Quotations

Rice farmer Rodrigo Costanilla, father of seven, farms one hectare, rented from a land-owning family, and says rice is his livelihood [Annie Bungeroth]

Ready to use quotations on a variety of aspects relating to trade, from CAFOD staff, partners and other authoritative sources

Media contact: Debbie Wainwright Tel. 07785 950 378

The Uneven Trade Playing Field

Kamal Nath, Indian Trade Minister (8th Nov 2005)

"It was not called the development round because of the lack of another description or word, it was a specific objective.… Small family farms are competing with the massive ranches of developed countries on the back of large subsidies.…”[i]

The Importance of Agriculture

Matt Griffith, CAFOD Trade Policy Analyst, December 2005

“Agriculture should and can provide the first rung on the development ladder. A sustainable, fair system of farming and farm labour can feed poor families, generate income and put children through school, laying the foundations for a better future for a large proportion of the world’s poor.”

Matt Griffith, CAFOD Trade Policy Analyst, December 2005

“There is an intimate relationship between poverty and agriculture. Three quarters of the 1.2 billion people who live on less than a dollar a day, work and live in rural areas. [ii] Repeated studies have shown that agriculture is key in the fight against poverty and must therefore play a central role in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.”[iii]

Actions of Rich Nations

Minister Mukhisa Kituyi from Kenya, G33 member (12th Oct 2005)

“The Hong Kong meeting runs the risk of failure unless the developed world stops treating developing countries’ concerns as an afterthought” [iv]

CAFOD partner Eliud Ngunjiri, Director of Kenyan-based agricultural development organisation, RODI (Resources Oriented Development Initiative), 25th October 2005,

“The richer countries have not kept their promises to cut subsidies and remove their own trade barriers. The poorer countries have done what has been asked of them, opened their markets, but what have they got in return? Basically, we have been taken for a ride along a very rough road.”

Lives on the line

Rodrigo Costanilla (58) Filipino farmer, November 2005

“Rice is my livelihood and if it were taken away from me it’s really the equivalent of death.”

Matt Griffith, CAFOD Trade Policy Analyst, December 2005

“What happens at the World Trade Organisation ministerial talks in Hong Kong will make or break lives, for at the core of all social and economic relations, and therefore trade relations, are individual women, men and their families.”

The need to be able to compete

Matt Griffith, CAFOD Trade Policy Analyst, December 2005

“In the face of minimal concessions from the rich world, developing countries are asking for a simple, but developmentally central, request to be met: That they should be able to protect their poorest farmers until such time as they are established enough to compete. “

A simplest demand

Editha Costanillas, wife of a Filipino rice farmer, November 2005

“Life here has its sadnesses when we have problems but happiness when they’re solved. All we want to know is that we can put food on the table, pay the rent and continue to pay for our children’s education.”

Special and Differential Treatment

Matt Griffith, CAFOD Trade Policy Analyst, December 2005

“The principle of Special and Differential Treatment means that because developing countries have been disadvantaged in the past and face pressing and unique problems, they should be allowed different rules to developed countries.”

“Allowing poor countries to protect their most weak and vulnerable people should be front and centre of any ‘development round’ worth the name”

Sarath Fernando, from CAFOD partner Monlar, September 2000

“Free trade is like putting the rabbit and tiger in the same cage.”

The ‘one-size-fits all’ approach

Matt Griffith, CAFOD Trade Policy Analyst, December 2005

“Current negotiations risk driving through tariff cuts via a one-size-fits all reduction formula. This form of liberalisation, decided by a mercantilist negotiating process between unequal powers, is highly unlikely to create a good deal for the poor.”

Footnotes:
[i] The Independent, 8 November 2005
[ii] International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Rural Poverty Report 2001, Rome, 2001
[iii] See for example IFAD (2003) ‘Achieving the MDGs by Enabling the Rural Poor to Overcome their Poverty’, Rome: IFAD
[iv] “WTO talks might flop, says minister”, East African Standard, 12 October 2005

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