From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

3 POVERTY AND WEALTH LIVING OFF THE LANDmarkets and contract farming, and a new wave of technologicalchange may hasten the out-migration of small farmers. But thesefactors could also augur well for agricultural growth and rural livelihoods,if states and citizens can harness them for fighting poverty andinequality. The next section examines how a combination of activecitizens and effective states could again make agriculture a source ofwidespread prosperity.ALL CHANGE ON THE FARMTourists arriving to see the extraordinary wildlife parks aroundKenya’s Lake Naivasha pass serried ranks of greenhouses and fieldsdevoted to producing flowers and high-value crops such as greenbeans and peas for European consumers. The plains around theColombian capital of Bogotá churn out millions of roses forValentine’s Day bouquets. Indigenous peasant farmers in theGuatemalan highlands grow snowpeas (mangetout) and raspberriesfor the USA. The coastlines of developing countries everywhere aredotted with fish farms – prawns in Bangladesh, Ecuador, or Indonesia;salmon in Chile.Driven by booming demand, improvements in refrigeration, andfalling transport costs, fresh and processed fruits and vegetables, fish,nuts, spices, and flowers now account for over half of all farm exportsfrom developing countries: about $106bn in 2003–04, overtakingtraditional bulk commodities such as coffee, tea, or rice. 28 Even indomestic markets in poor countries, urbanisation and new generationsof middle-class consumers are creating booming markets forpoultry and vegetables. Whether small farmers can benefit from this‘new agriculture’ is a critical question for their future survival, and islinked to the changes in the way that food is bought and sold, both inthe North and the South.Transnational companies have expanded their operations indeveloping countries to achieve vertical integration of their operationsand to appropriate a larger share of value along the productionchain. Small producers increasingly deal directly with such largecorporations, whether to buy fertiliser or seeds, or to sell their produceor their labour, a negotiation characterised by the enormous imbalance123