The Panellists' Gallery
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“My position is, coming from Sri Lanka - coming from South Asia - hundreds of thousands, or maybe millions of people, don’t have access to any market at all… the rabbits are asked to compete with the tigers, giving them open space. Nonsense.”
SARATH FERNANDO – SRI LANKA SMALL FARMERS ASSOCIATION
Sarath Fernando works with the Movement for National Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR), which represents 1.8 million smallholders. He farms one eighth of an acre with his family and is committed to what he calls ‘ecological agriculture’. This means that he grows a variety of crops for his own family’s consumption, not for marketing. Sarath feels that this model of small, sustainable farming means better diversity, as farmers can grow what they need, not what the market - or the government - tells them to grow. The emphasis is not on creating a surplus of crops, but on communities sharing what they have. www.monlar.org/
“If industrial farming is so efficient and it’s the way of the future, why is it necessary to subsidise it? Are the underlying economics so clearly in favour of this large scale production, or should we be looking at a more diversified place and a place for the small farmer in the sun?”
GARY HOWE – IFAD (THE UNITED NATION’S INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR AGRICULTURE)
Gary Howe is the Senior Director for Strategic Planning, Budget and Resource Management of the International Fund for Agricultural Development. After 10 years of teaching and research in the economics and politics of development in universities in Brazil, Mexico and United States, Gary joined IFAD in 1990. He has formerly been IFAD Director for Eastern and Southern Africa and in his present role he is responsible for IFAD’s work with member governments and civil society to improve the treatment of rural and agricultural poverty issues in national policy processes and broad poverty reduction programmes. Gary gained his Ph-D. at the London School of Economics with research on the organisation of poor people’s economic and social networks in urban Brazil.www.ifad.org
“I think the World Bank is engaged, because the work we’ve done shows that agriculture is four times as effective in helping people in rural areas combat poverty than any other means. But perhaps the way we were doing it before - or the way it was being done - was probably not always the right way.”
NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA – MANAGING DIRECTOR, THE WORLD BANK
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed by World Bank President Robert B Zoellick in December, 2007. She is a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Finance of Nigeria (2003-2006), where she focused on anti-corruption, fiscal reform and debt relief, among other issues. Her appointment at the World Bank is something of a homecoming for Ngozi, as she had previously joined the World Bank in 1982 and enjoyed a 21-year career there as a Development Economist, having held the posts including of Vice-President and Corporate Secretary. www.worldbank.org
“75% of the market is really about four companies. Now those corporations are certainly in a great position of power over the food system and they behave like good capitalists should; they buy cheap from their suppliers and they sell dear to their consumers.”
RAJ PATEL – ECONOMIST AND AUTHOR, ‘STUFFED AND STARVED’
Raj Patel is a writer, academic and activist who claims to have been tear-gassed on four continents in the line of protest. Prior to this he had worked for the World Bank, been an intern at the WTO and had academic ties to the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and the University of California at Berkeley. His first book ‘Stuffed and Starved: Markets, Power and the Hidden Battle for the World’s Food System’ has been described by Naomi Klein as:- “One of the most dazzling books I have read in a very long time.” www.stuffedandstarved.org
“If we can show a supply chain that actually begins with a community or a cooperative…it has an emotional value to consumers and I can see absolutely no reason why companies like Unilever could not buy more directly from farmers without traders in-between.”
JAN KEES VIS – SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE DIRECTOR, UNILVER
Jan Kees originally trained as a chemist, but left the laboratory for a career in Unilever in the area of environmental lifecycle analysis. He has headed the company’s sustainability programmes since their conception in 1996. His main role is to support Unilever’s 11 lead sustainability programmes around the world in their efforts to put sustainable agriculture into practice. This means talking to buyers, supply chain managers and in-house brand developers to build awareness of sustainable agriculture as a viable business option. Jan Kees also represents Unilever more widely, with links to a variety of NGOs and other food companies. www.unilever.com
“What we do know is in order to become more efficient we do need large-scale farming. If you want farms to get larger it must mean that some farmers leave the land in order to create space for other farmers to get larger.”
SEAN RICKARD – BUSINESS ECONOMIST, CRANFIELD SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT
Sean Rickard is a Senior Lecturer in Business Economics at Cranfield University. Prior to this he was Chief Economist with the UK’s National Farmers’ Union. As head of the NFU’s European and Economics Department, he directed policy research and liaised with the media as spokesman on a wide range of issues of importance to farmers and farming. Sean is a member of the UK’s Ministry of Agriculture think tank and he also wrote the Government’s agricultural manifesto. Sean is the author of: ‘The Economics of Organisations and Strategy’ (McGraw Hill Higher Education, 2006). www.cranfield.ac.uk