Speech by
His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe
Comrade
R.G. Mugabe,
On the occasion of the official opening ceremony of the Regional
Conference on Food Safety for Africa
Harare
International Conference Centre
3 October
2005
Honourable Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr
David Parirenyatwa,
Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Dr Joseph Made,
Honourable Ministers from Kenya, South Africa, Zambia,
Mozambique, Gabon, Democratic
Republic of the Congo and Angola,
Representatives of the Food and Agriculture and the
World Health Organization,
Your Excellencies Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Comrades and Friends,
Zimbabwe is indeed honoured to host this Regional Conference on Food Safety for Africa, which is jointly sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization, in partnership with the Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe. In this spirit of partnership, let me welcome you all to Zimbabwe and to this important conference.
This conference comes at a time when developing countries, particularly those in Africa, are facing enormous challenges in the areas of food safety and security while also contending with the emergence of food-borne diseases.
Relatively weak food safety systems, coupled with unpredictable droughts, have had a negative impact on regional food security, thereby resulting in a growing prevalence of food-borne diseases. These challenges are compounded by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, a rise in informal food vending practices which are often unregulated, the influx of new foods from new technologies and the dumping of other foods into developing countries, often under Food Aid Programmes. Indeed, the so-called food aid gestures have, to a large extent, crippled the commitment and seriousness that should attend agricultural development on the continent. We need a rethink on matters of agriculture, especially given the fact that much of our economic activity revolves around it.
Zimbabwe’s much-vilified Land Reform Programme is our response to the challenge of empowering more of our people and therefore creating a wider base of farmers in the country. At no time have we regarded the programme as one to dispossess those, who through colonialism were in possession merely for the sake of it. Rather, its objective was to redress the fact of colonial injustice, empower the majority of our people, and proceed to improve the agricultural sector performance by increasing the numbers of our farmers. In our fight for freedom and independence, one of the pillars of the struggle was the land grievance.
Having restored the land to the people, we have learnt a host of lessons, all pointing to the challenge of ensuring food security for the people. Chief among these is that of engaging more scientific methods to ensure greater productivity of all the resettled land. Further, the droughts that I made reference to earlier have raised the need for us to plan and embark on a systematic national irrigation development programme.
Our countries should also develop sufficient capacity to regulate informal food vending practices. This is particularly important as the need to monitor the quality of food from outside our borders is becoming more urgent.
In most of our countries of the region, livelihood mainly depends on agriculture and trade in agro-based products. Global trade in such products is at present at the disadvantage of our developing countries because the current World Trade Organization rules have created fertile ground for unscrupulous competition and bad practices in the selling and marketing of food products. In its 2004 Millennium Development Goals Progress Report, Zimbabwe underscored the imperative of working towards open, rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory trading and financial systems.
Under these circumstances, it is imperative that the region, in partnership with others, develops integrated strategies and practices to protect the health of our populations. For this reason, this conference comes at an appropriate time, giving our countries an opportunity to work towards safe food standards. Let me assure you that you will find Zimbabwe a willing partner in this regard. Zimbabwe’s commitment is evident, judged by its active participation and contribution to organs of the Food and Agriculture Organization and those of the World Health Organization such as the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the World Organization for Animal Health and the International Plant Protection Commission.
In Codex, Zimbabwe had the honour of being the coordinator for the Africa region for two terms during the years 1995 to 1999. In addition, Zimbabwe was elected to the Vice Chairmanship of Codex for the period 1999 to 2003, during which period the Commission underwent extensive reform and saw the establishment of the Codex Trust Fund to support the participation of developing countries in Codex activities. Currently, Zimbabwe is a member of the World Organization for Animal Health executive. I wish to thank you for the trust you have placed in us.
Let me also take this opportunity to acknowledge the support which Zimbabwe has received from the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.
In particular, I note with satisfaction the support rendered to the legal framework for the establishment of the Zimbabwe Food Safety Control Authority. This will further enhance the country’s capacity in monitoring food safety.
It is my hope that this conference will not only be a forum for the exchange and sharing of information and experiences, but will go further in enabling our countries to be equipped with workable, practical and realistic actions, for improving the safety of food consumed in our countries. The conference must propel us to engage seriously in actions and activities that make food safety and security a necessary part of national development programmes.
Let me once again thank the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization for sponsoring this conference. I also wish to thank our Ministry of Agriculture and that of Health and Child Welfare for organizing the same meeting.
May I wish all of you fruitful and productive deliberations and indeed an enjoyable stay in Zimbabwe. It now gives me pleasure to declare this Regional Conference on Food Safety for Africa officially open.
I thank you.
