- improving rural productivity, notably by transfers of appropriate technology and the rational exploitation of plant and animal resources,
- reducing post-harvest losses,
- reducing the workload of women by, inter alia, promoting suitable post-harvest and food-processing technologies,
- diversifying job-creating rural activities and expanding activities that back up production,
- improving production by on-the-spot processing of the products of arable and livestock farming, fisheries and forestry,
- ensuring a better balance between food crops and export crops,
- developing and strengthening agricultural research tailored to the natural and human environment of the country and the region and meeting extension service and food security requirements,
- in the context of the above objectives, protecting the natural environment particularly through specific operations to protect and conserve ecosystems and to fight against drought, desertification and deforestation.
Article 43.
1. Operations to attain the objectives referred to in Article 42 shall be as varied and practical as possible, at national, regional and inter-regional level.
2. They shall, furthermore, be designed and deployed to implement the policies and strategies established by the ACP States and respect their priorities.
3. Support shall be provided for such policies and strategies in the context of agricultural cooperation in accordance with the provisions of this Convention.
Article 44.
1. Development of production calls for a rational stepping up of animal and crop production and involves:
- improving farming methods for rain-fed crops while conserving soil fertility,
- developing irrigated crops, inter alia through different types of agricultural water schemes (village water engineering, regulation of watercourses and soil improvement) ensuring optimum use and thrifty management of water which can be mastered by farmers and by local communities; operations shall also consist in the rehabilitation of existing schemes,
- improving and modernizing cultivation techniques and making better use of factors of production (improved varieties and breeds, agricultural equipment, fertilizers, plant treatment preparations),
- in the sphere of livestock farming, improving animal feed (more effective management of pasture, increased fodder production, more new water-points and repair of existing ones) and animal health, including the development of the infrastructure required for that purpose,
- better integration of arable and livestock farming;
- in the sphere of fisheries, modernizing fish-farming and developing aquaculture.
2. Other prerequisites for the development of production are:
- the extension of secondary and tertiary back-up activities for agriculture, such as the manufacture, modernization and promotion of agricultural and rural equipment and. other inputs and, where necessary, their importation,
- the establishment or consolidation of agricultural savings and credit facilities adapted to local conditions in order to promote access to production factors for farmers,
- the encouragement of all those policies and incentives for producers which are appropriate to local conditions with a view to greater productivity and to. improving farmer's incomes.
Article 45.
In order to ensure a return on output, agricultural cooperation shall contribute to:
- adequate means of preservation and suitable storage facilities for producers,
- effective control of disease, pests and other factors causing production losses,
- basic marketing arrangements underpinned by suitable organization of producers, with the necessary material and financial resources, and by adequate means of communication,
- flexible operation of marketing channels, taking account of every form of public or private initiative, to enable local markets, areas of the country with shortfalls and urban markets to be supplied, in order to cut down dependence on outside sources,
- facilities to prevent breaks in supplies (security storage) and guard against erratic price fluctuations (intervention storage),
- processing, packaging and marketing of products, particularly by developing artisanal and agro-industrial units, in order to adapt them to the trend of the market.
Article 46.
Rural promotion measures shall involve:
- the organization of producers within associations or communities in order to enable them to derive more benefit from joint contracts and investment and jointly owned equipment,
- encouragement of the participation of women and of recognition of the active role they play as full partners in the rural production and economic development processes,
- the development of social and cultural activities (such as health, education and culture) essential for improving rural life-styles;
- suitable extension services to train all farmers, both men and women,
- improvements in the training of instructors at all levels.
Article 47.
Cooperation in agronomic and agrotechnical research shall contribute:
- to the development, in the ACP States, of domestic and regional research capacities suited to the local natural, social and economic conditions of crop and animal production, with special attention being paid to arid and semi-arid regions,
- in particular, to improving varieties and breeds, the nutritional quality of products and their packaging, and developing technology and processes accessible to the producers,
- to better dissemination of the results of research undertaken in an ACPâ or non-ACP State and applicable in other ACP States,
- to extension work in order to inform the greatest possible number of users of the results of such research,
- to promoting increased coordination of research, particularly at regional and international levels, in accordance with Article 152, and to implement appropriate operations to achieve this objective.
Article 48.
