ment issues in Africa. The Second Forum was held withfinancial support from Germany, the EuropeanCommission, and the FAO, and financial contributionsfrom the Department for International Development ofthe United Kingdom (DFID), Irish Aid, the FrenchMinistry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of ForeignAffairs of the Netherlands, the Swiss Agency for Devel-opment and Cooperation (SDC), the Technical Centre forAgricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), the DeutscheGesellschaft for Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ)GmbH, and InWEnt – Capacity Building, Germany.

Among the more than 350 participants were policymakers and staff members from the EuropeanCommission, the EU member states and internationalorganisations, members of Parliament from the ACPStates, as well as experts from developing countries,non-governmental organisations and African farmers’associations, research institutions and internationalorganisations. The results of a civil society pre-conference that also took place in Berlin were presentedto the forum and taken forward in the debate.

The Forum discussed five themes in detail. Those andthe specific issues covered in the working groups hadbeen selected prior to the Forum on the basis of anonline questionnaire sent to agriculture and ruraldevelopment policy makers and practitioners. From the160 responses, the following five central themesemerged:• rural livelihoods in Africa in the face of globalisation;• environmental issues in rural development;• economic and political reforms required to support

rural development in Africa;• regional integration in Africa; and• aid effectiveness, harmonisation and alignment.

This report aims to provide the reader with an overviewof the main discussion themes and to provide an insightinto some of the most crucial challenges in bringingabout rural and agricultural development in Africa.


E x e c u t i v e S u m m a r y

The Second European Forum on Sustainable RuralDevelopment asserted that policy reforms and

increased investments in agriculture and rural develop-ment are key driving forces of global poverty and hungeralleviation. In all developing regions there are countriesin which agriculture is still the backbone of the econ-omy and which have achieved remarkable economicgrowth and reductions in poverty and hunger throughinvestments in agriculture and rural development,appropriately focussed on the needs and opportunitiesof the poor, in particular rural smallholders. Suchinvestments can achieve large reduction of poverty.Furthermore, the reduction in poverty is often greaterthan that for the equivalent investment in non-agricul-tural sectors. Improving rural livelihoods and overallfood security are also essential to meet the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs).

There are encouraging success stories in Asia and LatinAmerica, and increasingly also in Africa. These are prin-cipally in countries whose economies are growing andpoverty and food insecurity are receding as a result ofbroadening people’s participation, improving govern-ance, market development and investment in supportof the majority of the rural poor. African governmentsare aware that a lot more needs to be done, rangingfrom ensuring political stability, good governance,development of markets, investments in rural areasand social safety nets for the most needy to measuresto cope with the effects of climate change and the risingfrequency of disasters. Nonetheless, the conditions forfurther successes in agriculture and rural developmentare good: the progressive growth of democracies iscreating conditions for greater accountability; progresshas been made in a number of countries in bringingabout macroeconomic stability, and economic growthhas for the past few years improved. However, growthneeds to become more inclusive (involving rural

people) and more stable (broadening its (sub)sectoralbase).

G o a l s o f t h e Fo r u m

Besides networking and professional exchange, theorganisers had set high political goals for the forum.Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Federal Minister forEconomic Cooperation and Development (BMZ),pointed out in her opening speech that sustainable ruraldevelopment needs to focus on and continually improvethe enabling environment in order to be successful.Promotion of good governance, legal security andparticipation are not just values in themselves, butfundamental to sustainable development. An enablingenvironment also requires the establishment of highlycompetitive, market-oriented economic systems thatare compatible with social goals. Furthermore, there isa need to champion basic social services and genderequality because women in developing countriesproduce between 60 and 80 per cent of staple food, butown only ten per cent of arable land. Mainstreaming theempowerment of women and girls across the entireprogramme of development cooperation should there-fore be one specific goal. The Minister also assertedthe importance of fighting poverty and achieving foodsecurity for the promotion of peace and security.

In his opening remarks Lluis Riera Figueras, Director ofthe DG Development of the European Commission,underlined the fact that the EC is strengthening itsfocus on rural areas, particularly in Africa, throughrecent or new policy initiatives such as the EuropeanConsensus on Development, the EU African strategyand through increasing engagement in support ofAfrica's agricultural agenda, as expressed by theComprehensive African Agricultural DevelopmentProgramme (CAADP), an ambitious African initiativewhich is currently making headway. He highlighted the



urgent need for initiating and strengthening initiativesthat will encourage and reinforce actions – preferablyjoint actions – towards a better implementation of pol-icies to the actual benefits of rural people, in particularthe rural poor and rural women. He went on by referringto a recent evaluation report on 10 years of EC cooper-ation in rural development suggesting that there is aneed to improve clarity and distinguish rural develop-ment, a multidimensional territorial concept, from agri-culture, a sector, and food security, a long-termobjective. This clarification has important operationalimplications that the EC has already started implement-ing:• by increasingly addressing rural development through

a territorial approach (including decentralisation, localdevelopment, rural-urban links, etc.);

• by increasingly supporting agriculture, but also othersectors that are relevant to rural development, such ashealth and education, through a programme approachand, where possible, through sector budget support;and

• by addressing food security as an overarching andcross-cutting goal, which needs specific strategies andprogrammes, based on income generation and socialsafety nets, in situations where it is seriously deteri-orated or deteriorating.

He also underlined the valuable role of the Global DonorPlatform for Rural Development (GDPRD) in movingforward the Paris Agenda on Aid effectiveness.

The strategic goals and orientations discussed at theForum include:• the commitment to achieve the Millennium Develop-

ment Goals, in particular MDG 1 (halving of extremepoverty and hunger), with only eight years to go until2015;

• the commitment to food security and to the progres-sive realisation of the right to adequate food;

• the broad economic transition needed in Africa, withimproved and sustained livelihoods in rural areasthrough higher productivity in smallholder agricul-ture along with diversification beyond agriculturewhile minimising the rural-urban and intra-ruralinequalities and the exclusion of marginal groups thathave accompanied some previous transitions; and

• the achievement of environmental sustainability, inparticular under the effects of climate change, as thebasis for rural remunerative and stable livelihoodsand food security.

