15. The Council reviewed the global and regional food situation on the basis of the report Current World Food Situation, and generally agreed with the assessment made and the conclusions reached, in that report.
16. The Council noted the increase in world food production in 1990 in developed countries especially the record wheat crop, as well as the increase in cereal stock levels. These ample supplies gave rise to very low prices of wheat on international markets. The Council, nevertheless, noted with concern several unsatisfactory features of the current world food situation. These included, inter alia, a widening gap in per caput staple food production between developed and developing countries; failure of the Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean Regions to share in the overall increase in per caput production of staple food in .1989 and 1990; a decrease in the rate of food production of developing countries in 1990 below the average throughout the 1980s; and failure of food production growth in 1990 to match that of population in 67 out of 112 developing countries. It stressed that access to food by an increasing number of people in developing countries was being hampered by their lack of purchasing power, as well as by the existing poor infrastructures and inadequate food marketing and distribution systems. It also expressed concern that many low-income, food-deficit countries were becoming increasingly dependent on food imports, particularly on surpluses originating in industrialized countries. However, such surpluses could become less likely in view of the changes in their production support policies.
17. The Council noted the rather delicately-balanced global supply/demand situation for cereals. While world cereal stocks had increased significantly in 1990/91, to the top of the range that the FAO Secretariat considered the minimum necessary to safeguard world food security, a slight, temporary decline in world cereal production from the 1990 level impeding stocks from rising further was expected in 1991. Moreover, most of the increase in stocks had been in developed countries, further exacerbating the imbalance between the stocks held by developing and developed countries.
18. The Council expressed great concern with the continuously deteriorating food security situation in many developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa2. The Council expressed regret that this difficult situation was aggravated further by considerable foreign debt which restricted the possibilities of economic growth of African Countries. The current level of per caput staple food production in Africa was one-third below the average of developing countries. The Council regretted that 17, out of 46, sub-Saharan countries were facing exceptional food shortages, and that the situation was critical in Ethiopia, Sudan, Angola, Mozambique, Liberia and Somalia.
19. The Council also stressed the critical situation of millions of people affected by the cyclone and tidal waves in Bangladesh, and the serious food and other shortages suffered by some parts of the Near East region. The valuable assistance provided by FAO to these countries was recognized but it was recommended that FAO should redouble its efforts in relieving such situations and in promoting agricultural and rural development in the affected regions.
20. The Council also expressed anxiety about the huge and protracted economic, financial and food security problems confronting most developing countries, many of which faced crushing foreign debt problems. Moreover, the effects of recent cholera outbreaks were yet additional manifestations of the levels of destitution to which large segments of population in the LARC Region had fallen, further increasing their vulnerability to food and water contamination and epidemic disease. The assistance provided to Peru, coupled with national and sub-regional initiatives to enhance consumer protection and improve safety controls for marketed foods, was greatly appreciated by the countries of the Region, which hoped that FAO would continue, and even strengthen, its assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean.
21. The Council recognized that in many instances food aid pledges were not sufficient to meet the developmental and emergency requirements. Some donor countries informed the Council of their efforts to increase their food aid commitments. The Council urged FAO to continue to give priority to monitoring food shortages and emergencies through the Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) and to providing assistance by mobilizing food aid pledges and deliveries. The Council also stressed the positive role that triangular transactions and local purchases could play in meeting food aid requirements and in promoting intra-regional trade.
22. The Council noted the considerable increase in the value of food imports by many developing countries in 1988 and 1989, although the increase in imports was much smaller in volume than in value terms. It also noted the expanded cereal import requirements of many of these countries in 1990/91. The Council emphasized the major difficulties faced by many developing countries as a result of persistent economic problems due to servicing of their foreign debt, depressed prices for their export commodities and inadequate market access for their agricultural exports in restoring economic growth and in financing their food import requirements.
23. The Council stressed the crucial importance of a successful completion to the GATT Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations (MTN) in securing a freer and more equitable trading system, and commended FAO for its efforts in supporting the MTN in the areas relating to agricultural trade. It supported the message from the Seventeenth Ministerial Session of the UN World Food Council to the negotiators at the Uruguay Round which stressed that the lack of a successful conclusion to the Uruguay Round of negotiations was having a severe adverse impact on world trade, especially the trade situation of developing countries. It also stressed that the stalemate was having a serious effect on poverty and food security in these countries, and that, at the outset of the 1990s, it was imperative that they be given a fair opportunity to realize their full economic potential. Consequently, the Council expressed the hope that Multilateral Trade Negotiations be concluded as soon as possible.
24. The Council noted with appreciation the information provided on current world fish production and availability. It underlined the importance of the fishery sector in meeting the food and nutritional requirements of a majority of countries, particularly the small island states including those of the South Pacific. In view of the reported decline in total fish production in 1990, the Council drew attention to the urgent need to promote rational management and development of capture fisheries and aquaculture, and reiterated the leading role of FAO in this regard. It further called for regional and international collaboration to ensure sustainability in production and conservation of all marine living resources.
