LE PRESIDENT: Je voudrais porter à la connaissance des honorables membres du Conseil que la composition du Comité de rédaction a beaucoup progressé et que très vraisemblablement nous pourrons avoir la composition complète de ce Comité demain matin à 9 h 30. Je porterai donc, à l'ouverture de session, à votre connaissance la composition du Comité de rédaction qui pourra tenir sa première réunion dans un délai très proche.
LE PRESIDENT: Nous allons maintenant examiner le point de notre ordre du jour qui nous est soumis: la situation mondiale de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture pour 1992 (CL 102; CL 102/2 Sup.1; CL 102/2 Sup. 1-Corr. 1) il s'agit uniquement d'un graphique inséré après le paragraphe 41.
Le document qui est soumis à l'attention du Conseil couvre la situation mondiale de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture ainsi que la situation par région.
Je demanderai à M. H.W. Hjort de bien vouloir introduire le sujet.
DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL: Mr Chairman, distinguished Members and Observers, I have the pleasure to introduce the documents to which the Chairman has just referred on the State of Food and Agriculture. I shall follow the format of the main document, addressing first the overall economic environment and then the state of food and agriculture.
The long awaited surge in the global economy remains to be seen. There will be a small net increase in the production of goods and services for the world as a whole, following a year when the world stood still in economic terms. However, the increase will be smaller than expected earlier, and at around 1 percent too slow to create jobs for all those who need work. A consequence is abnormally slow growth in the demand for food and agricultural products.
For years the world economy has been led by the Asia and the Pacific region, this year it is being joined by the Near East and, to a lesser extent the
Latin American and the Caribbean economies. Drought and civil strife have dampened economic growth prospects in Africa, while the countries of Eastern Europe continue to seek the path to resumed growth in output. Output continues to decline in the former Yugoslavia and the CIS, while its growth in the industrialized countries will be slower than indicated in the document before you.
The world economy is forecast to grow at a significantly higher pace in 1993, but at around 3 percent not as rapidly as previously foreseen. Nevertheless, an acceleration in the world economy will stimulate demand for food and agricultural products.
The most recent data indicate that the world as a whole produced a slightly smaller quantity of agricultural products in 1991 than in 1990. World fish production declined by just over 3 percent in 1990, and in 1991 world crop production declined by about 1 percent while world roundwood production declined slightly. World livestock production increased but also by less than the growth in world population in 1991.
An increase in world production of agricultural products is essentially assured for 1992, but unless crop and livestock production turns out to be well above the preliminary estimate - an increase of around 1 percent - this will be another year when the rate of growth in production failed to match the rate of growth in population.
Mr Chairman, drought and/or civil strife have led to severe food supply/demand imbalances in large parts of southern and eastern Africa, in some areas of Europe and elsewhere. These situations, called to the attention of the community of interest early on by FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System, and documented through joint FAO/WFP world food need assessment missions, have led to an unprecedented number of appeals for emergency assistance.
The donors, the intergovernmental and non-governmental relief and rehabilitation organizations, and the affected countries themselves deserve to be complimented for the food and non-food items they have managed to provide and/or distribute. On the other hand, it is regrettable that too often the food has come too late to prevent death and that too few seeds and hand tools have been made available to producers who had hoped to produce more food in the next season. It also is distressing to note that the quantity that will be provided in response to the outstanding appeals will not be enough to prevent extreme hunger, and even further deaths from starvation. In this connection, I remind the Council of the Director-General's proposals of this morning for reinforcing the International Emergency Food Reserve.
The Director-General has mentioned the situation in Somalia, where widespread deaths from starvation continue despite the intensification of relief efforts and the steps taken towards enhanced security. In Mozambique famine is reported in four out of ten provinces. Food shortages also persist in parts of the Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Liberia, Sierra Leone, several southern African countries, as well as in Iraq, Afghanistan, the former Yugoslavia, parts of the Commonwealth of Independent States and Haiti.
Mr Chairman, I wish to call to the Council's attention the limited donor support for seeds, hand tools and other inputs, which are essential to enhanced agricultural production in the affected countries. Our experience
with the appeal and implementation process leads to the conclusion that FAO must stand ready to help the affected countries document their agricultural rehabilitation needs more carefully and comprehensively, and help obtain the funds for the purchase and distribution of the inputs.
We report in the supplement that the growth in trade of agricultural products in 1991 was down sharply from the prior year, and well below the long-term trend. The change was especially large with respect to fishery products, but the pattern was the same - much slower growth - for crop, livestock and forestry products. It is too early to make a firm forecast for 1992, but the low level of export prices for agricultural commodities, large export subsidies on some commodities, slow growth in the world economy and the threat of a trade war cast doubt upon the views of the optimists.
Agricultural commodity prices in international markets declined sharply relative to prices for manufactures and crude petroleum during the 1980s. The magnitude of the decline is illustrated by asking what export earnings to developing countries would have been if the relationships between export prices that obtained during 1979-81 had been maintained in 1989-91. The answer is they would have been about 30 percent (US$254 billion) higher.
There are many reasons for the relative decline in the prices of agricultural commodities in international markets, among them the abnormally high export prices for some commodities a decade ago, the strong incentives to produce in some of the richer countries and the large export subsidies they pay on some commodities, the necessity for highly indebted countries to earn more from exports than they expend for imports in order to service debt, the depressed demand for food and agricultural products due to structural adjustment measures, the removal or lowering of the social security safety net in many countries and, more generally, slow world economic growth.
There are indications that the world economy will soon begin to grow faster, the transition to greater reliance on markets and private agents continues, and some countries are overcoming their structural problems. But many countries continue to face severe debt service burdens, and the prospects for an early removal of export subsidies or an early return of strong safety nets under the poor are not good.
I look forward to the comments of the Council on the matters covered in the documents before you. I also would appreciate having the suggestions of the Council on how to reduce the length of these documents in the future.
Guillermo JIMENEZ MORALES (México): Sr. Antoine Saintraint, Presidente Independiente del Consejo, Dr. Edouard Saouma, Director General de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación, señores Ministros y representantes de paises miembros; señores observadores e invitados especiales; señoras y señores: Es para mi un honor transmitir a ustedes un cordial saludo del Presidente de México, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, quien me ha encomendado manifestarles la disposición del Gobierno de mi pais, para contribuir al logro de los objetivos de esta reunión.
El 102º periodo de sesiones del Consejo de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación, importante foro para el diálogo y el fomento a la colaboración multilateral, es marco propicio para analizar lostemasfundamentales de la amplia agenda sobre la agricultura y la
alimentación, particularmente ante la dinámica de dos grandes eventos: la cumbre de Rio sobre medio ambiente y desarrollo y la Conferencia Mundial sobre la Nutrición que se celebrará aqui mismo el próximo mes. Permitirá, asimismo, evaluar los resultados de un año de actividades y esfuerzos solidarios de nuestra Organización y de sus paises miembros, todo lo cual dará las pautas y criterios para la conformación del programa bianual y el de mediano plazo para que nuestra Organización pueda cumplir con los objetivos, políticas y programas en favor de la seguridad alimentaria, alivio a la pobreza extrema y contribuir al desarrollo y transferencia tecnológica objetivos que atañen a todos, porque en ellos se afincan las bases para el desarrollo humano con paz, libertad y justicia.
Esta sesión del Consejo es una gran oportunidad para establecer compromisos conjuntos sobre el papel que debe desempeñar la pesca ante los reclamos de alimentación, empleo e ingresos de una población mundial en constante aumento, principalmente en las naciones de menor desarrollo económico y por lo tanto acordarle un mayor presupuesto.
Alcanzar metas de mayor productividad para atender la demanda alimentaria de la población mundial, requiere de la cooperación y solidaridad internacional. En este sentido, la presencia y actuación de la FAO contribuye decisivamente al logro de estos objetivos estratégicos.
Este año se cumple una década que la comunidad internacional suscribió la Convención de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Derecho del Mar. Este nuevo marco normativo internacional de los mares, que posibilitó el establecimiento generalizado del régimen de la zona económica exclusiva, ha significado para los países ribereños el derecho de ejercer soberanía sobre los recursos pesqueros localizados en esa franja oceánica.
Con la ampliación de las zonas jurisdiccionales de las naciones costeras, se ha propiciado el aumento de su producción pesquera y con ello, contribuido a satisfacer las necesidades de alimentación, con productos provenientes del mar.
A partir de entonces, hemos percibido transformaciones importantes en el desenvolvimiento de la actividad pesquera mundial; se han integrado nuevos países y regiones a la explotación y aprovechamiento de recursos, desarrollado nuevos métodos y equipos de pesca, fortalecido nuevas pesquerías y, sobre todo, se ha hecho posible destinar volúmenes crecientes hacia la satisfacción de las necesidades alimentarias.
La celebración de la Conferencia Mundial sobre Ordenación y Desarrollo Pesquero en 1984, convocada por la FAO, ha abierto la posibilidad a través de la estrategia y los programas de acción emanados de la misma, de ofrecer a los países interesados en promover el fortalecimiento de la actividad pesquera, instrumentos para alcanzar un mejor aprovechamiento y explotación de sus recursos.
Aun con todos estos cambios y propósitos, podemos aseverar que la pesca no ha logrado proporcionar los beneficios esperados del nuevo orden. La producción pesquera mundial se aproxima a los 100 millones de toneladas, estimados como límite disponible de los recursos pesqueros tradicionales y, aunque cerca de 70 millones son destinados al consumo humano directo, persisten sistemas y prácticas que han mantenido a gran parte de países productores, como abastecedores de productos con poco valor agregado.
De la misma manera, la acuicultura que es la alternativa promisoria para multiplicar la producción pesquera y con ello los beneficios en alimentos, empleos, ampliación del comercio pesquero y el bienestar social, no ha alcanzado el nivel de impulso para consolidar su desarrollo en la mayoría de los países del orbe.
El mundo experimenta importantes transformaciones que se expresan en la distensión y en la globalización de las relaciones y los procesos económicos internacionales. Sin embargo, esta nueva etapa no ha rendido aún los beneficios deseables, de un progreso equilibrado.
A pesar de la apertura y desregulación de las actividades productivas para propiciar un mejor intercambio comercial, persisten aún en el mundo tendencias proteccionistas que obstaculizan su logro.
En la pesca, estos obstáculos constituyen limitaciones para lograr el pleno aprovechamiento de los recursos a que dio acceso regulado el nuevo derecho del mar.
Por otra parte, subsisten presiones sobre el potencial pesquero en recursos de alto valor comercial, particularmente en los que se destinan a la exportación.
Esta situación, agravada por el difícil acceso a la tecnología, a procesos productivos innovadores y a recursos financieros suficientes, así como por problemas de políticas comerciales restrictivas, que a menudo pretenden vincular la posibilidad de la comercialización al acceso directo a los recursos pesqueros, disminuye los alcances que se pueden derivar del nuevo derecho del mar.
Sumado a ello, en los últimos años la actividad pesquera enfrenta nuevos retos, ya que en ocasiones se adoptan actitudes proteccionistas sin sustento en evidencia científica, que buscan imponer esquemas de ordenación no siempre apropiados y llegan, incluso, a constituirse en barreras injustificadas para el comercio, al amparo de una supuesta preocupación por los aspectos relacionados con el medio ambiente.
En el desarrollo pesquero debemos reconocer el principio de que la explotación sostenida de los recursos pesqueros debe estar en armonía con la protección y conservación de las especies marinas y su medio ambiente.
La pesca reclama acciones que la fomenten bajo la premisa de aplicar el esfuerzo pesquero con responsabilidad, para contribuir a satisfacer la demanda de alimentos y al logro de metas para el desarrollo económico en general.
Por ello, en el 19 a período de sesiones del Comité de Pesca de la FAO, celebrado en abril de 1991, al abordarse el tema del medio ambiente y la sostenibilidad de la pesca, nuestro país identificándose plenamente con la problemática y con el papel que nuestra Organización podía desempeñar en ella, suscribió la iniciativa encaminada a la realización de una conferencia internacional y a la elaboración de un código de conducta sobre la pesca responsable.
En ese ámbito y ante la favorable coyuntura internacional, que ofrecía la cumbre de Río, el Gobierno de México decidió convocar en mi país en mayo pasado y con el invaluable apoyo de la FAO - a quien expresamos nuestro mayor
reconocimiento -, la celebración de la Conferencia Internacional de Pesca Responsable.
Por conjuntar intereses y expectativas en torno al tema, la conferencia tuvo una gran aceptación por parte de la comunidad internacional, ya que en ella se contó con representantes de 66 países pesqueros destacando la presencia de 28 ministros y autoridades superiores de pesca, así como de numerosas organizaciones gubernamentales y no gubernamentales que después de un amplio debate decidieron y a través de su trabajo aprobaron, la Declaración de Cancún.
En ella se contienen una serie de importantes acuerdos entre los que destacan: solicitar al Director General de la FAO la elaboración de un código de conducta sobre pesca responsable; al Secretario General de las Naciones Unidas recomendar que la próxima década sea declarada como "El decenio para la pesca responsable"; y, a los Estados, apoyar la celebración de una reunión internacional sobre la pesca en alta mar.
La declaración recomienda a los países, acciones encaminadas a:
Adoptar medidas efectivas de ordenanción y planificación, promotoras del mantenimiento de la calidad, cantidad, diversidad y disponibilidad de los recursos pesqueros, con miras a asegurar el abastecimiento para alimentar a las poblaciones actuales y futuras.
Mejorar el conocimiento y aprovechamiento biológico y económico de las poblaciones de los recursos pesqueros.
Revisar, desarrollar y diseñar los equipos y métodos de pesca, que eviten el impacto sobre las poblaciones y medio ambiente marino y reduzcan la captura de especies no deseadas.
Colaborar para asegurar la pesca responsable en todos los ámbitos.
Impedir las prácticas de cambio de pabellón como un medio para evadir el cumplimiento de las medidas de ordenación en alta mar.
Evitar que la conservación ambiental sea un pretexto para restringir el comercio internacional.
Lograr que la aplicación de medidas de protección ecológica se sustenten en acuerdos multilaterales.
Establecer esquemas para facilitar y promover la cooperación internacional, la transferencia de tecnología y el intercambio de información.
Incluir en la cooperación internacional el apoyo financiero requerido por los países en desarrollo.
Los compromisos asumidos en la Conferencia Internacional de Pesca Responsable, hacen evidente la importancia de la colaboración internacional con el propósito de obtener resultados permanentes y generales en lo que toca a la ecología, la biodiversidad, y poner al alcance de todas las naciones las tecnologías adecuadas para el desarrollo sostenible de la pesca. Los trabajos que se realizan en torno a la conservación y protección de los recursos
pesqueros del mar y su medio ambiente, deben ser respaldados con esfuerzos nacionales, así como por acciones concertadas multilateralmente.
Con este propósito el Gobierno de México introdujo recientemente cambios importantes en su legislación pesquera a fin de adecuar la normatividad a las demandas que imponen las nuevas circunstancias. Propició los cambios para que la administración de las pesquerías logre una mayor racionalidad en la explotación de los recursos, fomentando la actividad productiva en un marco de pesca responsable.
En la pasada Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre Desarrollo y Medio Ambiente, celebrada en Río de Janeiro, Brasil, la comunidad internacional dio uno de los avances más significativos en el análisis y formulación de iniciativas orientadas al logro del desarrollo económico, en concordancia con demandas de un mayor y urgente cuidado de nuestro entorno ecológico. Se convino en establecer programas para el aprovechamiento de los recursos marinos bajo jurisdicción nacional y el desarrollo de acciones que fortalezcan la colaboración y coordinación internacional y regional.
En este contexto, a nombre del Gobierno de México como anfitrión de la Conferencia de Cancún y con la honrosa representación que los países participantes me otorgaron como Presidente de la misma, acudo ante este honorable Consejo a fin de que como órgano de gobierno de nuestra Organización, traduzca el mandato, al Sr. Director General, la voluntad de los países firmantes de la Declaración a fin de elaborar e iniciar las concertaciones para la aprobación e instrumentación del Código de Conducta sobre Pesca Responsable.
Nos complace conocer que la Consulta técnica sobre pesca de alta mar celebrada en septiembre en el seno de la FAO le ha merecido un amplio consenso, señalando ya un gran número de elementos que a juicio de los gobiernos miembros debe contener el Código, lo cual, Sr. Presidente, seguramente facilitará la decisión que atentamente estamos solicitando.
Señores delegados, en este foro, órgano de gobierno de nuestra Organización cuyo mandato constitucional es el de apoyar el desarrollo de la alimentación y de la agricultura en sentido amplio para asegurar la nutrición y el bienestar de los pueblos, México aboga para que, en un marco multilateral de mutuo entendimiento y común responsabilidad, se propongan acciones encaminadas a la conservación y protección de las especies marinas, con pleno respeto a la soberanía de las naciones y con sustento en evidencias científicas mundialmente aceptadas,
La permanencia de los recursos del mar no admite ya la pretensión de explotaciones mayores a los límites que la propia naturaleza impone. Conforme el ser humano evoluciona en el conocimiento, adquiere más conciencia de que los recursos bajo protección de jurisdicciones nacionales reclaman una responsabilidad comprometida con su aprovechamiento racional y el cuidado de su conservación y del entorno ecológico.
La motivación para alcanzar con urgencia los objetivos prioritarios antes señalados, se encuentra en la agudización del hambre en múltiples regiones, situación que difícilmente podrá ser resuelta desde el círculo vicioso de la desnutrición y el subdesarrollo. Por ello, necesitamos defender y cuidar nuestrosrecursospesquerospara asegurarsu existencia comofuentede
alimentación; apelar a la conciencia mundial para que atienda al ser humano cuando padece hambre y agresión.
La alternativa para atacar con eficacia estos fenómenos que afectan nuestra propia supervivencia, está aquí, en la voluntad colectiva que representa nuestra Organización, en su capacidad para convocar la solidaridad internacional, promover el diálogo y negociar compromisos más allá de fronteras e intereses. Empeño en que reconocemos la gran labor que su Director General, el Dr. Saouma, ha dedicado.
Nuestro Gobierno apoya la propuesta hecha esta mañana por el Director General de la FAO de reforzar la reserva internacional de alimentos para apoyar a los países en caso de hambruna. Somos todos una sola especie y habitamos un espacio común. Hagamos de esta interacción un ejercicio cabal de responsabilidad.
EL PRESIDENTE: Muchas gracias Sr. Secretario de Estado de Pesca de México por su intervención tan importante e interesante. Como ustedes saben la reunión de Cancún fue una reunión de gran éxito y el miércoles por la mañana discutiremos más allá de la pesca responsable y de la pesca en alta mar en el punto 6.
M.S. GILL (India): Mr Chairman, I am sure that under your leadership we shall be able to deliberate effectively on various development issues and find reasonable solutions.
I am grateful to the Council for electing me a Vice-Chairman today. I assure you, Mr Chairman, of my full support in your endeavours to conduct this session effectively. I congratulate the other two Vice-Chairmen on their election today. I wish to place on record my appreciation for the quality of the document produced by the Secretariat for discussion under Item 4. The document gives a comprehensive global review of the economic environment, food and agriculture supply situation, agricultural trade, food aid and issues pertaining to sustainable agricultural development in the different regions of the world.
It is a matter of great concern that the global economic environment continues to exert an inhibiting influence on food and agriculture. Agricultural production in 1991 declined at the global level for the first time since 1983. Similarly, agricultural production declined in the developing countries from the 1980s' level. Though there are indications of an improvement in the overall economic situation from 1993 onwards - and, as the Deputy Director-General said, we are still looking and hoping for it - the benefits to agricultural growth and trade are likely to be unevenly distributed.
The global food security situation is delicate and under serious stress. Widespread food shortages are affecting vast expanses of eastern and southern Africa, some of which are experiencing critical natural and man-made food emergencies and famine conditions. Reference has repeatedly been made in this Council meeting today, from the Director-General onwards, to horrendous situations in many countries. There are presently several important issues of concern to both the developing as well as the developed world. In most developing countries the net outflow of resources, including those for servicing external debts, imposes a severe constraint on agricultural growth
and access to food for large populations. Efforts to provide relief through compensatory mechanisms have so far offered only partial solutions. The low-income food-deficit countries recorded poor agricultural performance, essentially due to their inability to maintain adequate levels of investment. In these countries gross capital formation declined in 1989-1991 to 28 percent below the average for developing countries. While in the long run we face the task of promoting structural changes to reduce external dependence, the transition is likely to cause food shortages unless food aid and other forms of external assistance are provided to those low-income food-deficit countries in larger measure.
The total commitment of external assistance to agriculture was estimated at US$14.6 billion in 1990, a decrease by 8.6 percent from that of 1988. As for food aid, developing countries have received about 11.3 million tonnes of cereal food aid in 1991-92, which is well below the level of 13.5 million tonnes reached during the year 1987-88. Food aid for development projects, particularly through the multilateral channels, has also been curtailed on account of its diversion for meeting other emergencies.
The World Food Conference held in 1974 had adopted an annual target of food aid of 10 million tonnes of cereals. However, with the growing population of developing countries, which has increased by 1.1 billion, and due to the developments in the USSR and Eastern Europe, the allocation of food aid to the traditional food aid recipient nations has been threatened. The food aid gap is also widening on account of increasing numbers of emergencies. FAO has assessed the requirement of food aid by the year 2000 at approximately 17 million tonnes. Globally, there is enough food for all. A wide gap, however, exists in the per capita energy dietary supply between the developed and developing regions. I am certain that the International Conference on Nutrition scheduled to be held in Rome early next month will provide specific policy guidelines and action plan to meet the global food and nutritional needs in the coming decades.
For the agricultural export-dependent countries, markets for agricultural products and market stability will be crucial issues in the coming years. It is important that the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations is concluded equitably at the earliest. Recognizing the claims of the developing countries with regard to special and preferential treatment in the phasing out of subsidies and the importance of providing increased market access to them, is crucial to ensuring the benefits of trade to the developing world. Against this background, FAO has a special role to play by providing policy advice to developing countries. It is also of common concern to the international community to ensure that the developing countries are adequately assisted by technical and financial support to enable them to improve their agricultural productivity and enhance their capacity to produce more to meet the demand of their increasing populations.
We appreciate FAO's active role in the International Conference on Nutrition, on environment and development and its significant contribution in the preparation of Agenda 21. The response to the challenge of increasing food production to meet the needs of the present generation, while at the same time safeguarding resources for future generations, will no doubt be the dominant criteria for future agricultural growth. However, sustainable agricultural development must necessarily be based on an appreciation of the physical potential of the environment, the availability of resources in specific areas and the requirements of populations living in these regions.
To enable the developing countries to adopt sustainable approaches to agricultural growth, it is necessary to ensure adequate transfer of technology and resources from the developed countries to the less developed ones.
In this context also, FAO will have to function as a bridge between the two groups of countries in providing the required technical assistance, and in ensuring the commitment of financial resources by the industrially-developed countries. The global challenge lies in recognizing the fact that alleviating poverty is and remains, a moral imperative and a prerequisite for environmental sustainability.
During the morning session, we have heard a passionate and inspired appeal by the Director-General focusing his concerns on the problems of hunger, food and development. On a personal note, as one who has worked for long years in the Indian Punjab, which has spear-headed the Green Revolution, and has contributed considerably to achieving food security for the country, and as one who, at another time, spent many years working on the same kind of concerns in Africa, I would like to endorse the need for a greater focus of effort and investment in agriculture and food- and nutrition-related areas of development. I can think of no better agency than FAO to lead and expand this endeavour in this decade. Therefore, we should lend all our energies to forging FAO into an ever more effective instrument for achieving these worthwhile noble goals.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much for your very substantial intervention. I also think that the function of FAO is, and will be in the future, a very important one.
Sergio A. BARRERA (Philippines): The Philippine delegation wishes to convey to you, Mr Chairman, our sincere congratulations. We are confident that under your able leadership and wise guidance, the 102nd Session of the FAO Council will achieve its noble objectives.
We should also like to commend the officers and staff of FAO for the excellent documents and facilities made available to the delegations.
I wish to refer to Item 4, The State of Food and Agriculture 1992. The present depressed state of commodity markets and the significant decline in the international trade prices of agricultural products have dealt yet another blow to the already battered economies of many developing countries.
As we are all aware, economic growth in many developing countries is crucially linked to growth in exports. The scarcity of external financing renders it necessary to generate surpluses from trade, particularly agricultural trade, since many developing countries are still predominantly agricultural. Document CL 102/2 notes that the enormous debt burden of developing countries remains unchanged and that the net transfers for developing countries remain negative: a negative US$3 116 billion in 1992, more than double that of 1990.
The document also points out that the level of trade of both agricultural and non-agricultural products hinges largely on the levels of economic activity in the industrial countries.
We indeed agree, Mr Chairman, that the global economic slowdown is a major factor in the decline of agricultural trade, but we also know it is not the only cause. The situation has been caused by the interaction of the global economic recession associated with restrictive international agricultural policies.
World prices of farm products may have fallen even in the absence of restrictive agricultural policies because of world economic recession. But the crisis of agricultural trade has certainly been aggravated by the restrictive and protective international agricultural policies of many countries, many of which are the industrialized countries.
In spite of the stagnation of domestic and world demand, incentives to agricultural production have continued to be given by certain industrialized countries by way of internal prices significantly above world market prices. The result has been structural surpluses that have to be stockpiled or sold to the world market with the help of export subsidies. In addition, border measures by way of high tariffs, variable levies, quantitative restrictions and phyto-sanitary restrictions for many agricultural products continue to limit access in the major markets.
The combined effect of the border measures, internal support and export subsidies has been to depress the world commodity markets. With the agricultural sectors of the major economies isolated from the fluctuations of the world markets, the burden of adjusting to the fluctuations of import demand has been forced on those traditional exporters and developing countries whose farmers are highly dependent on and are exposed to the full force of world markets.
The sad history of the loss of the world market for sugar for the Philippines and for many other countries is a classic example of the situation created by pernicious agricultural policies.
We agree with the conclusion in paragraph 42 that for developing countries the challenge is two-fold: first, to make the policy and structural adjustments necessary to participate in the distorted global markets of today; and secondly to press for fairer global markets for our products in the future. The Philippines has taken measures to liberalize trade, protect the environment, and deregulate the agricultural sector by lifting price controls and abolishing government monopolies.
We have to diversify our export base, improve our productivity, and expand trade of processed agricultural products. At the same time, we wish to stress that the international community cannot relent in its efforts towards a more just agricultural trading system. Initiatives by the international community and of individual states in this field have not been lacking.
Notable among these initiatives is the UNCTAD Programme for Commodities. Negotiations for Internal Commodity Agreements for ten core commodities and for eight other commodities have been initiated. Negotiations also started for the setting up of a common fund of US$6 billion to finance the agricultural commodity bodies, but the result was a small portion of envisaged funds which could finance only mini projects.
The ICAS are also all in serious difficulties, and they seem to be unable to influence the price ranges through the buffer stocking arrangements because, inter alia, of insufficient funding.
The Uruguay Round on which high hopes had been placed to liberalize trade now seems about to conclude without significant results for agriculture, The alarming news is that of a potential trade war between the major GATT contracting partners, with all its incalculable consequences.
If the Uruguay Round fails, particularly in negotiations in the agricultural sector, then the movement towards the formation of trade blocs will accelerate: NAFTA, MERCO SUR, CER and AFTA. But the trading blocs favour free trade for members of the trading blocs but not necessarily for those outside the bloc.
If the developing countries are unable to export commodities, they will be exporting their populations and working force to the developed world. The phenomenon of mass migration from Third World countries to industrialized countries has already begun, and it will probably continue to increase.
The FAO Council is in the best position to point out to the international community the dire consequences of the existing unjust trading system on the developing countries, particularly on their food security. The FAO Council should likewise point out the need to address this problem courageously and decisively.
I wish to re-echo the theme voiced by His Excellency Edouard Saouma, the FAO Director-General, which is: "... the will to improve the human condition, and the refusal to accept that hunger, poverty, underdevelopment, economic injustice, depleted natural resources and environmental degradation constitute our allotted fate".
We cannot leave as a legacy - indeed, we cannot leave to generations yet unborn - hunger, poverty, underdevelopment, economic injustice, depleted natural resources and environmental degradation.
CHAIRMAN: I thank the Representative of the Philippines for his very interesting intervention. I think that you are right in your very interesting and very important comments.
Juan NUIRY SANCHEZ (Cuba): Sobre este importante tema del programa, Sr. Presidente, a la delegación de Cuba no le es posible hablar de la situación mundial de la agricultura, la alimentación y el comercio, sin hacer principal referencia a nuestro país, país pequeño que bañan las aguas del mar Caribe enclavado en el mismo corazón de América Latina, del llamado Tercer Mundo, de tan sólo 10 millones de habitantes.
Pues, Sr. Presidente, no se puede hablar de alimentación y su seguridad en el mundo, cuando Cuba, uno de los países participantes en este 102º período de sesiones, miembro del Consejo de la FAO, está amenazada a ser estrangulada por hambre y amenazada por una superpotencia al bloquear tanto sus alimentos como sus más indispensables medios de vida, tan sólo por mantener una conducta.
Nuestro pequeño país no agrede ni es amenaza para nadie, a no ser por su ejemplo, pensamiento y conducta, que se podrá o no se podrá estar de acuerdo, pero que nadie puede discutir que defiende principios en un mundo crítico de evidentes claudicaciones y oportunismos.
En estos momentos no nos ocupa hablar sólo de un bloqueo de más de 30 años que Cuba ha tenido que soportar, bloqueo que le ha ocasionado cuantiosos daños y perjuicios alimentarios, así como económicos y sociales, sino el recrudecimiento de ese bloqueo.
Permítanme Sr. Presidente, colegas del Consejo, ilustrarlos sobre esta inexplicable situación.
El 23 de octubre de 1992, en la ciudad de Miami, Florida, el Presidente de Estados Unidos de América, firmó la llamada ley para la democracia en Cuba de 1992, incluida como título XVII en la ley de autorización de gastos para la defensa. Con este paso, el poder ejecutivo norteamericano consumó un hecho sin precedente en la historia de las relaciones internacionales, refrendando y convirtiendo en ley un proyecto aprobado por el Congreso de ese país que no puede ser calificado de otra forma que como aberración jurídica, sin fundamento alguno en el derecho o en las costumbres políticas de naciones civilizadas.
Al adoptar una ley de franca esencia injerencista, en vísperas del tercer milenio, cuando se proclama el fin de la guerra fría, el Gobierno de Estados Unidos de hecho pretende ignorar las formas que rigen el derecho internacional americano desde la década de los años 30 del presente siglo, en que se aceptó como uno de sus principios esenciales el de no intervenir en los asuntos internos de los Estados.
La también llamada Ley o Enmienda Torricelli, no sólo se propone violar la soberanía de Cuba, sino pretende extender a otros países la política y las leyes norteamericanas. En su Sección 1703, párrafo 3, se afirma, en tono amenazante, que es parte de la política norteamericana hacia Cuba, aclarar a otros países que, al determinar sus relaciones con ellos, Estados Unidos tomará en cuenta su disposición a cooperar con tal política. Pero la ley no se limita a esto. En sus secciones 1704 y 1706 se autoriza al Presidente a aplicar sanciones contra aquellas naciones que soberanamente decidan otorgar cualquier tipo de asistencia a Cuba, al tiempo que se prohibe toda transacción comercial de subsidiarias de empresas norteamericanas en terceros países y la entrada a puertos norteamericanos durante 180 días de toda nave de cualquier bandera que haya recalado en puerto cubano.
Estas y otras medidas propuestas en la Ley, constituyen un claro ejemplo de extensión extraterritorial de las leyes norteamericanas y violan no sólo la Carta de la ONU, sino otros documentos jurídicos internacionales, firmados y ratificados por Estados Unidos, como la Carta de la Organización de Estados Americanos, que en su artículo 16 proscribe el uso de la coerción económica salvo en casos de legítima defensa, o el acuerdo general de aranceles aduaneros y comercio (GATT), que en sus artículos 10 y 13 prohibe la adopción de restricciones o medidas discriminatorias que obstaculicen el comercio internacional.
Al tomar medidas extraterritoriales de esta envergadura, que han sido universalmente repudiadas y que inevitablemente le han creado dificultades en susrelacionescontercerospaíses,el Gobierno de Estados Unidos ha
demostrado una vez más su total desprecio por la opinión pública internacional, poniendo su política de hostilidad y agresión contra Cuba por encima del supuesto de interés de mantener relaciones respetuosas con sus principales aliados y amigos.
Las propias autoridades de Estados Unidos han reconocido que este recrudecimiento del bloqueo contra Cuba se hace a partir de las dificultades que la nación cubana enfrenta a causa de la profunda y súbita transformación que han sufrido sus relaciones económicas internacionales debido a la desaparición de la Unión Soviética y a la disolución de la Comunidad de Estados Socialistas. Raras veces en la historia de la humanidad una superpotencia ha actuado con tanto desprecio por las normas de conducta civilizadas, pretendiendo aprovechar, de forma tan grosera y oportunista, los sufrimientos que, por razones ajenas a su voluntad, han caído sobre un pueblo vecino. Tal proceder recuerda los crímenes de la humanidad cometidos durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Cuba no se niega a negociar sus diferencias bilaterales y a normalizar sus relaciones con Estados Unidos, pero lo hará, y repito, única y exclusivamente sobre la base de la igualdad soberana y la no intervención en sus asuntos internos, sin condición previa alguna que lesione su soberanía y su dignidad. Si de imponer condiciones se trata, un elemental sentido de justicia exige el cese de todas las acciones agresivas y hostiles que las autoridades norteamericanas llevan a cabo contra Cuba, de las cuales esta ley es un ejemplo más. La Enmienda Torricelli demuestra que es el Gobierno de Estados Unidos el que se niega a resolver este conflicto por una vía negociada, como corresponde entre estados independientes.
La reacción de distintos gobiernos y de la opinión pública internacional en su conjunto, al repudiar esta ley, constituyen una muestra indudable de que Estados Unidos no está respaldada en su política de bloqueo contra Cuba y un indudable estímulo para la nación cubana en estos tiempos de prueba.
La delegación cubana ante este 102º período de sesiones del Consejo de la FAO, espera que este Consejo y la comunidad internacional comprendan los peligros que encierra tolerar el comportamiento del Gobierno norteamericano en su política de bloqueo contra Cuba e insta a los gobiernos a que den los pasos que estimen convenientes con el objetivo de poner fin a esta ley y a otras medidas del bloqueo contra Cuba, que no tienen precedente ni justificación alguna en el derecho internacional.
LE PRESIDENT: Je voudrais faire remarquer que nous discutons ici de la situation de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture et qu'il serait souhaitable que nous nous bornions à discuter des deux documents qui nous sont soumis sans nous écarter de ce point de l'ordre du jour.
POINT OF ORDER
POINT D'ORDRE
PUNTO DE ORDEN
Juan NUIRY SANCHEZ (Cuba): Cuestión de orden. La delegación cubana plantea que se siga tal como habían pedido la palabra las delegaciones.
LE PRESIDENT: Si au cours d'un débat il est fait allusion a une autre délégation, le Règlement prévoit qu'au cours de la même séance, éventuellement jusqu'à la fin de la séance, il soit possible à l'Etat ou à la personne visée de répondre à ce qui a été dit par l'un ou l'autre des intervenants, conformément au Règlement.
RIGHT OF REPLY
DROIT DE REPONSE
DERECHO DE REPLICA
John MIRANDA (United States of America) : I will not take a lot of time regarding this issue. I want to concur with the remarks of the Chairman. All
I will say is that the Council should not have to listen to these unfortunate polemics that have been issued against the United States; I will state quite categorically that the statement is totally inappropriate in this form. Thank you very much Mr Chairman.
LE PRESIDENT: Je remercie le délégué des Etats-Unis de son intervention.
Je voudrais rappeler que nous discutons du document CL 102/2 qui traite de la situation de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture.
Daniel Yoman KONAN (Côte d'Ivoire): C'est avec plaisir que nous retrouvons aujourd'hui les membres du Conseil et particulièrement vous-même, notre Président auquel la délégation de la Côte d'Ivoire adresse ses vifs remerciements pour le travail inlassable qu'il a accompli à la tête de notre organe depuis son entrée en fonction. Nos remerciements et nos félicitations vont également à M. H.W. Hjort pour sa présentation très concise du document pertinent. Nos félicitations s'adressent également au Directeur général ainsi qu'à tout le Secrétariat qui, en dépit d'un environnement financier toujours difficile et précaire a su, contre vents et marées, maintenir le cap du navire FAO.
L'intervention toujours aussi perspicace et pleine de décision, de courage et de lucidité que nous avons entendue ce matin de la part du Directeur général, a profondément marqué notre délégation. Elle nous rassure à double titre: d'abord sur un plan strictement financier, malgré la situation tendue des comptes de la FAO, nous enregistrons une évolution positive du paiement des arriérés de contribution, notamment la nouvelle du règlement de sa contribution en cours par le principal bailleur de fonds de l'Organisation, les Etats-Unis d'Amérique, sans lesquels il convient de rappeler qu'il sera toujours très difficile à notre Organisation de réaliser son programme de travail car, comme on le sait, le quart du budget ordinaire de la FAO vient de ce pays.
La deuxième assurance vient de l'élan sans cesse maintenu du personnel de cette Organisation. Malgré les difficultés que connaît ce personnel, notamment ceux des services généraux, et malgré les désagréments provisoires posés par l'agrandissement des locaux, le personnel de la FAO continue de répondre avec compétence et dévouement à toutes les sollicitations dont il est l'objet.
Il me semble tout à fait indiqué, au moment où notre Conseil se retrouve de lui porter publiquement un hommage mérité.
Je voudrais maintenant en tant que délégué à cette réunion, mais surtout en tant qu'Africain, aborder le point inscrit à notre ordre du jour à savoir "la situation de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture en 1992", mais je l'aborderai sous un angle particulier et exclusif que vous comprendrez aisément puisqu'il s'agit des matières premières et notamment des matières premières agricoles.
La lancinante et fondamentale question des matières premières est l'objet des préoccupations quotidiennes de l'ensemble des pays producteurs et notamment ceux du continent africain, comme l'a du reste très bien traité le Directeur général dans sa déclaration d'ouverture à nos travaux.
De quoi s'agit-il?
Il s'agit bel et bien d'un problème de solidarité tant il est exact que les matières premières produites et commercialisées par les uns, transformées et consommées par les autres, sont au coeur même de l'activité économique et commerciale du monde et conditionnent à ce titre, la qualité et l'intensité de la coopération entre les pays et les opérateurs économiques.
De fait, la gestion internationale des matières premières devra reposer sur le socle de la solidarité car la défection des uns est préjudiciable aux autres.
Or, que constatons-nous?
Les matières premières d'origine minérale et surtout agricole ont des prix qui se sont orientés à la baisse depuis 1980, en raison de facteurs et causes divers dont la dérégulation excessive des marchés internationaux, par le fait de certains pays et opérateurs du Nord qui entendent privilégier la loi dite de l'offre et de la demande au mépris des exigences minimales de coopération et de solidarité internationales qu'impose à la conscience de l'ensemble des partenaires des filières l'importance des matières dans les économies déjà fragilisées par un service de la dette en croissance continue.
Cette baisse des cours des matières premières, notamment le café et le cacao pour mon pays, entraîne des conséquences dévastatrices non seulement au plan de l'équilibre macro-économique mais au plan des menaces que sont les perturbations d'ordre économique et social que seule la solidarité des différents partenaires pourrait aider à évacuer.
Certes, nous reconnaissons que, dans le contexte actuel, la poursuite des politiques d'ajustement structurel, vues sous un visage humain, constitue une priorité absolue, mais justement il faut craindre que la persistance de la faiblesse des cours mondiaux hypothèque gravement nos efforts d'ajustement et de restructuration dans les domaines politique, économique, financier et social, et ne constitue en définitive une menace sur le processus de démocratisation des Etats du continent africain. La Côte d'Ivoire souhaite donc, non seulement au sein de cette distinguée assemblée mais aussi d'autres instances, réitérer son appel permanent en vue de la conclusion rapide des travaux de l'Uruguay Round et de nouveaux accords sur le café et le cacao, accords qui pourraient s'étendre à d'autres matières premières produites sur notre continent.
Le monde est un village planétaire et ne croyons pas que la richesse des uns se fait toujours au prix de la pauvreté des autres. L'endettement de l'Afrique est insupportable et nos problèmes n'ont pas toujours le meme relief
qu'ailleurs, ne serait-ce que pour parler d'un sujet qui aujourd'hui est sur toutes les lèvres, celui de l'environnement. Pour un pays comme le mien et pour presque tous les pays africains, le grand problème n'est pas tant la pollution industrielle mais plutôt l'épuisement des ressources naturelles du sol et du sous-sol du fait de leur exploitation intensive pour compenser la chute de la valeur unitaire marchande des matières premières sur les marchés mondiaux, ce qui, manifestement, représente une menace grave pour les générations présentes et futures.
Vous l'aurez compris, il existe bel et bien un lien très fort entre la garantie des recettes d'exportation des matières premières, et notamment agricoles, la gestion rationnelle des ressources naturelles et la préservation de l'environnement.
En terminant mon intervention, je voudrais tout simplement me permettre de porter à l'attention de ce Conseil les propos des hautes personnalités connues de tous et je citerai d'abord Robert McNamara: "Les paysans africains, entre autres, sont d'excellents économistes; s'ils reçoivent de bons prix pour leurs productions agricoles permettant l'utilisation de technologies sans danger pour l'environnement, ils prendront les décisions qui conviennent du point de vue non seulement économique mais également écologique".
Je citerai aussi M. le Directeur général du Fonds monétaire international à propos de l'Europe occidentale dans ses rapports avec l'Europe de l'Est: "Le marché ne s'oppose pas à la solidarité mais les deux doivent se rejoindre".
Je forme le voeu qu'un jour très proche, ici comme dans d'autres enceintes internationales, nous parlions enfin le même langage et que nous nous rejoignons dans cette lutte contre la faim et la pauvreté mais aussi pour un développement équilibré dans le monde.
LE PRESIDENT: Je remercie tout spécialement le représentant de la Côte d'Ivoire de son intervention et des idées qu'il a émises qui me paraissent particulièrement importantes dans le contexte africain et dans le contexte de développement du monde.
Huang YONGNING (China) (Original language Chinese): First of all, I wish to thank the FAO Secretariat for having prepared a very detailed document, CL 102/2.
This morning we listened to the opening statement of the Director-General, Edouard Saouma, in which he gave a full and systematic account of the current world state of food and agriculture. Mr Hjort has made a concise presentation of the document.
All this will surely facilitate our deliberations on this item. In recent years the international community and all governments have made tireless efforts at adjusting agricultural policies, eliminating poverty, combating hunger and promoting the study of sustainable development of agriculture; they have achieved quite gratifying results. The number of hungry and malnourished people in the world has dropped from 844 million in 1979-1981 to 786 million at present. Not only has the relative ratio gone down dramatically but also the absolute figure has reduced. Nevertheless, we must admit that what we have achieved still falls far short of the actual needs.
A number of longstanding and important issues in the field of world food and agriculture remain on the top of our agenda.
Firstly, world food and agricultural production is characterized by strong fluctuations, thus rendering the food security situation very fragile. In 1990 world cereal production reached a record high level of 1.97 billion tonnes, while in 1991 it turned back to 1.89 billion tonnes, though it is expected to register a slight increase this year.
During 1991-92 world cereal stocks stand at 324 million tonnes, two million tonnes less compared with the initial stage of this period. This amount only marginally reaches the minimum required stock level for world food security as established by the FAO Secretariat. Secondly, development has been uneven. The African food and agricultural situation has further deteriorated with millions of people suffering from hunger.
The third external condition for agricultural development remains unfavourable. The debt burdens of developing countries have shown no signs of lessening. There has been a back-flow of resources. Trade for agricultural commodities is threatened by very serious protectionism and, furthermore, the external assistance and food aid to agricultural development of developing countries has remained at a low level. Therefore, we are faced with an extremely arduous task in the field of agricultural development in the world.
In this context I wish to make the following observations. Firstly, the failure of the world food and agriculture situation to make substantial progress can be attributed to various factors. This is due to both natural calamities and political and economic factors. However, the main reason is that over a long period of time, under the shackles of the old economic order, a vast number of developing countries has been subject to unfair and unjust treatment. Their economic development has been hindered and their ecological environment damaged. As a result, a paradoxical phenomenon has emerged; the developing countries having suffered surplus agricultural production, developing countries have suffered from food shortages.
In this connection we believe that only by establishing a newer and more rational economic order, by creating a macro-economic environment conducive to common development benefiting all countries and remedying the current unbalanced pattern of production and distribution in world food and agriculture, can we bring about fundamental improvements in the state of the world food and agriculture.
Therefore, we wish to appeal to the international community to develop these countries and in particular to make greater efforts in strengthening international cooperation, lessening the debt burdens of developing countries, increasing agricultural assistance and in speeding up resource and technical transfer to them.
Secondly, following the ever-growing integration of the global economy and deepening international division of labour, the international agricultural trade is exercising more and more influence on national food and agricultural development.
The establishment of a fair, rational and open international agricultural trade system not only will have an important bearing on transforming the current unbalanced pattern of production and distribution in world food and
agriculture so as to strengthen developing countries' capacity for self-reliance but also will play an instrumental role in the development of developing countries themselves.
It is our hope that the parties concerned will take a positive attitude and make serious efforts to reduce subsidies for agricultural trade and support to their domestic production by opening their markets to developing countries so as to ensure a successful conclusion of the Uruguay Round of negotiations.
Thirdly, further efforts are called for to help build the capacity of self-reliance in developing countries. There is no doubt that whether a country can solve its problems on food and agriculture depends mainly on its own development. The vast number of developing countries should work hard to remove social, economic and political obstacles in their agricultural development and adjust their structure so as to achieve coordinated progress.
In this regard we have always advocated the principle of development in accordance with specific local conditions and believed in an integrated development strategy of increasing agricultural input through multiple channels, rigorously promoting agricultural research and its extension.
I wish now to take this opportunity of saying a few words on Chinese agricultural development.
Since the policy of reform and opening to the outside world was adopted, Chinese agricultural development has been crowned with remarkable success. In 1991, despite serious floods in some areas, there was still a fairly good harvest in the calamity-ridden year and the rural economy as a whole achieved all-round development. The production of food grains, cotton and oil-bearing crops reached a second all-time high level of 435 million tonnes, 5.66 million tonnes and 16.38 billion tonnes respectively.
Chinese livestock production also achieved a steady development. Meat production reached 27.12 million tonnes. Aqua production continued to increase, with the total reaching 13.2 million tonnes.
This year, guided by the overall policy of vigorously developing high yield, high quality and highly efficient agriculture, efforts have been made to adjust the rural economic structure. As a result, crop production and the rural economy continued to develop steadily. The total production of meat, eggs and aquatic products continued to increase.
Although Chinese agriculture has achieved a tangible success, there still exist large debts between development and people's growing needs.
In recent years the Chinese Government reiterated that it was putting emphasis on strengthening agriculture in an effort to invigorate the entire rural economy. Under the guidance of the general policy of developing socialist market economies, we shall continue to consolidate the household contracting responsibility system with remuneration linked to production, gradually improving the double layer management system of unified leadership combined with decentralization. We will adhere to the principle of developing agriculture by relying on science and technology, increasing agricultural input through various channels and various forms, so as to stabilize and increase food and cotton production while actively readjusting the internal structure of agriculture. We will vigorously promote agriculture, forestry,
animal husbandry and fisheries, develop a yield with high quality and highly efficient agriculture and eventually improve the managerial level of intensive agriculture and the capacity for integrated production.
It is our firm belief that through the above-mentioned measures the Chinese will achieve greater progress and thus make its due contribution toward the stable development of world agriculture.
LE PRESIDENT: Je remercie très vivement le représentant de la Chine de son intervention, dans laquelle il a abordé de nombreux thèmes, et, notamment la description qu'il nous a faite de la situation agricole de son pays. Je le félicite de cette brillante intervention.
Gian Paolo PAPA (EEC) : I am honoured to address Council for the first time since our accession to this Organization. I can assure you that the EEC will do everything possible to contribute to the realization of the objectives of the FAO.
I turn now to my statement on behalf of the European Economic Community.
The documents CL 102/2 and its supplement provide a comprehensive and useful overview of the present state of food and agriculture and food security in the world. They indicate a slight overall improvement in the world food situation during this year, but aggregate world cereal stocks remain almost unchanged from last year's level which is considered a low level from the food security point of view.
Although the world food situation thus seems to improve marginally, there are large differences between regions and even larger ones between individual countries such as drought hit southern and eastern parts of Africa, while the Sahelian region has fairly good harvest prospects. In the interesting section of CL 102/2 on prospects for developing economies that depend heavily on agricultural trade, one of the conclusions is that structural changes are badly needed to reduce external dependence, to the extent permitted by their natural endowments and competitiveness. This would imply for low income, net food importers adopting a strategy to replace imports by domestically produced crops and an increased export orientation for non-foods. For exporters this would mean diversifying and expanding trade in processed products. It implies, anyhow, a structural adjustment process, a revised role of governments in relation to other economic actors and a certain degree of liberalization of markets.
Concerning this liberalization, in the Community's view, temporary protection of national markets may be justified by economic arguments such as international dumping, overvalued exchange rates, infant industry, or by other reasons such as the wish to diminish pressure for migration or environmental protection.
Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP) as they are being applied presently by many developing countries should, in the opinion of the Community, not only be assessed in macro-economic and financial terms but particular attention should also be given to equity and social considerations. That is to say, food security and nutrition, health considerations, employment and education aspects are increasingly being given special emphasis under these structural
adjustment programmes where the Community is involved. Guidelines were developed and others are under preparation to help incorporate food security and nutrition consideration into the design and implementation of structural adjustment programmes. These imply that under the programmes of the Community in structural adjustment situations food aid may be used to help prevent shortages of soaring prices and to ensure access to food by vulnerable groups; to some extent counterpart funds could also be used for the same purposes.
Notwithstanding attention for structural adjustment programmes, for environment and for many other lines of action, agriculture and food security remain at the heart of the Community's cooperation programmes, because of its conviction that food security will, for some time, remain among the main problems that have to be addressed in most developing countries. Around two-thirds of the regular programme under the Lomé III Convention was concentrated in these fields.
The Community attaches great importance to the promotion of food security on a regional basis, without saying that such a strategy is easy. One of the tools that is being used in this context is triangular food aid whereby food is purchased by the Community in one developing country for delivery to another, if possible in the same region. It represents an increasing share of our food aid operations.
This year once again the drought hit especially sub-Saharan Africa, and more particularly the southern part of it, which faced a crisis of unprecedented dimensions.
In the light of this new situation, the European Community decided to make a substantial extra effort. A special programme to provide the equivalent of 800 000 tonnes of cereals for the worst affected countries, and funds to cover transport costs up to final destination were approved and finalized in early May. This special food aid programme was valued at US$300 million and brought the European Community food aid for the worst affected countries in 1992 to nearly 1.7 million tonnes. Special emphasis was also put on the supply of seeds for the next harvest in cooperation with FAO.
I would like in this context to draw attention to the excellent work that is being done by the Global Information and Early Warning System, which is an important input for decisions on food-aid allocations.
With regard to Central and Eastern Europe, a potential worry may exist which we would like to dispel. The Community's new assistance programmes to the rapidly changing economies in that part of Europe are not to the detriment of existing aid programmes for Third World countries. Aid, including food aid, to Central and Eastern Europe is quite separate from, and on top of, ongoing lines of development cooperation, be it with our partners under the Lomé Conventions, or with other developing nations. I realize that we have said this before on other occasions, but it seems desirable to repeat this information again.
The conclusion of the highly interesting box on page 44 concerning marine fisheries that the annual operating costs of the global marine fishing fleet in 1989 were greater than the total revenue should, in our view, be treated with caution. Therefore, it is proposed to further elaborate the arguments so as to facilitate a full appreciation of the situation and a further discussion on it.
The document CL 102/2 also refers to the association agreements between the EC and Hungary, Poland and the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, and to the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.
Concerning the association agreements, some clarifications to the present text would seem appropriate. We have given them to the Secretariat, and copies of our note are available for interested delegations.
As regards the reform of the Community's Agricultural Policy, we thank the Secretariat for the concise but rather complete presentation of the important decisions taken this year and for its analysis of the outcome of the reform in relation to the Uruguay Round.
This analysis shows that the Common Agricultural Policy reform will produce substantial results which, in a number of cases, go even beyond the requirements in the GATT Draft Final Act. The Community gives the highest priority to a rapid conclusion of the Uruguay Round and will continue to make every effort to reach this goal.
LE PRESIDENT: Le délégué de la Communauté européenne nous a parlé des accords d'association et de mises au point qui peuvent être faites et remises au Secrétariat de la FAO. Je voudrais faire un petit commentaire: la Communauté économique européenne, depuis un an, a suscité de grands espoirs. Je crois que, compte tenu de ses possibilités et nonobstant la lourdeur et la longueur, parfois, de certaines procédures administratives, il sera bientôt possible d'arriver à une vraie coopération entre la Communauté et la FAO. A partir du moment où la Communauté économique européenne est devenue membre de la FAO, cette coopération est non seulement souhaitable mais indispensable.
Jalal RASSOOLOF (Iran, Islamic Republic of): Mr Chairman, it is a great pleasure to see you once again chairing the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. I am fully confident that under your chairmanship this session of the Council will be concluded successfully.
I should like to congratulate the distinguished delegates of Mexico, India and Morocco on their election as Vice-Chairmen of this session of the Council.
With regard to Item 4 of our Agenda and document CL 102/2 and CL 102/2 - Sup.1,I should first like to express my appreciation to the FAO Secretariat for preparing such a comprehensive and informative document. Secondly, regarding the food and agricultural production situation of the Islamic Republic of Iran, I should like to make the following remarks.
The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, with a clear understanding of the world food and agricultural situation and an assessment of the consequences of population growth and the prospect of starvation and malnutrition beyond 2000, in 1989 implemented its First Five Year Agricultural Development Plan. It should be noted that in the planning and implementation of this Plan some sustainable development criteria, such as food security, bridging the balance between self-sufficiency and self-reliance in agricultural production, increasing the income of producers and rural communities, as well as environmental protection and rational use of renewable natural resources, have been taken into consideration. Fortunately, with
regard to the qualitative and quantitative objectives of this plan, remarkable success and achievements have been obtained, so that the increase in agricultural production attained has been more than planned and anticipated. This situation has led to a reduction in the dependence of the Islamic Republic of Iran on international market food sources, and it is expected that, through the implementation of the Second Five-Year Agricultural Development Plan, which will start in 1994, not only will the food requirements of Iranian communities be fully provided for but their exports of food and agricultural products to international markets will contribute some part of the solution to the world's food problems.
We are at present in the fourth year of the First Five-Year Development Plan. The state of staple food production of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the growth rate compared to the starting year of this Development Plan are as follows: wheat, 10 million tonnes, with 45 percent growth; paddy rice, 2.5 million tonnes, with 56 percent growth; barley, 3.7 million tonnes, with 26 percent growth; pulses, 0.6 million tonnes, with 56 percent growth; sugar beet, 6 million tonnes, with 71 percent growth; cotton lint, 0.4 million tonnes, with 15 percent growth; fish products, 0.36 tonnes, with 22 percent growth.
As a result of this increase in agricultural products, imports of these products have declined by about 52 percent at the end of the third year of the Development Plan. We expect this trend to continue in the future.
Nusyirwan ZEN (Indonesia): Mr Chairman, at the outset let me express my great pleasure in seeing you again in the Chair at the 102nd Session of FAO's Council. Under your capable stewardship, I believe that the 102nd Session of FAO's Council will be a very successful one.
Secondly, allow me to associate myself with previous speakers in offering His Excellency M.S. Gill of India, His Excellency Jimenez Morales of Mexico and His Excellency Sebti of Morocco my heartiest congratulations on their election as Vice-Chairmen of this Council.
The Indonesian delegation took note of the state of food and agriculture as contained in document CL 102/1 and its supplement, and we wish to express our deep concern at the dim outlook of global availability of food, despite the technologically possible potential to increase world agricultural production. We realize that the current and future outlook of international food and agriculture has been, and will be, greatly influenced by man-made factors such as political instability and international trade arrangements for agricultural commodities. On the other hand, agricultural development is also a fragile risk, due to natural-made factors such as the serious drought in southern Africa.
Let me take this opportunity to reiterate the global economic performance mentioned in the document. It was stated that we are all expecting a momentum in 1993 due to some improvement currently being made in the performance of the overall economic environment, especially some recovery in Eastern Europe and stronger growth in industrialized countries. The situation would be expected to lead to world growth in agriculture and trade, although it is not evenly distributed. The concern remains about international market access and market stability that can be materialized through international arrangement. The Indonesian delegation, therefore, underlines their hope for the successful
implementation of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations which is acceptable to every party.
In regard to food and agriculture in developing countries, let me reiterate some of the conclusions of the Non-Aligned Movement Summit Meeting recently held in Indonesia.
The Meeting expressed deep concern at the deterioration of the world food and agriculture situation, particularly in developing countries, despite the possibility the world has to produce twice as much as at present: it is imperative, therefore, to keep food and agriculture issues as a priority item on the international agenda.
The right to food is a fundamental universal human right, and we categorically reject the use of food as an instrument of political and economic pressure: the fight against poverty, hunger and malnutrition should be perceived not only in terms of providing assistance with a view to improving the living standards of the poor, but also as a means of reinforcing economic self-sufficiency and long-term prospects.
The international community and international organizations within the United Nations dealing with food and agricultural issues should continue closely to monitor further developments in the global food situation, especially in developing countries.
National food strategies remain a very useful means for advancing food production, food self-reliance, and better access to food. In this respect, the Heads of State or Government welcome every effort being made by international organizations in this field and encourage the organizations to improve food strategy cooperation and coordination among multilateral agencies.
In regard to the food and agriculture situation in Indonesia, we would like to express our appreciation for the inclusion of the Indonesian overview in document CL 102/2. Let me add some information on the current situation.
During 1989-1991, soybean reached the highest annual production increase among food crops, namely 7.07 percent, followed by peanuts 3.4 percent and rice 2.4 percent. During the same period, the annual production increase for horticultural crops reached 10.2 percent for vegetables and 4.54 percent for fruits. Annual production increase for livestock products such as meat, eggs and milk reached 5.5 percent, 4.8 percent, and 11.4 percent respectively. The highest annual production increase for estate crops was reached by cocoa (about 16.2 percent), followed by oil palm (10.9 percent), and rubber (3.5 percent). Sugar cane reached the lowest annual increase in production, namely 2.07 percent. Our annual fishery production during 1989-1991 reached 4.8 percent. The increase in fishery production was partly due to an increase in investment from private as well as public enterprises.
Estimates of the Indonesian food and agriculture production for 1992 are highly tentative. For rice however the forecasted production increase for 1992 is about 5.8 percent, namely from 44.7 million tonnes (of unhusked dried rice ready for milling) in 1991 to about 47.3 million tonnes in 1992.
We are concerned at the depressed agricultural commodity prices as stated in the supplement of document CL 102/2. We realize that such a situation has
resulted in difficulty of exporting countries such as Indonesia adequately to expand their export earnings, producers' income, and economic growth. Such an undesirable situation can be alleviated when factors contributing to depressed agricultural commodity prices can be minimized among others through better international market arrangement. We therefore urge FAO to increase its assistance for an early and successful conclusion of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations.
Indonesia has been struggling with structural adjustment for many years. Policy reforms and economic adjustments have been started twenty-three years ago since we launched our First Five-year National Development Plan in 1969. Stability, economic growth, and equitable development efforts and its results have been the three basic principles in making social, economic and structural adjustments. Different sets of policy reforms as stated in the document have been initiated and implemented depending on the stage of development achieved.
The results of such diverse policy reforms have been encouraging. Indonesia has been able to accomplish rapid economic growth, rice self-sufficiency since 1984, alleviate rural poverty, and minimize use of pesticides and insecticides in rice production through the Integrated Pest Management without reducing rice yield.
At present, the Indonesian food and agriculture policy is focusing on sustainable development of agribusiness and agricultural human resources, among others through higher efficiency of resource utilization, long-term agriculture productivity, conservation of natural resources, and increasing participation of rural youth and women in development. It is for this reason that Indonesia strongly supports the proposal for WCARRD follow-up activities.
CHAIRMAN: I read with great attention your comments about the policy to work against poverty, and the developments for the rural people of Indonesia. There was also very interesting documentation from the Philippines which I studied attentively: also the policy of the Bureau of Logistics, Indonesia. Thank you for all the information you have given us.
Frederick SUMAYE (Tanzania) : On behalf of the Tanzanian delegation and on my own behalf, I wish to thank you, Mr Chairman, for giving me the floor this afternoon during the discussion of this very important topic which concerns us all.
I also wish to congratulate you on the guidance which you are giving this meeting as its very able Chairman.
May I also congratulate the Deputy Director-General for his brief, but very elaborate, presentation of document CL 102/2.
During my presentation I shall be making references most of the time to Tanzania's situation, with reference of course to agriculture and the food situation. I do not intend to speak for any other country, but I am sure the situation in other developing poor countries will be more or less the same as that of Tanzania.
Agriculture in most of these developing countries - which are generally poor countries - is characterized by very, very primitive technology which is being
applied normally. Most of the agriculture will be dependent on rainwater only, and of course the rains in these countries are normally very, very unreliable and insufficient. For instance, to give an example of Tanzania, we irrigate only about five percent of the area which is under cultivation. Therefore, you can see that most of our agriculture is dependent upon rainwater, and this makes agriculture very unreliable.
Another characteristic of agriculture in developing countries is that it uses a very, very low level of input. Very few, sometimes no inputs at all are applied; with the continued use of the land and depletion of resources from the soil, definitely further addition of surplus nutrients is very necessary. Therefore, if these inputs are not available or are not applied, what you end up with is a very poor production. Also, herbicides and insecticides in agriculture in the developing countries are not widely used. Most of the time these herbicides are not available, or, if they are available, they will not be available in time and in the quantities which will be required by the farmers. Another characteristic of agriculture in the developing countries is the inadequate and poor storage facilities. This is very important. Sometimes, because of the rainfed agriculture, we have good seasons, but if we have no storage facilities we have the problem of keeping the surplus production, so that sometimes we end up with a lot of produce being destroyed, or at least with prices going so low that farmers are discouraged from growing the same crop in the following season.
Another problem is that of inadequate financial resources, that is, in the case of inputs. Where country's production is insufficient it has to be subsidized by inputs. Most of the time such countries, because of their financial status, cannot even afford to import the food that is required for their own people.
Finally, we have the problem of insufficient, inefficient and poor-to-nonexistent infrastructure. The roads and transport systems are so poor that it becomes too expensive or sometimes almost impossible to move produce from one corner of the country to another, generally from the areas that produce the crops to the areas that consume them, or areas of deficit.
These are all problems encountered by agriculture in the developing countries. As I have said, Tanzania is one of them.
Inefficient agriculture, which then gives low production per unit area, is therefore characterized by low agricultural production. But another characteristic in these poor countries is the high human production. You have low crop production but high human production or high rates of population increases. Of course, with those two factors combined you have poverty and, in extreme cases, starvation and death.
If I may give an example, again from Tanzania: from the year 1986/87 for four years consecutively we had very good rainfall and weather, and therefore we had many good crops. In fact, we produced surplus crops of maize, rice and beans. But in the year following, that is 1990/91 and 1991/92, there was a shortage of rain and we had a shortage of crops. We were not even able to feed ourselves. So you can understand my saying that the development of storage capacities is important, in that when we had good rainfall we could not store enough of our crops which we could have used during the poor seasons.
The problem of agriculture now in Tanzania - which again I am sure affects a lot of other poor countries - is that of fertilizers. For this season alone in Tanzania we had estimated that we would require about 260 000 tons of different fertilizers. You can see that this is a very low level of fertilizer application for a country like Tanzania which has an area of almost one million square kilometres. Even at this very low level of fertilizer application, up to now we have been able to get into the country only 15 percent of this fertilizer, and another 18 percent is probably coming. Therefore, so far we can say we have managed only a third of this very low level of application. So you can see that the poor countries have all these constraints.
Herbicides and insecticides are the same. We are able to manage only about 50 percent of seeds, and obviously even when the rains come if you do not have enough seeds and you do not have enough fertilizers you are in a very bad vicious circle.
As for cash crops, as has been mentioned by most of those who have spoken already, most of the crops in the world market now fetch very low prices. This is a big problem because the prices of crops are falling while the prices of inputs that are required by the farmers are rising. Probably the only answer to this problem is if the developing countries can process their crops.
In Tanzania, for instance, we have very low processing capacities. Therefore, most of our crops are sold in the outside markets as raw produce. Cotton is sold as cotton lint; sisal is sold as fibre; coffee is unprocessed; and the prices of those crops in the world market have been falling from time to time.
As to the food situation, Tanzania is facing a cereals shortage of about 318 000 tons for this season alone. This is composed of maize, about 151 000 tons; rice 114 000 tons, wheat, 44 000 tons; and sorghum 9 000 tons. This is only talking of cereals. We had expected to tackle the problem in the following manner.
First, by donor assistance. This is a short-term solution to help those who are really in need. Unfortunately, we have been unable to get what we required. We have been able to get slightly less than 10 000 tons. This is obviously a very small portion of the 318 000 tons.
Also, we expected that we would get the short rains that normally start in about September/October. If the rains had come we would have been able to get around 130 000 tons of grains. Again, up to now the short rains have not come, so we are really worried.
Another area is the collection and storage of all the produce that has been produced in the country as strategic grains reserve. We have tried our best, and have so far collected about 115 000 tons out of a target of 150 000 tons. Again, this is just a strategic reserve which will not be sufficient for the requirements of my country.
Finally, importation is constrained by the resources in the country, and we think we shall probably manage only 20 000 tons.
While we appreciate that it is the responsibility of each country to feed her own nationals, we also believe that it is the duty of each one of us to see that one part of the population does not suffer till death while the other part suffers from overproduction and surpluses.
We also appreciate that our situation is not as critical as that in other countries, especially those that suffered from an unprecedented drought for years or civil strifes or both. Much as we have this in mind, we wish to bring to the attention of this body that it is also very important and timely that countries that are struggling hard to avert crisis situations be assisted as a matter of priority. The assistance should be given to alleviate the shortage of food as a short-term strategy, and in terms of agricultural production support, for example in terms of fertilizers, seeds, herbicides, pesticides and technological assistance, as a longer- term strategy.
We also wish to bring to the attention of this Council the unfavourable terms of trade which favour the rich nations and suppress the poor nations, hence making them poorer and poorer. The developing poor countries normally depend mainly on agricultural produce which is sold unprocessed. The prices of these unprocessed commodities have been falling almost continuously while the prices of manufactured goods required by these poor countries and obtained from the developed, industrialized and rich countries have been steadily rising.
Under this trend it is obvious that the poor countries will fail completely to compete with their rich partners, and the only answer left to them will be to stop agricultural production or to produce at very uneconomical low levels of production.
Therefore, if we intend to assist the developing poor countries, the poor countries have to be assisted so that they can add some value to their agricultural produce. If those countries continue to sell unprocessed produce as I mentioned, such as cotton lint, sisal fibre, coffee beans, wood longs, etc., the poor countries will continue to be poor and the rich countries will become richer, hopefully, thus widening the gap between the poor and the rich. In this situation, therefore, the poor will be asking for donations of food, agricultural inputs, technology, implements and equipment, and those requests will be endless.
If these poor countries are not assisted positively to make their agriculture more sustainable, we shall be adding more countries to the food shortage crisis list which, in the end, we will have to assist. After all, at the end of the day the world we live in may not make much sense if part of our population is dying or suffering beyond endurance from famine and hunger.
LE PRESIDENT: Je voudrais maintenant passer la parole à l'honorable représentant de la République française, M. Jacques Laureau, nouvel Ambassadeur auprès de la FAO, auquel je voudrais souhaiter la bienvenue au sein de notre Conseil.
Jacques LAUREAU (France): La délégation française tient à féliciter le Secrétariat pour la qualité du travail d'analyse de la situation mondiale de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture qui est un constat réaliste de la situation.
Le rapport qui nous a été soumis démontre les difficultés croissantes auxquelles sont confrontés les pays dont l'activité économique ou dont les besoins sont liés à l'agriculture et met en exergue la baisse générale de la production. Il est vrai que cette constatation pessimiste globalement est émaillée, au détour de certaines pages, de remarques plus positives, par exemple sur l'augmentation de la production de denrées de base dans certains pays africains et en Amérique latine. Mais il apparaît aussi que la croissance démographique y est mal maîtrisée annulant les gains acquis.
Cette évolution générale ne met que mieux en valeur le caractère rémanent des pénuries alimentaires et des situations d'urgence dans la Corne de l'Afrique, au Soudan, en Tanzanie, en Afrique australe, au Libéria, en Afghanistan, au Cambodge, au Laos, en Iraq. Les événements survenus en Europe ne font eux-mêmes qu'alourdir la demande d'aide ou d'appui alimentaire et il n'est plus aujourd'hui totalement assuré que les disponibilités en aide seront à la mesure de l'augmentation de ces besoins comme le déclarait, par exemple, le rapport spécial du SMIAR de septembre 1992 à propos de l'Afrique.
Ce panorama général où, d'un côté, il y a stagnation voire baisse de la production agricole pour la première fois depuis 1983 et où d'un autre côté, il y a multiplication des situations d'urgence, ressemble fort à un aveu d'impuissance internationale, lequel aveu est inacceptable à la veille du second millénaire, surtout lorsque l'on demande à beaucoup d'agriculteurs de pays à climat tempéré à fort taux de productivité de réduire leurs capacités d'approvisionner le marché international.
Le danger de cet état de choses est aussi d'accentuer le cercle vicieux de l'aide agricole internationale, c'est-à-dire l'aide d'urgence, de plus en plus valorisée par les médias auprès des opinions publiques, mais qui risque d'occulter les approches à plus long terme. Méfions-nous des phénomènes de dépendance que nous allons créer en croyant bien faire. Ces phénomènes de dépendance ne pourront que se multiplier puisque les experts internationaux constatent que le mouvement de décélération de la croissance démographique est moins net que prévu. Or, l'évolution démographique entraîne à elle seule entre les deux tiers et les trois quarts au minimum de l'augmentation de la consommation de céréales de ces pays.
Il nous faut donc ne pas céder à la facilité d'une conception trop exclusive de l'action internationale qui serait fondée sur la seule aide alimentaire; celle-ci ne devrait être que provisoire et dégressive.
C'est pourquoi le constat qui est fait doit nous conduire à nous demander comment les institutions spécialisées de Rome seront capables de contribuer, avec les autres institutions financières internationales - groupe de la Banque mondiale et banques régionales - à l'initiative d'un processus de développement agricole et rural à long terme qui soit "durable". A cet égard, la réforme en cours des organisations des Nations Unies comprend, dans ses objectifs, la volonté de comprendre les raisons de l'échec des politiques de développement dans certaines régions du monde et de proposer les changements d'orientation nécessaires. Le Conseil de la FAO pourrait être le creuset, non pas de l’énumération de souhaits mille fois exprimés ici et ailleurs, mais de propositions plus concrètes d'action. Sa vocation de conseil aux politiques nationales agricoles, en partant du partage des expériences, doit être exaltée et poussée. Des analyses fort intéressantes qui nous ont été soumises dans la seconde partie du rapport au sujet des résultats des politiques suivies dans tel ou tel pays appartenant à telle ou telle région,il y a des leçons à
tirer: par exemple sur le fait de savoir quel est le minimum de protection à assurer à l'agriculture pour éviter les phénomènes d'urbanisation massifs, quel est le minimum de réglementation nationale nécessaire, quelles sont les limites d'une libéralisation forcenée et totale des échanges, etc. Bref, dépassons les constatations, réfléchissons, concertons-nous pour éviter autant les rivalités stériles entre grands producteurs/donateurs que la dépendance dans laquelle nous risquerions de placer certains pays demandeurs d'aide. Notre pays, pour sa part, restera engagé financièrement et politiquement aux côtés des pays les moins avancés comme le prouve l'accroissement constant de notre budget d'aide et de coopération; il continuera également à recommander une meilleure orientation des politiques d'aide de la Banque mondiale et du FMI en vue de sauvegarder les catégories les plus vulnérables dans le contexte de l'ajustement structurel.
A propos des situations régionales et me référant à la très intéressante intervention de mon collègue de Côte d'Ivoire, je dirais que du point de vue français, la situation en Afrique subsaharienne est à cet égard extrêmement préoccupante. Les agriculteurs doivent être incités à produire davantage. Cependant, ils n'investiront pour augmenter leur production que s'ils sont sûrs de rentabiliser les fonds investis en vendant leurs récoltes. Or souvent, les agriculteurs n'ont, comme objectifs de production, que celui de satisfaire leurs besoins personnels. La crise que connaissent les grands produits de rente comme le café, le cacao, l'arachide, entraîne les Etats, du fait de l'ajustement structurel, à baisser leur prix d'achat aux producteurs; ceux-ci diminuent donc leur production en n'augmentant pas les surfaces qu'ils y consacrent quand ce n'est pas en les diminuant. Pour les autres produits, le raisonnement n'est pas le même, mais les producteurs n'étant pas sûrs de les vendre, ne cultivent que ce qui leur est nécessaire pour leurs besoins familiaux. Il faut donc augmenter le marché de ces produits.
A cet effet, les Ministres de l'agriculture de l'Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre qui se ont réunis à Dakar en 1991 ont préconisé une régionalisation des marchés agricoles mais aussi des politiques agricoles. Une telle initiative doit être appuyée et reprise dans d'autres régions: Afrique orientale, Afrique australe... La demande tirera alors l'offre. En outre, si une surproduction apparaissait localement, des entrepôts, greniers, pourraient être aménagés; ils constitueraient une réserve pour l'aide alimentaire triangulaire et une réserve nationale en cas de pénurie.
Mais pour que les agriculteurs puissent vendre leurs produits, il ne faut pas que d'autres produits importés concurrents arrivent moins chers dans le pays: les Etats doivent être autorisés à instituer une protection douanière pour protéger leur agriculture. Il ne faut pas oublier que l'aide alimentaire peut avoir le même effet: sauf en cas d'urgence, elle doit être vendue dans les pays bénéficiaires, à un prix qui permette un écoulement normal des produits nationaux sans les concurrencer.
La France soutient l'initiative du Ministre sénégalais de l'agriculture et appuie les tentatives d'intégration régionale, sous quelque forme que ce soit: UDEAC, CEAO...
LE PRESIDENT: Merci, Monsieur l'Ambassadeur, représentant permanent de la République française. Il est incontestable que l'aide d'urgence n'est pas, à proprement parler, du développement. Nonobstant, elle reste indispensable. Les considérations que vous avez émises sont particulièrement intéressantes et
susciteront des débats sur une approche opérationnelle très concrète et très précise des immenses défis auxquels notre Organisation, en relation avec l'ensemble des agences des Nations Unies, devra faire face dans les années qui viennent.
Harald HILDEBRAND (Germany): Mr Chairman, distinguished delegates, again the Secretariat has submitted an extensive, highly informative and, with Supplement 1 to document CL 102/2, an updated account of what is FAO's main concern: food and agriculture in its global dimension. Let me thank the Secretariat for having provided delegations on time with this valuable basis for our Council debate.
My Government shares, in principle, the assessments made regarding the main aspects: overall economic environment, food and agricultural supply situation, trade, external assistance and food aid, sustainable agriculture. This part of the document adequately reflects the close interaction of political, economic and ecological factors underlying the global, regional and national developments in food and agriculture. However, a more direct reference to demographic growth would have made the overall picture more complete because this factor of population is growth known to impair any improvement, small as it might be, in food-deficit countries in terms of food production and preservation of natural resources.
Paragraph 62, Table 7 and footnote 21 might give us some comfort if the figures - what we do hope - are reliable. According to these findings the proportion of seriously undernourished in the total population of almost all developing countries has declined from 36 to 20 percent over the past twenty years. What is more: thanks to increased food production, particularly in the Far East region, for example in China, in Indonesia, and other countries, the number of people suffering from chronic undernourishment has also gone down in absolute terms. Notwithstanding this favourable trend, regional imbalances were found to persist, and we have to record a serious rise in the number of undernourished people in sub-Saharan Africa where one-third of the population is affected, with the absolute number having increased by over 60 percent during two decades. That means: in the nineties, 170 million out of approximately 500 million Africans go hungry or are seriously undernourished.
This sad fact alone out of the many others mentioned in the documents, weighs heavily on our minds and poses the painful question of solutions, or at least improvements, in a foreseeable future. I cannot but reaffirm what my delegation expressed on previous occasions: We are all committed to create conditions, both internally and externally, that will allow the mobilization of natural, economic and human resources that are needed to ensure the satisfaction of basic human needs. The revival of the Programme of Action for African Economic Recovery and Development (UN-PAAERD) as envisaged by the UN for this decade, could, for example, provide FAO with another opportunity to translate into concrete action its mandate in the food and agriculture fields.
Kiyoshi SAWADA (Japan): Since this is the first time my delegation has taken the floor, I would like to express our congratulations to you, Mr Chairman and the three Vice-Chairmen, on your election. I would also like to express our compliments to the Secretariat for the well-prepared document.
Mr Chairman, my country has a great concern for the stable food supply and demand as the largest net food importer in the world. To achieve the sustainability of the world food balance, my country deems that every effort should be made continuously by every member in the world for this goal.
Performance of world agricultural production in 1991 declined at the global level for the first time since 1983, with the cereal output estimated as 1 876 million tons, approximately four percent less than that of 1990, according to the document before us. Cereal production for 1992 is estimated to rise about one percent from that of 1991. This would result in cereal carry-over stock at the end of the 1992/93 to be 18 percent of annual world consumption volume at the level which FAO deems necessary for world food security.
The most important problem we should consider in the current food situation is the chronic food deficit in developing countries, particularly low income, food-deficit countries. Cereal production per capita in developing countries is calculated as 250 kg compared with 750 kg in developed countries. The point we should focus on is the fact that the gap between them is increasing year by year. The conditions under which there is increasing reliance by low-income, food-deficit countries on specified net food exporting developed countries are considered to be disturbing the achievement of world food security.
My country has been advocating the important role of agriculture in every country and the importance of the production of staple food in each territory on every occasion. In this context, the lucid statement by His Excellency Mr Mwangale, Minister of Agriculture for Kenya, on the last day of the WFC, which was held in Kenya in June this year, was very impressive. He emphasized the importance of the improvement and extension of traditional crops such as sorghum, millet and pulse and tuber crops which adjusted to the natural conditions of Africa and which play an important role in providing a balanced diet, thus reducing malnutrition, and also indicating the harmonization of the production of cash crops and food crops. Every country should support the establishment of its own agriculture.
Japan has actively participated in the international effort to assist developing countries in their pursuit of self-reliance and structural adjustment. Japan's Official Development Assistance has been progressively expanding.
In this context priority has been given to international cooperation in rural and agricultural development, health and medical care and education, particularly to the benefit of the poor and taking into account the participation of women in development. The intention is to mitigate food shortages by increasing food production and improving the living standards of farmers. This is an effort to respond to basic human needs.
Serious starvation has been rampant in eastern and southern African countries and elsewhere. With regard to food aid, Japan has attempted to improve its aid to the extent possible. In 1991 Japan's contribution to WFP and bilateral cooperation under the Food Aid Convention and the grant aid programme, including general and disaster relief grant aid, totals about US$129 million. This year my government has already pledged about US$55 million for the African food crisis alone. On this occasion my Government is appreciative of the valuable information on the Global and Early Warning System of FAO.
We strongly expect that the GATT Uruguay Round negotiations which have continued for six years will be successfully concluded. However, the negotiations between the United States of America and the EEC, which are the key to the negotiations, cannot find a breakthrough point. The destination of the GATT negotiations is covered with fog. In any case, based on the recognition that a successful conclusion is the consensus of all countries, my Government would like to continue its efforts to reach an early conclusion.
On forestry, 68 percent of Japan is covered by forest. On the other hand, since the greater part of our wood demand is satisfied from abroad, we being the importer because most of our trees are too young to cut, we have a great interest in the state of the world's forests and the FAO's activities in this field.
My delegation would like to express its positive participation in the field projects of FAO and the strengthening of TFAP, focusing on NFAP and towards the goal of establishing sustainable management and conservation of the forests. We base this particularly on Forestry Principles as adopted in UNCED.
Fish is an important supply of animal protein. It also has an important role in the economics of developing countries. It has become indispensable to secure sustainable fishery development in harmony with the environment.
To promote conservation and a rational utilization of all marine biological fishery resources, including marine mammals, we strongly expect FAO to approach this problem in a calm and rational manner, based on scientific evidence. The results will be reflected in international discussions. Japan will also assume its responsibility in tackling the task.
My country has participated positively in UNCED to mark a starting point for a new world order into the 21st century from the preparatory stage. There is firm recognition of the importance of the environment and the development problems. At the Earth Summit historical agreements were reached on an environmental framework for international cooperation which included the Rio Declaration. Japan, in recognizing the worldwide significance of this summit, will make an effort to realize its commitment to reduce its emissions of CO2 and to increase greatly the amount of Official Development Assistance.
CHAIRMAN: I would like to congratulate Japan on increasing its budget for cooperation. That will be very important in the future. Japan's voluntary contribution as well as its obligatory contribution will be most welcome.
Adel CORTAS (Liban) (Langue originale arabe): Monsieur le Président, nous avons écouté ce matin l'exposé admirable et exhaustif du Directeur général sur la situation de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture; et cet après-midi, nous avons écouté avec beaucoup d'attention l'intervention du Directeur général adjoint, M. Hjort. Je voudrais féliciter le Secrétariat de son document tant pour son contenu que pour sa forme et pour sa distribution dans toutes les langues.
A la lumière des deux exposés faits par le Directeur général et le Directeur général adjoint, je voudrais attirer l'attention sur deux points fondamentaux.
Premièrement, la situation de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation mérite toute notre attention et tous nos soins, surtout dans les pays pauvres qui requièrent une attention particulière de notre part. La dégradation de la situation dans le continent africain - en Ethiopie, au Soudan, au Kenya, en Somalie, en Angola et au Mozambique - attire particulièrement notre attention.
Le deuxième point concerne la récession quasi totale du commerce mondial des produits agricoles. Comme il apparaît au paragraphe 29 du Supplément 1 du document CL 102/2 - à la page 15 de la version arabe -, en effet, la croissance moyenne du commerce dépasse à peine 1,5 pour cent en 1991 alors qu'elle était de 3,3 pour cent au cours des dix dernières années. Dans ce contexte, comme l'a mentionné le Directeur général dans son exposé de ce matin, il importe de souligner un point fondamental, à savoir la dégradation des prix des produits agricoles dans les pays en développement qui sont intéressés à écouler leurs exportations sur les marchés des pays développés à des prix raisonnables, susceptibles de leur assurer des revenus leur permettant de développer leur économie et permettant à leurs populations dans le besoin de relever leur niveau de vie.
D'autre part, il importe que les négociations du GATT soient couronnées de succès en raison des bienfaits qui en découleraient pour le monde entier, avec la libéralisation du commerce mondial et la suppression des barrières administratives et douanières.
Un troisième point concerne la RAIU. En effet, comme le Directeur général l'a mentionné dans son exposé, ce matin, et comme il ressort du document CL 102/2 sur la situation de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture en 1992, cette Réserve n'a atteint en 1992 qu'un montant inférieur à nos ambitions, c'est-à-dire 215 000 tonnes de produits alimentaires dont 193 000 tonnes de céréales.
Le Directeur général recommande depuis très longtemps de faire passer cette Réserve de 500 000 tonnes à un million de tonnes par an car elle constitue un outil puissant entre les mains de la FAO et du PAM pour fournir l'assistance voulue aux pays pauvres et aux pays victimes de catastrophes. Cette Réserve constitue le moyen de fournir une aide multilatérale d'urgence aux pays qui en ont besoin.
Un autre point concerne la forme du document présenté par la FAO sur la situation annuelle de l'agriculture et l'alimentation. Il s'agit sans aucun doute, d'un effort considérable qui a demandé beaucoup de temps et de travail de la part de la FAO pour que le document soit achevé à temps et dans toutes les langues de travail officielles. Au nom de mon pays je ne peux que féliciter et remercier le Directeur général, son assistant, et tout le personnel chargé des politiques économiques et sociales pour ce travail méritoire.
Si j'ai quelques observations à présenter c'est uniquement du point de vue de la forme, et non pas en ce qui concerne le contenu.
Tout d'abord, en ce qui concerne le maintien de la structure actuelle du document, à savoir la situation mondiale dans les pays industrialisés, puis dans les pays en voie de développement, la dette extérieure, les prix de produits, la situation des disponibilités alimentaires, le commerce agricole etc., nous considérons important l'amendement du chapitre concernant l'agriculture écologiquement viable et la suite de la Conférence des Nations Unies sur l'environnement et le développement. Nous accordons également de
l'importance au développement de la méthodologie relative à la situation alimentaire en prévision de la Conférence internationale de la nutrition qui se tiendra le mois prochain.
En second lieu si la FAO peut résumer, comme l'a commenté M. Hjort cet après-midi, tout le document, ce résumé pourrait s'appliquer à la deuxième partie de ce document concernant la situation par région.
Mon pays estime que la partie du document, qui va du paragraphe 197 au paragraphe 706, a demandé un énorme effort de la part de la FAO mais, selon nous, elle pourrait être résumée et je suis sûr que le département technique trouvera la formule ad hoc pour ce faire.
Enfin, Monsieur le Président, je voudrais souligner avant de terminer qu'après les efforts énormes nécessaires pour la préparation de ce document il serait utile que ce document soit édité dans l'année qui concerne la situation prise en examen afin que l'on puisse profiter de son contenu.
LE PRESIDENT: Nous allons terminer la session de cet après-midi.
Je signale que la liste des orateurs inscrits pour intervenir dans ce débat sera close demain matin à 9 h 30.
Je vous remercie pour toutes les interventions particulièrement intéressantes qui ont eu lieu. Il ne me reste qu'à vous souhaiter une excellente soirée et un excellent travail pour demain.
The meeting rose at 17.30 hours.
La séance est levée à 17 h 30.
Se levanta la sesión a las 17.30 horas.
