INTRODUCTION - PROCEDURE OF THE SESSION (continuation)
INTRODUCTION ET QUESTIONS DE PROCEDURE (suite)
INTRODUCCIÓN Y CUESTIONES DE PROCEDIMIENTO (continuación)

Son mandat est énoncé à l'annexe II du document C 83/12. De même que les critères devant présider à la formulation des résolutions.

Le Bureau recommande que la Conférence fasse sienne la proposition du Conseil et que les Etats membres suivants, identifiés par région à laquelle ils appartiennent, siègent à ce Comité.

Pour l'Afrique : le Cameroun. Pour l'Asie : le Bangladesh. Pour l'Europe : le Royaume-Uni. Pour l'Amérique latine : Cuba. Pour le Proche-Orient : l'Iraq. Pour l'Amérique du Nord : le Canada. Pour le Pacifique du Sud-Ouest : l'Australie.

Les délégations des pays concernés sont priées de communiquer aussitôt que possible au prèsident de tions. Le Breau recommande en outre que comme par le passè atsein du comité des résolu-tions Par le passé, et compte tenu de son expérience le Comité des résolutions soit présidé par le président en exercice au Comité du Programme. CHAIRMAN: You have heard the report of the General Committee. Are there any objections? If there
are no objections, it stands approved.

Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos

May I first join previous speakers in welcoming and congratulating the new members of our famous Organization.

Mr Chairman, 1 appreciate the opportunity to participate in the dialogue on possible solutions for the problems we are facing today, and to reduce part of the tensions around us.

In the overall economic and social context, there are in my opinion two main areas of tension: one, the priority of agriculture and rural development versus industrial and urban development; and two, short-term versus long-term policies.

With regard to the first issue I wish to express my deep concern about the decreasing share of rural and agricultural development in relation to the total development effort.

I want to stress that in an appropriate strategy the development of agriculture, forestry and fisheries should go hand in hand with the development of the industrial sector.

It is the firm conviction of the Dutch Government, however, that, in particular in low-income-food-deficit countries, the development of the agricultural and rural sectors should have priority. It can be a sucessfull accelerator for overall economic development.

With regard to the problem of short-term versus long-term policies, we see that in periods of low or even negative economic growth, governments often employ the instrument of drastic short-term cuts in expenditure. This is a political reality today, but it cannot be denied that the weakest countries are most severely affected by these measures.

It is therefore necessary to develop long-term strategies for the benefit of developing countries in particular the low-income food-deficit countries.

The priority of agricultural and rural development and the necessity to implement longer-term strategies are a major challenge for all of us, governments as well as international organizations. This clearly applies too to FAO, Mr Chairman.

Due to the interdependence of the many issues involved, both at national and international level, there is a growing need to join forces, preferably in a multinational approach. It requires political commitment for all of us.

While recognizing that global and regional policies are highly significant, it seems that a pragmatic and direct approach should focus on the country level.

At this level FAO could perform a linking function between industrialised and developing countries. It could facilitate the adjustment of the supply and demand of development assistance in the agricultural field.

Increased decentralisation of FAO's activities to the country level seems a logical consequence.

The FAO Representative should play an important role in this respect. His office must be handed the tools to assist recipient countries in formulating and implementing an integrated agricultural policy. He could be instrumental in coordinating bilateral and multilateral assistance, within the framework of an overall development policy.

Mr Chairman, on the agenda of this Conference two items require special attention: Food Security, and Plan Genetic Resources. I would like to touch briefly on both of them. As regards Food Security although our efforts in the long term must be directed to international arrangements, an operational and pragmatic approach to World Food Security should be preferred.

In many countries this requires a shift in priority towards structural development of the food and agricultural sector. In developed countries it is our experience that the dialogue and cooperation between groups of farmers and their governments contribute much to policy adjustments.

Ladies and gentlemen, the basic principle is that all people at all times must have physical and economic access to the basic food they need. Essential for this purpose is a sufficient purchasing power in rural areas, based on a reliable source of income.

Income, in turn, is directly dependent on employment. Therefore an employment policy must be part of the overall development strategy. The Netherlands Government welcomes the fact that internatio‐nal agencies more and more recognize this need for income-generating employment policies. In my country, for instance, we learned that rural public works are most appropriate to serve both employment and rural development.

The purchasing power created in this way will also increase access to credit facilities, which are needed to strengthen the rural economy.

At the same time, the three main policy instruments for agricultural progress - education, extension and reak668e - can be rendered more effective which will result in an increase of farmers' incomes and of local food production.

In this respect I would like to stress the importance of integrating more systematically forestry and nature conservation into the total framework of rural development. Only along these lines can the natural resources for future generations be secured. I endorse the increasing attention given to to the role of women in the rural economy.

FAO and other international agencies like the World Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme have to play their own appropiate roles in stimulating rural development.

Food aid will remain an important supporting instrument in our cooperation with developing countries. Therefore, food aid should fit in with the food supply policies of the recipient countries. Some weeks ago, on the occasion of the Twentieth anniversary of the World Food Programme, the Seminar on Food Aid was held in The Hague.

It demonstrated that aid, and especially food aid, should be increasingly employed as an instrument for development, and that it should directly benefit the poorest people in the developing countries. This view is clearly reflected in the current development cooperation policy of the Dutch Government. However, Mr Chairman, emergency food aid remains necessary for the foreseeable future. This is once more emphasized by the actual food situation in Africa as described in the reports of the FAO/WFP Task Force. In view of this alarming prospect, the Dutch Government has decided this week to make available additional food aid for a total of over twenty million US dollars - this is in addition - including shipment, to nine African countries as well as to two countries in Latin America, and additional funds will be provided, where necessary, for distribution and local transport. Wherever possible, the World Food Programme will be asked to assist in the delivery of the food, as such.

The second main item I want to touch upon concerns plant genetic resources. The basic principle that plant genetic resources are a common heritage of mankind, has been underlined internationally. It is recognized that plant genetic resources are indispensable for the genetic improvement of cultivated plants, and that they are in danger of erosion and loss. The Director-General was requested by the Conference in 1981 to examine and to prepare the elements of a draft international convention on the conservation and use of plant genetic resources. There was also a request to prepare a study on the establishment of an international bank for these resources of agricultural interest. Both ideas have now been included in a proposal for an international undertaking on plant genetic resources.

Broadly speaking I support the Director-General's pragmatic approach although, of course, a number of issues remains to be discussed. In my opinion there should be no duplication and overlap with well-functioning institutions such as the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources. No doubt, effective organizations should be able to continue their activities. FAO should facilitate the cooperation between national and international reak668e institutes and the participating countries. Apart from the conservation of plant genetic resources adequate availability of seeds resulting from plant breeding is indispensable for food supply and food security in the future.

Mr Chairman, I should like to conclude my statement by stressing the continued support of the Netherlands to the global development effort. In our country, as in other donor countries, we all regret the difficult economic situation which necessitates adjustments in expenditure. We believe that through increased emphasis on the effectiveness of our development cooperation, the same results can be obtained. At this time, even more than in the past, mutual understanding, a continuing dialogue and cooperation between all countries is necessary. The Netherlands Government and people are ready to contribute their share.

A.S. SABALLY (Gambia): Almost ten years ago the World Food Conference, convened in this city, solemnly proclaimed that every man, woman and child has the inalienable right to be free from hunger and malnutrition in order to develop fully and maintain their physical and mental faculties; that the eradication of hunger is a common objective of all the countries of the international community; and that it is a fundamental responsibility of governments to work together for higher food production and more equitable and efficient distribution of food between countries and within countries.

This session of the General Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization provides the international community with another occasion to review progress made since the World Food Conference to increase food production and to eliminate hunger and malnutrition. It is an opportunity for us to exchange ideas on where we have gone wrong and what action is needed to achieve the objectives set by the World Food Conference.

The available data on the world food situation indicate that global food supplies exceed human requirements; that there is enough food for everyone. Yet 500 million people today are afflicted by hunger and have less to eat than the minimum required for normal life. Approximately 16 percent of this number of destitute people, to whom the phrase "the inalienable right to be free from hunger and malnutrition" must sound very hollowand meaningless - live in my country, my part of Africa.