25. In view of the improved but still fragile world food security situation and the increasing need for assistance by many developing countries, the Council stressed the crucial importance of providing FAO with the necessary financial resources to strengthen its programmes and activities, which could be facilitated if all Member Nations paid their contributions in full and in a timely manner.
Report of the Sixteenth Session of the Committee on World Food Security
(Rome, 11-15 March 1991)3
26. The Council endorsed the report of the Sixteenth Session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in its entirety, which it noted had been thoroughly debated and adopted by the Committee.
27. The Council, while welcoming the improvement in the global food supply situation as reflected by the marginal increase in world stocks, reiterated the view expressed by the Committee that this indicator was not synonymous with food security. It noted that the distribution of stocks was unbalanced between countries and between different cereals and emphasized that food security could be threatened in a number of ways, having to do, inter alia, with an unfavourable external environment, declining real incomes in many developing countries, high inflation and decreasing employment opportunities.
28. The Council expressed its deep concern with the very large number of food-insecure people in many developing countries. This had been exacerbated by widespread natural calamities and was often coupled with civil strife and war. It urged all concerned parties to use every available means to ensure that appropriate and timely assistance reached the affected populations in order to avert further human suffering and loss of life.
29. The Council agreed with the Committee's conclusion that food security was becoming less a problem of global food supplies, overall stability and global stock levels as such, but more a problem of inadequate access to food supplies for vulnerable groups resulting from, inter alia, lack of purchasing power. It appreciated efforts made to improve the assessment of the demand side of the food security situation, and welcomed attempts to monitor a wider range of socio-economic indicators. The Council supported the Committee's recommendation concerning the need to improve the reporting on access to food and food entitlements for consideration by the Committee in future assessments of the world food security situation.
30. The Council stressed the importance of a successful and balanced outcome of the GATT Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations which would contribute to improving world food security. Some members for whom self-sufficiency was an essential objective stressed the importance of having a larger share of food needs satisfied through domestic production; including traditional or alternative food crops. These members alluded to the special nature of the agricultural sector,, and considered that non- trade concerns, including the sustainable use of natural resources, should be given due weight in establishing national priorities. Some other members cautioned against the view that food self-sufficiency was synonymous with food security, and urged that national comparative advantages be taken into account in agricultural and development policies and planning. The Council recognized that the process of structural adjustment currently underway in many countries could contribute to sustainable economic growth and elimination of poverty in the long run, but it called for specific measures to be targeted to the vulnerable groups in alleviating the immediate negative effects of the adjustment process.
31. The Council stressed the continued importance of food aid for food security, especially in view of the large increase in emergency requirements. It urged donors to increase the volume of food aid, and in particular their pledges to the International Emergency Food Reserve (IEFR), as well as to increase their support for triangular transactions and local purchases wherever feasible. In this connection, the Council welcomed the Committee's proposal for FAO to implement a study on the effects of triangular transactions and local purchases on market and price indicators in countries with exportable surpluses in sub-Saharan Africa.
32. The Council welcomed the Committee's consideration of prospects for food aid and its role in the 1990s, and was also informed about the review of the FAO study by the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes (CFA) at its Thirty-first Session in May 1991, together with other studies on the subject. It agreed that food aid constituted an important development resource, and recognized the need to increase the efficiency and poverty focus of food aid transfers and to avoid any disincentive effects on efforts designed to enhance domestic production. The Council valued the Committee's contribution to the continuing food aid debate, and looked forward to a full consideration of the recommendations contained in the FAO and other related studies by the CFA at its Thirty-second and Thirty-third Sessions, including the proposals for strengthening the IEFR.
33. The Council appreciated the review by the Committee of the Ecuador case study, which it considered to be a good example in making food security situations more transparent regarding their causes and possible remedies. It requested the Committee to continue its consideration of other country case studies at future sessions.
34. The Council reaffirmed its .support for the field work carried out by FAO to enhance food security in line with the broadened concept. It endorsed the recommendation by the Committee that, in order to ensure the best use of resources, FAO concentrate on core activities where it had a comparative advantage. In this connection, it also recognized that the choice of priorities among various possible actions depended on the needs of individual countries and their overall policies and programmes in achieving food security and sustainable agricultural development. The Council welcomed the work of the Food Security Assistance Scheme under its expanded mandate to assist interested countries in developing comprehensive food security programmes, together with the establishment of a Steering Committee and Central Task Force to ensure consistency of FAO field activities in the policy area.
35. Several members reiterated that, in order to provide more time for the preparation of analytical reports, the Commmittee should convene its meetings biennially. Some other members considered that the precariousness and volatility of the food security situation in many member countries, as well as the importance of its mandate, required that the CFS continue to hold annual sessions. The Council welcomed the Committee's decision to review this matter at its next Session on the basis of a paper presenting the pros and cons of the different options concerned.
1 CL 99/2; CL 99/PV/2; CL 9S/PV/3; CL 99/PV/4; CL 99/PV/19.
2 CL 99/PV/2; CL 99/PV/3; CL 99/PV/4.
3 CL 99/10; CL 99/PV/4; CL 99/PV/19.
