A race against the clock, confronted by an international trade agenda
Among other things, the ROPPA led educational programs for peasant leaders on international trade agreements. This is what was held in Mbodiène, Senegal, at the end of April - a regional workshop to bring up to date the presenters of the national workshops, bringing together all the peasant leaders throughout Western Africa. This training enters into the continuity of the objectives pointed out in Nyéléni related to the defense of food sovereignty. Indeed, the calendar proves that there is no time to waste: at the end of December, 2007, the agreements for economic partnership (AEP) between West African countries and the European Union must be signed, as part of a round of bilateral negotiations between the EU and West Africa. The signature of the agreements would bring about the opening of the market, and therefore increase competition with a number of agricultural products such as dairy, meat, and grains. Moreover, the revenue linked to taxes which provides for education as well as for health budgets would be considerably reduced. It’s this type of information that the presenters tried to pass along to the peasant leaders, so that they in turn could raise awareness, inform, and educate the agricultural producers on the economic policy related to agriculture, notably the AEPs. The sessions were run in French, and translations in Wolof and Bambara were made available [6]. The organizers were careful to make the information accessible to everybody, so that it could be easily distributed.
Resisting pressure, protecting peasants
The educational series, after having denounced the impending agreements, ended with a call to political decision-makers to not give way to pressure from the EU. According to Ms. Da Veiga, who participated in the training by being a representative from the private sector, “We are not ready to sign at the end of December. We must not open our market, or else 65 % of the population in our area will be unemployed.” The West African countries all have an interest in resisting the pressure, because food sovereignty depends on it. For them, the priority is to put in place regional integration so as to reinforce the economies of the West African Countries.
Also read: Resonances Africa N°14 - May 2007
