Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Asia and the Pacific | Press Release | March 8, 2002
Studies confirm entrenchment of poverty, marginalization of women and increased food insecurity
Seven years after the agreement on agriculture (AoA) of the WTO (GATT Uruguay Round), two decades since the application of neoliberal policies, and all the promises and commitments made to satisfy the food and nutritional needs of millions, the assured prosperity of free trade in agriculture is nowhere to be seen.
"These were empty promises, and for millions of small farmers and peasants, especially women, the result has seen the entrenchment of poverty, destruction of livelihoods, increased burdens, and for many it has literally meant empty stomachs" comments Sarojeni V. Rengam, PAN AP Executive Director, on the occasion of International Women's Day this March 8th.
Citing the results from a PAN AP initiated 7 country case study project conducted by grassroots groups and NGO partners to assess the impacts of the AoA, Rengam states, "It is very clear that agricultural trade liberalisation has indeed harmed small farmers and impoverished the poor further, making them more food insecure". The case studies were undertaken in Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea, India, and Pakistan. Complied in a resource book aptly entitled 'Empty Promises ... Empty Stomachs - Impact of the Agreement on Agriculture and Trade Liberalization on Food Security', most of the studies focused on one crop of importance in their area e.g. rice, potato, cassava.
PAN AP and partners have taken the occasion of International Women's Day to simultaneously launch the Resource Book in the seven countries, in order to raise particular problems and impacts facing women. Rengam emphasised that "Women are the worst hit by the process of liberalisation. As a farmer, she faces loss of livelihood as subsidized imported food products are dumped into the country, she is working longer, harder and increasingly exposed to hazardous pesticides and the cost of food production has increased due to costlier inputs. All these factors are intensifying rural women's impoverishment, displacement and hunger."
At the time of the GATT negotiations, proponents claimed that the AoA would provide greater access to world markets in agricultural products of all countries - by reducing tariffs and other trade barriers, farming subsidies an so on - the only exceptions being the food-importing least developed countries.
But as the 7 country case studies and additional research materials reveal, manipulation by food-exporting developed countries to retain high tariffs and subsidies has flooded developing countries with cheap food exports. Unable to face this unfair competition, small and subsistence farmers have suffered loss of income, increased bankruptcies from depressed prices and high costs of production, displacement and loss of land, and loss of livelihoods in agriculture.
As the Thai case study points out, following liberalisation, small scale farmers of soyabean and cassava (two important cash and export crops) have come under heavy economic pressure (from cheap imports of soyabean, and export barriers to and development of alternative sources of cassava in Western markets). With lower incomes and higher debts, women are forced to work harder in the farms and also face greater health risks from increase use of chemicals in a bid to increase production. Their role is being limited to farm work, and they are excluded from participating in decision making on farming including production methods, new technology, crops, and marketing.
As discovered in the Philippines, development plans for the Cordillera region in line with liberalisation policies, promotes cash crop agriculture and production for the export and importation of food products - potato is one of these key crops. Women farmers and farm workers already face several problems arising out of intensive chemical based monoculture cultivation for the market and exploitative production, financial and marketing relations. With high input cost and inadequate income, economic pressure will increase. Work-hours in this cash crop system have become intense - tretching nine to ten hours a day - and is causing health problems. Pesticide use has also intensified affecting women's health, and the sustainability of the land and the environment.
In Indonesia, access to food became the key issue during the economic crisis, for farming households as well as for industrial workers laid off their jobs. In fact, though Indonesia was an ardent supporter of agricultural trade liberalisation, its economic structure is not equipped to deal with free trade in agricultural products, nor have the series of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) helped the country to tide over the economic crisis. Though a 'social safety net' in the form of farming credit was put in place to help those affected by falling rice prices, its implementation was ineffective. It was also heavily biased against women as the male dominated 'village units' which decided on the loans did not consider women as farmers because they did not 'plough' the land.
The Korean case study found that the AoA has caused serious harm to rice farmers (who are mainly small scale family farmers). Many farmers are shifting to cash crops-fruits and vegetable-and their prices are also falling because of oversupply. With falling prices and the rising cost of production, farming household incomes have stagnated, and farmers are forced to take up additional work i.e. side jobs in nearby factories or to migrate. This has put enormous burden on women farmers. 'Women farmers are compelled to undertake additional farmwork besides doing most of the household chores to save even a penny'.
In the ten villages studied in Tamil Nadu in South India, an increasing shift to cash crop (floriculture) at the expense of food crops has decreased food production and led to higher food prices, lower employment, lower income and consequently lower food consumption (both in terms of quantity and quality) among marginal farmers and landless women workers. These changes in crop pattern has also caused scarcity of firewood, fodder, and drinking water which has resulted in a "struggle for survival". Mechanisation of agriculture has created greater unemployment among women farm workers, and indebtedness (to landlords and private money lenders as public institutional credit dwindled under the Structural Adjustment Programmes) has increased among small farmers who are selling or mortgaging land to repay loans. In addition the greater use of hazardous pesticides in floriculture has created serious health problems among women.
In Pakistan, privatisation policies, (increase in water and energy prices and decrease in subsidies) under the SAPs have pushed up the cost of agricultural production 'tremendously', which had serious reprecussions on small farmers. "With an increasing number of people without access to land and no other skills except tilling land, the situation is going to be alarming as far as accessibility to food is concerned ... the most vulnerable group would of course be women ... loss of land takes away their capacity to provide food for the family, they become dependent on men to provide them with food from the market.
While most of the studies specifically conducted research on the impact of the AoA, others included additional aspects such as the impacts of SAPs, which had earlier implemented general trade liberalisation and privitisation measures. The book also compiles information from research conducted in the South, with background information on the WTO and AoA to facilitate information sharing and understanding on the issues raised.
The case studies were part of a project conducted by PAN AP with the Asia Pacific Forum on women Law and Development (APWLD). Beginning the process in Penang in February 2000, PAN AP together with APWLD, the Philippine based IBON and Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN) conducted a training workshop on the AOA and on research methodologies.
The studies, which were a follow on from the workshop, were undertaken by the staff and researchers of the following organisations: the Rural Reconstruction Alumni and Friends Association (RRAFA), Thailand; the Asian Indigenous Women's Network (AIWN), Philippines; the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID), Indonesia; the Education and Research Association for Consumers (ERA), Malaysia; the Citizens Alliance for Consumer Protection Korea (CACPK), South Korea; the Society for Rural Education and Development (SRED), India; and ROOTS for Equity, Pakistan.
For further information and a review copy of the book, contact: Sarojeni V. Rengam, Executive Director Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Asia and the Pacific Tel: 604 - 657 0271 Fax: 604 657 7445 Email: panap@panap.po.my
The full text of the book will be available until 15 March 2002 at: www.poptel.org.uk/panap/aoa.htmPesticide Action Network (PAN) Asia and the Pacific:
