FAO-UNIDO Global Agro-Industries Forum: Improving Competitiveness and Development Impact
New Delhi, India - The event will promote the importance of agro-industries for economic development and poverty reduction.
India will host the first global conference on agro-industries, to be held in New Delhi from 8-11 April 2008. The Global Agro-Industries Forum (GAIF) will promote the importance of agro-industries for economic development and poverty reduction.
Around 500 senior representatives from the agro-industry, governments, technical and financing institutions, civil society and UN agencies will discuss the potential of agro-industries and the challenges they are facing. The conference is jointly organised by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), in close collaboration with the government of India.
Rapid globalization, market liberalization, and urbanization have created new opportunities for countries to trade agricultural and food products; however, they have also created challenges and increased risks. Countries with inefficient agro-industries are likely to be left behind those with modern and efficient agro-industries. While high-income countries add, on average, US$180 of value by processing one tonne of agricultural products, developing countries generate only US$40 of value per tonne.
Increasing the market opportunities particularly for small-scale producers in rural areas, by improving their production, processing and marketing capabilities, will be one of the main issues of the conference. Delivering better products at lower prices could be beneficial for poor consumers and could also create employment opportunities.
The forum will also encourage dialogue between the private and public sector in order to foster partnerships for developing competitive agro-industries.
The Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh will officially inaugurate the Forum, together with Jacques Diouf, Director General of FAO, Kandeh K. Yumkella, Director General of UNIDO and Lennart Bage, President of IFAD on April 9, 2008.
The development of competitive agro-industries is crucial for creating employment and income opportunities and for enhancing the demand for farm products.
Agro-industry development has the potential to provide employment for the rural poor in off-farm activities such as handling, packaging, processing, transporting, and marketing of food and agricultural produce.
There are also risks and trade-offs in agro-industrial development often affecting the most vulnerable countries and people.
It is thus important to build on experiences and understandings of trends, in order to formulate sound policies and strategies for fostering agro-industries.
What will the Global Forum Achieve?
The Forum will help:
- Develop a shared vision on the factors critical to future developments of agro-industries, key factors affecting competitiveness and potential action areas,
- Learn from key lessons and success stories to develop competitive agro-industries in the developing world,
- Ensure stronger collaboration and joint activities among multi lateral organizations working on agro-industrialization and clarify the roles of the public sector, multi lateral organizations and the private sector in agro-industrial development,
- Engage multilateral organizations and financial institutions in launching initiatives at national and regional levels to foster agro-industrial development.
Programme
The Forum will bring together :
- Senior level policy-makers,
- Food industry leaders,
- UN technical agencies,
- Civil society organizations
- Agro-industry specialists.
The programme comprises plenary addresses, parallel roundtable discussions and regional strategy workshops.
For information on the programme and practical information, please contact the Forum Secretariat at FAO:
GAIF Secretariat
Global Agro-Industries Forum 2008
Rural Infrastructure and Agro-Industries Division
FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla
00153, Rome, Italy
Tel: +39 06 570 53 193 Fax : +39 06 570 54 960
e-mail: [email protected]
