Twenty-fourth FAO Regional
Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean
Asunción, Paraguay, 2-6 July
1996
Mr Chairman,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The FAO Regional Conference for Latin
America and the Caribbean countries traditionally holds a
special place among all the Regional Conferences because
of its seniority: for this is the twenty-fourth time that
your Region has met compared with only 23 times for the
Near East and Asia-Pacific Regions, and even fewer for
the others.
First of all, speaking on behalf of
everyone present, I would like to greet and warmly thank
the Government and the people of the country which is
hosting us today with such warmth and generosity.
Paraguay is one of the founder members of the
Organization: even before the Quebec Conference which
established FAO in 1945, Paraguay was one of the States
signatories of the Final Act of the preparatory
Conference held in Hot Springs in 1943. Paraguay is
representative of the features of much of this Region as
an essentially agricultural country, with a wealth of
dense forests and rangelands in which cattleraising
prospers, run through by large rivers that favour
irrigated cropping as well as being powerful sources of
energy and major means of communication, even though they
also hem in vast arid zones.
I should also like to greet
Asunción, which is one of the oldest cities to be
founded after the discovery of the New World, dating back
to 1537. Its position at the confluence of the Paraguay
and Pilcomayo rivers has a symbolic value, recalling the
importance of water to agricultural development. Today
this great city is playing host to the officials
responsible for food and agriculture from every country
in the Region, with all their diversity.
From a cursory look at this part of
the world taken as a whole noone can fail to be impressed
by the incredible variety of its features and the
problems facing it. The over 30 States which make up the
Region include both island States, which in some cases
cover less than a few hundred square kilometres,
alongside giant countries like Brazil which covers over 8
500 000 square kilometres. Here one finds all the
different soil types and every possible kind of terrain:
marshlands, mountains with their rarefied air, mineral
deserts and large rangelands, huge wheatcovered plains
and immense incomparably lush forests. Every climate is
represented here from the torrid to the polar, running
through the whole range from tropical to temperate, from
the driest to the most humid. Enormous arid expanses of
land coexist with vast river basins whose importance to
irrigation, transport, hydroelectric power and
communications, particularly the Amazon basin which is
the largest in the world, cannot be overemphasized.
Moreover, between the islands of the Caribbean and the
shores of the Atlantic and the Pacific, there are tens of
thousands of kilometres of coastline abounding in
plentiful fish resources.
The human landscape is no less varied,
because throughout their tormented and often violent
history the preColombian peoples formed a substrate on
which were subsequently to be grafted Europeans of many
different origins, Africans uprooted from their own lands
by the slave trade, and immigrants from the Near or Far
East. The result is a cultural mix which cannot be fully
captured by the expression "Latin America", even if the
predominance of the Iberian languages throughout the
continent and in most of the islands is solidly
established. There is also an astonishing variety in the
types of social organization, ranging from the vast
quasifeudal land tenure system to the
communitylandownership and landuse system, particularly
in certain mountainous areas, dating back to the
preColombian civilizations.
Under these conditions, it is hardly
surprising that agriculture in the Region is also
extraordinarily varied in terms of production and the
problems with which it has to cope.
From agriculture in the mountains,
where the poor peasants manage to eke out a meagre
subsistence from erosionprone lands, to the wealth of
cereals farmed in the boundless plains, and the
flourishing herds, particularly of cattle, in the immense
prairies, without forgetting the tropical crops coffee,
sugar cane, cotton, tropical fruits; from the harvesting
of the vast forest resources, to fishing in the rivers,
lakes and oceans, the Region's agriculture is extremely
varied. In addition to being the birthplace of many of
the food crops that are now common worldwide, it should
not be forgotten that it is still the world's largest
pool of species that are able to protect a seriously
threatened biodiversity.
In view of such widely differing
situations, it is natural that the problems that arise
vary almost to infinity in kind and scope: the need to
combat erosion or drought in some areas, while drainage
and reclamation work is required in others; in some parts
the need to reforest eroded hillsides, and in others to
prevent the rapid destruction of forest cover,
particularly because of the encroachment of livestock;
some areas face problems that are typical of the small
tropical islands, while others are finding it difficult
to control the water resources of their immense river
basins, and others still are looking for a viable
alternative to growing drug crops, better ways of
exploiting their fish stocks, or tackling problems linked
to their land tenure systems, etc.
