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Annex 4: Draft Policy Recommendations
Draft Policy Recommendations Prepared by the COMCEC Agriculture Working Group, in its
14th Meeting, for the Exchange of Views Session of the 35th COMCEC Session on
“Promoting Sustainable Food Systems in the OIC Member States”
The 34th COMCEC Session agreed on “Promoting Sustainable Food Systems in the OIC Member
States” as the theme for the Exchange of Views Session at the 35 th Session of the COMCEC and
requested the COMCEC Agriculture Working Group (AWG) to come up with concrete policy
recommendations on this topic and report it to the 35th COMCEC Ministerial Session. The AWG, in
its 14th Meeting held on 9-10 October 2019 in Ankara, considered the current level of
development of OIC food systems and the challenges as well as possible policy options related to
various aspects of sustainable food systems. After intensive deliberations, the AWG has come up
with a set of challenges and the policy options for strengthening food systems in the member
countries.
CHALLENGES
Agriculture Working Group highlighted the following possible challenges and problems in
increasing the resilience of the food systems in the Member Countries:
- Low level of agricultural and labor productivity
- Expensive input costs for plant and animal production
- Small and fragmented land structure
- Decrease in arable lands
- Inefficient use of agricultural machinery and technologies
- Weak market performance and challenges in access to market
- Lack of reliable and up-to-date data on food security
- Inadequate agricultural planning and strategy development
- Political instabilities (i.e. forced movement of farming population, insufficient
institutionalization, etc.) in some parts of the OIC geography
- Poor infrastructure and related services
- Limited agro-industry investment
- Poor legal and regulatory framework
- Low priority accorded to the agricultural sector, particularly in the young population, in
most of the Member States
- Rapid and uncontrolled urbanization
- High subsidies and protective measures in the agricultural sectors of developed countries
- Price fluctuations of food products
- Limited/low level of intra trade for food products in the OIC region due to high tariff and
non-tariff barriers, non-compliance of food products to required food safety and quality
standards
- Adverse effects of climate change on agriculture and food systems (drought, water
scarcity)
- Poor risk management of natural disasters
Increasing risk of food adulteration and limited food defense systems in the OIC
geography
- Insufficient international branding in food industry and agriculture in general