Among the many issues that need attention, the Forumfocused on five main themes. Each theme wasdiscussed in plenary and in smaller working groups.Substantial and extensive discussions focused, interalia, on: • the need for institutional and political reforms of

importance to agriculture and rural people aiming atdiversification, sustainability and the income gener-ating potential of the rural economic system;

• policy options to address hunger and rural poverty,focussing in particular on the “feminisation ofagriculture”;



• incentives and compensations for the provision ofecosystem services as a way to generate additionalrural incomes in exchange for rural people providingvarious public goods such as biodiversity, watermanagement and mitigation of or adaptation toclimate change;

• challenges and risks regarding the generation of bio-energy products;

• land laws, in particular improved access to land forwomen in agriculture;

• the need for good and transparent government lead-ership and institutions for conflict managementconsidering the changing allocation of roles andresponsibilities between state, private sector and civilsociety;

• efforts towards improved regional integration; and• recommendations for improved aid effectiveness,

based on the Paris Declaration of 2005, through a setof arrangements and methods such as donor harmon-isation, alignment, and sector wide approaches, thatwill be entered into a Code of Conduct for donor orien-tation and dialogue with partners.

The summary given here provides a brief overview ofthe findings of the Forum, some of which were broadlyagreed, while others sparked discussions well beyondthe timeframe of the Forum. In that sense, the Forumalso provided a real opportunity for enhanced under-standing and dialogue. A more complete picture can beobtained from documentation available on the Forumwebsite at www.ruralforum.info, including the Who’sWho of participants, all input papers and keynotes, andaudio recordings or the main speeches and plenarysessions.

THEME 1: Rural livelihoods

in the face of globalisation

• Farmers’ organisations need to be strengthened, inorder to facilitate the dialogue between farmers andthe government as well as other stakeholders inareas such as public services for rural areas, riskmanagement, and marketing.

• To improve rural livelihoods and enable farmers toturn the risks of globalisation into opportunities, it isnecessary to use new tools linking smallholders intomarkets by strengthening institutions, producerorganisations and support services within the entiresupply chain.

• Development and adoption of new technologies andpractices must be promoted through an innovationsystems approach.

• The increasing magnitude of risk and vulnerabilitymust be recognised and new instruments andapproaches be developed to improve the situation ofthose affected.

• A new approach to migration could promote ruraldevelopment, e.g. acknowledging the importance ofremittances for rural incomes.



THEME 2: Environmental issues in rural development

• Ensuring the conservation and sustainable use ofland, water, fisheries and forest resources and thebroader biodiversity are of critical importance forrural areas. Lacking public and private investment inrural areas has also contributed to environmentaldegradation in general and degradation of agricul-tural ecosystems in particular. The African continentin particular is facing an alarming rate of desertifica-tion, land degradation and water stress.

• Considering the value of ecosystem services pro-vided by rural people, private and public paymentsfor positive ecosystem services could contribute to adouble benefit: enhanced and more diversified ruralincomes as well as provision of added public environ-mental goods.

• Climate change threatens agriculture and ruraldevelopment and food security. A much larger scaleand immediate effort must be put in place to promoteadaptation to the unavoidable effects of climatechange, including relevant research.

• Reducing emissions from agriculture should be seenas contribution to a global public good. Incentivesshould be put in place to reward sound agriculturalpractices and provision of environmental services aspart of global mitigation efforts. Opportunities toutilise funds arising from carbon markets should beexplored.

• The production of biofuels could provide an opportun-ity to support rural incomes and livelihoods, but risksto food security and environment which could resultfrom diverting land, water and labour from foodproduction need to be considered.

THEME 3: Economic and political reforms required

to support rural development in Africa

• The key to bringing about policies that are morefavourable to rural development is to strengthen ruralcommunities’ voices and demands in the politicalprocesses. This requires support to local processesand governance for instance through territorialprogrammes, and/or intensified support for decen-tralisation programmes where Rural ProducerOrganisations (RPOs) and other local organisationsrepresenting other sections of the rural populationhave a crucial role to play.

• While public investments, such as in the transportsector and for market infrastructure, are necessary,rural development will only happen with sufficientprivate investment. Partnerships between donors, theprivate sector and government are required topromote an enabling rural investment climate. Moreuse should be made of new instruments to supportthe development of rural financial institutions andmarkets.

• Donors need to be more supportive of policies aimingto generate more equitable access to land, water andother productive assets as a means for growth andpoverty reduction.

• It is necessary to strengthen applied and location-specific research as part of broader agriculture andrural development policies in order to ensure thateffective innovation systems are in place, whichrespond to emerging needs and opportunities for theimprovement of rural livelihoods and the sustainableuse of the natural resource base.



THEME 4:Regional integration in Africa and its

implications for rural development

• The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture DevelopmentProgramme (CAADP) is an important step towardsmore effective agriculture-based development,based on African ownership and supported by Africanleaders. It also provides a basis for increased andbetter aligned support from European partners. TheEC Communication “Advancing African Agriculture”(AAA) provides the basis for an EU response forgreater alignment to CAADP. The cornerstone forpromoting agricultural development in Africa will bethe formulation and implementation of national agri-cultural policies with the participation of concernedstakeholders inspired by CAADP principles.

• Lively discussions took place amongst participants onthe opportunities and risks posed by Economic Part-nership Agreement (EPAs).

• There was general agreement that stronger regionalintegration of agricultural markets can play animportant role in enhancing rural growth and povertyreduction. Opportunities should be seized, for ex-ample, for seeking agreements on trans-boundaryagricultural trade policies, harmonising sanitary andphytosanitary standards and in cooperation in waterresource management.

THEME 5: Aid effectiveness, harmonisation

and alignment

• Code of Conduct: The forum has been part of a processof developing a Code of Conduct establishing jointdonor minimum standards for effective managementof agriculture and rural development programmes.

• Share the know-how: Donors and partners mustimprove shared learning both within and between theirrespective organisations, and develop well-coord-inated mechanisms for doing so.

• Tell more success stories: Agriculture and ruraldevelopment (ARD) programmes are still weak atpresenting their best work. There is an urgent need toextract concise messages on how ARD programmescontribute to poverty reduction.

• Civil society and private sector: Donors recognise that,ultimately, it is not the state but the private sector thatis the main driver of agricultural growth in rural areas.Civil society must be brought to the table. The privatesector must have a central role in formulation ARDstrategies and their implementation.