In addition to this diversity in the
agriculture sector there are also considerable
differences regarding mining and petroleum resources and
their exploitation, industrialization, economic activity
in general, levels of development and prosperity, as well
as food security. Some countries which are undergoing
allout expansion border on others that are among the
poorest in the world. Megalopolises in the throes of
unbridled growth are surrounded by countrysides where
time seems to have stood still for centuries. The same
discrepancies also exist in the interior of the
individual countries, where extreme wealth and extreme
poverty, affluence and malnutrition, high cultural levels
and illiteracy, power and precariousness, stand side by
side.
Faced with such diversity one may
wonder what makes up the unity of the Region. I would
like to say first of all that all the countries that
comprise the Region have had a colonial past from which
they emerged at different times and in different ways,
but all of them have been marked in the same way. Through
the cultural differences there is a certain common
approach to life and human values. All the countries in
the Region have to face problems that all of them share,
particularly in agriculture: natural resource
conservation, water management, population, debt, runaway
urbanization, problems linked to poverty and
socioeconomic inequalities, the place of women in
development and the search for the optimum use and
enhancement of their human resources.
This is creating increasing
interdependence which is being enshrined in major
agreements, particularly on intraregional trade. Special
mention should be made of the MERCOSUR integration
system, originally created by a group of four countries,
which is making very rapid progress.
One might say that in this Region,
which is both very old and yet astonishingly young, time
passes more quickly than elsewhere and evolution moves at
a faster pace. Hence the difficulty of reliably analysing
the situation. As soon as this is done, it is likely to
bealready outdated, and any conclusions reached must be
treated with the greatest caution.
However, the study of the
macroeconomic framework suggests a number of important
considerations.
The first is that the contribution of
agriculture to the economy of the Region is declining
rapidly; today it accounts for about 10 percent of Gross
Domestic Product. While agricultural production is
improving slightly, this growth rate (which is slowing
down) is not due to an expansion of areas under
cultivation which are actually shrinking by over 2
percent each year. It is the yields which are rising, due
to the fact that technological knowhow and management
systems have evolved comparatively more significantly,
playing an increasingly important role, while natural
resources and labour are declining. At the present time
40 million people work in agriculture, yet agriculture
guarantees the subsistence of 115 million, namely one
quarter of the total population of the Region.
Furthermore, it forms the basis of many industrial and
service activities. Its social role in development is
therefore more than proportional to its contribution to
production and trade.
While the progress of agriculture is
due to higher levels of technology, the profitability and
the competitiveness of the whole agricultural sector is
increasingly becoming dependent upon such external
factors as infrastructure, energy, transport, credit,
marketing networks, the conditions on the international
market, etc. Many small farmers are therefore being
marginalized, because they are not able to benefit from
this progress. Rural poverty is a major problem
throughout the Region, affecting 53 percent of the
population in the countryside, and 34 percent of the
population in the towns in 1990. But this is only an
average figure, and the real proportion is certainly much
higher in the Low-Income, Food-Deficit countries.
Moreover, we are witnessing a globalization of poverty,
because extreme poverty is encouraging a rural exodus,
urging the farmers to go to the megalopolises, where they
merely swell the ranks of the unemployed and the urban
poor.
Poverty means food insecurity and
malnutrition. The proportion of total income spent on
food is a revealing indicator in this regard. In the
Region as a whole only 25 percent of total incomes in the
affluent households is spent on food, while the poorest
households can spend more than 90 percent. It is
estimated that 59 million people in the Region suffer
from chronic malnutrition because of their poverty, but
approximately 64 million people are exposed to
malnutrition risks. While this accounts for 13 percent of
the total population of the Region, in all likelihood the
real figure is probably between 20 and 40 percent in the
Low-Income, Food-Deficit countries.
In all, the food and agriculture
situation may be considered worrying for the whole of the
Region and serious in the LowIncome, FoodDeficit
countries, where the degradation process is now becoming
entrenched. The slight revival recently recorded in the
prices of certain agricultural commodities should not
mislead us: it is only partial, because the prices of
sugar and coffee are continuing to fall; it is only
temporary, and above all it is still not sufficient to
offset the cost of imports and make up for past
reductions in the purchasing power of exports. Suffice it
to recall that between 1988 and 1993 exports from the
Region increased by 13 percent in volume but decreased by
15 percent in value.
The Region can wait no longer for
salvation to come from the agreements that have emerged
from the Uruguay Round multilateral trade negotiations:
they will only partially liberalize markets and that will
mainly benefit the producers with the lowest costs. The
effects on agriculture will also be partial, and they
will only be felt in the medium term.
