Technical
background
documents 1-5
Volume 1
FAO, 1996
1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
3. GLOBAL RELATIONS AND FOOD SECURITY ISSUES IN THE 1990s
4. POPULATION CHANGES AND FOOD SECURITY
5. FOOD SECURITY IN A CHANGING WORLD: THE ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT
6. CHANGING THE ECONOMIC PARADIGM
7. DEALING WITH THE CRISIS: POLICY ADJUSTMENTS AND FOOD SECURITY
8. CRISIS AND ADJUSTMENT IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
9. CHANGES IN GLOBAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS: INTERNATIONAL FINANCE AND TRADE ASPECTS
10. LIBERALIZING INTERNATIONAL TRADE: SIGNIFICANT STEPS FORWARD
11. PERSPECTIVES ON REGIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION
12. ISSUES OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND THE ENVIRONMENT
13. EMPLOYMENT PROBLEMS AND LABOUR MARKETS
14. A CHANGING WORLD ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT: POLICY IMPLICATIONS
The preparation of the World Food Summit technical background documents has mobilized, in addition to FAO’s own staff contribution, a considerable amount of expertise in the international scientific community, drawn from partner international institutions and governmental or non-governmental circles. The process has been monitored at FAO by an internal Reading Committee, composed of staff selected ad personam, and established to ensure that the whole collection meets appropriate quality and consistency criteria.
The present document has been prepared by FAO’s G.E. Rossmiller. After initial review within FAO by all technical departments, invited colleagues and the Reading Committee, and by selected external reviewers, a first version was published and circulated for comments to governments, intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as further peer reviewers. Much appreciated comments and advice have been received from Prof. Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan; Prof. Carl Eicher, Michigan State University, USA; Mr Gerard Viatte, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); Mr Alex McCalla, the World Bank, Washington, DC; and Mr Robert Paarlberg, Harvard University, United States.
While grateful for the contributions received from all reviewers, the FAO Secretariat bears the responsibility for the content of the document.
Much that affects food security has changed in the two decades since the World Food Conference of 1974. Perhaps the most important event has been the advent of the global economy. Similarly influential in reshaping history have been the breakup of centrally planned institutions in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the resultant transition towards a liberal economy; the effort to disarm and not proliferate weapons; the end of apartheid in South Africa; the rapid economic growth in China and in other countries of East Asia; and the conclusion of civil wars in such countries as Angola, Mozambique, Cambodia, El Salvador and Nicaragua.
The last several years have also seen the appearance of more ethnic conflict, sometimes coupled with long-hidden nationalism, as has occurred in Chechnya, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Somalia. Indeed, most current conflicts are within and not between countries, but they compromise food security just the same. Drug consumption and the criminal and corruptive activities of drug trafficking emerge as another major problem for contemporary societies that hurts food security at individual and collective levels.
Some ideas that were put forth at the 1974 conference continue to be important, and issues such as population growth, health, urbanization and poverty still need to be adequately addressed. In addition, more emphasis is now being given to environmental problems, such as deforestation, water and air quality, climate change and overfishing, and their relation to food security.
The reality of global interdependence was called to the attention of policy-makers by the oil crises of 1973 and 1979 and the debt crises of the 1980s.The debt problem, not yet resolved despite numerous debt relief and reduction initiatives, has deleterious implications for food security. Debt-servicing obligations reduce the ability to import food, as well as other items that could increase domestic food production and consumption, and constrain resources for development and social welfare. The most recommended cure consisted of macroeconomic stabilization, enacting structural reforms (liberalization and privatization) and an increasing emphasis on international trade. A combination of policies, inter alia, reforming exchange rates, privatizing state-owned enterprises, reducing the public payroll and public spending generally, dampening inflation and cutting subsidies, was employed.
In the process of adjustment, the inward-oriented industrialization strategies of the 1960s and 1970s were replaced by more outward-looking ones. A market-oriented approach has replaced development strategies emphasizing direct government participation in commercial and economic affairs, and targeted subsidies have replaced generalized subsidies. Prices for agricultural products tend to rise with these structural changes, but this development benefits commercial producers and peasants who have clear access to land, not rural and urban wage-earners who are usually net buyers of farm products. Market liberalization and macroeconomic adjustment can create in the initial phase sectoral unemployment and poverty, unless effective social safety nets are put in place simultaneously.
At the same time, a new institutional structure for trade was being constructed. The Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations, dedicated to reducing protection according to a predefined schedule, was concluded and the World Trade Organization (WTO) was founded. Regional trading organizations have also been emerging. Financial markets have become almost completely integrated and globalized. These developments have resulted in the limiting of the ability of countries to manage their own monetary and fiscal policies. It is too early to assess fully the importance of this more liberal and integrated economic environment for food security but, given time, it is likely to be substantial.
External assistance flows have been declining in recent years, and agriculture was hit more than propotionally by the reduction. As a result, total commitments to agriculture in 1994 were 23 percent below those of 1990. External private capital flows into the developing countries increased dramatically from 1990 to 1993, then stabilized subsequent to the Mexican crisis. However, since they mainly accrue to a limited number of countries, these inputs cannot be expected to compensate for the reduced official aid to low-income countries. Futher, experience underlined the potential risk of excessive foreign liability in the face of volatile financial markets.
The accentuation of demographic and economic imbalances between countries caused by political events, most notably in the early 1990s, has strongly affected international labour mobility and migration patterns. Apart from refugees, over 80 million people are living outside their own country at present, and transboundary migrations have reached unprecedented levels for economic and political reasons, while rural-urban migration within borders is of great concern in many countries. Migrations have direct implications for food security in both originating and recipient areas and for migrants. The extensive resources devoted to controlling migrations and combating their consequences could be reduced if more efforts were aimed at enhancing the living conditions and employment opportunities for people where they are.
A socio-political and economic environment most conducive to eliminating food insecurity and undernutrition, or, in other words, to ensuring food for all, would include:
In the final analysis, food security in any country must be under the responsibility and the authority of the national government in conjunction with local authorities and working with concerned groups and individuals in the society. International coordination and liaison is necessary. The global community and international organizations can be helpful, but they cannot substitute the actions and political will to achieve food security within the country itself.