• Capacity building is necessary at the periphery centreand the periphery. The early evidence on sector-wideapproaches (SWAps), programme-based approaches(PBAs) and budget support programmes in ARD showsthat these instruments are not yet working effectivelyat decentralised levels due to insufficient skills andknow-how among the people who must carry themout. To overcome this deficit, capacity development inprivate and public institutions must be made an inte-gral part of the new aid effectiveness requirements.


Follow up

The Forum, like its predecessor in Montpellier, hasshown the need for and the benefits of bringingtogether diverse and challenging views in a continuedand intensified exchange. The Forum’s goal of buildinga stronger network in agriculture and rural develop-ment among donors, among partners in developingcountries, and between donors and partners, has beenwell achieved, but in view of the remaining old andemerging new challenges this goal needs continuingand sustained support. Participants were overwhelm-ingly of the view that there is a strong case for a repeatof the Forum at an appropriate time in the future.



T H E M E 1

Rural development and the improvement of small-holder livelihoods are crucial for the future of

rural Africa. Parts of Asia and countries like Brazilshow that early agricultural growth is a powerful stimu-lant to subsequent industrial growth. The WorldDevelopment Report 2008 shows that in early stages ofdevelopment, agricultural growth has a greater effecton household income than does growth in manufactur-ing or services. So, with the majority of the poor livingin rural areas, it can be a powerful means to fightingpoverty and hunger.

Globalisation, while creating opportunities, has put add-itional stresses on rural livelihoods through increasedcompetition for markets and natural resources, andchanging consumption patterns. However, the futureholds even greater challenges. In particular, althoughhard to predict, the effects of climate change might ser-iously undermine the livelihood of whole regions in ashort period of time. “This will not be a nice gradual tran-sition,” stated one Simon Maxwell, Overseas Develop-ment Institute, “it will be a history of migration and ofsocial upheaval.”

Investment in agriculture and rural development mustenable the people of rural areas to meet today’s chal-lenges and to be prepared for tomorrow’s.

Supporting Farmers

Farming in Africa is foremost a private sector activity.However, public policies and investments are of keyimportance in creating an enabling environment andbasic infrastructure for the private sector, includingsmallholder farmers, to engage in economic and socialactivities. Policies in support of farmers should includethe creation of conductive institutional frameworks,legal and social security, macroeconomic and fiscalstability, provision of public services in rural areas.

Adequate public finance should ensure the availabilityof basic technological, scientific and human resourcesnecessary to meet the needs of rural people, especiallyof smallholder farmers. Public investments mustensure the sustained capacity of the natural resources,land, water, and biodiversity to render vital services tothe entire population, an adequate physical and marketinfrastructure in rural areas and availability of relevantinformation and knowledge. It is also the role of thepublic sector to ensue that the poorest and most needyhave access to social safety nets which enable them toenjoy basic human rights, including the right toadequate food, without which they would be unable tomake use of available development opportunities. As aresult of such public action, increased productivity canbe the engine not only of rural growth, but of overalleconomic growth when it creates profits that motivatefarmers to invest in new technologies and createsemployment and incomes up- and downstream of thefarm sector.

Farmers need to be linked into markets. The rise ofsupermarkets in developing countries poses both anopportunity and a threat for smallholders. It hasquickly changed the traditional ways of retailing inagrobusiness and the preferences of customers. Toadapt to the new environment, farmers must be appro-priately organised and able to supply the requiredquantities and qualities of products certified accordingto food quality grades and safety standards. They mustalso build their capacity to capture more of the valuechain.

Rural livelihoods

in Africa in the face

of globalisation


T H E M E 1

More research in development, in particular in the agri-cultural sectors, and better dissemination of knowledgeare needed. Rural development is a multi-dimensionaland complex topic that requires research and invest-ment in multiple sub-sectors (agriculture, nutrition,health, environment, energy), involving biological,physical-technical and socio-economic disciplines andcollaboration among diverse private and public stake-holders. It cannot wholly rely only on private funding,which tends to bypass the poor in search of better profits.Innovators must take into account that smallholderfarming systems are highly diversified and that nosingle intervention is going to meet all their needs orlead to significant increases in incomes. New innovativesystems must be developed and funded which respondto the needs and opportunities of farmers, recognisingthe environmental constraints. Capacity building toenable farmers to adapt new practices is also essential.The promotion of innovation system approaches can bea holistic way to deal with these problems in the futureand needs further development, including the financialservices for innovation.

Empowerment and self-organisation are crucial for asustainable cooperation between researchers, nationalagencies, the donor community and farmers. Participa-tion creates opportunities for empowerment and inclu-sion. Smallholders should be integrally involved inidentification, implementation, monitoring, and evalu-ation of research. Involvement of all stakeholders shouldensure better understanding of rural people’s concernsin decisions regarding access to natural resources.Being the main interlocutors in such processes, farm-ers associations, including representations of ruralwomen, must be strengthened.

For all reforms, it is essential that donors provide longterm joint support of strategies and programmes thatlink research and rural development, and facilitate thedialogue between different stakeholders.

In addition to addressing new challenges, the Forumrevisited some old and well known themes: the need tomake markets function better for the poor; the need toimprove rural education and the general need toincrease farmers’ competitiveness through betterinfrastructure, better means of information, and reduc-tion of production cost. Land reform, and improvinginstitutions for water management should remain highon the political agenda, and more effective instrumentsshould be found to respond to these challenges.

Risk and Vulnerability

Rural people are particularly vulnerable to the vagariesof nature and the risks of volatile markets. The focus ofassistance in coping with vulnerability has been toomuch on ex-post help in emergency situations result-ing from natural disasters and armed conflicts. Equallyimportant are the protracted long-term stress situ-ations of people living under marginal conditions, e.g.due to physical isolation, high and growing debts ofhouseholds, lack of water, chronic food insecurity, or, ifit comes to the worst, ethnic discrimination andviolence. Investing in improved resilience under condi-tions of chronic insecurity combined with measures toenhance preparedness for disasters, should receivemuch more attention in development programmes andcan have high returns in such marginal areas. Thestereotypical view that these areas are “low potential”must be overcome. New approaches to build resiliencemust effectively set incentives to invest in reducingvulnerability of the productive assets of households,ensure the promotion of human development and envir-onmental sustainability. Action is also needed at themacro-level, using for instance instruments of riskmanagement, including safety nets and rural finance tocomplement insurance and public contingency fundingfor emergency situations.

