German Food Partnership
The German Food Partnership (GFP) was an initiative founded in 2012 by German companies and associations and under the patronage of the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to strengthen food security in developing and emerging countries. The initiative was intended to bring together private and public actors such as international companies in the agro-food industry, associations and foundations, the public sector and companies from developing and emerging countries in a network in order to improve local food security. The initiative was originally founded in 2012 under the name “German Initiative for Agriculture and Food in Emerging and Developing Countries” (DIAE) and renamed GFP in June 2013. In 2015, the GFP cooperation was terminated, individual initiated projects continue to work.
Content and actors
32 German and international companies were involved in the GFP. These include Bayer CropScience AG, the METRO Group , BASF and Syngenta . The model on which the initiative is based was that of public-private partnership (PPP). The strategic cooperation between public and private actors should improve food security in developing and emerging countries. This means that with the help of the CFP, smallholders in emerging and developing countries are given access to industrial seeds, fertilizers , pesticides and markets. With the formation of cross-sectoral cooperation between private and public actors, the GFP wanted to carry out capacity building for companies in the agricultural and food industry.
The GFP was financed by the BMZ, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Walmart Foundation . The expenditure by the BMZ and the foundations amounted to around 19.36 million euros. In January 2013, the former Development Minister Dirk Niebel (FDP), the participating agricultural groups and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged 80 million euros for the entire project. The partner companies of the GFP also contributed to the financing of the projects, but these financing shares and their type of use are not published by the BMZ or the companies. According to the information provided by the Federal Government, they comprise an amount between almost double and three and a half times the BMZ share. The public share is handled through the structures and project work of the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) . In October 2012, four projects were developed in a three-day workshop in Lusaka. These four CFP projects were launched in November 2013 and began in February 2014 with initiation workshops in the respective partner countries.
Similar initiatives are the “ A World Without Hunger ” initiative of the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development , the “ New Alliance for Food Security ” of the G8 countries and the “ Grow Africa ” project of the African Union (AU).
Projects
Four projects have been initiated: Oilseeds Initiative Africa, Potato Initiative Africa, Competitive African Rice Initiative and Better Rice Initiative Asia.
Oilseeds Initiative Africa (OIA)
The OIA project took place mainly in Ghana and Mozambique. Among others, BASF was involved as the largest sponsor. Oilseeds are seen as a focus of interest with great market potential for German and local companies. The BMZ grant for the project amounts to around 350,000 euros.
Potato Initiative Africa (PIA)
The PIA project took place in Nigeria and Kenya and is taking place in cooperation with Bayer CropScience and Syngenta, among others. In both countries, national, competitive value chains for potato production should be established and expanded. The project was publicly funded with around 350,000 euros.
Competitive African Rice Initiative (CARI)
The CARI project was initiated by GFP and funded the most with around 15.86 million euros (including from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). It should be implemented in Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Tanzania. The overall goal of CARI is to double the income of around 90,000 African rice producers. Here the production of rice should be increased primarily by means of PPPs. CARI continues as a project funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development .
Better Rice Initiative Asia (BRIA)
The BRIA project was initiated by GFP and aims to optimize the rice value chains in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. To this end, local farmers' organizations are to be strengthened. These are to be integrated into business with travel associations and dealers. They should benefit from the purchase of machines and seeds as well as easier access to financial and service offers. The project is publicly funded with around 2.8 million euros.
criticism
The initiative is mainly criticized by German non-governmental organizations . The lack of representation of the interests of smallholders in developing and emerging countries and the lack of transparency in the financial participation of agricultural corporations in the projects are in the foreground. In addition, the federal government is accused of primarily representing the economic interests of agricultural corporations with the GFP in order to create new sales markets for high-yield seeds, pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. The actual developmental success of the integration of smallholders into the value chains of agricultural corporations is also questioned, since those who really need help would fall through the cracks.
Furthermore, critics expect that the participation of international agricultural corporations in the project will lead to changed product uses and other cultivation techniques, the positive influence of which is doubtful. One example is Bayer CropScience's participation in GFP. Bayer CropScience is the world's largest supplier of hybrid rice and is working with BASF on the development of new hybrid rice varieties that are to be launched on the market in 2020. One of the disadvantages of hybrid rice is that the seeds have to be bought new every year, otherwise the yields will decrease. In addition, when growing rice, alternative cultivation methods such as For example, the “ System of Rice Intensification ” (SRI) is used, which enables yield increases with lower seed and water consumption and a reduced use of chemical fertilizers.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ NGOs welcome the end of the German Food Partnership December 11, 2015 www.epo.de
- ↑ Financing of the CFP Answer to the Minor Question from Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen of February 24, 2014, German Bundestag (PDF)
- ↑ Start of the GFP ( Memento of the original from September 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Competitive African Rice Initiative answer to the small question from Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen of February 24, 2014, German Bundestag
- ↑ CARI website
- ↑ BRIA website
- ^ Julian Claudi: Controversial development cooperation with the private sector , in: Deutsche Welle , April 6, 2014. Accessed on May 6, 2014.