It therefore seems evident that it
will only be possible to reverse the degradation process
and pull out of the crisis by taking clearsighted,
steadfast and decisive action, designed and implemented
individually and collectively by all the countries in the
Region. The development of agriculture, combating poverty
and social inequalities, and struggling to attain food
security are the three inseparable components of the new
and consistent policy which is now urgently needed.
Both together and individually, many
governments in the Region have already begun acting
resolutely in this direction, as evidenced in particular
from the Declaration on Food Security by the countries of
Latin America and the Caribbean, adopted in 1995 by a
highlevel meeting organized in Nicaragua with FAO
support. But it is all the work being carried out by the
Organization in the Region that demonstrates the vigour
and the intensity of its commitment to supporting
balanced development. These activities, which have been
placed specifically on the agenda of the Regional
Conference, were strengthened during the past year,
particularly with the establishment in Barbados of a
subregional office for the Caribbean.
Within the limits of its resources,
FAO is determined to follow up the recommendations and
the wishes expressed at the Twenty-third Regional
Conference, particularly with regard to natural resource
management for sustainable development, combating
poverty, the role of women in development, people's
participation, nutrition and food security, economic and
technical cooperation between developing countries, and
cooperation with academic institutions and research
establishments. In such a vast undertaking, in which so
much is at stake, it would be a tragic mistake to believe
that the parties responsible for bringing about
development are doomed to fail in their endeavour,
whether they are the immense masses of peasant farmers,
their associations and movements, researchers and
scientists, economic operators, the authorities at all
levels or international organizations. For there are far
more reasons for hope than for fear. First of all, there
are the natural resources ? the land, water, forests,
oceans ? which provide an extraordinary potential for
development. But it is above all on the human resources
that development can depend, on the ancestral wisdom and
patient courage of the small farmers, and on the energy
and creativity of all those who have come from all over
the world to make this Region thrive.
In view of the difficulties
experienced by the Region, its potential and the hope
which it holds out, the whole world, and particularly our
Organization expects it to make an exceptionally
important contribution to achieving what should be the
fundamental concern of humanity, namely, food security in
terms of its three major components: food availability,
the stability of supplies and access to food by all. This
vital obligation, which FAO has summed up in the formula
"Food for All", underlies the decision of the Conference
to convene a World Food Summit in 1996. The purpose is to
secure a solemn commitment at the highest level to
eradicate hunger and malnutrition and to guarantee food
security to all the inhabitants of the Earth through
concerted action at the world, regional and national
levels. The Summit will have the main remit of framing
this commitment in a policy Declaration and a Plan of
Action which will constitute the charter for a
wideranging and powerful worldwide campaign.
On the basis of their specific
experience, each region will be asked to provide input
for the drafting of these fundamental documents. This is
why the Organization attaches the greatest importance to
such texts as the Regional Declaration on Food Security
that I just mentioned, and the national contributions
which are being submitted during the preparation of the
Summit. In this connection, I am delighted to announce
that we have received particularly valuable and
interesting documents from Mexico and Nicaragua.
Furthermore, I would like to express my wholehearted
appreciation for the effective contribution made by the
group of Permanent Representatives of thec ountries of
Latin America and the Caribbean based in Rome to the
Working Group set up by the World Food Security Committee
to work on the drafts of the Policy Declaration and the
Plan of Action.
I would also like to express my thanks
to the Heads of State and Government of the Region for
having personally supported our efforts in the course of
their meetings with their counterparts from other
countries, and in particular the Presidents of Panama and
Uruguay who visited our Headquarters and addressed the
Permanent Representatives in order to emphasize the
challenges and the importance of this Summit.
This is yet another reason why this
Regional Conference, like the others this year, has one
dominant theme: the World Food Summit, which will be held
in Rome on 13-17 November 1996.
In the 50 years since the founding of
FAO, this will be the first time that a meeting on world
food has been held at the level of Heads of State and
Government. The fact that the proposed Summit was
unanimously approved by the FAO Conference and backed by
the United Nations General Assembly is clear evidence
that the problem has now become very serious.
The sheer scale and nature of the food
problem have evolved with a speed typical of our century.
It is FAO's prime responsibility to alert world opinion
and world leaders to the deteriorating food situation
before it attains irreversibly catastrophic proportions.
