In general, on farms, in the homes of farm workers, one or two pigs were fattened and consumed at home or sold locally.

However, these proposals do not take into account the high diversity of agricultural structures and size of holdings and their respective links to local, regional, national or international markets; the high diversity of processing industries and the different levels of competitiveness in relation to the markets and supply chains they are embedded in; the diversity of independent local retailers, markets, local food chains and semi-subsistence food supply systems which do not depend on market development; the high dependence on external and often imported inputs and the vulnerability of intensive agro-industrial producers in the food ...[+++]chain which are considered to be the most competitive on the world market ; the rapid disappearance of small and medium sized enterprises, retailers and shops, especially in disadvantaged rural areas; and the conflict between European competition rules and the intention expressed by the Commission to improve producers organisations' bargaining power so as to allow them to achieve a fair price for their production.

G. whereas over decades export subsidies and food aid, especially from the US and the EU, have been responsible for the destruction of subsistence farming and small-scale farming in developing countries and left millions of families landless and without sufficient access to food,

I would also add that, if agri-environmental aid were granted to farms producing such crops for consumption by their own animals, it should be easy to gain acceptance for such a measure under the ‘Green Box’ so dear to Mr Fischler’s heart.

4. Three indissociable factors are involved in the issue of agricultural development in the developing countries, in the same way as in that of eradicating hunger and rural poverty, namely: production, for domestic consumption and export; employment, mainly of women on family farms; and the sustainable management of natural resources.

I. For the purposes of calculating the value added for all agricultural, forestry and fisheries undertakings, the following shall be taken into account exclusive of value added tax: 1. the value of the total final production including farmers' own consumption of the classes "agricultural products and game" and "wood in the rough" as set out in points IV and V below, plus the output of the processing activities referred to in point V of Annex A;