COMMON FUND FOR COMMODITIES (CFC) - FONDS COMMUN POUR LES PRODUITS DE BASE - FONDO COMUN PARA LOS PRODUCTOS BASICOS

Mr. Rolf W. Boehnke, Managing Director, Common Fund for Commodities (CFC)

The World Food Summit is held against the background of globalizing and liberalizing international trade and the spiralling growth of world population and environmental concerns. We witness in a number of countries that the growth rate of the national product cannot keep pace with population growth. Adequate income levels of all households, which would allow access to food at affordable prices, are not always secured.

It is on these issues that the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC) focuses its activities, firstly, by increasing the incomes of those involved in commodity production in developing countries and countries in transition, secondly, by assisting in expanding production where appropriate and, thirdly, by improving the flow of commodities from producers to end-users.

The Fund is a partnership of 104 developed and developing nations. Since many developing and least developed countries are heavily dependent on commodities, the Common Fund deals with the core question of development in many regions of the world.

The cooperation between FAO and the CFC is particularly close. Thirty-two percent of all projects financed by the Common Fund to date are projects originating from FAO. This shows the commitment that the Fund has towards contributing, directly and indirectly, to food security.

Productivity improvement is a particularly decisive factor. Improving the yield of crop varieties and minimizing losses through the development of disease-resistant varieties are receiving strong support from the Common Fund. A further area is the development and dissemination of small- and medium-scale agricultural processing technologies which are adapted to local conditions. The Common Fund is financing several of these projects with encouraging results.

Food security to a large degree depends on maintaining and conserving the natural resource base. The Common Fund has consistently fostered sustainable commodity development, including the question of waste and by-products. Through rapid internal liberalization, the existing chain from the farmer to the exporter has broken down in a number of countries, namely in Africa. The Common Fund has therefore launched a new programme to rebuild such trading structures in a market context.

The Fund is determined to work on practical solutions for the problems of commodity producing developing countries and ultimately for food security. The Fund takes seriously the problems of the people involved in commodities in developing countries and these problems include: will there be enough food? Will there be a job? Will there be a future for one's children? To contribute so that these questions can be answered with "yes" is the prominent task of the Common Fund for Commodities, and not only the Common Fund but the whole international community.