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World Bank’s Revised Palm Oil Framework Threatens
African Farmers
Developing World Agriculture And
Commodities Markets Next In Line
January 26, 2010 (Lagos, Nigeria)—The Initiative for
Public Policy
Analysis (IPPA), the Nigeria-based public policy
think-tank, and seven leading
African economists wrote today to two World Bank
Executive Directors for
AfricaDr. Renosi Mokate and Mr. Hassan Ahmed Taha,
expressing concern with the
World Bank’s review of the palm oil framework.
The letter put forward key policy recommendations
for the revised palm
framework and requested that the Bank’s Board of
Governors review the final
framework to ensure that member governments in Africa
can register their positions.
IPPA strongly urges that before the World Bank releases
the final framework, it must incorporate the
concerns raised in this
letter.
“This review undermines poverty alleviation programs in
Africa and will increase food
insecurity on the continent. Despite the Bank’s
acknowledgement of the palm oil sector’s successful role
in alleviating poverty, sector
support has been undermined by radical Western
environmentalists’ hijacking of the Bank’s
lending policies. Palm oil is
only the first target in a long-term campaign against
rural agricultural
development. World agriculture workers and producers
should be gravely concerned by
this review, as environmentalist campaigns will start to
impose standards on future lending for other
commodities,” warned Thompson
Ayodele, Director of IPPA and author of a recent New
York Times editorial, The
World Bank’s Palm Oil Mistake.
Ayodele and the seven other signers to
the letter recommend three concrete
steps to change the framework:
1. The IFC should not mandate a certification system for
individual
farmers – a large constituency in Africa. This is an
overreach of the
World Bank’s mission.
2. The World Bank Group should include a commitment in
the new framework that it will
not prioritize one certification system.
3. The World Bank should reaffirm its commitment to
supporting development and
reducing poverty, and firmly reject dictating to and
limiting industry and
sovereign governments.
The letter was signed by leading African economists and
industry leaders, including
the following:
• Thompson Ayodele, Initiative for Public Policy
Analysis (Nigeria)
• Paul Adepelumi, African Center for Advocacy and Human
Development (Nigeria)
• George Ayittey, Global Cheetah Palm Oil Company
(Ghana)
• Franklin Cudjoe, IMANI Center for Policy and Education
(Ghana)
• Niger Innis, Congress for Racial Equality (U.S.)
• Mahamadou SINTE, Center for Humane Affairs-CEDAH
(Burkina Faso)
• Olusegun Sotola, Initiative for Public Policy Analysis
(Nigeria)
• Richard Tren, Africa Fighting Malaria (South Africa)
The letter states, “The palm oil industry alone employs
1.8 million
Nigerians. Uganda is currently developing palm oil
plantations as a tool to
eradicate poverty. Industries exist in Cote d’Ivoire,
Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia,
Nigeria and Uganda among others. Millions more stand to
benefit from future agriculture development
throughout the continent.
However, freezing of support by
organizations and institutions such as the
World Bank and commercial banks, there can be no
sustainability, only poverty.”
Click here to read the letter.
<http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=-1&msgid=0&act=11111&c=586470&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ippanigeria.org%2FIPPA-African-Economist_Letter_to_WB_African_EDs_1.11.pdf>
The Initiative for Public Policy Analysis
(IPPA), the 2005 award-winning
organization, is Nigeria's public policy research
institute or think tank.
Its major concern is with the principles
and institutions that enhance
economic development and wealth creation, with
particular focus on Africa and
Nigeria.
For media enquiries, please contact the IPPA Director
Thompson Ayodele on
+234.1.791.0959, +234.80.2302.5079 or
thompson@ippanigeria.org<mailto:thompson@ippanigeria.org>.
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