The food situation in Africa, especially in the Sahel region in which the Gambia is situated, is characterized by an ever-increasing margin by which population growth has outstripped food production, and by the frequent and wide fluctuations in food production. Not only are food production and supplies inadequate, they are also insecure. The downward trend in production per capita, which has already reached crisis level, needs to be stopped if we are to avert famine and starvation on a wider scale and political unrest and instability. The conclusion of the World Food Conference that urgent and sustained remedial action is vital is as valid today as it was in 1974. However, meaningful and effective action must be rooted in a thorough understanding of the causes of the food crisis. The absence of a sound technological base for crop production and inappropriate economic and agricultural development policies have been compounded by environmental factors affecting growth in the food sector, especially in the Sahelian region.

Major development efforts to increase food grain production have been and are being undertaken by our countries. We have introduced and are implementing major policy reforms; in addition, we are investing increasing amounts of domestic and foreign resources in the food sector to increase productivity and overall production in the framework of food strategies and food security schemes incorporated in our national development plans. We recognize that such factors as inappropriate cultural practices, the inadequate spread of appropriate technology, deficient marketing and storage arrangements for farm inputs and produce, poor plant protection and handling of harvested crops, and inappropriate price policies which have adversely affected food production and distribution, have remedies within reach. These are being addressed through agricultural reak668e and extension efforts, through the re-organization and strengthening of the agricultural support services and through price policy reforms. However, the available resources, both domestic and foreign, are grossly inadequate to enable us to boost production and make a significant impact in the short term.

We have to recognize as well that the allocation of increased resources and the successful implementation of current measures will help us deal with the problem of inadequacy of domestic food production and supplies only if rainfall, a factor vital for crop production but over which unfortunately we have no control, works in our favour.

Agriculture in Africa is characterized by a very heavy dependency on rainfall; only 2 percent of the cultivated area is under irrigation. It is no coincidence that countries such as ours in the Sahel situated in the arid and semi-arid zones of the region, which have limited and erratic rainfall, are the high-risk areas and suffer from more frequent and wider fluctuations in food production than the humid equatorial zones. In the Gambia as in other Sahelian countries, variable rainfall is the major factor in the variability of crop production. The severe and prolonged drought that afflicted the Sahel in the 1960s and 1970s, and has received so much publicity, is still with us this year again, serious drought has struck most of the Sahelian countries. In the Gambia during the current farming season we received about half the normal amount of rainfall, poorly distributed in time and space. We estimate a shortfall in production of approximately 40 percent. There will be widespread food shortages in our region. While we appreciate the efforts of the donor community which very often has come to our assistance in providing emergency food aid, we believe that help in removing the fundamental cause of food shortages in the Sahel would be a more enduring manifestation of solidarity with the Sahelians. So long as we continue to depend on rainfall for crop production in the drought-prone Sahel, our countries and peoples will continue to be exposed to the hazards of food insecurity.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Ministers, what we need in the Gambia as in other countries of the Sahel is assistance to develop our water resources so that we can have control over the most important factor affecting agricultural production. Only irrigated agriculture can, in the context of the Sahel, provide a secure basis for definite levels of food production and food security.

To develop our irrigation potential we need such infrastructure as dams and barrages across our rivers so that we can utilize our considerable surface water resources in a rational way. The provision of such infrastructures as the Salinity Control Barrage on the River Gambia requires substan‐tial investments that cannot be met from domestic resources only. The assistance of the international community is urgently needed to implement this very important project.

Mr Chairman, while assistance to the agricultural sector of our economies has increased over the past two decades, it remains meagre and inadequate in relation to the needs. We see in this situa‐tion a clear manifestation of the lack of political will and commitments to tackle the most pressing problem of world hunger and malnutrition. Summit after summit of world political leaders have pledged to give top priority to the solution of this problem. There is unfortunately no serious concerted effort to meet the deadlines fixed for the eradication of hunger. I also believe that what we need is another Marshall Plan to fight against this terrible disease.

The problems of hunger are tackled by several agencies and at several levels within the United Nations system. Closer collaboration between these agencies and the coordination of their efforts and activities: to determine what is required to solve the problem to take appropriate remedial action within their areas of competence; and to monitor progress in the implementation of action programmes will no doubt enhance the prospects of achieving our objectives.

Mr Chairman, one such agency is IFAD, created in 1974 by the World Food Conference to boost food production. This agency is now unfortunately in a financial crisis and I want to make a clear appeal to major donors to help very urgently.