Failure in this field may lead to increased inequalitieswithin African countries and to continued humanitariancrises. Early warning systems must be created to graspthe development of critical conditions promptly enoughto allow international donors and national governmentstime to react.

Migration

Where rural livelihoods are under stress, migration islikely to be the result. Excessive migration has manyproblematic impacts, e.g. brain drain, spread ofdiseases, especially HIV/AIDS, and pressure on urbanservices. At the same time, migration is a fact and, ifmanaged better, could be turned into an opportunity foragriculture and rural development. For example,measures to facilitate remittance flows can contributeto a diversification of rural income and as such offer achance to develop new instruments, e.g. in microfi-nance, that could use these resources to effectivelysupport agriculture and rural development and at thesame time stabilise the economic situation in areas ofout-migration.


T H E M E 2

Ecosystem Service

A healthy state of the environment and a steady flow ofenvironmental services from the natural resources andthe ecosystem are essential for rural development andfor human life in general. Ensuring the conservationand sustainable use of land, water, fisheries and forestresources and the broader biodiversity are of criticalimportance for rural areas of Africa.

According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment(MA) 15 out of 24 ecosystem services, which had beenstudied world-wide, are being degraded or used unsus-tainably. The MA assesses the consequences of ecosys-tem change for human well-being and identifies thescientific basis for action needed to enhance the conser-vation and sustainable use of those systems. Ecosystemservices are indispensable constituents of human well-being. They range from provisioning food, fresh water,wood and fibre to supporting nutrient cycling, soilformation and primary production, regulating floods,climate and diseases and contributing to culturalaspects such as spirituality, aesthetic, education andrecreation. Improving ecosystem services and ensuringthe involvement of the poor, where they have a compara-tive advantage, can be a major mechanism for povertyalleviation and improved livelihoods in rural areas.

There is a need for an in depth understanding of ecosys-tem services in rural areas through research, educationand extension and the implementation of policies at alllevels. Considering the value of ecosystem services,private and public payments for positive ecosystem serv-ices could provide a double benefit: enhanced and morediversified rural incomes as well as provision of addedpublic environmental goods, including global publicgoods such as greater biodiversity and mitigation ofclimate change through carbon sequestration or substi-tution of fossil fuels by renewable sources of energy.

The African continent is facing an alarming rate ofdesertification, land degradation and water stress.Despite progress in recent years, the average rates ofgrowth of the Agricultural Gross National Product havebeen below the target of six percent in too many coun-tries in Africa. These too low growth rates have been theresult of inadequate investment and even disinvestmentin agriculture and rural development. This has furtherdiminished the chances of achieving the MDGs by 2015.Limited public and private investment in rural areas hasalso contributed to environmental degradation ingeneral and degradation of agricultural ecosystems inparticular.

In addition to population growth, migration factors,conflicts and other local and regional factors, Africanagriculture and its natural resources are disproportion-ally affected by the negative consequences of climatechange. The effects of climate change are influencingconsiderably the production potential of agriculture,fishery and forestry with regard to land suitability andgrowth of yields.

African countries should assess the likely location-specific impact on their production systems under thevarious climate change scenarios. Experts expect thatby the 2080s, under one of the extreme scenarios of theInternational Panel on Climate Change, there may be aconsiderable drop in top prime agricultural land and anincrease by 30 to 60 million hectares of land with ‘severeclimate, soil or terrain constraints’ (prohibiting rain-fedagriculture). Land suitable for multiple cropping maydecrease by about 15 to 30 Mill hectares, land underarid and semi-arid conditions may increase by 10percent and desertification will progress. Livestock andwildlife will be affected and natural disaster risk willincrease. It is likely that climate change will result inlarger food scarcity and higher food prices. Failure to

Environmental

issues

in rural development


T H E M E 2

address land degradation will undermine progresstowards the Millennium Development Goals.

Mitigation of climate change

Rural people in developing countries have severaloptions to contribute to the mitigation of climatechange. There are both private and public sourcesthrough which such actions can be funded and thusprovide additional income. One is the Clean Develop-ment Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol whichprovides for developed countries to pay for emissionreduction projects in developing countries. So farAfrican countries participate to a very limited extent inthe CDM. One reason might be that the CDM mechan-isms are considered too complicated, and the potentialmitigation projects suited to rural parts of Africa do notfit well within the available mechanisms. Poor countrieswith weak research and institutions will need assist-ance in preparing adequate project proposals.

Examples of climate change mitigation of potentialinterest to African countries include rural electrificationprojects using solar panels, afforestation and reforest-ation activities or substitution of fossil energy by biogasproduction. Generally, the market for biofuels of varioustypes is growing rapidly and offers both opportunitiesand risks. It needs to be studied in more depth takinginto account the particular situation of African coun-tries. The assessment should include the possibleimpact of biofuel production on the production of foodand feed because both compete for land and water.There was a call for a Code of Conduct on land use.

Adaptation to the effects

of climate change

Mitigation of climate change is needed, but will notinfluence the effects of climate change already under-way. Therefore, adaptation to the foreseeable changesmust also be given priority in rural areas. The main aimof adaptation must be to reduce vulnerability of habi-tats, ecosystems and infrastructures; another must beto improve the responsiveness, in particular of theproduction systems, to the changing climate. Compre-hensive adaptation strategies should comprise impactassessments, monitoring and early warning as well asland use planning and upgrading physical infrastruc-tures in disaster-prone locations. Farming systemsneed to be adapted by investing in new or enhancingexisting irrigation systems, diversifying productionstructures away from drought or moisture risks,depending on the location, and selecting plants andlivestock with greater tolerance to new stress factors.

Integrating environment issues into

broader socio-economic policies

for rural develop-ment

Despite the considerable effects of climate change,coherent and harmonised socio-economic policies andmeasures for comprehensive rural development arestill the predominant factor determining whether or notthe MDGs will be met. Any climate mitigation or adap-tation programme should be fully integrated into anoverall rural development strategy as experienceshows that the impact of special programs is verylimited. A coherent and combined approach is requiredto link agriculture and rural development challenges tothe climate change agenda and vice versa.

