Following today’s meeting of heads of state and government in Rome, Copa and Cogeca welcome the G8 initiative to focus more attention on how investment in farming can help fight world hunger.

Pekka Pesonen, Secretary General of Copa-Cogeca said, “This new policy initiative is highly welcome. Ensuring food security has to be a key objective in the 21st century and there must be optimal use of the contribution from local farmers and agri-cooperatives everywhere. Volatility on agricultural markets and low producer prices have led to many years of underinvestment in farming. If world hunger is to be effectively addressed, this problem must be overcome first.”

He added, “A crucial further consideration must be the need for a transparent and balanced food chain – with a level playing field between farmers, retailers and consumers - both in developing as well as in developed countries. Agri-cooperatives are very important in this respect, because they help to improve farmers’ position on the market, enable them to add greater value to their
products and keep a greater share of the final price.”
On the occasion of the international day of cooperatives, ‘Driving Global Recovery through Cooperative
Enterprise’, Cogeca is stressing that support for setting up cooperatives or producer groups should be an indispensable part of any local food production investment plan.

For further information, please contact:

Prodromos Kalaitzis
Senior Policy Advisor
Tel.: +32 2 287 27 81
prodromos.kalaitzis@copa-cogeca.eu

Simon Michel-Berger
Press Officer
Mobile: + 32 474 840 836
simon.michel-berger@copa-cogeca.eu