There has undoubtedly been prodigious
progress in technology and knowhow in recent decades; the
transformation in plant and animal production, the
knowledge and use of inputs, progress in water management
and in resource conservation, storage and processing
techniques have revolutionized the rural and agricultural
sectors in many countries.
And yet, at the same time, the world
population has soared even as the per capita farmland
continues to diminish. The current modes of exploitation
degrade the environment; forest cover is shrinking fast,
and as increasingly marginal land is brought under the
plough, the pace of erosion has accelerated. Fishery
resources are overexploited and in this as in many other
domains, nature can no longer regenerate its resources as
fast as people destroy them.
Additionally, even though there is now
enough food to feed everyone in the world, its
distribution remains terribly skewed.
Political upheavals, conflict, and the
growing plethora of refugees and displaced persons
exacerbate the situation.
In the developing countries, nearly
800 million people are chronically undernourished and
some 200 million children under the age of five are
affected by acute or chronic protein and calorie
deficiency.
And yet, the right to food is
absolutely fundamental; it is the first and foremost
human right, without which the others have no meaning.
How can a hungry person be expected to exercise his or
her right to education, work, and culture, and to
participate fully in the political and social life of the
community?
Food and water loom prominently among
the major world challenges as we enter the third
millennium. The dimensions of the problem are ethical,
political and strategic, and could lead to extremely
violent and serious conflict unless we put things right.
FAO is so keenly aware of the need for
strong, immediate action that it launched a Special
Programme for Food Security for Low-Income,Food-Deficit
Countries, without awaiting the worldlevel decisions that
will be taken by the Summit.
The philosophy behind the Programme,
now in its pilot phase in about 15 countries including
two from this Region, Bolivia and Haiti, and showing
promising results, can help to chart the major
orientations of the Summit.
Public opinion and the media will have
to be mobilized, however, with world political leaders
setting the guidelines for resolute and dynamic food
policies and solid sustained action.
The general debate on food will also
address the problems of investment and trade, which are
of particular importance.
Beyond the Summit itself, what is
needed is a truly global campaign, with cooperation and
consultation at all levels.
The driving force for this campaign,
which is designed to ensure "Food for All", would come
from National Committees involving all segments of civil
society: the private sector, nongovernmental
organizations, academic and research institutions,
women's associations and youth groups. To muster the
support and mobilization necessary to ensure its success
will demand longterm commitment and sustained resources.
The challenge before the World Food
Summit is unprecedented. Even though much has been done
to overcome hunger and malnutrition, to bolster
agricultural growth and to ensure that the available food
is distributed more equitably, past actions have for the
most part been oneoff, uncoordinated efforts.
What are now required are articulated
actions that will target every country where the need for
programmes to secure or consolidate food security is
becoming increasingly acute.
The huge surpluses in the developed
countries were long and erroneously seen as a global
cushion against serious shortfalls. Even back in the
1970s the food crisis brought home how easily these
mountains of surpluses could vanish like snow in the sun,
leaving painful shortages. After a renewed period of
bumper surpluses, we are now back to a situation where
the world's grain reserves have fallen below the level
considered necessary to guarantee global food security.
World prices have soared and the Low-Income, Food-Deficit
countries will have to pay out an additional 3 billion
dollars this year for their food imports.
The French Poet Aragon has written
that man's work is never done. Nonetheless, it is
precisely this state of uncertainty that inspires human
endeavour. Has not impending disaster always driven
people to come up with the energy and inventive capacity
required for their survival? We are, all of us, now
living in a state of impending disaster.
And yet, paradoxically, this could
prove to be the hope and salvation of this and future
generations, if only we can read the signs of the times
and rise to the occasion. Prodigiously clear thinking,
imagination, courage, patience and tenacity will be
required, as will universal mobilization on a scale
largely unparallel in human history.
Citizens of all countries and ranks,
of all ages and religions, associations and groups of all
kinds; professionals from all sectors; community leaders
in the intellectual, social, economic, political and
spiritual walks of life; government officials and
representatives at all levels; men and women from the
smallest villages to the largest international
organization will have to marshal their forces and
rallytogether for an allout joint effort.
Are there sufficient resources for
such a vast undertaking? Will the interdependence of our
global village outweigh the narrow short term interests
that divide it? I hope with all my heart that this is so.
Confidently, therefore, and from the
bottom of my heart, I wish you every success in the work
of the Twenty-fourth Regional Conference for Latin
America and the Caribbean.
Thank you for your kind attention.
