The United Nations and Transnational Agribusinesses' Cooperative Model for Agricultural Development in Developing Countries : The Case of the FAO's Industry Cooperative Programme (ICP)

Abstract

In fighting the hunger and poverty that still afflict many people in today's world, the United Nations has been turning to partnership with transnational corporations (TNCs) when formulating and implementing development policies. However, seeking partnership with TNCs is not something new for the UN. Indeed, as an early case of such partnership, we can trace back to the Industry Cooperative Programme (ICP) initiated by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in the 1960s and 1970s. The ICP was intended to introduce TNCs' expertise in management control and advanced technology into agricultural development in developing countries under the umbrella of cooperation between the FAO, governments of developing countries and transnational agribusiness corporations. This cooperation through the ICP is arguably a pioneering example of a Public-Private Partnership (PPP). Indeed, a lot of transnational agribusinesses participated in the ICP, whereby they could expand their business and exploit new markets in target countries, while advertising their "contribution" to those developing countries. Although the program is highly thought-provoking for the study of TNCs and international political economy, it has rarely been the subject of academic attention. The primary purpose of this paper is to analyze the historical circumstances and significance of the cooperative partnership between UN agencies and transnational agribusinesses, by reference to the literature of the ICP, including FAO official documents. This paper mainly focuses on the interests and conflicts among stakeholders involved in the program, using ICP projects in Turkey and Nigeria as particular cases of the process of transnational agribusinesses' penetration into developing countries. Furthermore, by paying attention to the process by which TNCs increased their political influence within the United Nations system through the program, we present how the institutional setting of PPP between the UN and TNCs was formulated through agricultural development in developing countries. Finally, by unpacking the tangled relations of stakeholders in the program and relevant UN conferences, the multilayered structure of the international political economy shaped by the key actors-UN agencies, nation-states and transnational corporations-is revealed with implications for underlying problems in ongoing, PPP-oriented development policies of the UN.