As a specific recommendation, the 10-years ThematicEvaluation of the EC Rural Development Assistancesuggests that strategic environmental assessmentsshould be produced at country, or otherwise sectoral,level for environmental protection and naturalresources management.

Workable governance structures that are accountableand adhere to the principle of compliance and involve-ment of regional and sub-regional organisations toboost common commitment and promote sub-regionalsynergies and transboundary action are prerequisitesalso for the environmental aspects of agriculture andrural development.

More specifically, policies, strategies and measures onagriculture and rural development should contain, interalia, the promotion of diversified income generation inrural areas and a diversification of energy resources anduse of ecosystem services to reduce pressure on naturalresources; capacities for disaster preparedness andprevention and early warning systems; a raised em-phasis on measures to rebuild soil fertility in Sub-SaharanAfrica; exploration of the potential and the use of indigen-ous and traditional knowledge, such as knowledge onplant varieties with greater drought resistance or oneffective traditional farming technologies.


T H E M E 3

Economic and political

reforms required to support

rural development in Africa

In order to achieve greater success in hunger andpoverty alleviation, there is a need for serious eco-

nomic and political reforms ranging from national pol-icies giving rural areas greater priority to specific pol-icies such as land reform, research and disseminationpolicies, provision of adequate financial services andstrengthening of local organisations, including women’sgroups, farmer and consumer organisations.

This theme was perhaps the most complex tackled bythe Forum, as structural, institutional, legal, financial,infrastructural and economic policy issues are cross-cutting and interlinked with practical issues such asneeds for capacity development, advocacy training andprivate sector involvement.

Conducive political systems

There is an urgent need for coherent, pro-ruralnational policies, but political will on the part of decisionmakers is often lacking. Politicians do need incentivesfor taking real action on alleviation of hunger andpoverty and on sustainable rural development. Onestrong incentive is a heightened demand for pro-ruralpolicies from rural communities. Rural people need tohave a stronger voice in policymaking and prioritysetting and need support in building their organisa-tional base. Skills and capacities for local stakeholdergroups are needed so that they can be more vocal informulating their interests. Women need specialsupport in this regard. Well organised and transparentrural planning procedures, decentralisation, fosteredrural organisational development and efficient ruralinformation and communication systems are allrequired as a basis for stronger input into nationalpolicy making.

Sustainability of change can be obtained by codifyingbasic rights, such as the right to adequate food, andstate obligations that are monitored by transparent andaccountable institutions.

Land administration

Land rights and access to land and its productiveresources have always been contentious, and have ledto conflict. Forced eviction from agricultural land,migration as a potential source of land conflicts, mar-ket liberalisation without social fairness and safetynets as a threat to local small farmers, legal uncer-tainty and unjust distribution of land are factors thathinder sustainable rural development. Legal and policyframeworks aiming to generate more equitable accessto land and other productive assets that are imple-mented and ensured by good governance are a crucialfactor in rural development. Land policies and landissues have to be handled with sensitivity to existingsocial structures and tenure systems. Donors shouldbe more supportive of relevant reforms. Access to land,in particular for women, is an issue that should receiveparticular attention.

Strengthening producer associations and

civil society advocacy

As mentioned above, there is a need to generate polit-ical will with decision makers. Capacity developmentand advocacy are a way to exercise pressure on polit-icians and bureaucratic systems. Producer organisa-tions are well recognised today, but remain very diversein terms of function, level of organisation, andmembership. They need to strengthen their technicaland strategic capacity. Improving governance ofproducers associations will strengthen their legitimacy.


T H E M E 3

There is a need for long-term finance as a lever fordevelopment because producer associations provideservices in the general interest and should thereforereceive public funds (governmental and donor). Financ-ing modalities should be transparent, negotiated andallow reduced dependence on donor funds. Donorfunding should be directed at developing new modelsencouraging institutional innovation and promotingreal consultation, drawing on lessons and experiencesgained from other countries or elsewhere.

Civil society’s role is integral to rural livelihoods anddevelopment, and needs to be more effectivelysupported by governments and donors. Therefore:• Donors should recognise and engage with diverse

groups of civil society, particularly vulnerable andmarginal groups, including farmers, peasant, ruralworkers, indigenous people, forest dwellers, fisherfolk, pastoralist, women, youth and people living withHIV/AIDS.

• Donors should create mechanisms to ensuresystematic and equal institutional presence of ruralsociety with governments and donors in policy devel-opment, and accountability for implementation.

• Donors should invest in capacity development of civilsociety organisations to enable them to develop andrepresent their own agendas, strengthen internalmechanisms for representativity and accountabilityand enable issue-based coalition building amongstcivil society at national and global levels.

Decentralisation

Decentralisation is high on the agenda in the develop-ment community, but it is neither a cure for all prob-lems nor easy to implement. Different politicalinterests and conflicts need to be understood and usedto advance agriculture and rural development. A long-term programmatic approach should encompass thefollowing four elements:• change management;• capacity development at all levels of government and

civil society;• a funding component that secures resources and

services at the community level; and• a framework based on upwards, downwards and hori-

zontal accountability and transparency.

The concept of territorial governance might be a valu-able approach to take into account the various perspec-tives of and interests in decentralisation. This concept,recommended by the 10-years Thematic Evaluation ofthe EC Rural Development Assistance, gears strategytowards a more general concept of integrated manage-ment of rural areas.

Rural investment climate

Country surveys on rural investment climate have onlyrecently been undertaken. There is still a general lackof information as the focus so far has been on urbaninvestment climate. The latter faces very different chal-lenges from rural business in terms of businessconstraints and opportunities. Typical constraints to apositive rural investment climate are infrastructuralproblems, security issues, lack of legal security, insti-tutional and governance issues, insufficient regulatoryframeworks and policies. More information about ruraleconomy is needed and infrastructural problemsshould be addressed.


T H E M E 3

Rural development will only happen with private invest-ment through partnerships between donors, theprivate sector and government promoting an enablingrural investment climate. Linking private sector anddonors is an effective way to use the value-chainapproach to identify and prioritise specific bottlenecks.There are new instruments that support the develop-ment of rural financial institutions and markets.

