Toespraak van minister Ploumen bij de afsluiting van het Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) corporate event

Toespraak | 06-10-2014

Ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you all for being here today. This audience personifies my priorities as a minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation.

• Empower small scale farmers, especially women farmers;
• eradicate extreme poverty;
• promote food security and private sector development;
• promote Dutch and local agribusiness.

Together we can create a vibrant agricultural sector that contributes towards inclusive economic growth.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development is paving the way to link small scale farmers and local rural entrepreneurs to lucrative markets here and in their own countries. Dutch companies such as Unilever and Heineken are already on board. But they still need organisations such as IFAD to connect with small scale farmers.

IFAD focuses on smallholders in the least developed rural areas. In Rwanda IFAD teamed up with private investors to help small farmers export tea. They provided them with money and know-how to build infrastructure and obtain certification, and helped them get access to long-term loans. On top of that, the private sector guaranteed that the farmers' collectives got fair prices and the government gave out land leases and constructed the rural feeder roads they needed. In all, the project benefited some 20,000 Rwandan tea growers, and many thousands more will benefit in future.

As this example clearly shows, given the right support smallholders can gain entry into up-scale international markets. But at this point in time only a small number are well connected to lucrative value chains and have opportunities to become veritable entrepreneurs. Their numbers are expected to grow significantly in the next decades but only if the private sector comes on board.

It is a source of great pride to me that Dutch companies are taking the lead when it comes to investing in sustainable agricultural value chains in the developing world. This is not limited to huge multinationals. Small and medium scale enterprises also partake.

They offer new technologies and knowledge to their counterparts in developing countries. In so doing they create momentum in the local private sector. And they also create opportunities for small scale producers and employment for rural men and women.

An example is the cassava processing technology developed by the Dutch Agricultural Development and Trading Company which gives cassava farmers in Mozambique access to starch, beer and beverage industries. These farmers have not only increased their production and incomes. They now also have a secure market.

We all know that growth in the agricultural sector – through and with small scale farmers - has a bigger effect on poverty reduction than growth in other sectors. But it is not easy to link smallholder farmers to the mainstream market.

We need to attract more young people towards farming. We especially need to give more attention to the plight of women farmers. Against all odds they still produce most of the food in the world.

Through its work IFAD has already shown us that it can be done. The combined efforts of IFAD and private sector companies may well be the key to eliminate poverty and generate economic growth. A case in point is the recently signed agreement between IFAD and Unilever. It is a milestone, attesting to their shared belief that small scale farmers can deliver, as well as to their shared mission to make sure it happens.

The world needs farmers. In 2050 there will be 9 billion people to feed. For that, we need a dramatic increase in production. This will only happen if farmers have secure access to land, a stable market and financial and technical services. IFAD provides governments with the support to do just that. Their programmes have improved the capacities of millions of small scale farmers to increase production.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We will soon present our new food security strategy in parliament. Our focus is on promoting local agribusiness as well as encouraging Dutch companies such as those present here today to invest in agricultural production, marketing and processing. In partnership with IFAD we hope to further develop strong linkages between the Dutch private sector and the needs of small scale farmers in developing countries.

In recent years partnerships have opened up new opportunities for Dutch businesses. For instance, the largest Dutch dairy company FrieslandCampina is now working with about seventy-thousand smallholders dairy farmers in Asia and Africa. One of these farmer-led cooperatives in Kenya involves more than 5900 dairy farmers with an average stock of only three cows!

It is an example of public money that was initially spent to help farmers organise themselves, but that eventually made it possible for our companies to do business. As a result FrieslandCampina has boosted both its production and its sales considerably.

I would like to make a special case for support to women farmers and entrepreneurs. In know this is a passion – as well as a development imperative – that IFAD shares.

Studies by the World Bank, the IMF, IFC, the World Economic Forum and the United Nations show that women farmers are the most trustworthy creditors and producers. This has also been proven in many of our own programs in support of smallholders.

Investing in women is smart business. And if we ever achieve true food security and totally eradicate poverty, it will be through and with women farmers and entrepreneurs. For that to happen, we need to eliminate barriers that prevent women from achieving their potential. Access to land, credit, technology and agricultural services are all a part of the equation and areas where women need our support.

We are giving special attention to land issues. Tomorrow I will be addressing the ITC Institute at Twente University. Using the newest techniques they are mapping land rights at breathtaking speed. In Benin and Rwanda we support land registration. In all of these programs special attention is given to the access that women have to land.

Entrepreneurship in developing countries and emerging economies can be complicated. That is why we have developed risk-mitigating instruments to investment in such countries. The Dutch Good Growth Fund, for example, provides funding for small and medium-sized enterprises, here and in developing countries. Projects focusing on women are given special consideration.

I am also using international contacts to promote private sector development in mainstream development cooperation. As you may be aware, the Netherlands is currently co-chair of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation. This is a unique multi-stakeholder platform that brings together governments, civil society, the private sector, private funds and others, all on equal terms. Two of its main goals are to eradicate poverty and inequality. In the long run, however, we are aiming for economic relations with developing countries; relations that will lead to a global capability to feed the world, today and tomorrow.

From the perspective of the Global Partnership, this audience would make a very promising coalition. IFAD's drive to achieve tangible results for farmers in developing states is very much in line with my government’s agenda to promote aid and trade. And the same goes for the private sector's constant search for new profit-making opportunities. Together, we can achieve real progress. So let’s join forces and explore new possibilities.

Thank you.