Those countries that shy away from assisting drought-prone countries to develop their irrigation potential and facilities, on the grounds that irrigation is expensive are the same countries that see the sky as the limit in investments in armaments. In a world that has long ago developed the capacity to wipe out mankind several times over, we are still spending billions of dollars on arms and nuclear weapons to eradicate mankind. While no limits are set on how much money may be spent to build up the capacity to destroy lives and to erase mankind from this earth, we appear most reluctant to provide the resources and to create the conditions in which 500 million people can produce their own staple foods and can thus claim and exercise their inalienable right to be free from hunger and malnutrition.

While the future looks bleak, we prefer to be hopeful that the situation will improve, that the world community will see the wisdom and value of working together as a family to eradicate hunger. By allocating US$ 500 million to assist in the fight against hunger in the Sahel, the Government of Italy has set a bright example worthy of emulation by much bigger and more prosperous countries. I feel confident, Mr Chairman, that under your guidance this Conference will address the real issues that have retarded agricultural development and enable us to appreciate better our shared responsibility to prevent hunger.

Allow me to congratulate you, Mr Chairman, and the Vice-Chairmen, on your election. I also want to congratulate the new members on joining this family of nations. I must also congratulate our dynamic Director-General of FAO and his very efficient staff for the good work they have done since the last Conference.

Mr Chairman, I believe we should declare from this assembly that the world will not be for the eradication of mankind, the world will be against hunger, malnutrition, starvation, disease, illiteracy; long live international cooperation in solidarity. Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for your attention.

The policies of high interest rates, of increasing unemployment and of further reducing the income of the low-income groups in the developed countries might lead to a slow down of the recession in the short run. But these policies will further aggravate the problems of the economies of the rest of the world. This means that until the next FAO Conference, in 1985, the economies of the developing countries at least will still be in crisis.

Under such an economic perspective it would be rather unlikely that the agricultural sector will overcome its difficulties. It will not overcome the slowing down of effective food demand which, combined with the instability of the international market for agricultural products, causes a downward pressure for international prices; nor the steep rise of input prices due not only to the continuing inflationary pressures but also to the oligopolistic character of the market; nor the

cost and price squeeze which negatively affects farm incomes and exerts high pressure on the small size farm holdings. The increasing capital cost due to the high real interest rates will still be a problem, and this will be associated with the poor market prospects and stagnant or even decreasing farm income which leads to a slowing down of the rate of investment and of the rate of adoption of new technology.

All these result in a decreasing rate of structural adjustment, though the structural adjustment is a necessity in order to improve the country's level of development.

The problem set by the international crisis is more acute for the developing countries since the agricultural sector there has a dominant position in the economy. The limitations for scheduling a self sustained development derive from the lack of exchange resources. Existing resources are mainly used for food imports and for interest payments of existing debts. It derives also from the low per capita income and its unequal distribution resulting in saving shortages. It derives from the need for adopting advanced technological production processing despite the existing abundant labour force which causes structural unemployment.

The problem is more aggravated if one takes into account the role of Multinational Corporations in these countries and the surplus transfer created with overpricing and underpricing practices as well as the trade and lending mechanisms.

After two decades of development the gap between developed and developing countries has widened. The question we face today is how we may overcome the present crisis and which is going to be the new development strategy.

Although the situation, as I have already stressed, is grave, the answer given to this question is only partial and mainly focused on the idea of trade liberalisation. Here I would like to point out that though we do not agree with the idea of protectionism, the use of trade as a means for development is conditional on the independence and equal bargaining power between trading partners. Unfortunately, developing countries have not always had the bargaining power they need. It is also conditional on the existing unequal international distribution of wealth and income. This unequal distribution leads to unequal gains from free trade.

As far as the specific issue of agricultural protection is concerned I would like to remind you that the agricultural sector differs substantially from the other sectors of the economy. Therefore, it calls for a different treatment, a treatment which is not based on the condemnation of every type of state intervention. In order to ensure a better income distribution at a national and international level, it may be necessary to control trade flows.

The overall pattern of food and nutritional problems has remained unchanged over the last two decades, despite the vigorous and sincere efforts of FAO and other UN Agencies. Thus food has retained its status as one of the great and crucial issues of our times.

The problem of food security, with the exception of emergency cases is a structural one. We strongly believe that the target should not be the Institutionalisation of free food aid to the hungry of this world. Such an approach, would only result to the perpetuation of underdevelopment and hunger. The target should be to use all available resources as tools in assisting the developing countries to lay the foundation for a long term Food Security Strategy of their own. Food Aid, therefore, should be considered as one of the possible tools.