Rural finance services

For rural financial services to be successful, it is essen-tial to link informal traditional systems with formalfinance while at the same time professionalising themanagement of rural finance institutions. The diversi-fication of the rural economy, mobilisation of localresources and use of information and communicationstechnology to reduce transaction costs is critical togetting rural financial markets working. Donors canplay an evolving and long-term supporting role in thedevelopment of rural financial services and not seek tocompete with the private sector.

Research and extension

Research for development, in particular agriculturalresearch, is a cross cutting issue in order to provide thenecessary understanding of rural development situ-ations and impediments, and the required knowledgeand innovations for the rural development of smallhold-ers. Nevertheless, research is a condition which isnecessary for economic development, but not sufficient.Therefore, it is necessary to include research policiesaiming at modern innovation systems for agricultureand rural areas into the broader and enhancing contextof agricultural and rural development policies.

As part of a wider rural development policy, priorityshould be given to reform research and extensionsystems with appropriate budget allocations. Thisreform needs advocacy around a number of key prin-ciples including: focus on process leading to moredemand driven systems; pluralism (systems should bemulti-stakeholder and multi-sector and multi-institu-tions); strengthening incentives and evaluationsystems; cost sharing at different levels where appro-priate and increased targeting of young and femalefarmers. A long-term joint donor and governmentcommitment should provide harmonised program-matic support.

18 Second European Forum on Sustainable Rural Development18 Second European Forum on Sustainable Rural Development

T H E M E 4

The economic impacts of globalisation and environ-mental threats have far reaching, often negative

implications for rural livelihoods on the whole contin-ent. Stronger regional integration should make thispossible – through harmonised economic and socialpolicies, greater mobility of goods, services andresources, and regional cooperation in tackling trans-boundary issues, including conflict management – tomake better use of the continent’s huge resourceendowments, to develop its human capacities, and itspotential for economies of scale on the way to inter-national competitiveness. Regional integration can beone instrument to fight poverty and reach the MDGs.

The progress in integration has been rather mixed, withsome Regional Economic Communities being ahead ofothers. Nonetheless, promising steps forward havebeen made in various fields, for example in early warn-ing systems, transboundary water resource manage-ment, in wildlife conservation (and thereby tourism) andprotection of biodiversity, and the fight against livestockdiseases.

The problem remains that having a number of regionalintegration frameworks encompasses overlappingmembership and mixed responsibilities, duplicatedprogrammes and an inflation of institutions that limitsthe benefits of integration. Understandably, thesupport from member countries tends to weaken asprogramme implementation, legislative progress, andpopular participation all lag behind.

The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture

Development Programme (CAADP)

The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture DevelopmentProgramme (CAADP), endorsed by African leaders in2003, might help to overcome some of these problemswith respect to agriculture. In the CAADP framework,African policy makers clearly articulate the need for anew role for the Regional Economic Communities(RECs) in agriculture and rural development withspecial regard to stimulating Round Tables and focus-ing on four thematic pillars: (i) sustainable land andwater management; (ii) rural infrastructure andmarket access; (iii) food security; and (iv) agriculturalresearch and technology dissemination.

Participants highlighted the possibilities of Europebeing a more effective partner in this ambitiousprocess: through experience sharing across regionsreflecting Europe’s own experience in implementingintegration – through capacity strengthening, throughadvancing RECs’ rationalisation, but also by avoidingforcing conflicting agendas on RECs. CAADP has alsochallenged the donors to think over their approachesand to align their support with African priorities.

Alignment of European and other donors’ policieswithin the CAADP framework is a prerequisite for effect-ive donor assistance. Efforts should focus on the devel-opment and strengthening of strategies and tools formonitoring and evaluation, including peer reviews,compilation of best practices at national, regional andcontinental levels. Partnership with local and regionalinstitutions, especially farmer organisations and otherCSOs and NGOs, can help to broader ownership andincrease effectiveness of policies.

Regional integration

in Africa and

its implications

for rural development

Second European Forum on Sustainable Rural Development 19Second European Forum on Sustainable Rural Development 19

T H E M E 4

Advancing African Agriculture (AAA)

The European Commission has developed aCommunication called “Advancing African Agriculture”(AAA), in order to redefine European-African perspec-tives on agricultural development cooperation with anemphasis on continental and regional levels. Amongthe specific challenges to African agriculture identifiedin the AAA paper are the development of an integratedvision, the strengthening of the agricultural sector gov-ernance, the improvement of rural productivity, theimprovement of access to remunerative markets, thesustainable management of natural resources, and thereduction of vulnerabilities. Accordingly, proposedcooperation areas are focused on agricultural develop-ment strategies, sector governance, research, know-ledge and its dissemination, trade facilitation, naturalresource management, livestock development and dis-ease control, and risk management. The target is toposition agricultural development as an integral andstrategic part of the development agenda on national,regional and continental level and as key sector foreconomic growth. The partnership coordination withCAADP will be central to the success of the approach.

Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs)

EPAs will imply both a challenge and an opportunity toAfrican countries and regions. The end of the EU’s currentCotonou trade regime on 1 January 2008 and its replace-ment by Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), aspresently under negotiation, will put pressure on manynational and regional economies, for which the EU is theonly high-price export market available at the moment.Some participants expressed concern that cheap agricul-tural imports from Europe could affect rural producers inAfrica, and that the EPAs’ focus on market accessneglects concerns with ensuring food security and thecompetitiveness of small-scale producers.

An expected benefit from EPAs is the enhanced regionalintegration process, which is particularly relevant for agri-cultural products. Regional integration can lead to betterand more stable prices for farmers. At the moment,surpluses of staples in one country can often not betraded to a neighbouring deficit country, due to severetrade barriers, including Sanitary and Phytosanitary(SPS) rules. EU assistance in rules setting and in meetingthe norms and standards on export markets (includingthe EU market) was generally seen as an extremely usefulform of agricultural development cooperation. EPAs alsoinclude the possibility to continue protecting sensitiveproducts or infant industries, and offer very long transi-tion periods for those products where markets will begradually opened up.

The forum also recognised the problem that African EPAnegotiators sometimes lack the negotiation skills and thecapacity to assess the consequences of the presentlydiscussed treaty drafts, though in this respect valuableassistance by the EU had been provided. It was suggestedthat a maximum of flexibility be allowed for the imple-mentation of the EPAs. It was also recognised that thedevelopment dimension should be an integral part of theEPAs. In relation to the topic of the Forum, EPA and trade-related assistance should focus on rural livelihoods andfamily farming, developing domestic and regionalmarkets, improving the rural investment climate, diver-sification, increasing productivity, and macroeconomicstability (including dealing with government revenueeffects).

