Policy space needed for food security

July 16, 2007

The farm bill is a comprehensive piece of legislation dealing with U.S. food and agricultural policy on a national level. As has been noted in Sowing Justice for Family Farmers Everywhere, even U.S. domestic policy can have adverse impacts on people living in poverty overseas. Angela Wauye, the Food Security Program Coordinator with Action Aid Kenya talked with E&A Policy Analyst Kathy McNeely about the impact of trade policy and low prices on small holder farmers and food security in Kenya. These impacts are important to highlight as the 2007 U.S. Farm Bill debate unfolds.

The Food And Agriculture Organization of the United Nations defines food security as, “a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.” Church World Service works with marginalized communities experiencing chronic hunger and poverty to achieve durable solutions that diversify livelihoods, increase assets and improve food security in communities around the world. CWS also advocates for the U.S. government to craft public policy that promotes rather than obstructs sustainable development, the eradication of hunger and extreme poverty and fair and just political and economic relationships among peoples and nations.

In reflecting on Kenya's efforts to provide access to food for its citizens Angela Wauye contends that Kenyan policy falls short. As a country dealing with international debt, Kenya's compliance with rigid conditions set by institutions like The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) pressures on Kenya's policy creation. Additionally Kenyan policy makers are pressured by foreign governments (including the United States) and corporate interests to put in place policies that may not be in the best interest of Kenyan citizens.

CWS: What percentage of Kenyans are farmers and how are they doing these days?

Angela Wauye: Eighty percent of the population of Kenya is still involved in food production. Before the conditionalities of Structural Adjustment programs put in place by the IMF and World Bank, agriculture benefited Kenyan farmers. They were able to educate their children and support their families. The Kenyan government showed commitment and support. Cotton was a key industry. The sugar cane sector was also very strong, as was sisal. All of these sectors have died since the adoption of Structural Adjustment Programs.

CWS: What are the major concerns of Kenyan farmers in terms of international trade?

Wauye: Kenyan farmers are interested in agricultural exports or cash crops, but most farmers are not well integrated into the value chain because they are selling primary products. There is little value-added technology and little support from the government to develop it. What programs there were, were wiped out by Structural Adjustment Programs. Farmers were left to battle it out with transnational corporations. Now Kenyan farmers compete for the opportunity to sell raw products on the world market.

Most Kenyans are subsistence farmers and as subsistence farmers they do not benefit from trade. They are food secure for three months after harvest and after that they have to buy food.

Horticulture is said to be doing well in terms of providing Gross Domestic Product and exports. The government of Kenya wanted other sectors to copy horticulture. However, horticulture is dominated by transnational corporations with parent companies in the United Kingdom and some Asian countries. There are few Kenyans that benefit from this sector.

CWS: How is Kenya faring in terms of agricultural trade on the international level?

Wauye : Current international trade policy at the World Trade Organization (WTO) has had a negative impact on agriculture. Dumping has destroyed small scale farming systems, as well as economic and social development. In turn, economic refugees have flooded into urban centers and other countries. Rural areas have been left underdeveloped. Poverty levels have increased, as has unemployment. And since the industrial sector in Kenya has really never taken off, labor has moved from the agriculture sector into services. Still, there are not enough jobs available to absorb the masses of people unemployed.

In Kenya it is easy to see the impact of dumping. Used clothing and foreign textile companies killed the Kenyan cotton sector. The Rift Valley textiles mills have been long dead. People want Kenyan industries revitalized, like the Kenyan meat commission. Also sugar, wheat and dairy have been wiped out. I just don't know what the world has in store for us in the developing world! And the political elite in Kenya think they are safe, but they are not.

CWS: In your opinion what needs to happen for Kenyan farmers to benefit from international trade?

Wauye: At the WTO there must be policy space and flexibility. Developing countries like Kenya need to be able to designate Special Products and Special Safeguard Mechanisms and to regulate imports of sensitive products. Special products should be named to guarantee food security, rural development and to respond to livelihood concerns.

The United States is opposed to Special Products and Special Safeguard Mechanisms because making such designations is not “free trade.” The United States tends to push for the designation of a very small number of special products, but if this were adopted, the Kenyan government would have to choose which community would be supported and which ones would be left behind. Such a choice becomes political.

The Kenyan government has demonstrated more concern for what foreign donors say Kenya needs rather than for what Kenyan communities say they need. Kenyan ministers approach the donor countries at donor roundtables with “begging bowls” for development while doing little consultation with Kenyan civil society. When donor countries design strategies for development, they tend to deepen the problems already created by Structural Adjustment Programs. And the Kenyan government continues to adopt these strategies even though they've admitted that Structural Adjustment Programs have wreaked havoc. Parliament has called on the Government of Kenya to revise this strategy, but it is doing so at a very slow pace.

CWS: I understand that at the WTO there is quite a stalemate over agriculture. What is the Kenyan position?

Wauye: At the WTO Kenya wants the space to name Special Products. The Group of 33 countries has proposed allowing developing countries to be able to name up to 20 percent of agriculture as Special Products and Special Safeguard Mechanisms. This would be available for all commodities, and the countries would decide which products to name. Under this proposal such designations would be simple and automatic. Anything short of this would be a raw deal for the agriculture sector in developing countries. Farmers in countries like Kenya have already given up a lot through the cuts experienced with Structural Adjustment Programs. At this point in time this sector needs breathing space.

As for civil society there is a strong desire for Kenya to adopt policies that put food sovereignty and the right to food first. Kenya needs policy flexibility. The government of Kenya has had its “policy space” limited by donor programs like the Structural Adjustment Programs that place a number of conditions that dictate Kenyan domestic policy. These conditionalities erode government sovereignty. In other words, governments like that of Kenya no longer decide what's best for the people. These policies were put in place by the World Bank and IMF and now the WTO agreements threaten to put a permanent seal on them.

Confronting the root causes of hunger and poverty is an essential complement to Church World Service's work overseas. By raising awareness about the root causes of poverty, CWS brings the voices of our partners into the halls of churches, community groups and the U.S. government calling on U.S. policy makers to formulate polices responsive to the needs of marginalized and impoverished people around the globe. Join us in calling on the US congress to reform the 2007 Farm Bill!