Mr Chairman, it is our belief that International Cooperation regarding World Food Security should be based on Multilateral basis for at least two reasons; first to exclude political pressures; second to utilise the experience of International Organizations.

In addition our delegation strongly supports the idea of creating country-owned reserves

There is an urgent need, Mr Chairman, for a better understanding between developed and developing countries as the development of the latter are the key to a strategy for sustained recovery. This means that even from this forum we must try to have a positive contribution to the North-South dialogue, which today seems to be at a rather low point.

But, Mr Chairman, let me express some doubts about the effectiveness of the strategies and approaches that have been proposed or have been already applied. Such approaches, either referring to specific regions or having a broader character usually focus solely on securing preferential trade treatment for the agricultural products of developing countries.

Though we are not against such a treatment, we think that this has to be supported by broader measures and aid policies for helping the development process of developing countries. The implementation of such a strategy calls for actions at international and national levels.

At international level, actions that could promise better access for the exports of developing countries, effective stabilization of the international market for major national products and raw materials at prices remunerative to producers and fair to consumers. The expansion of intra-developing countries' trade and cooperation.

At national level what is necessary is actions referring to the broadening of the spectrum of agricultural products produced, the full exploitation of the forward and backward links between the agricultural sector and the rest of the economy. We think such a policy will act positively to the employment opportunities, regional development and balance of payments. In any case the selected options of implementations of development strategies must be the result of a generalised national dialogue which will also ensure the participation of the society as a whole.

Before concluding my speech, Mr Chairman, I would like to refer to a very specific and serious issue, namely that of the Sub-Saharan problem. I think that this Organization could undertake concerted action in order to overcome the immediate problems of those countries and to avoid a general deterioration of the whole Mediterranean and African regions’ ecological stability.

Last but not least, Mr Chairman, I feel it my duty to express my serious concern for the grave international political climate. The accumulating economic problems have created a cold war atmosphere that do not allow us to tergiverate. The cold war climate that has started prevailing in the East-West relations, the failure to which the Geneva talks seem to be led, the development of new nuclear missile systems on the European Continent and the overall escalation of the armaments race constitute a very serious danger.

War, whether hot or cold, is an option that humanity cannot afford. Especially from this forum we have to cry out that both types of war are calculated murder. Bombs kill people whether they explode or not. Those that explode kill in hot blood, the funds used for those that do not explode starve people to death. That is why we have not only to try to improve the international economic situation but also, and I think that this is a first priority, to secure peace and put an end to the armaments race.

E. PISANI (Communauté économique européenne): J'ai pris deux fois la parole à cette tribune comme Ministre de l'agriculture de mon pays et c'est la seconde fois que je la prends comme Commissaire au développement de la Communauté économique européenne. Il y a 22 ans, je montais ici en effet pour dire au nom de la France quelques-unes des préoccupations qui étaient les nôtres et pour contribuer avec d'autres à l'analyse de problèmes dont je peux dire, hélas, qu'ils ne se sont pas trouvés résolus depuis 20 ans mais plutôt aggravés. Faut-il dire que cette aggravation est le résultat d'une fatalité, faut-il dire qu'elle est le résultat d'une indifférence ou d'une ignorance ? Faut-il au contraire avouer qu'elle est le résultat d'un certain nombre d'erreurs que nous avons commises et sur lesquelles il faudrait peut-être revenir avec plus d'attention et de sérieux que nous ne l'avons fait jusqu'à présent ?

