World Farmers Organisation to provide global voice for agriculture

The NFU will be represented at the first ever General Assembly of the World Farmers Organisation (WFO) when it convenes in South Africa next week.

More than 50 national farmers’ organisations and agricultural co-operatives will meet in Stellenbosch with the aim of raising the voice of the agricultural community in the wake of global food security concerns.

The new organisation, which draws membership from Armenia to Zambia, aims to improve the livelihoods of farmers and the viability of rural communities as well as ensuring coherence with other agriculture related activities, such as forestry, aquaculture, the environment, trade, research and education.

NFU director of policy Martin Haworth was a key negotiator during discussions to form the organisation and will be attending the summit in South Africa.

’Everyone was extremely disappointed when news broke last November that the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) had gone into liquidation and was being wound up’, said Mr Haworth. ’The NFU was a founding member of the body that for over 60 years united farm organisations from around the world.

’However, in a short space of time we have managed to get the WFO up and running and I’m delighted to be attending next week’s meeting as a European board representative.

’Farmers worldwide are faced with huge challenges to increase food production but to impact less on the environment. Their return from the market is also shrinking given the huge buying power of the retailers and rapidly rising input costs. We need to improve farmers’ economic viability and positioning in the food chain in order to ensure a dynamic and competitive agriculture sector throughout the world.

’We can help do this by working together to find a common voice, finding solutions through improved knowledge transfer and embracing new technologies.’