Marie-Ginette Constantin, Mayor of La Pommeraye, welcomed 60 farmers from 14 countries and all five continents to the tenth International Farmers’ Dialogue held near Angers in Western France.

George Kamau Kiiru (front row second from left)

The delegates had spent the weekend with farming families to gain first hand experience of French farming and culture. All had a fascinating time. One from Africa, George Kamau Kiiru from Kenya, expressed it this way, describing his stay with his hosts during the weekend. 'I almost came to feel unworthy considering my one and a half acre garden compared to my hosts fifty seven hectare plot of land and enormous machinery. But as I thought deeper I found our main aim as farmers is to feed the world. I therefore multiplied all the groups, schools and individuals I had trained in my small garden and came to a sort of satisfaction that I am also worthy'. Translation is always a challenge but one delegate Jamil Ssebalu commented 'Communication is never a problem provided there is love and commitment'.

Following the welcome Maurice Reveillere, former president of the Chambre d’Agriculture of Maine et Loire, told how French agriculture had developed over the past 60 years and the structures that maintain rural society today.

Phil Jefferys (Australia) gave an over view of the state of world agriculture from an Australian perspective. Possibly his most telling phrase was the question. 'Why is there so much poverty in an industry that the world relies on'.

This was followed by a talk from Martin Simtenda (Tanzania) on the potential of countries like his own and his hopes for the future. Among the plans were further training and the strengthening of the cooperative movement. He also talked of his own plan to 'take 40 farmers to visit Kenya and Uganda to see some of the encouraging developments he had seen farmers involved in'. He believes the best training comes through seeing what other farmers are doing, 'Seeing is believing' he said was one of his mottos. The reality of his situation was brought home by the statement that about 50% of the population live below the poverty line.

In the evening we were given two presentations exploring the challenges faced in feeding the world - world population growth, diminishing fuel supplies, climate change, markets and governance. The key sentence was being united we might be able to overcome the problems, divided we will not.

Senator Christian Gaudin

The last talk was by Christian Gaudin, Senator and member of the evaluation committee of the senate for scientific decisions; he spoke of his worldwide travels, including visits to both the Arctic and Antarctic in his study of climate change. He said that Antartica, a continent with no trees, no human population, that was very windy, had the longest days and the longest nights and a very long history. This is an area which has a serious effect on us all, especially those of us living just above sea level.

Download conference programme in PDF

Jim Wigan