Je voudrais me poser une première question. Pourquoi un certain nombre de pays dont les conditions naturelles étaient sans doute plus favorables sont-ils parvenus à l'autosuffisance et à l'excédent alors que d'autres pays dont les circonstances naturelles sont peut-être plus difficiles ne sont-ils pas parvenus aux mêmes résultats ? Est-ce que la force de l'homme dans sa lutte contre la faim est plus grande au Nord qu'au Sud ? Est-ce qu'au contraire ce sont a la fois les circonstances historiques ou géographiques qui n'ont pas permis que s'élaborent les véritables politiques ? J'ai tendance à croire que la situation du Sud par rapport au Nord en matière alimentaire est le résultat de la combinaison de ces deux facteurs, si j'avais à chercher au Nord comme au Sud, à l'Est comme à l'Ouest le facteur qui est apparu comme déterminant dans le développement d'un système productif tendant à l'autosuffisance, je le trouverais à n'en pas douter dans la sécurité accordée aux agriculteurs pris individuellement. Lorsque nous parlons de sécurité alimentaire mondiale, je crois qu'il faut que nous nous disions que nous n'y atteindrons que lorsque le producteur des pays pauvres aura reçu un système de garanties qui lui assure une sécurité comparable à celle qu'ont reçue les agriculteurs des pays du Nord. Comment l'Europe, déficitaire il y a vingt ans, est-elle devenue excédentaire sinon en donnant la sécurité à ses agriculteurs, comment les Etats-Unis dont les performances sont si remarquables sont-ils arrivés aux résultats qu'ils ont atteints sinon par une politique qui, de la recherche aux contrats commerciaux et aux accords de type divers a garanti la sécurité aux producteurs ? Comment des pays comme la Suisse et le Japon sont-ils parvenus, en dépit des conditions naturelles, à ne pas être totalement dépendants, sinon par la sécurité qu'ils ont donnée à leurs agriculteurs ? Comment des pays comme la Thaïlande, comme certains pays sucriers liés à l'Europe par l'Accord ''sucre'' sont-ils parvenus à développer leur production de manioc d'une part, ou de sucre d'autre part, sinon par la sécurité des contrats qui leur étaient accordés?

Je ne crois pas, nous n'avons plus le droit de croire que le paysan est, comme le producteur, complice du Seigneur et dont la tâche est de mettre à la disposition des hommes les biens alimentaires en suffisance. L'agriculteur produit pour lui-même et il ne produit le reste que s'il trouve des marchés rémunérateurs. Je voudrais en ce point essayer de dire avec force que croire que l'on parle de la

même chose lorsqu'on parle de sécurité alimentaire mondiale et lorsque je parle de sécurité individuelle des producteurs, l'on se trompe. Je crois que l'on se trompe en considérant la sécurité alimentaire mondiale comme un concept global, comme s'il était permis d'imaginer que quelques pays mieux placés que les autres seraient capables, d'eux-mêmes, d'alimenter le monde entier comme si quelques pays privilégiés produisant pour tout le monde le transport des denrées à travers les océans permettraient une sécurité alimentaire dans les pays qui seraient ainsi plus dépendants qu'ils ne le sont.

La sécurité alimentaire mondiale est une somme de sécurités alimentaires nationales ou régionales qui sont elles-mêmes une somme de sécurités alimentaires individuelles et c'est vers cela qu'il faut tendre. Je n'accepte pas, nous n'acceptons pas le concept qui consisterait à dire que si quelque part sur le marché mondial il existe des denrées en quantités suffisantes et à un prix bas, des pays pourraient se dispenser de produire car enfin les pays pauvres du Sud, s'ils devaient, sous prétexte d'acheter meilleur marché leur nourriture, l'acheter sur le marché mondial, alors qu'ils ne produisent rien d'autre que des produits agricoles, quel destin serait réservé à ces pays ? Tel est le problème que je pose et dès lors qu'il est posé, il est clair que l'autosuffisance alimentaire apparaît à chacun comme la condition de la sécurité alimentaire générale, le marché mondial jouant toujours marginalement surtout pour les denrées essentielles pour équilibrer les excédents ou les déficits qui peuvent apparaître ici et là. Mais je voudrais dire aussi, et je le dois, à cette assemblée, comme commissaire au développement de la Communauté économique européenne, je voudrais dire aussi que les politiques de sécurité accordées aux agriculteurs comportent un certain nombre de risques, et qu'une fois mises en place, alors même qu'elles ont atteint le résultat qu'elles devraient atteindre, c'est-à-dirë l'autosuffisance, la contagion existe, le risque existe de voir les gouvernements incapables de changer pour tenir compte de la situation nouvelle qui résulte de leur propre succès.

La CEE s'est trouvée dans cette situation d'avoir mis en place une politique tendant à l'auto-suffisance, d'avoir réalisé les excédents et de n'en avoir pas su à temps, peut-être, modifier cette politique pour tenir compte de cette situation nouvelle. Je voudrais pourtant dire que le procès qui pourrait lui être fait ne serait pas fondé.

Je voudrais pour le démontrer prendre trois produits parce qu'ils sont significatifs et dire comment la politique agricole commune évolue et.comment il est nécessaire que les partenaires de l'Europe comprennent que cette politique va dans le sens utile.

En matière de sucre, c'est vrai que la politique agricole commune a permis le développement énorme de la production; c'est vrai aussi que ce développement a été favorisé par l'évolution des techniques génétiques, chimiques, mécaniques, c'est vrai qu'à un moment donné, absente du marché mondial, la communauté est devenue un acteur essentiel pesant très lourd sur l'équilibre des cours, mais c'est vrai que depuis quelques années, en changeant le système de garanties, en mettant à la charge des producteurs une part beaucoup plus grande des charges d'exportation en mettant à leur charge en particulier, les charges de stockage la CEE a fait évolué sa production non pas conjoncturellement, mais structurellement et désormais la politique agricole commune telle qu'elle est définie, aboutit au résultat que la production européenne de sucre est inférieure de plus de 10 pour cent, de moins de 15 pour cent à ce qu'elle était dans les années précédentes. Que dire du problème du lait ? Sinon qu'il est plus complexe sans doute que le problème du sucre. Parce que le lait est la production des entreprises familiales et des régions difficiles. Parce que la production de lait à tendance à s'accroître beaucoup plus vite que la consommation pour des raisons de techniques, d'une part, et de moeurs d'autre part. C'est vrai que la production agricole laitière européenne a de beaucoup dépassé les besoins de la communauté. Mais c'est aussi vrai que la CEE a progressivement mis en place une taxe de coresponsabilité qui a été difficilement admise. Et bientôt, comme cette taxe de coresponsabilité s'avérait insuffisante elle a décidé de mettre en route des supertaxes de responsabilité et des taxes tendant à frapper les entreprises qui ne sont pas des entreprises proprement paysannes, des entreprises proprement agricoles, mais des entreprises industrielles produisant des denrées agricoles. Ne croyez pas que le débat politique qui est engagé soit facile et comprenez, même si je comprends vos propres inquiétudes, que le paquet que la Commission a élaboré pour le proposer au Conseil et qui imagine de subtils mélanges d'interventions aux frontières et d'interventions à l'intérieur du marché européen, constituent un paquet dont la Communauté sortira difficilement, que nos partenaires comprennent le sens global de notre politique et non pas seulement les inconvénients qui peuvent ressortir sur un point ou un autre d'une décision qui fait partie d'un ensemble cohérent. A-t-on réfléchi, et je voudrais maintenant parler de protéines, au fait que la CEE importe de l'ordre de 50 pour cent des protéines qu'elle consomme et que sa dépendance devient dangereuse. Faudra-t-il que nous nous livrions à des combats contre nos partenaires pour leur faire comprendre que nous avons le droit, et sans doute le devoir de faire évoluer en tenant compte des règles générales d'une concurrence nécessaire, faire évoluer nos productions de telle sorte que nous nous dégagions de cette dépendance du marché mondial?

Je voudrais que l'on considère que la CEE s'est engagée dans une voie difficile de réforme de sa politique agricole, de cette politique agricole qui a fondé la Communauté et que nul ne saurait lui demander de réaliser sans délai ce que le temps seul peut lui permettre de réaliser ? Ayant parlé de l'Europe, je voudrais en venir au sujet essentiel de mes préoccupations, comme Commissaire du

développement, et je voudrais parler de cette sécurité en essayant de l'aborder sous divers aspects en disant que le premier aspect de la sécurité alimentaire dans la plupart des pays en développement réside dans l'effort qu'il nous faut faire pour éviter les conditions naturelles dans lesquelles sont les agriculteurs dans les pays au Sud du Sahara mais aussi en Amérique latine, et aussi en Asie du Sud-Est et les conditions dans lesquelles les paysans produisent.

