The G20 Agricultural Ministers are meeting this week in France for the first time. The French government has put food security on the G20 agenda for November, so the Ministers have to come to some agreement on agricultural and food issues. Helpfully, NGOs have advice to offer them as they meet on the 22nd June. It seems the NGO community have managed to see a draft communique of the G20 Agriculture Ministers and are not entirely disappointed by the draft outcomes. Oxfam thought the G20 Ministers are not going far enough but WWF saw a number of positive language on food security, especially for women and vulnerable groups.
However, WWF thought the communique was too focused on agriculural productivity and quantity and not enough on quality. WWF calls on the G20 to adopt stronger langauge on "more sustainable agricultural practices which favour access to food for local communities". The environmental group also saw the wording on adaptation and the geo-monitoring initiative as 'interesting' but thought the focus on rapid disaster response also needed a longer-term focus. WWF also called for more sustainable supply chains for biofuels.
Oxfam, as part of their newly launched Grow campaign, have called on the G20 to take bold action on food security. The Oxfam press release recommends that the G20:
- scrap 'damaging' biofuels policies
- increase transparency around food stocks by getting the private sector traders and investors to report stocks to governments.
- support food reserves once again
Indian civil society, for the first time, have collaborated on an open letter lobbying the Indian government on G20 issues. The letter calls for the Indian government to take the lead and ensure the G20 acts decisively to end hunger and deprivation. The groups asks the Indian Ministers for Agriculture to:
- fulfill the financial and non-financial commitments of the 2009 L'Aquila Food Security Initiative.
- regulate the private sector and emphasis public financing of agriculture including adopting a financial transaction tax to raise the necessary revenues.
- monitor Indian investment in land and agriculture in Africa
- reinforce the central role of the WTO in trade negotiations.
The letter is signed by a range of organisations including Wada Na Todo, GCAP, the National Conference of Dalit Organisations, Christian Aid India, World Vision India, Oxfam India and Save India.