Farmers urge G20 not to let WTO agreement undermine food security

1. Mid of banner reading: "Farmers call for coherence" 2. Wide of news conference room 3. Close-up of reporter writing on computer 4. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Paolo Bruni, President, COGECA (European Farm Association): ''All the countries in the world gathered here - Africa, America, Asia, Europe - want to declare a great state of difficulty in the world agriculture, due to the excessive liberalisation of world commerce that did not take into account the food challenges that we have at the moment and the difficulties that we face." 5. Close-up of photographer writing 6. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Mamoru Moteki, Japanese farmer: "Because of the limitations in Japan due to the land formation and the forces of nature, Japan cannot compete with large food exporters. Therefore for Japan to establish sustainable agriculture, we need agricultural policies linked to the specific realities of Japan, such as aid for increasing domestic production, safety nets for the farmers." 7. Cutaway Bruni and Djibo Bagna, the head of the Roppa West African farm organisations, speaking to each other 8. SOUNDBITE (French) Djibo Bagna, Head of the Roppa West African Farm Organisations: ''We are not against regulation, but (we want) fair regulation that allows each one of us to live with dignity after his work." 9. Cutaway translator STORYLINE: Farmers' organisations from Africa, America, Asia and Europe launched an appeal in Brussels on Monday ahead of the G20 agriculture ministers' meeting in Paris, demanding that they don't allow the WTO trade agreement undermine food security and stability. The farmers urged governments to take into account the non-trade concerns of the agricultural sector in the wake of growing food demand, challenges of climate change and price volatility. Farmers representatives from 66 countries met in the Belgian capital, where the appeal was launched. They hope to influence a mid-week farm ministerial meeting of the group of 20 rich industrial nations and major emerging markets, which will be discussing more regulation in agricultural markets. The groups - ranging from major European farms lobbies to small African farms - want protection of domestic markets, including the use of tariffs, and transparency in international trading. The farmers welcomed the stand of French President Nicolas Sarkozy last week who said the agricultural commodities markets needed to be more transparent and open through better regulation. The moves to set up a shared central database of food stocks and prices to help control market volatility and keep commodity speculators in check will be discussed on Wednesday at the G-20 meeting of farm ministers. Paolo Bruni, president of the COGECA European farm association, said: ''All the countries in the world gathered here - Africa, America, Asia, Europe - want to declare a great state of difficulty in the world agriculture, due to the excessive liberalisation of the world commerce that did not take into account the food challenges that we have at the moment and the difficulties that we face." France, which chairs the G-20, realises though that finding an agreement within the group poses many challenges. It says it will be tough to convince countries like China and India to show transparency on its farm commodities stocks, and equally tough to ask Britain and Australia to back regulation on the market. The farm groups also insist the World Trade Organisation should back protective measures to make sure domestic agriculture can survive in developing nations. Again, they see the latest negotiations on a global trade deal as far too liberal when it comes to agriculture. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/417281940f8619e101116b049ad677ff Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork