CHAIRMAN: I call the meeting to order, and in view of the fact that I have a long list of speakers, I think we ought to proceed with our work
R.S. KAMARA (Sierra Leone): I ask for the floor for the third time because of the fact that the greater part of my country, like many others, is largely rural. Topics which strike into the root causes of the slow rate of growth and development, particularly in the agricultural sector, are matters which we consider of great interest to my delegation. We therefore support the plan to convene a meeting on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development and find no quarrel with the proposals submitted to us this morning by Mr. Santa Cruz, whose introductory remarks we also appreciate, because it has thrown a lot of light on a number of issues.
Land tenure, as one delegate said this morning, is not agrarian reform, but you would also agree with me that it is an essential part. The arena of agricultural pursuit is the land which is still in great abundance in the developing countries, particularly in that part of Africa where I come from. In spite of this apparent advantage, a number of factors still limit the pace of development. One of these is land tenure. Whilst this topic has been largely debated in many circles, both by men in the streets as well as in the cloisters of the academic world, the matter is still regarded as one that is highly sensitive and to a large extent sacrosanct, because it is also highly political.
Nonetheless, my delegation feels that it should be a topic for discussion, especially in such places as in the Specialized Agencies of the United Nations, particularly the FAO. Land tenure seems to have a local character driving ties deep down in the way of life of people, and the problem varies from community to community even within the same country.
To this extent my delegation favours the approach outlined in Part 4 of Chapter 7 of document C 77/26, that is the regional and sub-regional approach, preferably the latter to start with because of the local nature of the problem. I would, however, have thought that the best approach would have been at the sub-regional level, then the regional level and finally the international level. Nonetheless, my delegation applauds the initiative taken by the Director General and FAO to start the dialogue. The problem, I believe, will be modified with the increasing level of radication. For now, the best approach is to improve the rural masses through sound agricultural policies such as marketing and credit facilities, since the cries for revision of land tenure practices come from commercial entrepreneurs.
Finally, when I was going to school, a sanitary engineer was called a plumber, and the activity or study now known as home economics was called domestic science. Thanks largely to the United States and sometimes to the United Nations, both the General Assembly as well as the Specialized Agencies, professional groups and bodies have been given new names aimed at heightening their status. A change of name, however, should not change the nature of the job previously undertaken.
I would therefore urge the FAO's activities in aiding rural development through the use of women undertaking activities such as home economics should not merely be a boost to some sub-faculty in a university or local institutions as we sometimes see. What is important is to improve the status of nutrition in the rural areas, and the best place to do this in the field among the peasants and not in the classroom. Only in this way can FAO's magnificent intentions be translated into reality for progress and development. We were particularly delighted this morning to have listened to the United States delegate's commitment and pledge for support for rural development and progress. We would also like to see many more developed countries gathered here pledge their support for these programmes, because the programmes are of particular interest to us.
CHAIRMAN: Before I give the floor to the next speaker, I would just like to draw your attention to the Draft Resolution that has just come out.
It bears the number C 77/LIM/36, it is dated the 19th November, and it is on the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, so when you address your self to this item, I think you should include this Resolution in your speech.
Q.H. HAQUE (Bangladesh): In the sixty-seventh and seventieth session of the Council when the progress of work on the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development was reviewed there was not much enthusiasm, in the sense that at that stage we knew that this Conference was going to be of limited scope and of a technical nature. At the fourth session of the Committee on Agriculture, the delegates were unanimous that there was need to expand the scope of this World Conference. The FAO was called upon to cover in this Conference the entire gamut of agrarian reform and rural development. This was the code in the 71st Session of the Council in July 1977, and the Council made some specific request and guidelines for implementation by the Director-General. The Council was of the opinion that this Conference should cover all aspects of agrarian reform and rural development, enlist the support of all Member Nations, participation should be at the appropriate level, Country Review Papers should be prepared, countries should be contacted in advance to enlist their support and interest, a High-Level Advisory Committee should be appointed and the full Secretariat should be entrusted with the task for preparation of the Conference.
We are happy to note that immediately after this Council Session the Director-General moved fast and a High-Level Advisory Committee has been constituted with fifteen members which had its first meeting in October of this year. We are very happy to note this Advisory Committee has been constituted with very eminent persons all over the world in the field of rural development and agrarian reform, some of which are quite often Ministers of Agriculture. I have had the opportunity of listening to the first session partly of the Advisory Committee, and I must admit the discussion was of very high level. Bangladesh has also contributed to this Committee through the inclusion of its eminent and distinguished Minister for Agriculture, who has long experience and distinguished record in the field of agriculture. He had the privilege of being associated with the Academy for Rural Development in Khulna, Bangladesh, which is not only known in our part of the world but also all over the world for its field oriented, action oriented programmes and achievements in the field of agriculture and rural development. The second step of the Director-General was in appointing Mr. Santa Cruz as his special representative. We heard Mr. Santa Cruz' opening statement he made this morning. We all know his distinguished record. We congratulate this appointment and assure Mr. Santa Cruz of our fullest support and cooperation. Similarly, the Director-General constituted an inter-governmental committee headed by the Assistant Director-General of social and economic department, namely Prof. Islam. As the distinguished delegate of the United States has stated we all know Mr. Islam, his brilliant academic record and his rich experience in universities and in governments. We are certain this combination of Mr. Santa Cruz and Professor Islam would go a long way in making the Conference a success and preparing useful and thoughtful papers and FAO inputs for the Conference. We assure Prof. Islam our fullest cooperation and support.
The other element was the preparation of Country Review Papers. We are happy to note that FAO has come forward to provide assistance to the countries who so request for the preparation of their Country Review Papers. We believe that the Country Review Papers would be a very essential and important input for the Conference on Agrarian Reform. We are also equally glad to note in the statement of the US delegate it was stated that USAID will be prepared to provide assistance for the preparation of Country Review Papers. The point regarding postponing by a little bit of the date I am happy that Mr. Santa Cruz has already responded to this point. I am sure within that time the Country Review Papers will be ready.
Coming to the objectives of the Conference, we agree with the outline stated by the distinguished delegate from the US and my colleague from Pakistan. As we heard Mr. Santa Cruz stating in the first meeting of the Advisory Committee it was also felt that this Conference should be policy orientated and not based on academics. To use the word, of the distinguished delegate of the US it should be action oriented in order to solve problems in the field of rural development and agrarian reform. We also believe that this Conference should focus largely on ways and means to increase agricultural productivity.
The third point we would say some mention has been made about the problems of long inheritance, land tenure, and so on. In our part of the World, the South Asian Sub-continent, we have been facing a problem of continuous fragmentation and sub-division of land due to loss of inheritance. It was mentioned, I believe I recall, by the distinguished delegate of India, and we support it, that this problem of continuous sub-division and fragmentation of agricultural land should also feature within the scope of this Conference.
We are happy to note in C 77/26 that the UN agencies are being involved in the preparation of this Conference. We are sure that the FAO will do its best to enlist the support and active participation of all concerned UN agencies.
Coming to the budget level, Mr. Chairman, we mentioned in our opening statement that in view of the enlarged scope of this Conference, we support the increase in the budget by 1.2 million US$. We had the break-up given by the Assistant Director-General for Programme and Budget, Mr. West, and we find the break-up reasonable.
Regarding the venue and the time of the Conference this will be suitable for us in Rome for 8 days' duration.
Regarding the representation level and composition, you would now find the table, the draft resolution C 77/LIM/36, this was through the Resolutions Committee, this morning, which I had the privilege to chair. In the operative paragraph you will find starting with the word”invites” and then you find the footnote where the Committee thought the word”invites” could be replaced by the word”recommended”. It was the feeling of the Committee, and we also feel as the delegate of Bangladesh, that each government will be free to choose its own delegation to the Conference, but mention was made that while doing so the sovereign countries could be requested, or the attention could be drawn, to representation by representatives of farmers and rural agricultural workers. We would support this point with the change that the word”invites” may be replaced by the word”recommended” as felt by the resolutions committee.
My concluding point is about the time frame and the size of documentation. We also believe the documentation for this Conference should be kept within the minimum limit, and steps should be taken for that documentation to be received by the member governments as early as possible.
Another point that we understand from C 7 7/26 is that the high level advisers committee would be meeting twice more before the Conference for Agrarian Reform. I was wondering if the Secretariat has any plans to formulate the wise advice of this advisory committee and circulate to the member nations. I am sure the contributions by this high level advisory committee would be valuable, and before the final documentation if the countries could be benefitted by the wise advice of this advisory committee perhaps that would be useful.
We will be participating at the general and also at the preparatory levels of discussion with this.
A. LOPES RIBEIRO (Portugal): Mr. Chairman, as our Minister of Agriculture said two days ago in Plenary Session in our country we have in course an Agrarian Reform process. This has not been an easy task, as you all can very well understand. If the process of Agrarian Reform is always difficult one can imagine how difficult it is when it takes place in a very old country where tradition and habits play an important role in rural life.
Portugal accumulated during many centuries a great number of problems as far as farming is concerned. As a matter of fact we have to face the minifundia problem in the North of the country and the latifundia in the South. Both have been constraints for agricultural development and this is the reason why our Government is paying great attention to this process and big efforts have been done in order to implement the new Agrarian Reform Law.
As I said before difficulties are great and we fully realize that we still have a long way to go before setting up our Agrarian Reform as we see it.
Being so, Mr. Chairman, we are looking with great enthusiasm for the next World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development. According to our limited possibilities Portugal is ready to give its full support to this Conference and we do hope to have an active participation in sharing our experience in this field, or giving advice from other countries and persons.
Regarding paper C 77/26 before us we are very glad to know a high level Advisory Committee of Experts to assist and advise the Director-General in the preparation for the World Conference was established and met already in October last.
Being aware that Mr. Santa Cruz has the responsibility to organize and lead the preparation for the Conference we have no doubt that it will be a great success and we all receive guidelines for our future work. In fact, Mr. Santa Cruz' experience in matters which we are to deal with, his deep knowledge, and his bright mind, give us the full guarantee for such success. The Portuguese Delegation is very happy to congratulate Mr. Santa Cruz for his appointment and we can assure him of our best cooperation.
From Mr. Santa Cruz' introduction this morning, we noted with satisfaction the intention to mobilize other organizations of the United Nations system to contribute within their respective terms of reference, to the Conference.
In fact, if the success of an Agrarian Reform is the promotion of the wellbeing of rural populations it must involve and integrate inputs coming from different services and agencies (financing, education, protection of the environment, public works, marketing, etc.)
Thus, an adequate cooperation of the various organizations of the UN System and others, under the leadership of FAO, seems to be essential.
This cooperation can be a good example for the set-up of integrated projects in our countries, the projects receiving international aid or not.
As I have the floor, Mr. Chairman, I would like to inform you, as well as the delegations here present, that by the beginning of next week the Portuguese Delegations shall have for distribution the translation into French of the new Agrarian Reform Law as well as the Land Renting law, approved by our Parliament some months ago.
As far as the draft resolution C 77/LIM/36 just submitted to us is concerned, we support it because it is very much in line with our Government policy.
A. GEREBEN (Hungary): My Government welcomes the idea of the World Confexence, on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development to be held in Rome in 1979 as suggested by the special representative of the Director-General, and agree to its objectives and provide support for it.
As requested by the FAO Director-General, we are going to establish an inter-disciplinary Ad Hoc Panel which will inform about experiences in socialist agricultural development and its effects on the life of Hungarian rural population and integrated rural development. We shall do our best to make this material available to FAO in due course.
I should like to remind you, Mr. Chairman, that the Hungarian Government attaches particular importance to agrarian reform and rural development. Farming systems and social-agricultural patterns are different in various countries, independently of their level of development. We consider this Conference a forward initiative which enables the mutually useful and adaptable elements of the various systems to be adopted and introduced.
We definitely suggest that the Regional Conference in 1978 discuss the subject of agrarian reform and rural development, and we give our support to the related ideas and concepts by the FAO Council.
M. SALEY (Niger): Compte tenu du nombre d'orateurs inscrits, je vais très brièvement dire que ma délégation accueille avec enthousiasme la Conférence mondiale sur la réforme agraire et le développement rural, en dépit de son coût relativement élevé, en particulier des postes”aides à la Conférence” et secrétariat, surtout coumpte tenu du fait que cette Conférence doit se tenir à Rome.
Ma délégation émet un doute quant à l'efficacité d'une participation des organisations de travailleurs ruraux, car si dans certains pays ces organisations existent, cela veut dire que ces travailleurs sont organisés et c'est précisément le mal chronique dont souffrent les pays en développement où l'on tente actuellement de sensibiliser, d'animer, de mobiliser ces masses rurales pour qu'elles prennent conscience de leurs propres problèmes de développement.
Par contre, la participation des organisations non gouvernementales peut être à nos yeux d'une utilité très importante pour la Conférence, étant donné que ces organisations sont les véritables représentants des agriculteurs, des femmes rurales, des travailleurs ruraux, en raison même de leur/domaine d'action.
Enfin, ma délégation s'associe aux recommandations quant à la méthodologie proposée par les délégués de la Colombie et des Etats-Unis d'Amérique.
J. BERTELING (Netherlands): My Government has always favoured the holding of the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, if prepared well and action oriented. Like Mr. Santa Cruz in his eloquent introduction, the Netherlands Government sees this Conference as one of a whole series of UN Conferences, all geared to the establishment of a new international and social order.
Reading the arrangements and other information available now my delegation is beginning to be convinced that the preparations will get off the ground. In fact, not much has happened during quite a number of months. I think that the comment made some days ago by the Representative of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, that the FAO had some problems with that Conference, has to do with this delay. Like the delegate of the United States, we expect that the recent nominations have changed the situation, and the Director-General has given the Conference the necessary top priority.
As well as the ILO, other United Nations agencies and regional commissions are very interested in this Conference, as is clear from paragraphs 4 - 6 of the document. I am glad that Mr. Santa Cruz elaborated on this, and we have full confidence in common cooperation.
The ACC Task Force on Joint Planning and Rural Development should also gear its work to the Conference. Hopefully the Conference can evaluate the first results of this first exercise in joint interagency planning.
Referring now to the suggestion about country review papers and the setting up of national panels of experts, I am glad to inform you that my Government is preparing a country review paper. Furthermore, I may mention also that the Netherlands Ministers for Development Cooperation and for Agriculture and Fisheries have appointed a high level advisory committee. This committee will advise the Ministers about the best and most concrete ways in which we can assist in the development of rural areas, and particularly the rural poor in developing countries. This committee will have to be very active in our preparation for the Conference.
My delegation is also in full agreement with the establishment of the high level advisory committee of experts. It is our hope that its forthcoming meetings will prove effective.
A short word on the role of the NGO's: My delegation read the relevant section of document C 77/LIM/10-Rev.1 with great care, and agrees with its contents. Nongovernmental organizations are important in the preparation of a Conference such as this, but are a necessity for the implementation of its results, especially farmer associations and farmer unions. We therefore have no problems with the Draft Resolution shown in C 77/LIM/36. However we think it is a little weak. In the first place my delegation would favour a more general Draft Resolution not only confined to the inclusion of non-governmental representatives in the delegations, but also in other aspects of the Conference.
The present text would be logically improved if it were to include in the second paragraph of the Preamble, after the words”Attain only” the words”by governments and”, because it is then clear that you need representatives of farmers and of rural agricultural workers organizations for the implementation.
My delegation is in agreement with the additional proposals which Mr. Santa Cruz made just now. I only hope that the proposed dates for the Conference are in line with the dates of the many other conferences to be held in 1979. In general, of course, July is not the best month to choose: as Mr. Santa Cruz is certainly well aware, INGSOC also has its summer session then.
May I conclude by pledging my government's full support for this Conference, in the hope that it will contribute much to the fulfillment of the basic needs of the people.
CD. SANCHEZ AVALOS (Argentina): Solamente deseo expresar una breve consideración en general, a la vez que ratificar el apoyo de mi país a esta Conferencia Mundial sobre Reforma Agraria y Desarrollo Rural. Mi delegación tiene la convicción de que la reforma agraria en sus connotaciones de tenencia de la tierra, no obstante las múltiples concepciones teóricas a que da lugar, constituye una cuestión típicamente política, habida cuenta que cualquier decisión tendiente a ponerla en práctica es atributo de la autoridad soberana de cada país que establece la naturaleza y características de sus instituciones nacionales básicas.
Por esta razón, juzgamos oportuno sugerir, en orden a las tareas de preparación de la Conferencia, la conveniencia de evitar toda posibilidad de que su programación encierre los riesgos de orientaciones reñidos con el ejercicio de las autonomías nacionales de decisión.
Por otra parte, creemos que la restante problemática del desarrollo rural debería así concentrar la atención de la Conferencia; es en este campo donde sin duda se pueden lograr aportes efectivos y concretos para acciones generalizadas, con el propósito de remover el espectro de limitaciones que afligen realmente a la agricultura y a la alimentación de los países en desarrollo.
L. LA CORTE (Venezuela): En nuestra delegación había un poco de temor realmente sobre la acogida que se le estaba dando a la celebración de esta Conferencia Mundial sobre Reforma Agraria y Desarrollo Rural. Afortunadamente hoy se nos han despejado todas esas dudas. No ha sido solamente una mayoría, sino que todos, todos los países, afortunadamente, están manifestando el apoyo que le prestan y que le van a prestar a la celebración de esta Conferencia. Eso nos satisface plenamente. En nuestro país le hemos dado grande importancia a la reforma agraria. Para nosotros es algo fundamental, la tenemos y la entendemos a nuestro modo respetando el modo de tenerla y de entenderla los demás, y hemos creído que para nosotros socialmente, política y económicamente, la intervención del campesino nuestro en el desarrollo nacional es realmente necesaria para nuestro país.
Afortunadamente tenemos otras riquezas y por ello habíamos descuidado ésta, pero la reforma agraria es para Venezuela, y deseamos que siga siendo por muchos años, el mejor de los instrumentos de la incorporación del hombre venezolano al desarrollo de Venezuela.
De ahí nuestra satisfacción, satisfacción que expresamos no solamente por estos hechos sino porque también tenemos la suerte de que entre el numero de asesores escogidos por el Director-General se encuentra un venezolano: el señor Armando González, Presidente de la Federación Campesina de Venezuela, y para nosotros eso tiene mayor relieve porque es justamente el representante de los campesinos venezolanos el que está hoy juntó con importantes figuras de la reforma agraria y de los conocimientos agrarios del mundo, es el representante de los campesinos venezolanos que se sienta con ellos opina junto con ellos y lo hace también como cualquiera de ellos. Y eso nos satisface y debemos expresarlo así. Y con ello estamos dando nuestro apoyo a que dentro de las delegaciones, por supuesto, para la celebración de esta conferencia se tome en cuenta a los agricultores, se tome en cuenta a los campesinos; a nosotros nos parece tan natural que éso sea así que realmente nos asombramos de que no pueda ser así, sería como no llamar a una conferencia de salud a los médicos, sería como no llamar a los ingenieros, a los arquitectos y a los matemáticos para una conferencia de la construcción; el llamar a una conferencia de reforma agraria para que nos reunamos los técnicos, los políticos, los economistas, los sociólogos y que oigan los campesinos no podría ser. Por eso nos parece tan natural que dentro de nuestras delegaciones haya la presencia efectiva y activa principalmente de los campesinos, que son los que conocen, los que han adquirido mayor experiencia sobre cómo marcha la reforma agraria en todos y cada uno de nuestros países. De manera que con ello estamos expresando esa satisfacción nuestra y la satisfacción de saber que la proposición que se hace es de que vengan representaciones de los agricultores y de los campesinos dentro de las delegaciones que asistan a esta Conferencia.
Nos satisface también plenamente la forma expresada sobre el apoyo económico para la realización de esta Conferencia. Nos llamaba la atención tantas manifestaciones de apoyo a la agricultura, tantas manifestaciones de apoyo sobre la necesidad de producir alimentos y nos llamaba la atención que los países más ricos, los más poderosos, los que más tienen, a la hora de contribuir económicamente para la realización de esta conferencia sacaran unas cuentas de que iban a invertir mucho; de manera que este apoyo que hoy se le está dando nos satisface plenamente también porque sabemos que la conferencia va a contar con un respaldo económico suficiente, tal como lo ha solicitado el señor Director General.
Sobre los otros aspectos no queremos discutir sobre si va antes la reforma agraria o el desarrollo rural. Nosotros respetamos el modo de pensar de cada país; tenemos el nuestro, para nosotros la reforma agraria es previa al desarrollo rural; si no hay reforma agraria, en nuestro concepto, no puede haber desarrollo rural y, al contrario, el desarrollo rural es, en nuestra opinión, el resultado positivo, efectivo, de la reforma agraria; mientras más profunda sea, mientras más efectiva sea la reforma agraria mayor desarrollo rural debe y tiene que haber en cada país. Al menos así lo vemos los venezolanos y así lo expresamos acá, repitiendo que respetamos el modo de ser y de entender el desarrollo rural y la refor-• ma agraria de cada país.
Terminamos, señor Presidente, diciendo además que nosotros expresamos nuestro apoyo sobre los puntos que nos ha presentado para pronunciamiento el señor Santa Cruz. Creemos que efectivamente ocho días son buenos, menos creemos que no bastarían, y más quizá podrían sobrar. Nos parece muy bien ocho días para un buen análisis de todos los documentos que habremos de conocer en esa conferencia.
Creemos que, por la importancia que tiene para el mundo de la agricultura y de la reforma agraria, deben participar en esta conferencia países que no sean miembros de la FAO pero que realmente tengan alguna voz que traer de experiencia y conocimiento a esta conferencia, enriqueciéndola así, y por eso nos
complace dar también nuestro apoyo a la aceptación de estos miembros y estas organizaciones distintas a los países miembros de la FAO.
Y en cuanto a la Comisión Preparatoria, nos parece también que es una buena idea, que ahí debemos examinar muy cerca de la conferencia toda la documentación que tengamos en nuestras manos y, por lo tanto, creemos que va a ser un formidable y buen instrumento para la celebración de esa conferencia.
Y en cuanto a la fecha, nos parece también que realmente dentro de las distintas conferencias y reuniones que hay anualmente ésta podría ser la mejor y más apropiada de las fechas.
Termino, pues, expresando la satisfacción de nuestro país en la forma y el modo como hoy estamos apoyando la realización de la Conferencia Mundial de Reforma Agraria y Desarrollo Rural.
S.S. MAHDI (India): Mr. Chairman, I will be rather brief. A number of very interesting points have been made and several additions have been given as to the contents of the Conference and the way it should be prepared. I listened with interest to the statement by the delegate of the U.S.A. and we are very satisfied to note that a large number of countries, the majority of them, both developed and developing, are expressing their commitments and showing their support for the success of the Conference.
However, since basically at the moment we are discussing only the arrangements, I would not like to go in detail on the substance of what the Conference should do and what we should expect from it, except that I would like to join those who want the Conference to be action-oriented at the highest level and leading to certain decisions - hard decisions - both at international and at national levels.
So far as this delegation is concerned we have expressed very strong support to the Conference, and in view of the fact that we are giving added emphasis to rural development and agricultural development, a great portion of our resources is being committed to this purpose. And not only that; we are trying to give a new orientation to the problems of rural development and to make them more employment orientated. We hope that the exchange of experience, comparing of notes about the constraints and the studies that will be undertaken in preparation for the Conference will be of assistance in the struggle that we have launched with renewed vigour.
So far as the arrangements are concerned, we agree with the suggestions made by the Secretariat both about the duration of the Conference as well as the suggestion that the preparatory commission should meet in advance in March, just two or three months before the Conference.
As far as the budget level is concerned we support it, but we also want to leave enough flexibility to the Secretariat so that the budgetary provision applied in a very rigid way should not hamper the Conference or the quality of these preparations.
In India we have also started making preparations for an active participation in the Conference, and this is manifested by the fact that the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation has already set up a working group which comprises of Senior Officers, not only of the Ministry but from the Planning Commission and other related units of government. So this is a token of our commitment to the success of the Conference.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, I am very much hopeful that under the able leadership of Mr. Santa Cruz and his colleagues we will see a very happy conclusion of this work which lead to some long-term and lasting action.
M. D. VASILIU (Roumanie): La Roumanie, pays en développement de la région européenne, accorde une grande importance à la prochaine Conférence mondiale sur la réforme agraire et le développement rural. Dès maintenant, par l'intermédiaire des institutions spécialisées, nous avons pris les mesures nécessaires pour participer activement à la préparation des travaux de cette Conférence.
Pour illustrer l'importance de cette mesure économique, je mentionnerai le fait qu'après la deuxième guerre mondiale, les agriculteurs roumains sont passés à la réalisation de la réforme agraire. En vue de favoriser cette action, l'Etat roumain a créé de grands organismes agricoles d'Etat et suscité des actions tendant à la mécanisation de l'agriculture. Je me bornerai à vous donner un exemple des résultats obtenus: dans notre pays, avant la réforme agraire, nous obtenions seulement, dans la plaine du
Danube, 800 à 900 kg de blé à l'hectare. Après cette réforme, nous avons enregistré une production constante se chiffrant entre 4 000 et 5 000 kg à l'hectare. Dans le même temps, alors que se réalisait la réforme agraire en Roumanie, nous avons commencé à organiser des coopératives agricoles ou de grands complexes intercoopératifs.
Bien évidemment, chaque pays peut bénéficier de l'expérience d'autres pays et adopter les mesures les plus efficaces pour améliorer ses conditions locales.
La délégation roumaine estime que la prochaine Conférence mondiale pour la réforme agraire et le développement rural fera faire un pas en avant à notre activité, et nous sommes convaincu que les échanges d'idées seront d'une réelle utilité pour les pays en développement.
Nous sommes d'accord avec les propositions présentées dans le document C 77/LIM/16 concernant l'organisation de la Conférence, compte tenu des échanges d'idées aux niveaux régional et sous-régional. Nous retenons qu'en vue de la préparation de la Conférence, la FAO crée les conditions propices pour que tous les pays puissent y participer et faire connaître leurs opinions dont on ne manquera pas de tenir compte par la suite.
La délégation roumaine fera tous ses efforts pour participer à la préparation de cette Conférence et cela pendant son déroulement même.
O. LUCO ECHEVERRIA (Chile): Mi delegación ha examinado el informe sobre los preparativos para la Conferencia sobre Reforma Agraria y Desarrollo Rural y no tiene mayores comentarios que formular sobre el contenido mismo del documento en que se da cuenta de tales preparativos.
No obstante, quisiera expresar algunas opiniones de carácter más general.
Cuando se decidió la celebración de esta conferencia en la reunión del Consejo de la FAO en junio de 1975, mi país expresó ciertas reservas acerca de esta iniciativa y ello no porque tengamos un punto de vista contrario a la reforma agraria en sí misma. De hecho, en Chile se ha llevado a cabo un proceso de reforma agraria que se inició hace ya más de catorce años y está culminando ahora con la asignación definitiva de la tierra a los campesinos.
Quizá por este motivo mi delegación ve en este momento con simpatía la propuesta de Colombia en el sentido de alterar los términos de como se denomina la Conferencia, en el sentido de llamarla Conferencia de Desarrollo Rural y Reforma Agraria.
Es evidente que Chile es un caso particular, porque aproximadamente - excúseme señor Presidente de que dé cifras aproximadas - es del orden del 50 por ciento de la tierra que fue objeto de cambio de tenencia; alrededor de un 25 por ciento por motivos de herencia y en forma natural se transformó en predios de pequeña extensión. Lo que nos preocupa mucho en este momento es que tenemos un porcentaje alto de nuestra tierra productiva en condiciones de minifundio y ésta es una de las situaciones que actualmente se analizan por parte del Gobierno de Chile para tratar de darle una solución. El minifundio es algo difícil de encontrarle una adecuada respuesta para todas aquellas familias que viven en situaciones no aceptables. El resto de la superficie de mi país está en parques nacionales y reservas forestales, de manera que actualmente se podría decir que predios de gran extensión agrícola no existen.
He hecho este paréntesis para indicar que en este momento mi Gobierno está empeñado en poder realizar un desarrollo rural acelerado tomando en consideración que la mayor parte de la tierra está en poder de campesinos con una superficie reducida de tierra.
Es también una preocupación constante, como acabo de decir, de mi Gobierno el asegurar un mayor desarrollo rural mejorando las condiciones de vida y trabajo de los pequeños agricultores que constituyen el nucleo más importante y numeroso de los productores agrícolas de Chile.
La reforma agraria es una iniciativa que responde a las necesidades y a la situación particular de cada país y eso debe tenerse muy presente. Para algunos, la reforma agraria puede ser innecesaria y hasta inconveniente, mientras que para otros puede llegar a ser una condición indispensable para acelerar el desarrollo y mejorar el nivel de vida de la población agraria. Incluso dentro de estos últimos países existen notables diferencias en cuanto a la modalidad de proceso, incluyendo los distintos sistemas de tenencia de la tierra; de ahí que tanto la decisión sobre llevar a cabo una reforma agraria,como acerca de las modalidades y procedimientos para hacerlo es una cuestión interna de los países estrechamente condicionado por la situación de cada uno de ellos en sus multiples aspectos. De ahí que insistamos una vez más que para que este evento tenga utilidad es indispensable que sea enfocado desde un punto de vista de eminente equilibrio, ponderación y realismo y dentro de un marco muy bien definido en cuanto a su temario.
Poreso el proceso de preparación de la conferencia es asunto que nos interesa en alto grado. Los preparativos y estudios previos que se lleven a cabo antes de una reunión internacional tienen una importante influencia en el tono y en la dirección general que asumen los debates finales y, por lo tanto, en la naturaleza y carácter de las resoluciones o recomendaciones que en ella se adopten.
Nosotros quisiéramos que la Conferencia de que se trata se fundamente en el examen de los problemas reales que afectan a los países en lo que se refiere al desarrollo rural, incluyendo aquellos problemas de carácter económico y social que emergen como consecuencia misma de la reforma agraria. Quisiéramos que esta conferencia no sólo resulten de ella declaraciones abstractas sin ningún valor práctico, sino que, por el contrario surjan iniciativas valiosas que conduzcan en último término a una moyor atención de la comunidad internacional a los países en desarrollo para ayudarles a superar los numerosos y urgentes problemas que afectan negativamente al progreso de la agricultura y al nivel de vida de los pequeños agricultores.
Abrigamos la esperanza de que los preparativos que se seguirán elaborando para llevar a cabo la conferencia se orienten hacia estos objetivos de primordial importancia.
M.K. AL-SIKOOTI (Iraq) (interpretation from Arabic): The Iraqi delegation wholeheartedly supports the holding of a World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development. We think this is extremely important for transforming the rural areas, not only from the economic angle but also from the social angle which plays a very important part in development as a whole.
This Conference will provide an excellent opportunity for the exchange of ideas and experiences on agrarian reform. Iraq has vast experience in this field and can help many countries, and we also hope that we shall benefit from other people's experiences.
We support everything that was said by Dr. Santa-Cruz about the Conference, we support the principle of holding the Conference and we also agree that agricultural unions should be represented at it.
J. RUTKOWSKI (Poland): We attach great importance to this Conference, we intend to participate in it and we shall try to contribute as much as possible. We shall naturally prepare a Country Review Paper, I hope in the time necessary for the Conference. We are also in broad agreement with the arrangements and timing of the Conference as presented by Dr. Santa-Cruz.
Now I have a few remarks regarding the aims of the Conference, which have been formulated in a very general way, so that probably many people will give a different interpretation of them. However, we really do not think it is worth discussing it in detail now because it would be very difficult to reach a consensus.
In any case, what we can expect from Conference is, in our opinion, that we should gain a better knowledge of problems as they are now in the 1970's. Secondly, we can draw the attention of bodies, governments and the public to the authorities which exist now. Thirdly, we shall probably be able to identify the countries which are in need of the services of FAO and of help from other international bodies. If we can design some alternative strategies for development, that will be the great achievement of this Conference.
We would like to stress one point, that of course the technical and social aspects should be discussed, because at present in the world problems cannot be solved on the technical side alone.
M. DESSOUKI (Egypt) (interpretation from Arabic): A few weeks ago we celebrated the 25th anniversary of agrarian reform in Egypt, but we are continuing with our evolution of agrarian reform from year to year. That is why we noted with great satisfaction the efforts made by our Organization last year in order to prepare for a World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development. We are convinced that efforts will be multiplied in the two coming years in the preparation for the Conference and its follow-up.
We have also followed with interest the evolution of objectives and subjects which will be discussed at the Conference; we approve of them and that is why we are in favour of issuing invitations to all the countries and organizations mentioned.
I would now like to touch upon the role of rural women, both from an economic and from a social point of view. In my view, the Organization should encourage Member Nations and participating organizations to ensure that women are represented in force at that Conference.
I would like to support the encouraging remarks and proposals of the delegate of the United States, and those of Pakistan. There were excellent ideas for subjects which may be debated during the Conference, as well as with respect to the way the proposals should be presented.
M. TRKULJA (Yugoslavia): I shall confine myself to the issues relevant to the preparations for the Conference. Right from the outset, we thought that there was no middle path solution, consequently we were confronted with either having the full scope of a Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development well prepared, and organized, or not having it at all. In this sense, like many others, we are satisfied that the original limited concept has changed and the preparations for the full scope of the Conference are well under way.
Now some very specific reflections on the items put before us by Dr. Santa-Cruz. First, we agree with the measures taken, that is the setting-up of a high-level Advisory Committee. We agree with the appointment of the Special Representative of the Director-General, Dr. Santa-Cruz, whom we all know, and - as he himself said - he is a very good friend of my country. We also agree with the establishment of an interdepartmental committee headed by Dr. Nurul Islam, again a very well-known personality.
Further, we agree with the proposed open-ended committee of the widest possible scope, as was proposed, to include members of FAO, non-members, members of the United Nations and agencies, non-governmental agencies, including, of course, proper representation of the farmers and farm workers. May I indicate that my country is quite prepared to take full part in the preparations as well as at the Conference itself.
We are glad to hear a special indication by the United States delegation that even some financial support might be given to the sucessful preparation of the Conference.
Now a few words on the Resolution. I expected to see a much broader content under such a general title, World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, so my concern is of the same nature as the concern of the Netherlands. I would even suggest that I agree completely with the motive of the Resolution, that is, inclusion of delegations or Representatives of farmers and agricultural workers in the national delegations; I agree completely. I would rather suggest that a broader text cover all the relevant points, including, of course, the specific message of the Conference or the Resolution included in LIM/36.
S. JUMA'A (Jordan) (interpretation from Arabic): When we were just discussing the idea of a Conference, we were not really very enthusiastic about it for several reasons that I am not going to go into here, but now that we have heard the points of view of other countries that have taken part in the discussion on the matter, we no longer have any hesitations, because we accept the idea of holding a Conference, but feel it should be very, very, carefully prepared, otherwise the results of such a Conference will not be satisfactory and they might even be negative. That is why the Director-General appointed Dr. Santa-Cruz to the very delicate and difficult task he has to carry out. We have no doubt as to the value of the person involved. Dr. Santa-Cruz, thanks to his wisdom and competence, will make sure that the Conference is crowned with success. As a developing country, we shall certainly give every help and make sure that our Country Review Reports are prepared concerning agrarian reform and integrated rural development. In spite of the fact that Jordan is only a small country, we do have quite an appreciable experience in agrarian reform and integrated rural development. We have gone through many stages and feel that many other countries can profit, if only to a small extent, from our experience.
We do not think that inviting an enormous amount of participants will ensure success. If too many delegations come, if delegations are too large, if all farm workers' unions are represented, we fear our Conference will become a fish market, it will be difficult to see our way, it will be difficult to choose between the good and the mediocre. We must therefore prepare the Conference very carefully indeed and draw upon our experience of other international conferences. In fact, we feel that the larger the numbers, the more negative the effects of the Conference will be, and we feel that this has been the case in a number of international conferences, because sometimes the results of a Conference with too many participants have not been up to the level hoped for. They have on occasion become political fora rather than dealing with the essential subject under discussion, the reason why the Conference was organized in the first place.
That is why I am convinced that the request made to governments is not really right. You cannot ask governments that. You can ask them to consider a possibility, but you cannot request each country to ensure that certain specific workers or farmers are sent to the Conference. Each country has the sovereign right to choose the composition of its delegation, so perhaps it is not necessary to adopt a Resolution along these lines. I think that we can perfectly well restrict ourselves to say in the Report on this debate that some delegations expressed the hope that amongst delegations present there should also to representatives of trade unions and agricultural associations.
Turning now to the procedures to be adopted for organizing the Conference and the steps which will be taken later, we think that we now have a pretty clear picture of the situation and we think that eight days for the Conference and the date proposed for the holding of it deserves our support, and we promise Dr. Santa-Cruz that we will make every effort to support and help him so that the Conference may be more fruitful than other international conferences on this subject have been.
K.TANOUCHEV (Bulgarie): Monsieur le Président, la délégation bulgare a eu la possibilité de donner son appui à l'Organisation de la Conférence mondiale sur la, réforme agraire et le développement rural aux sessions précédentes de la Conférence et du Conseil. C'est pourquoi, ayant devant les yeux le document C 77/26, nous voudrions attirer votre attention sur les dispositions envisagées pour la préparation de la Conférence.
Sans doute, le schéma envoyé aux pays membres pourra servir d'instructions utiles pour la préparation des rapports nationaux. Il facilitera ensuite l'élaboration et la rédaotion des documents pour la Conférence.
Cependant, l'évolution spécifique et les différences essentielles dans les structures socio-économiques d'un pays â l'autre imposeront certaines déviations plus ou moins significatives du schéma donné. Dans bon nombre de pays ayant déjà réalisé la réforme agraire, comme c'est le cas pour la Bulgarie, les données exigées par le schéma pour la structure sociale dans le secteur agricole, le régime foncier, la fragmentation des terres dans les exploitations agricoles, l'emploi et le chômage, ces données, après la réalisation de la réforme agraire en 1946 et après la collectivisation - ou comme nous disons la coopérâtisation entière de notre agriculture accomplie 25 ans auparavant, représentent une histoire triste déjà oubliée du développement agricole du pays. Il serait donc difficile, pour ne pas dire impossible, de fournir les données détaillées exigées par ce schéma.
Nous considérons que la participation aux activités préparatoires à la Conférence sur la réforme agraire et le développement rural d'un nombre important d'organisations et d'institutions internationales hautement compétentes, ainsi que l'initiative prise d'assurer la participation d'un maximum possible de pays intéressés, y compris des pays non membres de la FAO mais faisant partie de l'Organisation des Nations Unies et des institutions spécialisées, contribuera sans doute au succès de la Conférence.
Nous appuyons vivement cette initiative et croyons que notre Conférence donnera au Directeur général l'autorisation nécessaire lui permettant d'inviter à la Conférence mondiale sur la réforme agraire, les gouvernements de tous les pays intéressés.
Nous sommes dono d'accord sur les propositions formulées par la 71e session du Conseil suggérant que les aspects régionaux et sous-régionaux de la réforme agraire et du développement rural soient examinés par les conférences régionales en 1978·
Nous appuyons aussi les démarches entreprises par le Directeur général tendant à la constitution d'un comité consultatif d'experts de haut niveau et à l'établissement d'une unité opérationnelle chargée de la préparation de la Conférence sous la direction de M. Santa Cruz qui, nous en sommes convaincus, fera tout son possible pour organiser de façon excellente cette conférence.
En conclusion, je voudrais donner notre appui au projet de résolution présenté dans le document C 77/LIM 36 et ayant trait à la Conférence mondiale sur la réforme agraire et le développement rural.
Sra. Dona G. RIVERA MARIN DE ITURBE (México): Deseo felicitarle en nombre de nuestra delegación por su elección como Presidente de esta Segunda Comisión. Asimismo deseo felicitarle al señor Hernán Santa Cruz, tanto por su designación como Representante Especial del Director General en la Conferencia Mundial sobre Reforma Agraria y Desarrollo Rural como por su importante y clara presentación sobre los preparativos de la Conferencia los cuales sometió a nuestra consideración esta mañana. A este respecto me permito informar que el Gobierno de mi país da todo su apoyo a la celebración
de este evento, en el cual se hará a muy alto nivel científico y técnico una evaluación de los resultados de las reformas agrarias realizadas en diferentes países del mundo, y entre ellos en el mío propio. De esta evaluación seguramente surgirán conclusiones y entre ellas la que corresponde a que las políticas del reparto de la tierra han conducido a la reducción de la parcela hasta límites que no permiten ni siquiera la subsistencia familiar; en lugar de ser beneficiosa para el campesino, lo han condicionado a su humillación a las ciudades en donde pasa a aumentar la población desarraigada, y lo que es más grave, a aumentar el número de desempleados.
Este es sólo un ejemplo de los resultados obtenidos cuando una reforma agraria se basa sólo en el reparto de la tierra, sin tomarse en cuenta una acción integrada dentro del enfoque del desarrollo rural. Es por ello que complace tanto a mi delegación el que ahora la FAO haya señalado como parte básica de la Conferencia los temas del desarrollo rural y todo lo que ello implica desde el punto de vista de la ciencia y tecnología, en tanto consideramos que el único método que puede adaptarse si se busca obtener como resultados recomendaciones que lleven a la elevación efectiva de los niveles de vida tanto en el aspecto político como en los aspectos sociales y económicos de los campesinos y los trabajadores del campo del mundo entero.
En este aspecto de la elevación del nivel de vida del campesino, nuestra delegación desea enfatizar un punto de vital importancia para los países en desarrollo, y que ya ha sido mencioando por otras delegaciones; y es el relativo a la incorporación de la mujer campesina en este proceso de desarrollo rural integrado, tal y como ha sido considerado en el proyecto de Agende de la Conferencia; pues como es de todos conocido, la mujer campesina tiene en múltiples ocasiones la responsabilidad, no sólo de atender las necesidades diarias de su familia, sino aún de trabajar la tierra desde el inicio de la siembra hasta la obtención de la cosecha, combinando las dos actividades, sin obtener por ell más fruto ni remuneración que un producto insuficiente para alimentar y menos aún para nutrir a su familia. Esta situación de la mujer campesina llega en muchas ocasiones a constituir una forma auténtica de esclavitud y de enajenación, pues ella, a lo largo de su vida, no puede ni siquiera pretender educarse o superarse con miras a lograr su liberación, sino antes bien permanece atada en estas cadenas de la miseria a un suelo que le niega hasta los más elementales de los recursos.
Ahora bien, si consideramos que en término medio la mujer constituye el 50 por ciento de la población rural de los países en desarrollo, dejar de considerar en manera prioritaria las medidas que habrán de tomarse para incorporarla al desarrollo rural hubiera equivalido a descuidar la mitad de los factores a su desarrollo. Es por ello que apoyamos las intervenciones de todos los delegados que nos han precedido en el uso de la palabra, reconociendo la necesidad de que la Conferencia se ocupe de manera prioritaria de estos problemas.
Por ello nos felicitamos de que el tema de la mujer campesina se vaya a analizar con la debida atención y, por último, la delegación mexicana apoya enfáticamente las propuestas presentadas por el Director General en el sentido de términos y modalidades en que habrá de llevarse a cabo la Conferencia de la Reforma Agraria, lo mismo que considera parte importante de la decisión que se tome en esta reunión; que se apruebe el vasto nivel de presupuesto presentado, en virtud de que resulta obvio que sin el apoyo financiero adecuado todos los sectores operativos de la Conferencia no podrían llevarse a cabo con el éxito que deseamos que ésta tenga. Además mi país por este conducto ofrece su colaboración para trabajar estrechamente con los responsables de la misma en el Comité preparatorio y en el desarrollo de la Conferencia, que esperamos tenga un éxito de vital importancia para el mundo, y que deberá celebrarse en julio de 1979·
J.P. LEVISTE, Jr. (Philippines): We would like to present some comments on the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development under our second intervention. As a background, Mr. Chairman, let us start with the assumption that there have been some unprecedented rates of economic growth for the world economy as well as for the developing countries in the last few decades. These unprecedented rates of economic growth, however, have been more the exception rather than the rule, This growth has also been unevenly distributed both within and across nations. The gap between developing and developed nations has not really been bridged at all. Among the developing nations only a few countries have been able to pioneer a developmental process which has brought substantial benefits to the poor. In the great number of countries, not only has growth failed to bring about any tangible improvement of the poverty groups but it has even served to widen the gap between the rich and the poor, and to accentuate urban-rural disparities. Indeed the rich get richer and the poor cannot be any poorer. In this context the forthcoming World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development will be a most welcome endeavour. It will enable the member nations to assess their expertise and their progress, or lack of progress. It may enable us to discover the reasons why our efforts have not brought about a growth process which would have raised the living conditions and standards of most of the rural poor. But this is not enough. If all we will
have are assessments and reviews of what is wrong with the voluminous and suffocating documentation that attend these conferences, then this Conference will have failed even before we have begun. What this Conference must provide is an agenda for action, for immediate action. It must identify areas where agrarian unrest is most abused and areas where rural development is most needed. It is for these reasons that the Philippines delegation give the Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development support on its funding requirements, not because we need another conference but because we need an agenda for action on these two most vital issues to the developing countries.
The Philippines were really most interested in the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development. This is seen by the paramount importance given by the Philippine Government to the problem of agrarian reform and rural development.
We have long realized that agrarian reform understood as land distribution alone cannot solve the
problem of poverty in the rural areas. The small farmer has to be provided with a package of inputs-credits, fertilizers, pesticides, high-yielding variety seeds and the extension organization to help disseminate the technology to apply these inputs. He has to be provided with proper incentives in the form of price support for his agricultural production, and a marketing system in order to assure a fair return for his labour.
A massive government effort, therefore, to help a farmer carve his own destiny from the fruits of his labour and hopefully his land is necessary. To paraphrase the Philippine Constitution we must free the farmer from”the bondage of the soil”. These efforts have been reflected in the agricultural and rural development policy thrusts of our country.
Our President, President Ferdinand Marcos reiterated these commitments in his address at the opening sessions of the Third Ministerial Session of the World Food Council held in Manila on June 20, 1977, by reiterating that,”Our national development plan is anchored on a purposive effort to shift resources and priorities from the urban sector to the rural.”
This commitment was consistently affirmed in all major policy documents that have since been issued by the Philippine Government, notably the five-year development plan, the Agricultural Credit Plan, and the National Budget for the coming calendar year.
Our Government have also taken the initiative of preparing a programme, of sending national government officials and employees, from the highest ministers to the most basic members of our organizations, governmental organizations, to go and live in the ruralareas and work for two weeks every year as part of a governmental commitment to the countryside.
The need to balance total development in favour of the countryside impels our government to restructure its own budget for the coming year. Some fifty-six percent of the budget will be for activities with rural development components, such as utilities and infrastructure, housing, social welfare and other requirements of countryside development.
Aside from this massive government effort for a total development in favour of the countryside, there are now four integrated rural development programmes funded and conceived by our Government yet funded with the support of the IBRD, USAID, the Japanese OCEF and the Australian ADAB, with close support and coordination by our local government organization for a more concentrated attack on the problem of rural development in four depressed areas within the Philippines. I stress that our world development programmes involved not only the national government but also involved our local government organizations.
We are ready to share our experience in agrarian reform and rural development. We cannot clain to have all the answers to all the questions, for there are questions which have no answers and there are problems which have no solutions. However, we must reiterate that the political will of a nation is the most important factor in its desire to help itself. If a government does not give it the priority it deserves, then no amount of conferences can solve its problem. The government's political will is not enough. The people, who are the ultimate beneficiaries of rural development, must be involved. They must develop the capacity to help themselves. They must be committed to governments' political will. This we have seen in the Philippines experience.
Our attention has been called to the sixth report of the Resolutions Committee, which had its meeting on November 19th, examined and found receivable a Draft Resolution on the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development proposed by the delegations of Cuba, Guinea, Italy, Peru, Sweden and Venezuela. I shall not read the full text of the Resolution as it is transmitted to Commission II. I will simply say the Resolutions calls on government participation in the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development to consider the inclusion of the national delegations of representatives of farmers and rural agricultural workers' organizations. For purposes of the record, Mr. Chairman, on
behalf of the Philippine delegation we would like to commit our support for such a resolution proposed by the delegations of Cuba, Guinea, Italy, Peru, Sweden and Venezuela. We would like to add further, however, and would like to present for the consideration of the committee that this indication to governments participating in the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development to consider not only the inclusion of national delegations of representatives of farmers and rural agricultural workers organizations, but to specifically add the inclusion of representatives from the local governments of the various governments participating in the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development. We hope that this proposal will find merit with the proponents of the Resolution and the other countries who see fit to see the inclusion of local governments, since this basic governmental organization is a link with the heart of our people, the majority of our people who are in the rural areas. So we would like to add this amendment for the consideration of the Commission.
Finally on behalf of the Philippines delegation, we do hope that the Conference can focus on those issues which concern us all and, as we have repeatedly reiterated, this Conference must prepare an output which should be in line with this immediate agenda of action in the areas of acute agrarian unrest and areas of great rural/urban disparities. Only then can we really say that our preparations and our support shall not have been in vain.
G.P. KAMILARIS (Cyprus): In view of the limited time available, my statement will be quite short and concise.
It is with great interest that the Cyprus delegation follows the FAO efforts and preparations to convene the Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, We strongly support the convention of such a conference, for we believe that the issue of agricultural development cannot be merely the outcome of financial and technical considerations alone, but of institutional considerations as well. We further believe that agrarian reform and rural development are closely interlinked and interdependent essential elements in a rural developmental strategy. One cannot talk about, or try to promote, rural development, if one leaves out the issue of agrarian reform in its wider context, to include land tenure considerations and structures, availability of credit, improvement of marketing systems, institutional aspects of a social-economic nature, provision of processing facilities, etc.
It is undeniably true that the issue of agrarian reform is a difficult and complex undertaking. Nevertheless it is an essential issue to be tackled and resolved to the benefit of the rural poor if one expects an integrated and equitable advancement of agriculture and rural development in general.
Consequently, both the title of this Conference and its context, which have been commented on earlier, are considered appropriate by us. However, we believe that the Conference should not develop into a theoretical and academic exercise, but should extend to be practical and problem solving, and hopefully come out with useful and contributory conclusions, rather than develop into confrontation and confusion.
In conclusion we would like to pledge our full support to the Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, and we hope that it will be successful in its objectives.
M. BUENO (España): Quisiera felicitar al Director General de la FAO por el acierto que ha tenido al elegir como responsable de la organización de esta Conferencia al Sr. Santa Cruz. Dadas las cualidades personales del Sr. Santa Cruz esta designación supone una garantía del éxito que deseamos para la Conferencia.
En relación con la Conferencia misma, nuestra delegación la apoya con gran énfasis y esto es lógico si el objetivo final de esta Conferencia es mejorar la calidad de vida de la población rural y, sobre todo, disminuir las irritantes diferencias que existen dentro de la población rural y entre ésta y la urbana. Es evidente que en la Europa meridional estas diferencias vienen acentuándose alarmadamente como consecuencia de la crisis económica que estamos padeciendo y su impacto sobre el empleo, especialmente sobre el empleo de la juventud, hace que sea de gran interés para nosotros el tema de la Conferencia. Creemos que es de gran actualidad y ello ha sido puesto de manifiesto por nuestro Ministro de Agricultura en la sesión plenaria que ha tenido lugar hace unos días y se han tomado ya por la parte española las medidas necesarias para cumplir las recomendaciones que se vienen haciendo en relación con la preparación de los informes nacionales previstos.
En relación con los cuatro puntos concretos que figuran en la propuesta de resolución presentada esta mañana por el Sr. Santa Cruz, la delegación española se muestra totalmente de acuerdo; en todo caso existen problemas de orden práctico para facilitar la redacción en el plazo previsto de los informes
nacionales a la vista de las nuevas orientaciones, o ampliaciones de las orientaciones, que figuraban en el esquema del programa para la redacción de los informes nacionales.
Creemos que este programa habrá que desarrollarlo en los grandes temas en que deben de agruparse los distintos aspectos del tema general de la Conferencia y esperamos hacer estas aclaraciones a nivel de la Dirección de Recursos Humanos, Instituciones y Reforma Agraria, como se nos invita a hacer en el documento en que nos proponen el esquema de programa de informes nacionales.
Y. LIKE (Ethiopia): First of all, I would like to congratulate Mr. Santa Cruz upon his appointment as Special Representative of the Director-General. The Ethiopian delegation looks forward enthusiastically to the forthcoming Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development. We have established a national committee to prepare the country paper. We would like to underline the importance of focusing on political parameters in so far as they will lead to agricultural development.
In our recent experience, the resolution of the land question is a prerequisite to undertake any meaningful measure to improve the condition of rural life.
We do not share the view of the delegate of Colombia regarding reversal of the title of the Conference to the”Rural Development and Agrarian Reform”. We would however like to associate ourselves with the views of the delegates of Venezuela and Chile, who rightly emphasize land reform as a theme, or centre of agrarian reform and rural development.
We also believe that the country papers should be given high emphasis, as the success of the agrarian reform and rural development primarily depends upon the contributions made by these or by the respective countries. It is they who can give us their thoughts about the land situation in their own countries, and rural development generally, and how they go about improving the status quo. Therefore, their contributions should not be undervalued - although we also believe that FAO can contribute tremendously to making the Conference successful.
To comment on the issue upon which decision is requested by the Special Representative: we endorse the proposals of the Special Representative of the Director-General including participation of other non-FAO but UN member countries, and of inter-government, and other, organizations which are in one way or another associated with FAO's work.
Finally, we would also like to support the Resolution submitted by the delegates of Cuba, Guinea, Italy, Peru, Sweden and Venezuela - subject to two comments:
One refers to the third paragraph:”Recalling also that the overall progress achieved has not really made any inroads on the destitution of the rural masses, who in most countries remain outside the mainstream of social and economic development and continue to suffer from unemployment, underemployment, hunger and malnutrition”. We would like to reverse the order of the words”unemployment” and”underemployment”. We believe that the present situation is not primarily one of unemployment, which is secondary, but rather of underemployment. As many of you are aware, family labour is a major input for agricultural production in these countries and it may be that because of lack of sufficient skill, technical know-how, and modern technology, one and a half people may be employed on work which could be done by only one person. Therefore, we would like to emphasize underemployment as opposed to unemployment. If the word”underemployment'” could be brought forward, that would satisfy our need.
In the last paragraph, we would welcome the substitution of the word”recommends” for the word”invites”.
In the second last sentence, we have the words”... Development to consider the inclusion”. We would like to cancel out the words”to consider”. We think this is important in order not to weaken the statement unnecessarily. We also believe that since the word”recommends” does not force any country or its government to accept it or not but leaves them free to make their own decisions, the words”to consider” are redundant in that case. So the final paragraph would therefore read:”“Recommends... the inclusion in their national delegations of representatives of farmers' and rural agricultural workers' organizations”. We would like to indicate here that this statement would give due recognition of the need of farmers to be represented in such an important Conference.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, I am sorry I have to take you back to what you already declared closed, but I did not have the opportunity to see the Draft Resolution by the distinguished delegate from Spain. I want clarification to be made before you officially declare it closed.
CHAIRMAN: Excuse me, the delegate of Ethiopia, but after we have finished this debate. We can speak about that at the end of this discussion, otherwise we will get mixed up in our debate. I know what you are referring to.
K. CHOUERI (Liban) (interprétation de l'arabe): Ma délégation a écouté avec toute son attention l'intervention de M, Santa-Cruz, représentant le Directeur général de la FAO, en ce qui concerne la préparation de la Conférence mondiale sur la réforme agraire et le développment rural. Elle est d'accord sur la création d'un groupe d'experts en vue de la préparation de cette Conférence; ce groupe a d'ailleurs commencé ses travaux depuis un mois, et nous espérons que son rapport sera prêt au mois de février prochain.
Notre délégation a toujours fait appel à la mobilisation de tous les moyens disponibles pour la réussite de cette Conférence.
En raison de l'importance que nous attachons au développement rural, nous avons eu certains doutes lors des premières propositions visant à ce que cette Conférence soit envisagée sous un angle purement technique, limitant ainsi sa portée. Nous voudrions que cette Conférence soit technique mais qu'elle ait le retentissement et la dimension qu'elle mérite.
Il va sans dire que le budget proposé pour cette Conférence, si nous l'adoptons tel quel - et cela a été le cas pour d'autres conférences internationales qui n'ont pas eu de résultats probants - doit bénéficier de notre appui total en vue de la réussite des objectifs fixés par le Directeur général pour cette Conférence qui servira les intérêts du monde rural et aboutira à des solutions aux problèmes sociaux des populations rurales.
De même, cette Conférence doit établir la base nécessaire aux investissements dans les zones rurales, ce qui est pour nous le fondement même du développement de la production, en plus de la mobilisation de la main-d'oeuvre.
M. Santa Cruz a rappelé les démarches évoquées dans le document C 77/26; des mesures ont déjà été prises ce dont nous le félicitons.
Nous voudrions dire ici que dans le cadre de la préparation des documents et rapports nous ne sommes pas favorables à un nombre accru des documents théoriques et généraux alors que nous avons besoin d'une étude approfondie des sujets et d'une préparation des documents dans toutes les langues de la Conférence.
Nos espérances sont grandes pour la réalisation des objectifs de la Conférence et nous souhaitons une amélioration des conditions de vie de l'homme dans le monde rural, car l'homme est notre capital essentiel.
B.E. MATAMOROS HUECK (Nicaragua): Mi delegación desea, ante todo, felicitar al Sr. Santa Cruz por su nombramiento tan importante para dirigir las labores en la preparación de la Conferencia Mundial sobre Reforma Agraria y Desarrollo Rural.
Deseamos también felicitarlo por la explicación clara que nos presentó esta mañana y que es un elemento importante que ha contribuido a formular criterios y orientaciones que han sido de utilidad para las delegaciones aquí presentes en este debate.
En cuanto al tema que estamos tratando, es criterio de nuestra delegación que existe un acuerdo sobre lo que es el concepto básico de reforma agraria, pero que sin embargo la implernentación de la misma varía según las características nacionales, las condiciones económico-sociales e históricas de los países. Según nuestro criterio/ la reforma agraria es uno de los factores esenciales del proceso de desarrollo, pero a este factor deben agregarse también otros factores que a criterio nuestro influyen y determinan el proceso de desarrollo, como son las otras actividades y políticas orientadas a complementar todos sus aspectos, es decir, el crédito, la asistencia técnica, los niveles nutricionales, la capacitación de las masas campesinas y los procesos de comercialización de la producción.
Ha entendido nuestro señor Presidente en esta Conferencia que deberá llevar un enfoque global e integrado de estos aspectos. En cuanto al esquema que se ha presentado para que lo compilen los países, mi delegación sentirá que es muy importante en cuanto consiste en un elemento indicativo sobre las
labores que deberán iniciarse para su preparación. Mi país, señor Presidente, está de acuerdo en este procedimiento y también estaría dispuesto a recibir la asistencia en ese sentido que le puedan dar los expertos de la FAO. Creemos sí que para la presentación del mismo a la fecha límite que se había sugerido inicialmente debería de darse una cierta flexibilidad; creemos que es de suma importancia que estos estudios deberían de estar listos y considerados durante las conferencias regionales de los países que se efectuarán en 1978; creemos también que en las mismas deberá hacerse un análisis y una evaluación sobre la experiencia que los países a nivel nacional,subregional y regional han alcanzado en materia de reforma agraria y desarrollo rural.
Mi delegación considera que la tarea de efectuar el análisis y la evaluación de los estudios por países de parte de Secretaría sería un cómputo excesivo para la misma; creemos que en este caso la función de las conferencias regionales sirve para compilar los datos, efectuar los análisis y la evaluación que en esta materia pueden simplificar y agilizar el trabajo de la Secretaría. En este sentido me refiero también al párrafo 3 del documento 77/26 en el cual se dice que además de las otras actividades la FAO se propone llevar a cabo estudios seleccionados sobre problemas concretos de reforma agraria y de desarrollo rural. Nosotros interpretamos que ésta es una actividad también que implica grandes esfuerzos y tiempo y que el elemento y los datos no podrían ser solamente sobre los estudios por países ya que sería a criterio nuestro un trabajo excesivamente grande y podría comprometer la eficiencia de los mismos estudios. A mi delegación también le preocupa que se amplíe excesivamente el marco teórico o de estudios que se debe efectuar para esta Conferencia. Consideramos que se le haga un enfoque amplio integrado pero también exacto. Creemos que de esta Conferencia deben resultar programas de acción y estrategias que den indicaciones concretas para el desarrollo, que nos den sugerencias para la adopción de medidas que aceleren estos procesos. Creemos que es muy importante la función de la FAO en este sentido. También consideramos que para estas estrategias es necesaria una disponibilidad de recursos en mejores condiciones en la cual todos los países, particularmente los países desarrollados, deben de participar y al brindar esta asistencia deben ir a través de los organismos multilaterales, con el objeto de evitar la duplicación de funciones y el desperdicio de recursos. También consideramos que debe haber una integración y una complementación dentro de las actividades de los organismos especializados de Naciones Unidas. En cuanto a los otros aspectos que se refieren al lugar y a la sede donde esta Conferencia va a celebrarse nosotros estamos de acuerdo en que se celebre en Roma y que su duración sea de ocho días. En cuanto al aspecto relativo a la ocasión de los recursos para la preparación de esta Conferencia, mi delegación también concuerda con ella. En cuanto al proyecto de Resolución que aquí se nos presenta, documento 77/36, mi delegación tiene una observación que hacer y una consulta en cuanto en la última parte dispositiva de la misma se hace mención a que los gobiernos inviten a las organizaciones de agricultores y de trabajadores agrícolas. Nosotros no logramos saber exactamente cuál sería el status, la función de estas asociaciones dentro de las delegaciones de los Estados.
A entender nuestro. es una Conferencia en la cual están siendo convocados e invitados los Estados Miembros. Me parece que debería darse en esta Resolución la facultad de los gobiernos en este sentido, pero no sé hasta qué punto sería oportuno que fuera con carácter vinculante la recomendación que aquí se formula en este proyecto de Resolución.
B. OULAD-CHERIF (Maroc) (interprétation de l'arabe): Mon pays attache une grande importance à la convocation de la Conférence mondiale pour la réforme agraire et le développement rural. Nous sommes prêts à participer à cette Conférence en offrant une contribution compatible avec notre modeste expérience en la matière.
Je suis heureux de rendre hommage aux efforts faits par le Directeur général pour organiser cette Conférence, et je voudrais également féliciter M. Santa Cruz d'avoir été nommé responsable de la préparation de cette Conférence.
Nous pensons que le développement de la production rurale n'aboutira à des résultats positifs et n'atteindra les objectifs voulus que s'il est accompagné d'une réforme agraire complète. Pour cette raison, nous sommes persuadés que cette Conférence mondiale devrait donner autant d'importance à la question du développement rural qu'à la question de la réforme agraire. Nous sommes convaincus qu'il n'est pas possible de réaliser le développement rural sans modifier les systèmes de propriété foncière. Nous pensons donc qu'il est logique d'étudier ces questions de façon intégrée pour que la Conférence soit en mesure d'examiner tous les aspects du développement agricole dans un cadre social qui souligne l'importance de la condition humaine dans la société rurale.
Je crois donc à l'adoption de mesures appropriées qui devront être prises pour permettre à chacun de jouer son role dans le processus de développement agricole.
En conclusion, je voudrais exprimer mon appui à la proposition faite par M. Santa Cruz quant aux invitations et au niveau de représentation à cette Conférence, et donner mon apport au programme prévu pour la préparation et la tenue de la Conférence elle-même.
Nous appuyons le projet de résolution présenté par le Comité des résolutions et qui nous a été distribué sous la cote C 77/LIM/36.
W.A.F. GRABISCH (Germany, Fed. Rep. of) (interpretation from German: We consider the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development to be of great importance. We have been closely following the preparatory steps and I shall come back to this later.
Here in Commission II, I would like to repeat what the Minister for my country said in the Plenary Session, and I shall quote him:”The Government of my country has always given priority to the promotion of integrated rural development, the aim of which is to raise the standard of living of the rural population, to ensure an adequate agricultural production, to preserve landscape and natural resources, to bring about a balanced settlement structure between country and town, and to contribute in this way to a social balance. In this connexion, the development of agriculture toward higher productivity can only be brought about within the framework of overall economic development by improving infrastructures and in particular by raising the level of education. Integrated rural development requires, therefore, specially careful preparatory work. It does not only require measures in the agricultural policy sector, but also in various fields of economic and social policies. Experience has shown that uncoordinated individual measures do not lead to the development which is desired in the long-term. Therefore, my Government has supported the convening of regional meetings of experts and one supra-regional meeting of experts dealing with that subject which were organized jointly with FAO. The results obtained there are an important contribution to the Conference. With satisfaction we note that prior to the Conference, as was suggested by us, all important subjects should be discussed at the regional level. The frank exchange of experiences on success and failure so far between countries with similar conditions promises, in my view, the greatest benefit. The subsequent worldwide discussion could then lead to a varied palette of possible solutions from which every country can choose the most suitable for itself”.
That is the end of my quotation.
As regards the practical measures, I would highlight the following points. First, the basis of all discussions should be the Country Review Papers. We are very pleased with this; the outline proposed for these papers is the result of a compromise, obviously, in order to have as far as possible a common basis for debate. We have considerable details in the outline and it may be rather complicated for many countries to reply clearly.
The questions in paragraph 15 seem very important to judge the effects of agrarian reform and the measures of rural development on food production and on improving the living conditions of the rural population. Good and bad experience should be pointed out openly.
Paragraph 25 we would interpret as meaning that we should also report on our cooperation in the important field of rural development with other countries, in particular developing countries. We would like the Secretariat to explain to us more clearly whether this view is correct. If it is not, we would ask the Secretariat to explain it in greater detail, and to tell us how and when these important exchanges of experience will be fitted into the actual preparation of the Conference.
Secondly, my Minister has referred to the Inter-Regional Symposium on Integrated Rural Development held in Berlin from 19 to 23 September 1977, organized by us in collaboration with FAO and the Swedish SIDA Organization. Well-known experts participated from the following countries: Bangladesh, Colombia, Iraq, Mexico, Paraguay, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, the Sudan, Tanzania, Thailand, Poland, the United States of America and the Federal Republic of Germany. The World Bank and the ILO were represented too.
In the preamble to the various recommendations adopted, it is pointed out that this report will be a comprehensive basic document for the World Conference. We assume that the report will be sent to the Member States.
Thirdly, we have been surprised that the Advisory Committee was convened so quickly. We should have preferred to have prior consultations also with other countries having greater experience.
My delegation thanks Dr. Santa Cruz for the additional information given this morning. As regards the proposals on the date of the Conference and the meeting of the Preparatory Committee as well as the participation of non-governmental organizations, we feel the information should have been passed on to us earlier and in writing. Unfortunately, we have not been able today to ask for instructions on this point. Therefore, we cannot give a final reply on this.
The same is true as regards what is proposed in the Draft Resolution which has been distributed this afternoon. I am referring, of course, to C 77/LIM/36, and as regards the contents of the Draft Resolution, as far as I know governments have always had the opportunity to include in their delegations representatives of national organizations and institutions. Certain concerns expressed by the honourable delegate of Jordan could largely be taken into account if representatives of these national organizations and institutions already participate in the discussions at the regional level.
As regards documentation, we would particularly like some information on the way in which documentation will be presented and the actual detail. Do we know that the Country Review Papers will also provide the basis for the preparatory discussions at a regional level referred to by previous speakers, in particular the delegate of Sierra Leone? He quite rightly attached considerable importance to this. Will the results of these regional discussions be separately passed on to the Conference? Will the most important results therefrom be summed up for the Conference and the Preparatory Committee? When and on the basis of what document will the Advisory Committee be able to act, and in what way will the experience of the other United Nations Agencies be drawn in?
I refer to the documents we see listed in paragraph 4 of C 77/26. How can their contributions be included and fitted in to the regional discussions?
I would ask the Commission to forgive me for asking so many questions, but, as I said at the outset, my Government attributes great importance to this Conference.
B.F. DADA (Nigeria): My intervention is to convey the support of my delegation for the proposed World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development. That this subject is of fundamental importance to agricultural development in developing countries is no doubt. However, we would like to express cautious optimism on the global discussion of a highly political issue such as reforms in the land tenure systems, if the experiences in many developing countries are anything to go by.
We recognize that some of the problems are best solved at local level. A tendency towards an academic discussion should therefore be avoided as much as possible.
We support the recommendation that the subject be discussed at regional and sub-regional levels first.
It is the view of my delegation that the rural development aspect of the Conference should be given greater emphasis. Agriculture - which is the mainstay of the economy of most developing countries, including mine - is likely to be carried out by the rural population. Therefore, we recognize the opportunities to be provided by such a Conference to resolve some of the major problems of rural development.
Earlier on, my delegation commented on the level of the proposed budget. We would support limited expenditure for the Conference which should not be on a grandiose scale.
In conclusion, I would like to assure the Commission of the cooperation of Nigeria in making the Conference a success.
A.J. PECKHAM (United Kingdom): I am very happy to follow the last speaker. Having lived in Nigeria for a couple of years, I think that I learned far more about poverty in the rural areas and the reality of the problem we are now facing by that experience. I think that the subjects of agrarian reform and rural development go to the very heart of the whole question of aid-giving and aid strategy. I would like to say straight away that the United Kingdom would have no difficulty in going along with the Resolution which has come to us this afternoon. Bearing in mind the fact that my delegation to this Conference already has a representative of the National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers and the National Farmers' Union, we are already, as it were, applying the principle which this recommendation is suggesting.
I do, however, have one reservation about the wording. I would go wholly along with what Ethiopia had to say on the subject of underemployment in rural areas, but I think that what we are really talking about is rural poverty, and instead of referring to the rural masses - because if you travel across Africa you will not find masses, you will find rural poverty - I think what we ought to be talking about is the rural poor.
However, having made that comment, I think that the operative paragraph of this Resolution does need a little clarification. I listened to the comments which have been made and I think that at some stage it should go back to the Resolutions Committee for clarification, since it leaves a number of loose ends. On the other hand, the United Kingdom can go along with it as it stands, but I would hope it would refer to rural poverty.
I think it is well known that rural development is now central to the United Kingdom Government's aid strategy of helping the poorest people in the poorest countries. For that reason, clearly we support the Conference. The questions of rural development and agrarian reform are, however, issues which the developing countries must in large part, in our view, tackle themselves, and we would therefore expect the developing countries to play the major role in this Conference. We for our part will be prepared to play our part in discussing the practical questions of how we can help. If the Conference is to be a success, detailed preparation is in our view vital. We therefore welcome the appointment of Dr. Santa Cruz and the arrangements which have been made for preliminary discussions to take place. I am only sorry that I was unable to be present this morning when he spoke, and I look forward to seeing what he had to say. It is important, in our view, that there should be discussion of the issues involved at the regional level, as problems of agrarian reform and rural development vary very greatly from one region to another. I am sure those concerned in the preparations for this Conference will bear in mind the overriding importance that study papers are received by participants in good time.
I am happy to learn that one of the recommendations this morning is that the Conference should be held in Rome.
I think it is well known that the United Kingdom had reservations about the costs, and I would echo the remarks of Nigeria in this regard. There is no need for grandiose expenditure. Let us constantly bear in mind what the object of this Conference is, and that is the alleviation of rural poverty.
J.L. SAULT (Australia): Australia supports the holding of the proposed World Conference. The problems to be examined are of great concern to the developing countries and have fundamental relevance to FAO's work. We hope that the exchange of information and experience and recommendations to come out of the Conference will be translated, as the Philippines said, by political will into action bringing positive results for development.
Australia sees the Country Papers being prepared by developing countries as a useful aid to development assistance planners and also basic to the preparations for the Conference. We do not, however, see a need for developed countries to undertake similar exercises, as we believe all resources and attention of the Conference should be devoted to developing countries, where the nature of the problem is different and where it is greater in magnitude.
We have noted the preparations for the World Conference. These now appear to be proceeding on a thorough and wide-ranging basis. We consider that the FAO Council should be provided with regular progress reports on the implementation of these arrangements.
G. WEILL (France): Depuis que cette question a été discutée tant au Conseil qu'au Comité de l'agriculture, la délégation française a constamment rappelé que le développement rural constituait à nos yeux un processus continu et que celui-ci relevait essentiellement des responsabilités nationales. Le délégué du Nigeria a parlé de”politique des Etats Membres”.
Ce qui nous préoccupe tous, c'est certainement le développement rural, et la réforme agraire qui est associée au titre de cette Conférence peut en effet, dans certains cas, en constituer un élément déterminant. C'est bien dans cet esprit que nous voyons associer le développement rural et la réforme agraire dans l'objet de la Conférence et dans le point de l'ordre du jour dont nous discutons.
S'agissant de réunir une conférence sur ce thème si important et si complexe, nous avons également avec d'autres délégations (cela vient d'être rappelé par les derniers orateurs qui sont intervenus, et no-
tamment par le Nigeria) mis l'accent sur l'importance de l'approche régionale et sous-régionale et sur l'intérêt de l'échange d'expériences à ce niveau pour que ces expériences soient plus proches et que les enseignements à en tirer soient plus enrichissants.
Quoi qu'il en soit, ce dont nous débattons essentiellement, c'est d'une conférence mondiale organisée par la FAO avec la coopération des autres institutions des Nations Unies. Nous avons été assurés, lors de la session du Conseil qui vient de se tenir, que le coût de cette Conférence serait sensiblement inférieur à celui de conférences du même type du système des Nations Unies.
Cependant, pour être conséquents avec nous-mêmes, je me dois de répéter ce qu'a déclaré le chef de notre délégation au Conseil, à savoir: que nous regrettons que le supplément de dépenses porté à notre connaissance par le Directeur général, actuellement de 1 200 000 frs n'ait pas été couvert par des transferts ou des économies et que cela conduise à majorer d'un égal montant le niveau du budget qui nous est proposé pour le prochain biennium.
En tout état de cause, nous tenons à assurer le représentant spécial du Directeur général Hernán Santa Cruz, de l'intérêt avec lequel nous suivrons les travaux de cette conférence et que le rapport qui nous a été demandé pourra être transmis dans les délais qui nous ont été proposés.
Pour conclure, un mot sur le projet de résolution dont nous comprenons et apprécions parfaitement l'esprit. Je dirai simplement que, dès l'instant où la souveraineté des Etats Membres est dûment respectée quant à la composition de leurs délégations, nous n'objecterions pas à cette résolution. Cependant, nous sommes en cela amenés à partager le point de vue du délégué de la Jordanie qui, avec son éloquence coutumière, a soutenu que le dispositif final de ce projet de résolution pourrait sans doute se retrouver dans le contexte du rapport, sans qu'il soit nécessaire d'adopter spécifiquement une résolution à ce sujet.
K. ITANO (Japan): My delegation shares the views expressed by many delegates that in order to achieve the improvement of economic and social conditions of small farmers, the promotion of rural development is vital, and it should be carried on in an integrated manner. Therefore, my delegation welcomes the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development and the initiative of FAO to make the Conference successful. We would like to stress the importance of a regional approach, as already mentioned by other delegates, because factors related to rural development vary from country to country and from region to region. In this regard, we support the proposal by the Secretariat, to discuss this issue in depth at the FAO Regional Conference in 1978.
B. de AZEVEDO BRITO (Chairman of Group of 77): My delegation would like to stress once again that our Group of 77 has advanced at the time of the 72nd Session of the Council our full support for the Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development. I think that the many speakers who took the floor before me covered our common position in relation to this very important Conference.
As a Brazilian delegate, I would just like now to make a few remarks which we believe might be relevant at this stage. In dealing with the problem of rural development, the Conference must consider the different policies and measures it can contribute to improve conditions of rural populations. Usually such policies and measures, in our view, complement each other and cannot be seen in isolation. They include, inter alia, for instance, in addition to agrarian reform, rural credit cooperatives, price control policies, training, storage, marketing, integration of women in development, health and education.
As one can see, the subject of rural development is indeed all-encompassing. While we feel that the subject of rural development is very important, we also believe that the Conference must be organized in such a way as to take fully into account the fact that each country must find its own models on rural development, defining accordingly its own policies and its own priorities.
In this connexion, it might be useful to remember that regional, national and even local conditions within the same country can justify quite different approaches. Such a plurality of approaches, in our view, requires that preparations for the Conference rely heavily on the work at the country and regional level. We feel also, on the other hand, that consideration of matters related to rural development by the international community can only be meaningful if it generates external financial flows of support of developing countries' own efforts as well as transfer of adequate technology. As far as the preparations for the Conference are concerned, we are confident that the vast experience of Dr. Santa Cruz will be most valuable.
Reference is made in document C 77/26 - I think the number is correct - to studies to be developed in preparation for the Conference. Perhaps it would be useful to hear some clarification on the intended scope of such studies if at all possible at this stage. Without prejudice to other themes, one could perhaps suggest, just as an example, the fact of international trade policies, and in particular, trade restrictions on rural development in developing countries, impact of food aid on rural development, the potential role of agro-industries, on rural development, and here I have very much in mind as one example dairy industries, which have quite a potential for employment; also, for instance, studies on rural underemployment, which I understand was one subject referred to by Ethiopia among others; also perhaps specific policies geared to the integration of women in rural development, a point I think amply dwelt upon by Mexico. I am just giving very tentatively some possible areas of study, but I would have liked to hear what the Secretariat had in mind in this area.
As far as participation in the Conference is concerned, we understand that the nature of the Conference calls for the presence of planners. Naturally it is up to each government to decide who can best represent it and who can best advise it.
R. PASQUIER (Suisse): Je voudrais simplement rappeler, comme l'ont fait certains orateurs, qu'il existe déjà de multiples études sur les réformes agraires. Cela ne signifie pas pour autant que nous n'attachons pas d'importance à cette Conférence, mais nous souhaiterions que l'accent puisse être mis sur des échanges d'expériences entre les responsables actuels des réformes agraires, de manière qu'ils puissent tirer des leçons de leurs résultats positifs et de leurs échecs. Ainsi, la participation de ceux que je pourrais appeler lés usagers de la réforme agraire, c'est-à-dire les agriculteurs avant tout et leurs organisations, serait assurée au mieux.
Cela dit, je rejoins les précédents orateurs qui ont constaté que le supplément de coûts peut être considéré comme regrettable à certains égards. Il faudrait que le Directeur général essaie de comprimer certaines rubriques du coût de cette Conférence.
E. BARDEEV (Observateur pour l'Union internationale des syndicats des travailleurs de l'agriculture, des forêts et des plantations): Nous avons étudié avec un grand intérêt les documents soumis à cette Commission, et avons écouté très attentivement l'introduction présentée par M. Santa Cruz.
En effet, la Conférence internationale sur la réforme agraire de 1966 arrivait à la conclusion très importante qu'une large participation des masses à la planification et à la mise en oeuvre des réformes agraires était de nature à garantir que les intérêts de la paysannerie et les particularités spécifiques des différentes régions seraient dûment pris en considération. Notre Union internationale des syndicats des travailleurs agricoles appuie sans réserve cette thèse.
Nous nous basons sur les riches expériences de nos affiliés à travers le monde pour les transformations démocratiques fondamentales des structures agraires, pour le progrès économique et social de la campagne. Toutes ces expériences témoignent qu'aucune réforme agraire ne peut être couronnée de succès sans l'appui des travailleurs ruraux s'ils ne sont pas associés à son élaboration et à sa mise en pratique. D'autre part, on connaît de multiples exemples d'une coopération heureuse et utile des syndicats et organisations paysans avec les gouvernements progressistes dans le cadre de transformations agraires et de la solution des problèmes de développement rural.
S'agissant de la Conférence mondiale sur la réforme agraire et le développement rural, il me paraît important et nécessaire d'associer les organisations nationales, internationales et régionales des travailleurs ruraux aux préparatifs et à la tenue de la Conférence et cela dans toutes ses phases.
Nous avons pris connaissance du plan des préparatifs fondamentaux de la Conférence mondiale qui ne prévoit pas dans une mesure suffisante la participation à la préparation de cette Conférence de représentants d'organisations de travailleurs ruraux. A notre avis, il n'est pas souhaitable qu'une prépondérance soit donnée aux aspects strictement économiques et techniques des transformations agraires et du développement rural en négligeant les problèmes sociaux et ceux des politiques agraires que le mouvement paysan et le mouvement syndical considèrent comme prioritaires.
En 1978 les conférences régionales de la FAO examineront également la préparation de la Conférence mondiale sur la réforme agraire et le développement rural. Nous tenons à souligner que nos organisations nationales affiliées sont prêtes à prendre part à ces conférences régionales de la FAO et à apporter leur contribution constructive aux analyses de la situation et à l'élaboration des recommandations pouvant être prises en considération dans le cadre de la préparation des documents de travail de la Conférence mondiale.
Nous félicitons les gouvernements qui ont présenté le projet de résolution figurant dans le document C 77/LIM/36 et exprimons le voeu que cette Conférence l'adopte. C'est donc avec plaisir que nous avons entendu les propositions des porte-parole des pays nordiques, de l'Italie et autres, allant dans ce sens.
Quant à nous, nous envisageons une série d'initiatives ayant pour objectif de faire la synthèse des expériences accumulées par les paysans et les ouvriers agricoles dans leur lutte pour la transformation de structures agraires, et de préparer les recommandations appropriées en vue de la Conférence mondiale. Parmi ces initiatives la plus importante sera la Conférence syndicale mondiale sur la réforme agraire et le développement rural qui sera convoquée en octobre prochain. Les organisations syndicales et paysannes, nationales et régionales, de tous les continents, seront invitées à y participer. A notre avis, dans le respect du principe de réciprocité, la FAO devrait être invitée à prendre part non seulement à la Conférence elle-même mais également à sa préparation.
Telles sont fondamentalement nos suggestions relatives à la préparation de la Conférence mondiale sur la réforme agraire et le développement rural.
N. DI MEOLA (Observateur pour la Confédération mondiale du travail): Nous autres, Organisation non gouvernementale, n'avons pas le droit, vous le voyez, au microphone mais nous avons tout de même droit à la parole ce qui est la chose la plus importante. Je vais profiter de ce droit pour exprimer la position de la CMT sur ces questions très techniques. Nous sommes d'accord sur l'importance de la Conférence mondiale sur la réforme agraire car il est ainsi désormais reconnu le devoir des Etats d'endiguer le flot montant de la misère totale dans les zones rurales des pays en développement, flot menaçant de les submerger. A notre avis, ce n'est pas suffisant. Un droit naturel de l'homme est le droit à la liberté des besoins et aussi à la liberté de parole et d'association. Ce droit est contesté dans plusieurs pays du monde et c'est lui que nous voulons défendre quand nous demandons aux Etats de ratifier, d'appliquer la Convention 141 de l'ΌΙΤ, d'accepter la recommandation N° 149 et de demándelas la FAO d'appuyer cette requête.
D'autre part, nous sommes convaincus que l'instauration d'un nouvel ordre économique international rendrait possible aux pays en voie de développement la solution d'un grand nombre de leurs problèmes dès qu'ils se posent mais, comme l'a dit récemment le Directeur général, cet ordre, dont on parle beaucoup, avance “à une allure de tortue”.
Il faut soustraire le commerce mondial au monopole d'un petit nombre de puissances économiques internationales et à celui des firmes transnationales qui se présentent comme facteur de progrès alors qu'elles défendent en fait leurs intérêts égoïstes et privés.
Nonobstant la conjoncture favorable des dernières années, le problème alimentaire mondial, menaçant aussi bien les peuples développés que les peuples en voie de développement, ne peut se résoudre à notre avis si l'on n'augmente pas avant tout la production des pays en voie de développement pour leurs propres besoins, en instaurant les conditions d'équilibre des marchés intérieurs par une plus juste répartition des revenus, compte tenu d'une exportation capable de fournir aux pays en voie de développement les devises nécessaires à leur économie et à la réalisation d'un plus haut niveau de vie.
Dans ces conditions, la réforme agraire ne peut être seulement un fait économique et politique; il faut retenir bien évidemment les aspects de caractère social et les nombreux problèmes qui en découlent. Et, pour ce faire, il faut réaliser l'intégration de la réforme dans la planification économique générale au niveau national.
Selon nous, le développement n'est pas possible - surtout dans les pays où 70 à 80 pour cent de la population est agricole - sans une politique considérant les problèmes du développement rural comme essentiels et ne choisissant pas comme moyens d'exploitation de la ferme ceux qui permettent d'y maintenir les agriculteurs en évitant le chômage et les effets négatifs d'une occupation insuffisante.
Il nous semble donc nécessaire de ne favoriser ni les grands complexes agro-industriels aux techniques avancées, ni les grands investissements de capitaux qui aboutissent à une faible absorption de main-d'oeuvre, mais d'avoir recours au contraire aux techniques intermédiaires de production dont l'usage a été justement recommandé par l'OIT dans son programme de l'emploi, et par la FAO même dans son programme à moyen terme 1972/1976, en évitant aussi de détruire certaines activités traditionnelles qui, si elles ne sont pas soutenues par un plan de développement intégré, disparaissent face à la concurrence des entreprises qui dominent le commerce mondial.
La CMT et la FMTA demandent à cette Conférence d'accorder la priorité à l'organisation de la Conférence mondiale de la réforme agraire, et d'être associées aux travaux mêmes de la Conférence en leur accordant une large participation. Dans ces conditions, nous sommes tout à fait d'accord avec la résolution présentée aujourd'hui, et nous espérons qu'elle sera adoptée. Je suis particulièrement d'accord avec le délégué du Venezuela quand il dit qu'une Conférence portant sur les problèmes ruraux doit être assurée de la participation des travailleurs ruraux.
Enfin, les travailleurs ruraux ne sont pas des objets scientifiques, mais ils sont des protagonistes sociaux. Pour cette raison, ils doivent être représentés et participer à la Conférence. Voilà quelle est notre position.
La CMT et la FMTA demandent à cette Conférence d'accorder une haute priorité à l'organisation de la Conférence mondiale de la réforme agraire.
Notamment, elles proposent que la FAO prie les gouvernements de considérer l'inclusion, dans les délégations nationales à la Conférence, des représentants des organisations des travailleurs ruraux.
A ce propos, nous rappelons:
- que l'OΙΤ, en adoptant en 1975 la Convention 141 et la Recommandation 149, ainsi que la 18ème Conférence de la FAO, ont reconnu le rôle indispensable des syndicats dans l'application de la réforme agraire, et surtout dans le développement des zones rurales;
- en prenant acte du fait que l'initiative d'un contrat avec les représentants de la FAO auprès des pays doit partir des syndicats, qu'il est toutefois nécessaire de trouver un climat de compréhension et de collaboration auprès desdits représentants;
- que les ONG internationales reçoivent, si possible, communication des rapports du Comité des experts à haut niveau afin qu'elles puissent suivre de très près les travaux préparatoires, et participer, en pleine connaissance de cause, à la réunion du groupe restreint dont il est question au paragraphe 10.b du document CL 70 du 10 octobre 1976. Elles demandent aussi d'être consultées pendant la préparation de la Conférence agraire;
- que les syndicats reçoivent l'invitation aux conférences régionales et puissent intervenir dans les débats de celles-ci;
Notre Organisation, ayant dans son programme étudié à fond sur le terrain, moyennant des rencontres et des débats, les problèmes ressortissant à leur réforme agraire, espère que les documents préparés dans ces enceintes seront inclus dans l'ensemble des documents officiels.
La CMT et la FMTA souhaitent pouvoir intervenir dans les commissions de la Conférence et dans la Conférence elle-même.
I. MOSKOVITS (Malta): The head of my delegation, the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries of Malta, has already underlined the importance which my Government is giving to this Conference in his speech in the Plenary Session. He called attention in particular to a special project which is being carried out in Malta and which in known under the name of “Izra u Rabbi” - “Sow and Rear”, which is a very interesting project and which we described in the Committe of Agriculture. It is interesting because in a small island country like Malta which a very poor in cultivatable land, we try with all possible means to artíficálly increase the surface of cultivatable land. We are carrying out this project with the help of volunteers similar those which his Excellency the Ambassador of the United Nations described - but I venture to say that Malta has had this scheme in operation now for several years.
I agree with most of the speakers in this discussion. The situation in various countries is very different, and therefore I believe that the studies which the various countries will have to submit should be very different, and not along the same lines.
I could go along with the Draft Resolution presented in document C 77/LIM/36 but I would perhaps question one aspect of it.
Unfortunately I was not able to attend the full discussion, but I see that there is a unanimous wish that this Conference should be a great success. In order to have a really successfull meeting, financial means are needed. This was explained by the Director-General himself during the Conference which, if I remember correctly, accepted his proposals.
I wonder therefore if it would not be better to include in this Draft Resolution a paragraph calling attention to this expense, which is supplementary to the Regular Budget of FAO, and which perhaps could be even increased more than was discussed during the Session of the Conference.
I shall now call on Mr. Santa Cruz to reply to the various points raised during this discussion.
H. SANTA CRUZ (Representante Especial del Director General, Conferencia Mundial sobre Reforma Agraria y Desarrollo Rural): Señor Presidente, creo que es un poco de optimismo por su parte pensar que voy a contestar a todas las preguntas que se han hecho en este día tan nutrido de intervenciones que hemos tenido hoy. Trataré, sin embargo, de contestar alguna de ellas, pero creo que para explicar algunos de los interrogantes que ustedes han planteado es necesario, primero, que yo diga lo que estaba implicito en mi intervención de esta mañana pero que tal vez convenga explicitar.
No tenemos todavía una agenda, un temario para la Conferencia. Cuando yo llegué aquí hace un mes y se formo el secretariado, inmediatamente, al día siguiente se reunió el Comité Asesor; existían algunos trabajos preliminares que eran más bien una lista de posibles temas, pero no constituían una agenda y decidimos no redactar la agenda mientras no tuviéramos la orientación necesaria que debe dar esta Conferencia y por eso ha sido tan importante el debate en el día de hoy en el que 40 y tantos delegados no sólo han apoyado la Conferencia sino que al mismo tiempo han hecho una serie de sugerencias que constituyen una contribución muy importante para la preparación de la agenda de la Conferencia. Esa preparación va a ser precisamente el primer trabajo, digamos una vez que hayamos llegado a la sesión final de la Conferencia.
Y sin entrar en los detalles de las diversas sugerencias que aquí se han presentado, yo creo que hay un hecho, una posición común que es sumamente elocuente y que corresponde al pensamiento que nosotros, los organizadores, tenemos, que es el que la agenda sea hecha de tal manera que oriente a la Conferencia hacia la acción y no a discusiones ideológicas o discusiones teóricas; y esa fue la misma opinión que estamparon en sus recomendaciones los miembros del Comité Asesor de Altas Personalidades. Esto significa que la Conferencia deba permitir una discusión abierta sobre los problemas fundamentales que afectan las zonas rurales que determinan su atraso e impiden su progreso en sus aspectos socioeconómicos, institucionales y sobre todo humanos. Si los señores representantes de las Organizaciones Sindicales hubieran escuchado la presentación que hice esta mañana no tendrían las dudas que parecen tener ahora de que los organizadores no vayan a tomar en cuenta los aspectos sociales, en eso estuvo el principal enfasis de mi intervención de esta mañana. Además de las discusiones sobre estos problemas la Conferencia tendrá que explorar a la luz de las experiencias de los países y de sus condiciones sociales, económicas o ecológicas, las soluciones alternativas que puedan tomar ellos mismos en relación a todos estos problemas.
Debido a ello entonces es que yo encuentre esta discusión entre la preeminencia de la parte de reforma agraria y desarrollo rural como discusión un poco teórica, porque en primer lugar la reforma agraria, no es solo la reforma de tenencia de la tierra. Reforma agraria o agrarian reform, o reforme agraire en francés, es una reforma del agro, es una reforma de la zona rural, es una reforma que puede consistir en introducir nuevos elementos o en modificar los que existan.
Así que en cierto modo se confunde con el desarrollo rural. Naturalmente que si al estudiar los problemas institucionales un país encuentra que sus estructuras institucionales de tenencia de la tierra están atrasados y necesitan reforma podrá ser una reforma de la tenencia de la tierra. Pero la Conferencia es una cosa más amplia que ella y podría yo decir que se trata de una reforma integral que comprende todos los elementos que aquí se han citado, entre ellos el Embajador De Brito, que deben acompañar a una acción de desarrollo rural o de reforma rural. Esto me trae al problema de la documentación. Y a pesar de no tener todavía la Agenda tenemos una idea bastante arraigada sobre qué tipo de documentación quisiéramos presentar. Creemos que debemos preparar un documento básico que sirva precisamente para fundamentar el intercambio de experiencias que preguntaba el señor delegado de la República Federal de Alemania sobre cómo se iba a hacer. Este documento se va a hacer sobre la base del estudio de los informes de los países; estudio que vamos a pretender clasificar u organizar sobre la base de puntos comunes que existan en uno y en otros. Esto permitirá entonces a la Conferencia un intercambio de experiencias y de opiniones sobre una base organizada. Este es un documento complejo, difícil de realizar y que ocupará gran parte del trabajo de la Secretaría. Pero éste tiene dos ventajas: una que es un documento realmente básico y la otra que corresponde a las acciones expresadas aquí de no lanzar encima de la Conferencia una cantidad de documentos básicos. Hay otro documento que se va a preparar o se está preparando ya. Ha venido del Comité Asesor de personalidades. Ellos han pedido que a partir de la Conferencia de Reforma Agraria de 1976 se seleccione todo el material de situaciones producidas en los ámbitos internacionales en relación a los problemas de reforma agraria y de desarrollo rural. En seguida habrá documentos de la Conferencia que esperamos sean como lo han sugerido aquí cortos, precisos y vayan al grano de los asuntos. Me refiero a los asuntos de cada uno de los 100
puntos de la Agenda.
El Embajador De Brito dijo que sería interesante saber que estudios está preparando la Secretaría. Desde antes que se formara la Secretaría ya se habían solicitado por los departamentos algunos estudios, cuyo temas les voy a leer. Por ejemplo, Administración de Desarrollo Agrícola para Desarrollo Rural, Promoción de la Producción Agrícola y el Desarrollo Rural, Organización de “People and rural developments”, Efectos de las Reformas Agrarias y del Empleo Agrícola, la Emigración Rural y el Empleo Agrícola, Tecnologías Apropiadas y Desarrollo Rural.
Naturalmente que vamos a reunir más estudios que éstos, precisamente para poder analizar los distintos sectores que influyen en desarrollo rural y en las reformas agrarias, Pero para eso tenemos, en primer lugar, que investigar muy a fondo lo que se está realizando en otros ámbitos. Yo me referí esta mañana a las Conferencias de los últimos años en el sistema de las Naciones Unidas sobre temas sociales. Yo conozco la riqueza de ese material, porque lo he estudiado en estos últímos meses y he comprobado que se desarrollaban para identificar elementos para el nuevo Orden Económico Internacional. He estudiado esas Conferencias y esto es lo que me permitió afirmar con tanto énfasis esta mañana que había una interdependencia completa entre los problemas tratados en esas Conferencias y sus conclusiones y que, por consiguiente, esta Conferencia Mundial de Reforma Agraria iba a llenar un hueco que existía, que era el de explorar a fondo el problema del deterioro rural y la manera de desarrollarlo.
Ese material hay que estudiarlo y hay que aprovecharlo, y porque contiene información sobre una serie de factores que tiene relación con el desarrollo rural, el comercio internacional de materias primas, los estudios sobre el medio ambiente físico y el medio ambiente humano, sobre el habitat, etc. Todo eso nos va a proporcionar material que vamos a poner a disposición de la Conferencia, no como documento básico, pero sí como documento de información.
Se ha hablado del problema de la regionalización. Yo entiendo, si estoy bien informado, que esa fue una batalla que se dio cuando recién nació la idea de la Conferencia que algunos quisieron que fueran conferencias solamente regionales. Que se tuviera en cuenta el problema en sus aspectos regionales solamente, pero la mayoría dispuso que fuera una Conferencia Mundial de Reforma Agraria.
Pero nosotros no podemos dejar de tomar en cuenta ese sentimiento del que en ese momento fue una minoría, el de que no se olvidara y se pusiera énfasis en los aspectos regionales y subregionales, precisamente porque en cada una de esas regiones, se deben identificar situaciones que no se encuentran a veces en las otras regiones. Y por esto es que nosotros hemos dado a las Conferencias Regionales un mandato muy particular que estudien estos problemas. Se les ha dado también una instrucción muy firme a las Oficinas Regionales para que estudien a fondo estos problemas y reúnan el material que tienen y para actuar en estrechas relaciones con las Comisiones únicamente Regionales.
Finalmente hemos enviado algunos expertos regionales que van a estar a disposición de los países para estudiar e identificar estos problemas de tipo regional. De manera que me parece que más no se puede hacer, aunque sería muy bien venida cualquier otra sugerencia en cuanto que ya existe la decisión de efectuar una Conferencia de Reforma Agraria en el plano mundial.
Volviendo al aspecto de los estudios, no sólo podemos o podremos aprovechar los estudios que que se han realizado en otras organizaciones del sistema de las Naciones Unidas; hay organizaciones intergubernamentales que no pertenecen al Sistema de las Naciones Unidas. Existen centros de Investigaciones, centros de Pensamiento, centros de Promoción, que han estudiado muy a fondo estos problemas porque están estudiando los elementos del nuevo Orden Económico Internacional y son ellos los que han ido identificando en qué modo afecta el atraso rural a los países en desarrollo.
Hay una enorme documentación sobre esa materia, y también podríamos recurrir a algunas de esas instituciones. Algunas que funcionan en Europa o en Estados Unidos; otras, en los países en desarrollo. Hay instituciones de los países en desarrollo en su conjunto y hay también instituciones nacionales en los países. Todos ellos han producido y siguen produciendo un material importante, y no sólo pensamos que nos podemos contentar con esa información. Hemos tenido hoy el placer, diría yo, de escuchar que hay algunos países que están dispuestos a apoyar con recursos a la mejor preparación de la Conferencia. Hay muchas maneras de hacerlo y seguramente habrá otros países que también lo puedan hacer o habrá instituciones que pueden cooperar todo lo que sea, organizar seminarios de discusión sobre estos problemas, o seminarios para informar a la opinión pública, todo esto podría hacerse con fondos extrapresupuestarios que vendrían a enriquecer la información con que va a contar la Conferencia en el momento que se realice.
Por esto, es que el deseo que tenemos todos de que se prepare bien la Conferencia, es un deseo que no es fácil de cumplir. Esta preparación necesita tiempo y necesita recursos. Yo no sé señor Presidente si estas respuestas pueden satisfacer a los Miembros de esta Comisión. Pero con el fin de que no se prolongue el debate sobre esta materia, quisiera aprovechar para decir que me siento profundamente satisfecho con el debate y con la posición de los países miembros de la FAO.
Creo que ustedes le han dado hoy un impulso tremendo a la Conferencia con el análisis que han hecho de la misma, con la fe que han demostrado de sus posibilidades y con la voluntad que han demostrado de participar en ella a un alto nivel y con ima buena preparación. Creo que el Director General, que realmente está convencido hoy de esta Conferencia, puede ser un elemento utilísimo en la promoción del desarrollo rural, y con ello, en la formación del hombre rural, que sufre, se verá muy satisfecho cuando reciba información sobre lo que ustedes han hablado, han dicho y posiblemente resuelvan hoy.
Por mi parte quiero decirle que yo también me siento personalmente halagado. Ustedes me han dado una prueba de confianza que creo que venía de adentro, no es de palabras solamente, y esto me estimulará a seguir adelante con toda la energía que pueda en esta empresa. Yo tengo más de 30 años de lucha por el desarrollo social y economico del Tercer Mundo y tuve serias dudas de aceptar este ofrecimiento del Director General, porque no me parecía ver en la documentación un apoyo util de los gobiernos para transformar esta idea en algo tangible y útil. Ahora veo que esto es posible y esto me halaga profundamente.
CHAIRMAN: I would thank Dr. Santa-Cruz for his very comprehensive reply to, I think, all the questions put to him. Are there any comments or further questions? I see that Ethiopia has requested the floor, if it is the matter we were discussing earlier, I shall come to it later. Is your comment in connexion with Dr. Santa-Cruz's reply?
Y. LIKE (Ethiopia): Mr. Chairman, I was going to refer to Dr. Santa-Cruz's explanation, and I still expect your promise to hold good.
I am certainly one of those who would applaud the excellent explanation by Dr. Santa-Cruz of questions that arose during the discussion. However, permit me just to make a small comment on his definition of agrarian reform, which was very well put. I would like to assure him that we have the same view, that agrarian reform is not necessarily equivalent to land reform which primarily deals with land ownership and its use. Agrarian reform deals, in addition, with the introduction of new technologies and improved agricultural practices, with fertilizers, improved seeds, mechanization and what have you.
What we wanted to imply, however, was that all these factors which are important in agrarian reform have varying importance. Therefore, each of these inputs in agrarian reform needs to be given its due priority in importance. So if we were to put these inputs or factors in agrarian reform on a graduated scale, the land situation in a given country certainly comes highest in the priorities.
Please forgive my comment, therefore, on this. I entirely agree with Dr. Santa-Cruz that agrarian reform is not tantamount to land reform, but land reform certainly has the highest of priorities here.
W.A.F. GRABISCH (Germany, Fed. Rep. of) (interpretation from German): My delegation is very grateful to Dr. Santa-Cruz for all the information he has just given us. We certainly understand that he was unable to answer all the questions, and we do not want to keep the meeting any longer. Therefore, perhaps some of the questions which are still in abeyance could be answered directly by the Secretariat in the course of the next week.
However, there are two questions on which I would be very happy to have clarification now. Dr. Santa-Cruz said that the main documents for the World Conference would be a summary analysis, a classification, a grouping of the country reports. Of course, we agree with this, but what will the basis for discussion be at the regional level, at the regional conferences? Will it be the basic document which will be submitted to the Conference later on, or will the country reports themselves form the basis for the discussion at the regional conferences?
We hope that the country reports will form the basis for the discussions at the regional conferences. Therefore, there will be a discussion between the countries which will facilitate matters, so that on the basis of these discussions and analysis will be drawn up which will then allow the preparation of the overall general report. This is my first question.
I have a second and last question: what will be the status of the Report of the Interregional Symposium on Integrated Rural Development which was held by us jointly with FAO and Sweden?
I. OROZCO GUZMAN (México): Nosotros deseamos también agradecer, por su conducto, señor Presidente, al Representante Especial del señor Director General Responsable de los preparativos de esta Conferencia Internacional que tanto interés ha despertado entre todos los Estados y desearíamos nada más hacer un comentario adicional.
Nosotros consideramos, sin duda, un aspecto que debe ser subrayado dentro de los preparativos para esta Conferencia y que sin duda habrá de tener una prioridad destacada, cual es la importancia del Derecho para el desarrollo y estabilidad de las estructuras agrarias por el marco de seguridad que proporciona a los agricultores y trabajadores del campo. En efecto, la confianza en el elemento normativo constituye ciertamente un catalizador concomitante de todo programa de aumento de la producción de alimentos y del mejoramiento del medio rural. La creación de tribunales agrarios, que mi país actualmente tiene en examen, juzgando con imparcialidad y equidad el caso concreto, constituye el coronamiento de los intentos por llevar la seguridad y tranquilidad en el agro, condición para que nuestros países en desarrollo puedan mejorar las condiciones de nuestras áreas rurales y de su desarrollo integral.
Deseábamos formular esta observación complementaria porque, habiendo tomado nota del tipo de estudios que la Secretaría, con buen tino, ha comenzado a elaborar o a alentar su preparación, nos pareció advertir que no se mencionaba o se dejaba a un lado ese aspecto que nos parece fundamental.
Desde luego, hemos tomado nota también de que habrá de organizarse una serie de seminarios, de actividades, ya sea dentro de la partida presupuestaria para esta Conferencia o con fondos extrapresupuestarios bajo los auspicios de la FAO.
H. SANTA CRUZ (Representante Especial del Director General, Conferencia Mundial sobre Reforma Agraria y Desarrollo Rural): Yo creo que le puedo contestar al señor representante de la República Federal de Alemania respecto a su primera pregunta. El ideal sería que los documentos por países y el documento que se va a basar en los documentos por países pudieran ir a las Conferencias Regionales, pero eso se contradice también con la petición de la gran parte de los miembros de esta Comisión de que se prolongue el plazo para los documentos por países; de manera que yo no veo la posibilidad material, por el tiempo, de que por lo menos las primeras Conferencias Regionales puedan basarse en los documentos básicos que va a presentar la Secretaría a la Conferencia porque esas Conferencias van a comenzar en marzo y van a terminar en octubre del año próximo; pero las Oficinas Regionales tienen bastante material acumulado sobre estos problemas en sus respectivas regiones; se han hecho estudios, por lo menos yo conozco que en América Latina ha habido desde hace por lo menos unos 15 años un servicio de reforma agraria regional que ha coleccionado un trabajo sumamente valioso, estudios que se hicieron hace diez años en diez países de América Latina y que duraron como tres años en hacerse, sobre la relación entre el desarrollo económico y la tenencia de la tierra, por ejemplo. Son documentos de una enorme importancia y, además, los países que son miembros de la región cuando vayan a las Conferencias Regionales van a llevar ellos sus puntos de vista, sus planteamientos y sus problemas y van a poder intercambiar opiniones.
Yo creo que no puedo ir más lejos en contestarle a esa pregunta porque tenemos que estar enfrentándonos a una etapa más avanzada para poder ver qué vamos a hacer en esta fecha y qué vamos a poder hacer en esta otra. Si hubiéramos comenzado a trabajar hace un año yo se lo podría decir exactamente, pero después de un mes solamente no se lo puedo decir.
En cuanto a la segunda pregunta, yo conozco los estudios sobre desarrollo rural integrado al cual se refirió el señor representante de la República Federal de Alemania; los he estudiado antes de venir para acá porque precisamente los tomé en cuenta en un trabajo anterior que yo estaba haciendo y conozco el valor que tienen, conozco los estudios regionales y el estudio final que se hizo sobre esa base. Esos estudios los vamos a tomar en cuenta en la documentación y al mismo tiempo estarán a disposición de la Conferencia como documento de información, pero no podemos presentarlos nosotros como documentos básicos de la FAO para presentarlos a la Conferencia. Serán documentos de información, y de información útil y seguramente habrá muchos países que tendrán presente esto y eso llamará la atención de los delegados.
En cuanto a la observación de México quiero decirle que la lista que yo dí está muy lejos de ser exhaustiva; dí una lista de unos estudios que se ordenaron hacer hace dos o tres meses, pero nosotros no hemos todavía confeccionado la lista de asuntos que queremos que se estudien precisamente esperando ver qué material existe ya disponible para poder utilizarlo.
CHAIRMAN: I thank Mr. Santa Cruz for his answers. Distinguished delegates we have a submission we could if possible try to dispose of. It is the resolution which was introduced by Peru on behalf of Cuba, Guinea, Italy, Peru, Sweden and Venezuela. There have been various proposals for changes to this
Resolution and there has also been a proposal by Jordan that we should not have a resolution at all but just a note on this in the report, and I believe this was supported by both Germany and France. As I understand, however, the great majority in this Commission is in favour of having a resolution, and if these three countries do not mind I think we should consider the changes proposed to this Resolution. Are there any objections to this? (No reply). This seems not to be the case. Then I think we should start with the proposed change in the second preamble of the paragraph where it was suggested by the Netherlands... the Delegate of Netherlands has asked for the floor.
J· BERTELING (Netherlands): Mr. Chairman, there was also another suggestion by my delegation, and it was supported and, in fact, elaborated on by the delegation of Yugoslavia to have a resolution of a wider scope than the present one. I suggest to you now, if possible, to give possibilities as far as Tuesday or so to have further consultations between the correspondence and some other delegations whether it is possible to have such a kind of resolution. That is one remark. The second remark is I would like to stick to the amendments you were just going to read out, as I understand, in the second preamble of the paragraph to insert the word, “by governments” and after the word “only”. A third remark I would like to make is a pure formal one. I learned in the meantime that in the last preamble of paragraph “Recalling in this connexion the support given by the FAO Conference at its Eighteenth Session to the implementation of ILO Convention No.141” that the rest is not the official title of that Convention and it would be preferable to have the words “And ILO Recommendation No. 149 concerning Organizations of rural workers and their role in economic and social development”. That is the official title of the convention and of the recommendation.
CHAIRMAN: I thank the Delegate of the Netherlands. I would like to ask the sponsors of this Resolution, and I put the question to the Delegate of Peru who I think introduced this, whether he can agree with the proposal put forward by the Netherlands? Maybe I could ask one of the other sponsors to take the floor?
G. de MICHELIS (Italy): We would like, first of all, to thank all the delegations which have let us know what was their opinion on the project of resolution. I think we shall agree on what the Distinguished Delegate of Netherlands has said now. We need a little more time and I hope you will give us some time. It all depends how fast we should draw down the final draft. It depends a little bit on you, but I think we need a little time to meet and look which are the proposals that can be drawn down as part of the Resolution.
CHAIRMAN: At this late hour, it is very easy for me to comply with your request, so I think we will leave it at that. Thank you very much. We will consider the Resolution and when it is put forward to us again with some changes, or perhaps even widened in scope, as it has been suggested.
Distinguished Delegates, it remains for me to make an attempt to sum up our debate. I personally think it has been a very good debate and also a very frank one. We have had forty-six interventions. We have heard Mr. Santa-Cruz' introduction on the review of arrangements for the World Conference, and Mr. Santa-Cruz has also answered if not all the questions put to him, at least the major ones.
There seems to be full support for the Conference, also from countries who earlier had been sceptical or ambivalent. These countries found now that the Conference was fully justified - although they still found that the objectives were somewhat vague.
Delegates welcomed the appointment of Mr. Santa-Cruz as the Special Representative of the Director-General for the Conference and assured him, as well as the assistant Director-General, Mr. Nouri Islam, and Mr. Nehemiah, of their full support.
With regard to the preparations for the Conference, it was broad agreement that it should be carefully planned. It was full support for the proposed arrangements for the Conference, including the proposals put forward by Mr. Santa-Cruz in his introduction. Some delegates thought that the Secretariat for the Conference should be strengthened. Satisfaction was expressed that U.N. agencies was involved. It was also necessary, in the view of many delegates, to draw on experiences from other U.N. conferences in the past. Some delegations pointed out the need for regional efforts in the preparations for the Conference.
Some delegates thought that the stress should perhaps be more on rural development than on agrarian reform. Some delegates even suggested a change in the name of the Conference. Others did not agree.
Some delegations pointed out that the nature of the problems in rural development varied from country to country and felt that this justified different approaches with regard to the solution of the problems. It was thus important that the preparations for the Conference should be balanced and realistic.
It was agreed, I think, that the Conference should be open for all countries as well as for NGOs. Almost all delegations were of the opinion that the delegations to the Conference should include representatives of farmers' unions and rural workers' union. A resolution to this effect was introduced by one delegation on behalf of several delegations. We will consider this resolution if and when reintroduced with some changes as just proposed by one of the co-sponsors.
There was agreement that the Conference should be non-academic, action-oriented and problem-solving. It should assist the participating countries in better defining what should be their priorities.
The Conference should not be limited to discussion of technical aspects, but also deal with social development. One proposal put forward was that the Conference should agree upon a Plan of Action for rural development.
The need for a multi-disciplinary approach - integrated rural development - was underlined by several delegates.
It was also pointed out by many delegates that agrarian reform should lead to higher agricultural production. The Conference should therefore, among others, concentrate on ways and means to achieve this aim.
With regard to the country review papers some delegations spoke in favour of a postponement of the deadline for submitting such reviews, but this has already been cleared up by Mr. Santa-Cruz. Several delegates requested assistance from FAO - experts in preparing the country review papers.
It was stressed by several delegates that the documents for the Conference should arrive in good time in the national capitals.
Finally, there were a few comments on the costs of the Conference. One delegate speaking on behalf of some of the other delegations thought that increased costs should not become an obstacle to thorough preparation for the Conference, and another delegate, if I understood him correctly, declared his country's readiness to consider in a positive manner appropriate requests for financial support in connection with preparations for the Conference.
Distinguished delegates, I have made an attempt to sum up very briefly our discussions as best I can. The final report will, of course, be drawn up by the Drafting Committee and submitted to you, and later to the Plenary for approval.
If there are no announcements and no other interventions... I am sorry I almost forgot my promise to the delegate of Ethiopia. You have the floor.
Y. LIKE (Ethiopia): Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for honouring your promise. I will try to be as brief as possible. It is merely I am asking for a clarification on the Resolution submitted by the distinguished delegate of Spain on behalf of the justified although they still found that the objectives were somewhat vague.
I think all delegations welcomed the appointment of Mr. Santa Cruz as the special representative of the Director-General for the Conference, and assured him and the Assistant Director-General, Mr. N. Islam and Mr. Nehemiah their full support.
With regard to the preparations for the Conference, it was broad agreement that this should be carefully planned. Full support was expressed for the proposals for the arrangement of the Conference including the proposals put forward by Mr. Santa Cruz in his introduction. Some delegations thought that the Secretariat should be strengthened. Satisfaction was expressed that the United Nations agencies were involved. It was also necessary, some delegations found, to draw on the experience from other UN Conferences in the past. Some delegations pointed out the need for regional efforts in the preparations for the Conference, and some delegates thought that the stress should perhaps be more on rural development than on agrarian reforms, and they suggested a change in the name of the Conference, but
others did not agree. Some delegations pointed out that the problems of rural development varied from country to country, and pointed out that this justified different approaches. It was important that preparations for the Conference should be balanced and realistic. It was agreed, I think, that the Conference should be opened for all countries as well as for non-governmental organizations. Almost all delegations who spoke were of the opinion that the delegations to the Conference should include representatives of farmers' unions and rural workers' unions. There was, as we know, presented a Resolution on this matter, which we will deal with at a later stage. There was agreement that the Conference should be non-academic; action oriented and problem solving. It should assist the participating countries in better defining what should be their priorities. The Conference should not be limited to technical aspects but should also deal with social development. Discussions should focus on the most important problems, concentrate on the main obstacles to rural development. One proposal put forward was that the Conference should agree upon a plan of action for the European Region. As you well know, this is a Resolution being discussed within the Programme and Budget submitted, and I would expect this resolution to have some impact on the Budget. Without it I cannot imagine its importance, so my question is, is the resolution being asked to pass within the limits of the budgets allocated to the European Region? Does it have any implication on increasing the required financing for the region? If so, how is it thought to be financed?
CHAIRMAN: I think the best way of dealing with it would be to ask the delegate of Spain, who introduced this Draft Resolution to answer your questions.
M. BUENO (España): Pues siento no poder aclarar las ideas de mi colega de Etiopía porque no fuí yo el que presento esta resolución dentro de la Comisión del Programa y Presupuesto; entonces no lo conozco, no soy la persona cualificada para aclarar este punto.
CHAIRMAN: Would the delegations of Belgium or Spain be able to comment on this? They were co-sponsors? I see the delegate of Germany has raised his flag. Maybe you can help us.
W.A.F. GRABISCH (Germany, Fed. Rep. of) (interpretation from German): I hope that I might help my friend of Spain. My delegation is not a sponsor of the Resolution but my delegation supports this Resolution. As nobody opposed it we did not intervene. If I interpret the situation correctly, the proposed action is simply what already exists in the present Programme and Budget for Europe, should remain and not be reduced. I believe that is really all behind this Resolution. The Director-General has proposed a Programme for Europe and this Programme has been supported by the member countries, and this Resolution is to support this, and it is meant to draw attention to the fact how important the work of the European countries is also for other member states, particularly developing countries.
A. GOMEZ ORBANEJA (España): Señor Presidente, únicamente para apoyar la declaración que acaba de hacer el representante de la República Federal de Alemania. La intención de la resolución no es que haya un cambio de fondos ni aumento de fondos, sino ampliar las actividades y que no disminuya el presupuesto, pero no es que haya aumento que pueda repercutir en el presupuesto.
CHAIRMAN: As far as I understand there are no budgetary implications. Does the reply satisfy the delegate of Ethiopia?
Y. LIKE (Ethiopia): Yes, Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.
K.S. WON (Korea, Rep. of): Since many speakers ahead of me have already presented the valuable and constructive comments in relation to the Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, I do not have much to say at the moment. However, on behalf of the delegations from the Republic of Korea, I would like to express full support for holding the Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development which is going to be held in 1979.
My delegation would also like to inform you that we have been preparing the country review paper which the FAO Secretariat requested last July, and we will be ready to show our active participation to the Conference by presenting our experiences in rural development.
With regard to the Resolution on the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, my delegation endorses our supporti for the Resolution in conference document C 77/LIM/36.
In closing, I would like to associate with other speakers in congratulating Mr. Santa Cruz for his appointment to the representative of the Director-General, for the preparation business for the Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development. 1/
CHAIRMAN: I think we can adjourn our meeting. We will resume on Tuesday at 9.30 to consider Item 10.1 Regular Programme Evaluation. Item 10.2 Decentralization to the country level, and if we have the time also Item 11, Review of Field Programmes.
The meeting rose at 18.50 hours
La séance est levée à 18 h 50
Se levanta la sesión a las 18.50 horas
1/ Statement inserted in the verbatim records on request.