20 Second European Forum on Sustainable Rural Development20 Second European Forum on Sustainable Rural Development

T H E M E 5

Aid effectiveness,

harmonisation

and alignment

The drive for aid effectiveness in agricultural andrural development is part of the overall effort

towards effectiveness in development aid. This was ini-tiated at the World Summit on Sustainable Develop-ment in Johannesburg in 2002 and culminated in theParis Declaration in March 2005. Over one hundredMinisters, heads of agencies and senior officials com-mitted their countries and organisations to continuing toincrease efforts in harmonisation and managing aid forresults with a set of measurable actions and indicators.

The need for change is highlighted by situations such asthat of Tanzania with 600 projects in the health sectorof less than 1 million Euros; or Kenya where 20 donorsare purchasing pharmaceuticals from over 13 differentagencies. Receiving development missions is a burden-some task for many countries – time consuming and notvery efficient. E.g., one African country received 800donor missions a year, most donors using different indi-cators and different priorities and their activities are notcoordinated with the national budget or the revenuecycle.

Two years after the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effect-iveness evidence of its impact on development practicein ARD is still hard to find. However, discussionsaround these issues offered some early clues in Berlin.

New code to enhance effectiveness

Since the First Forum in Montpellier in 2002 calls havegrown for a donors’ Code of Conduct to improve coord-ination and programme outputs in agriculture and ruraldevelopment programmes. The further evolution of aCode of Conduct by the Global Donor Platform wasdiscussed in Berlin and is shaping up as a jointly-devel-oped instrument to guide practitioners on how to makeaid more effective.

Sector-wide Approach (SWAp)

There is a general understanding that instead of focus-ing on “aid delivery” the focus should be shiftedtowards an effective sector development. This viewincludes (among others) the move away from anisolated project approach to a sector or programmeapproach.

Sector-wide approaches have much potential forimproving sector development effectiveness with viewsto increase poverty reduction. A sector-wide approach(SWAp) is a national programme led by the hostgovernment and made up of donors and a broad rangeof domestic stakeholders that sets priorities and allo-cates all available resources to a single defined sectorunder a single policy and expenditure programmeusing a uniform set of financial management proced-ures. SWAps have proven quite successful in educationand healthcare. However, the record so far for SWApsin agriculture and rural development is mixed.

The consensus in Berlin was that planning and imple-menting a SWAp in rural development is difficult andtime-consuming. “programmes like this cannot beimplemented over a mere five-year period…[Donors]used to be in SWAps, but have now gone back to projectimplementation. That’s unacceptable. Long-termprogrammes need long-term donor commitment,”stated Fernando Songane of PROAGRI, Mozambique. ForSWAps, donors should estimate a 10-15 years time-line.

SWAps are most effective when planned and imple-mented at a sub-sector level like agribusiness, extensionor technology. To make SWAPs successful, however,cooperation between interdependent ministries (e.g.finance, decentralisation, agriculture, health) iscrucial. Ministries must form an alliance to coordinate

Second European Forum on Sustainable Rural Development 21Second European Forum on Sustainable Rural Development 21

T H E M E 5

policies and to jointly implement SWAps, and thenassign one ministry to lead it. Memorandums of Under-standing and Codes of Conduct for all stakeholders inthe SWAp (public and private as well as donors) helpdefine the different roles and responsibilities. Indicatorsfor success should be defined, for example quantifiableprogress in reducing poverty and increasing economicgrowth. The Global Donor Platform will shortly publisha monitoring and evaluation toolkit for agriculture.Good SWAps demand education, teaching and training.Donors must commit more funds to capacity building,one crucial element of success. SWAps pose unfamiliarand complex challenges, and stakeholders must beprepared to respond.

Alignment

The Paris Declaration makes alignment one of the keysto greater aid effectiveness. Alignment demands thatdonors base their support on partner countries’national development strategies, institutions andprocedures. This implies, among other things, donorhelp in strengthening the financial managementcapacity and national procurement systems of hostgovernments and also using these strengthened coun-try systems to get better value for money.

Alignment has to be accompanied by effectively includ-ing other stakeholders, particularly the private sectorand civil society in strategy formulation, policy planningand implementation. “Only a small part of rural devel-opment is suited to government-to-government inter-vention. We need to use many other channels, inparticular the private sector, the main engine of agri-culture,” explained Monique Calon, Directorate forSustainable Economic Development, Ministry of ForeignAffairs of The Netherlands. This requires helping small

farmers in developing countries to become small-scaleentrepreneurs with sufficient understanding of globalmarkets, and, at the same time, ensuring that big busi-ness in industrialised countries gets engaged in devel-opment issues.

Effective national funding and management mech-anisms require well-defined performance indicatorsand accountability standards that are not donor drivenand are feasible in the recipient country. Donor align-ment does not mean retreating to national capitals andencouraging a top-down approach. Donors need tomanage the tensions between aligning with governmentdevelopment strategy at the centre and the demandsposed by decentralising agricultural policy to locallevels.

As the alignment process only started in 2005 it is yettoo early to link policies to outcomes and measuresuccess.


T H E M E 5

Division of Labour

Donors, development partners and programmes areproliferating. Debate on the division of labour amongdonors intensified in mid-2007 with adoption of theEuropean Commission’s Code of Conduct on Division ofLabour for donors. The code’s 11 operating principlescould give bold new impetus to the cause of aid effect-iveness. While this process is rather new, the GlobalDonor Platform strengthens this notion with thefurther elaboration for a Code of Conduct for ARDprogrammes. The special challenge for the agriculturesector lies in the ability to demonstrate that the sectordelivers results.

For an effective division of labour between donors, thereis a need for clear political agreements between organ-isations as well as incentives for individuals, likereward schemes and career opportunities. It is stillunclear what the rewards and sanctions at an individ-ual and institutional level really should be. In the end,given that the division of labour remains essentially avoluntary and non-coercive process, a lot is up to thevision of individuals.

