The problem of poverty in many developing countries is closely related to the commodity problem:
- 75 per cent of the 1.2 billion people living on less than one dollar a day live and work in rural areas;
- Half of the hungry people on this planet live in smallholder farming communities, another 20 per cent are rural landless and about 10 per cent live in communities whose livelihoods depend on herding, fishing or forest resources
But the world has become more complicated for small commodity producers in developing countries. Much of the government support they used to receive -- including help with financing and credit for investments in equipment and farm inputs -- disappeared under the deregulation and liberalization reforms of the 1990s. Foreign markets are imposing increasingly complex food and safety standards that incoming produce must comply with. Prices shift rapidly and vary based on quality. And the marketing of produce is increasingly dominated by transnational corporations and supermarket chains.
When a cocoa producer in Cameroon, for example, sells his cocoa beans at the farm gate, he has no information about the market that would enable him to bargain, and he has to accept the price proposed by the buyer. The cocoa producer is unaware of the international price, the premium that can be paid according to quality, the quantities required, the price paid to his neighbours, or the cost of transport.
An UNCTAD expert meeting titled "Enabling small commodity producers in developing countries to reach global markets," is held from 11-13 December at the Palais des Nations. It will discuss how to help such producers obtain market information and financing, work out logistics for selling and transporting goods, and understand and comply with more complex regulations.
The meeting aims at improving farmers´ income and reducing poverty in rural areas through a better integration of commodity production into world trade. It will identify the services and support that small commodity producers need in order to effectively market their produce (market information, finance, logistics, meeting standards), evaluate the development impact on small commodity producers of the new, private-sector driven models, and examine the role of governments in support of producers in this new environment, including through public-private partnerships.