Agricultural cooperation schemes shall be carried out in accordance with the detailed provisions and procedures laid down for development finance cooperation and in this context they may also cover the following:
1. under the heading of technical cooperation:
- exchange of information between the Community and the ACP States and among the ACP States themselves (on, for example, water use, intensive production techniques and the results of research),
- exchange of experience between professionals working in such areas as credit and savings, cooperatives, mutual insurance, artisanal activities and small-scale industry in rural areas;
2. under the heading of financial cooperation:
- supply of factors of production,
- support for market regulation bodies, on the basis of a coordinated approach to production and marketing problems,
- participation in the constitution of funds for agricultural credit facilities,
- opening of credit lines for farmers, farmers' trade organizations, artisans, women's groupings and small-scale industrial operators in rural areas, geared to their activities (such as supplies, primary marketing and storage), and also for associations implementing campaigns on specific themes,
- support for measures to combine industrial and trade skills in the ACP States and the Community within artisanal or industrial units, for the manufacture of inputs and equipment and for such purposes as the maintenance, packaging, storage, transport and processing of products.
Article 49.
1. Community measures aimed at food security in the ACP States shall be conducted in the context of the food strategies or policies of the ACP States concerned and of the development objectives which they lay down.
They shall be implemented, in coordination with the instruments of this Convention, in the framework of Community policies and the measures resulting therefrom with due regard for the Community's international commitments.
2. In this context, multiannual indicative programming may be carried out with the ACP States which so wish, so that their food supplies can be better forecast.
Article 30.
1. With regard to available agricultural products, the Community undertakes to ensure that export refunds can be fixed further in advance for all ACP States in respect of a range of products drawn up in the light of the food requirements expressed by those States.
Advance fixing shall be for one year and shall be applied each year throughout the life of this Convention, it being understood that the level of the refund will be determined in accordance with the methods normally followed by the Commission.
2. Specific agreements may be concluded with those ACP States which so request in the context of their food security policies.
Article 51.
Food aid operations shall be decided on the basis of the rules and criteria adopted by the Community for all recipients of this type of aid.
Subject to those rules and to the Community's freedom of decision in this matter, food aid operations shall be governed by the following guidelines:
(a) except in urgent cases, Community food aid, which shall be a transitional measure, must be integrated with the ACP States' development policies. This calls for consistency between food aid and other cooperation measures;
(b) where products supplied as food aid are sold, they must be sold at a price which will not disrupt the domestic market. The resulting counterpart funds shall be used to finance the execution or running of projects or programmes with a major rural development component; these funds may also be used for all legitimate purposes approved by common agreement, taking into account Article 226 (d);
(c) where the products supplied are distributed free of charge, they must form part of nutrition programmes aimed in particular at vulnerable sections of the population or be delivered as remuneration for work;
(d) food aid operations that form part of development projects or programmes or nutrition programmes may be planned on a multiannual basis;
(e) as a matter of priority, the products supplied must meet the needs of the recipients. In the selection of such products, account should be taken in particular of the ratio of cost to specific nutritive value and of the effect the choice might have on consumer habits;
(f) where, in a recipient ACP State, the trend of the food situation is such as to. make it desirable for food aid to be replaced in whole or in part by operations designed to consolidate the current trend, alternative operations may be implemented in the form of financial and technical assistance, in accordance with the relevant Community rules. These operations shall be decided upon at the request of the ACP State concerned;
(g) with a view to providing products suited to the habits of consumers, speeding up the supply of products for emergency operations or helping to improve food security, food aid purchases may be made not only in the Community but also in the recipient country or in another ACP or other developing country, preferably in the same geographical region.
Article 52.
In implementing this Chapter, special attention shall be paid to assisting and enabling least-developed, land-locked and island ACP States to utilize fully the provisions of this Chapter. At the request of the States concerned, particular attention will be paid to:
- the specific difficulties of the least-developed ACP States in carrying out the policies or strategies they have established to strengthen their food self-sufficiency and food security. In this context, cooperation shall bear in particular on the productive sectors (including the supply of physical, technical and financial inputs), transport, marketing, packaging and the setting up of storage infrastructure,
- establishing a security stock system in landlocked ACP States in order to avoid the risk of breaks in supply,
- diversifying agricultural commodities production and improving food security in the island ACP States.
Article 53.
1. The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation shall be at the disposal of the ACP States to provide them with better access to information, research, training and innovations in the spheres of agricultural and rural development and extension.
In carrying out its work within the framework of its responsibilities it shall operate in close cooperation with the institutions and bodies referred to in this Convention.