An improved division of labour must lead to betterresults on the ground. That means donors mustsupport national statistical agencies and avoid infight-ing over data collection. Evidence from early division oflabour initiatives, in Zambia, for example, suggests thatin ‘silent partnerships’ between donor agencies on whotakes the lead and who follows in any givenprogramme, there must be clear agreement up front onwhose results count.


C o n c l u s i o n a n d W a y F o r w a r d

For many years agricultural cooperation has beenrelatively neglected by the development commu-

nity. With 2015 just around the corner and the firstMillennium Development Goal far from being met, sus-tainable ARD is now back on the international agenda.Only with considerable investment of human and finan-cial resources and broad successes in rural develop-ment, there is a chance to halve the proportion of peoplewho suffer from extreme poverty and hunger in thenext eight years. Or turned the other way round:Sustainable rural development is a highly effective wayto fight poverty and hunger, especially in agriculture-based African economies.

The challenges are high and much is at stake in thepolitical decisions and reforms in the upcoming years:Many African countries have to find solutions to a widerange of old and new challenges and achieve food secur-ity for a growing population. The new challengesinclude the implications of migration and the growingcompetition between biofuels, food and fodder, whichcould create new risks for food security. Demands foragricultural products are increasing on a global scale,but agricultural ecosystems will come under increasingstress due to the effects of climate change, land degrad-ation, desertification and growing water scarcity.Natural disasters are increasing in frequency andferocity, hence disaster preparedness needs specialattention.

The Second European Forum on Sustainable RuralDevelopment exposed the complexity of the problemsthat the agricultural sector, farmers, and the ruralpopulation in general are facing. The Forum covered ahuge range of issues. Climate change, renewable en-ergies and biofuels, rising demand for agriculturalcommodities, conflicts over water, migration, trade – all

these global challenges play a central role. It wasgenerally agreed that sustainable rural development,involving as it does many sectors and areas of policy,does not fit into the straight jacket of a sectoralapproach. Sustainable agriculture and rural agricultureneeds a broad platform for international, regional,national and local discussion, involving different stake-holder groups that range from finance ministers to localadvocacy organisations and from small scale farmers tolarge international agrobusiness. Agriculture is, aboveall, a private sector activity, and this fact needs greaterrecognition in the design of development strategies.

The Forum also showed that there are strategies,instruments, methods and tools to address theseissues and some success stories were encouraging. Forexample, there were reports on new value-chainapproaches, new approaches to risks and vulnerability,migration, and the dissemination of knowledge.

In delivering his final address, Bernard Petit, DeputyDirector-General of DG Development in the EuropeanCommission, underlined the following:• agriculture and rural development is back on the

agenda: This is an opportunity that we should notmiss. Moreover, we should build upon the realmomentum created by the Forum;

• responding to the lively debate on EPAs, he reiteratedthat the aim of these Agreements is not to create freetrade areas between Europe and ACP states from 1January 2008, whereby Europe would pursue hostileor aggressive interests. Above all EC approach isgeared towards providing support and assistance toconsolidate and expand regional markets andimprove competitiveness, with a view to liberalisingtrade between ACP states and Europe in 15 to 20years;


C o n c l u s i o n a n d W a y F o r w a r d

• the importance of putting aid effectiveness on theagenda: The political commitment to double aid toAfrica will only materialise if donors conduct a funda-mental review of the way in which our financial assist-ance is provided to our different partners. The Code ofConduct discussed at this Forum undoubtedly consti-tutes a crucial aspect of this process. Europe has amajor role to play in this context by taking rapid actionto honour policy commitments to act collectively andimplement policy on the ground, by distributing tasksbetween all parties, in a spirit of true partnership;

• the need to now shift the centre of gravity of the“implementing agenda” towards operational level:This means that donor representatives in the differentcountries will play an increasingly important role; and

• it is crucial that civil society, the private sector, andprofessional agricultural organisations be involved asrequired in drawing up and implementing policies.Much has been achieved, but there is still a lot moreto do. Participatory approaches have a key role to playin rural development, perhaps more so than in anyother area. Indeed, this participatory approach andmore broadly good governance are the very essence ofdemocracy itself.

Some important political messages emerged at theForum:• Continuous dialogue with all stakeholders (including

farmers’ organisations) at all levels remains crucial.Platforms and networks are essential for this andshould be supported;

• the focus on Africa is correct in view of the MDGs;• the focus on agriculture (including agricultural

research), in particular small-scale farming, and onrural development is appropriate in view of promot-ing economic growth, sustainable development andmoving towards MDGs, in particular MDG 1 (halvingpoverty and hunger);

• there is a need to improve clarity and distinguishrural development, a multidimensional territorialconcept, from agriculture, a sector, and food security,a long-term objective. This clarification has importantoperational implications;

• a consensus on the role of the state is of paramountimportance;

• environmental considerations, including new chal-lenges and threats (such as Climate Change), need tobe fully integrated in any future policy developments,commitments and investments in agriculture andrural development.

One of the most important outcomes was that the Forumgave those involved in sustainable agriculture and ruraldevelopment – farmers, scientists and experts, produ-cers and planners – the opportunity to exchange theirexperiences and to discuss problems and solutions in anopen, sometimes controversial, but constructive andinformal atmosphere. The Forum provided a longawaited opportunity for networking and dialogue onpressing issues. There was a strongly expressed wish tomaintain the momentum and to strengthen the linkageswithin the EU and around the world.

The organisers are strongly committed to carry forwardthe work and spread the message of this Forum intoother institutions and networks and to take concretesteps to address the issues raised during the Forum andrespond in an appropriate way to the proposals made.Participants and their respective organisations shouldendeavour to do the same. They will strive to make theThird Forum on Sustainable Rural Development happenin the near future, so that the exchange can continue andnew solutions are found and shared.

This report has been published in English and French by the European Commission, Directorate-General for Development and Relations with African, Caribbean and Pacific States

A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. This can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu/)

Conception/production: Mostra Communication

Photo credits: Thomas Ecke

Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2007

ISBN: 978-92-79-07136-2

© European Communities, 2007Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.

Printed in Belgium, November 2007

Second European Forum on Sustainable Rural Development

Berlin, June 18-21, 2007

European CommissionDirectorate-General for Development

and Relations with African, Caribbean and Pacific States

EUROPEAN COMMISSIONDirectorate-General for Development and Relations with African, Caribbean and Pacific States

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