2. The tasks of the Centre shall be to:
(a) assure, where so requested by the ACP States, the dissemination of scientific and technical information on methods and means of encouraging agricultural production and rural development, and also scientific and technical support for drawing up regional programmes in its own spheres of activity;
(b) foster the development by ACP States, at national and regional level, of their own capacities for production, purchase and exchange of technical and scientific information on agriculture, rural development and fisheries;
(c) refer ACP States' requests for information to bodies qualified to deal with them, or deal direct with such requests;
(d) provide ACP national and regional documentation centres and research institutes with easier access to scientific and technical publications dealing with agricultural and rural development issues and to databanks in the Community and the ACP States;
(e) in general help the ACP States to gain easier access to the results of work carried out by the national, regional and international bodies, more especially those qualified in the technical aspects of agricultural and rural development, based in the Community and in the ACP States, and maintain contact with those bodies;
(f) foster the exchange of information between those engaged in agricultural and rural development, notably research workers, instructors, technicians and extension workers, on the results of agricultural and rural development operations;
(g) sponsor and help organize meetings of specialists, research workers, planners and development personnel so that they may exchange experiences of specific ecological environments;
(h) facilitate access by the ACP States' training and extension personnel to the information they need to carry out their tasks and refer requests for specific training to existing qualified bodies;
(i) help facilitate the adaptation of available technical and scientific information to the needs of the ACP States' departments responsible for development, extension services, and training including functional literacy programmes in rural areas;
(j) facilitate the dissemination of technical and scientific information for use in integration strategies of agricultural and rural development, by reference to the priority requirements of development.
3. In the performance of its tasks the Centre shall pay particular attention to the needs of the least-developed ACP States.
4. To carry out its work, the Centre shall be supported by decentralized regional or national information networks. Such networks shall be built up gradually and efficiently as needs are identified with, as far as possible, the support of the most appropriate organizations and institutions.
5. The Committee of Ambassadors shall be the supervisory authority of the Centre. It shall lay down the rules of operation and the procedures for the adoption of the Centre's budget. The budget shall be financed in accordance with the rules laid down in this Convention in respect of development finance cooperation.
6. (a) The Centre shall be headed by a Director appointed by the Committee of Ambassadors.
(b) The Director of the Centre shall be assisted by staff recruited within the limit of the numbers budgeted for by the Committee of Ambassadors.
(c) The Director of the Centre shall report on its activities to the Committee of Ambassadors.
7. (a) To provide the Director of the Centre with technical and scientific assistance in working out appropriate solutions to the problems encountered by the ACP States, notably to improve their access to information, technical innovation, research and development in the sphere of agri- cultural and rural development and to devise the Centre's action programmes, an advisory committee shall be set up, composed on a basis of parity of agricultural and rural development experts.
(b) The members of the Advisory Committee shall be appointed by the Committee of Ambassadors in accordance with the procedures and criteria determined by it.
Chapter 2. Drought and Desertification Control
Article 54.
The ACP States and the Community recognize that certain ACP States are facing considerable difficulties as a result of endemic drought and growing desertification, which hold back all efforts at development, in particular those aimed at achieving the priority objective of food self-sufficiency and food security.
The two Parties agree that in a number of ACP States control of drought and desertification constitutes a major challenge on which depends the success of their development policy.
Article 55.
The correction of this situation and the sustainable development of the countries affected or threatened by such disasters require a policy encouraging the restoration of the natural environment and of the balance between resources and the human and animal population; in particular through such means as improved harnessing and management of water resources, appropriate agriculture, agroforestry and reafforestation schemes and control of the causes of desertification as well as of practices that engender it.
Article 56.
If a return to the natural balance is to be expedited, a drought and desertification control component in particular must be incorporated into all agricultural and rural development operations, such as:
1. - the extension of agroforestry systems combining farming and forestry, research and development activities to produce plant species that are more adapted to local conditions,
- the introduction of suitable techniques aimed at increasing and maintaining the productivity of agricultural land, arable land and natural pastureland with a view to controlling the various forms of erosion,
- the reclamation of land that has deteriorated, by means of reafforestation or agricultural-land improvement, combined with maintenance schemes involving, as far as possible, the people and authorities concerned in order to safeguard the progress made;
2. the encouragement of measures to economize on wood as an energy source by stepping up research into, application of and information on new and renewable sources of energy such as wind, solar and _biomass energy, and by the use of improved stoves with a greater heat yield;
3. the rational development and management of forestry resources by setting up at national or regional level, forestry management plans aimed at optimizing the exploitation of forestry resources;
4. the pursuit of ongoing campaigns to educate the people concerned to be aware of the phenomena of drought and desertification and to train them in the possible ways of controlling them.
5. an overall coordinated approach which, as a result of schemes such as those referred to in points 1 to 4, seeks to ensure the restoration of a suitable ecological balance between natural resources and the human and animal population, without prejudicing the objective of harmonious economic and social development.
Article 57.
The operations to be undertaken, where necessary with research backing, shall cover, inter alia:
1. improving man's knowledge of, and ability to forecast, desertification phenomena by observing developments in the field, by means, inter alia, of modern technologies such as remote sensing, by making use of results achieved and gaining a better understanding of the changes to the human environment in time and space;
2. making an inventory of water-tables and of their replenishment capacity with a view to better predictability of water supplies, using surface and ground water and improving management of these resources, in particular by means of dams or other appropriate developments for the purpose of satisfying the needs of people and animals, and improving weather forecasting;
3. establishing a system for the prevention and control of bush fires and deforestation.
Title III. DEVELOPMENT OF FISHERIES
Article 58.
The ACP States and the Community recognize the urgent need to promote the development of fishery resources of ACP States both as a contribution towards the development of fisheries as a whole and as a sphere of mutual interest for their respective economic sectors.
Cooperation in this field shall promote the optimum utilization of the fishery resources of ACP States, while recognizing the rights of landlocked States to participate in the exploitation of sea fisheries and the right of coastal States to exercise jurisdiction over the living marine resources of their exclusive economic zones in conformity with current international law and notably the conclusions of the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea.
Article 59.
To encourage the development of the exploitation of the fishery resources of the ACP States, all the mechanisms for assistance and cooperation provided for in this Convention, notably financial and technical assistance in accordance with the terms set out in Title III, Part Three shall be applied to fisheries.
The priority objectives of such cooperation shall be to:
- improve knowledge of the fisheries environment and its resources,
- increase the means of protecting fishery resources and monitoring their rational exploitation,
- increase the involvement of the ACP States in the exploitation of deep-sea fishery resources within their exclusive economic zones,
- encourage the rational exploitation of the fishery resources of the ACP States and the resources of high seas in which the ACP States and the Community share interests,
- increase the contribution of fisheries including aquaculture, non-industrial fishing and inland fisheries, to rural development, by giving importance to the role they play in strengthening food security, improving nutrition and the social and economic conditions of the communities concerned; this implies, inter alia, a recognition of and support for women's work at the post-harvest stage and in the marketing of fish,
- increase the contribution of fisheries to industrial development by increasing catches, output, processing and exports.
Article 60.
Assistance from the Community for fisheries development shall include support in the following areas:
(a) fisheries production, including the acquisition of boats, equipment and gear, the development of infrastructure for rural fishing communities and the fishing industry and support for aquaculture projects, notably by providing specific lines of credit to appropriate ACP institutions for onlending to the operators concerned;
(b) fisheries management and protection, including the assessment of fish stocks and of aquacultural potential, the improvement of environmental monitoring and control and the development of ACP coastal Statesâ capacities for a rational management of the fishery resources in their exclusive economic zones;
(c) processing and marketing of fishery products, including the development of processing, collection, distribution and marketing facilities and operations; the reduction of post-harvest losses and the promotion of programmes to improve fish utilization and nutrition from fishery products.
Article 61.
Particular attention shall. be paid in fishery resource development cooperation to the training of ACP nationals in all areas of fisheries, to the development and strengthening of ACP research capabilities and to the promotion of intra-ACP and regional cooperation in fisheries management and development.
Article 62.
In implementing Articles 60 and 61, special attention shall be given to enabling least-developed, landlocked and island ACP States to maximize their capabilities to manage their fishery resources.
Article 63.
The ACP States and the Community recognize the need for direct or regional cooperation or, as appropriate, cooperation through international organizations, with a view to promoting conservation and the optimum use of the living resources of the sea.
Article 64.
The Community and the ACP States recognize that coastal States exercise sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring, exploiting, conserving and managing the fishery resources of their respective exclusive economic zones in conformity with current international law. The ACP States recognize that there is a role for Community Member States' fishing fleets, operating lawfully in waters under ACP jurisdiction, in the development of ACP fishery potential and in economic development in general in the coastal ACP States. Accordingly, the ACP States declare their willingness to negotiate with the Community fishery agreements aimed at guaranteeing mutually âsatisfactory conditions for fishing activities of vessels flying the flag of one of the Member States of the Community.
In the conclusion or implementation of such agreements, the ACP States shall not discriminate against the Community or among the Member States, without prejudice to special arrangements between developing States within the same geographical area, including reciprocal fishing arrangements, nor shall the Community discriminate against ACP States.