Je suis quant à moi très dramatiquement inquiet de l'évolution du désert, de cette maladie qui gagne, du déséquilibre progressif de tous les climats aux alentours des déserts, du risque où nous sommes de ne pas voir se rétablir les sigles normaux de pluviométrie, de la famine qui va s'étendre et des transferts de population qui vont avoir lieu vers les villes, vers les rivages, si la Communauté internationale n'est pas capable, comme les Nations Unies l'y ont invitée à mettre sur pied sur le très long terme, sur 50, sur 100 ans les programmes coûteux de lutte contre le désert, je ne garantis pas que plus de la moitié du continent africain ne soit totalement abandonnée par les populations qui s'agglutineront dans les villes;  et alors comment seront-elles nourries?

Le deuxième élément du programme de sécurité alimentaire me paraît être la sauvegarde des produc‐tions ou des richesses existantes; 20 pour cent des récoltes sont détruites après récolte; la plupart du cheptel vivant domestique et sauvage de l'Afrique est atteint de maladies qui le rendent facilement impropre à la consommation.  Pourquoi rêver à je ne sais quelle conquête nouvelle si d'abord nous ne sommes pas capables, par une campagne pkus vigoureuse, plus forte, plus déterminée de rendre utilisables les richesses déjà disponibles?

Le second élément de la sécurité alimentaire est incontestablement dans la sauvegarde de ces richesses.

Le troisième élément, et j'y viens, c'est la sécurité aux agriculteurs pris individuellement.  Si dans le cadre des politiques, si dans le cadre de stratégies alimentaires, les gouvernements des pays qui n'ont pas atteint l'autosuffisance et dont la dépendance est fort grande, ne parviennent pas à donner à leurs agriculteurs les garanties suffisantes pour que ceux-ci aient envie de produire et de porter sur le marché leurs excédents de production paysanne, jamais le tiers monde n'atteindra 1'autosuffisance alimentaire.

Si nous croyons que seules les lois du marché sont capables d'apporter aux agriculteurs des pays du tiers monde les éléments qui leur accorderont cette sécurité et donc cette raison de produire, nous nous trompons.  Seul un mélange des mécanismes du marché et des sécurités que la puissance publique peut apporter permettront aux agriculteurs du tiers monde de produire davantage et de contribuer à l'autosuffisance de leurs pays.

C'est à cette triple réflexion, lutte entre les déséquilibres naturels, lutte pour la sauvegarde des richesses existantes, lutte pour la mise en place de politiques de garantie de sorte que les agriculteurs aient envie de produire, que la CEE invite ses partenaires dans le cadre des stratégies alimentaires.

Reste l'aide alimentaire; elle est nécessaire, nous devons l'augmenter, mais nous ne devons pas croire qu'elle puisse résoudre aucun problème durable d'une humanité qui ne meurt pas.

E.F. WHELAN (President of the World Food Council): Mr Chairman and colleagues, when I was a young Canadian farmer growing up on a wheat and corn and vegetable farm in the southern part of the Province of Ontario, I never dreamed that I would some day find myself in Rome, Italy, speaking to senior representatives from almost every corner of the world, and speaking on behalf of the world's highest political forum on food issues - The World Food Council.

It is a great honour for me and a great responsibility and a great opportunity to advance our common cause - the eradication of hunger.

That phrase, "the eradication of hunger", is mentioned so often in our talks that I am afraid it sometimes loses its punch.

I worry that the word "hunger" loses its terrible meaning.  It should scare the living daylights out of every conscious person in the whole world.

The fact that half a billion people are suffering from hunger and malnutrition is something that should shock and mobilize the other four billion people who have enough to eat.

Today we have satellites that can see how the crops are growing all over the world. How can we fail to see men, women and children suffering from hunger, or dying helplessly of starvation?

I wonder how come we can become so alarmed about other tragedies in our world and I use the terrible tragedy of shooting down the commercial airliner, the South Korean commercial airliner, a terrible tragedy and we all should become aroused, but why do we not become so aroused about thousands, possibly millions, dying? We know there are a thousand dying every week from starvation. I believe the figures given by the Director-General of the FAO said one child dies every thirty seconds. Figure how many that is in a day, how many that is in a week; but why? Why do we not become aroused about that, because they are human beings also, and you know we know how to stop that tragedy if we really want to. We know that what matters is action - action on many fronts to overcome this tragedy of the world food story.

We know which way the wind must blow if we are to sweep hunger from the face of the world. Speeches alone will solve nothing.

I am reminded of a comment made by King Faisal of Saudi Arabia to a Canadian photographer named Yousuf Karsh, back in 1945. Karsh asked the future King why he was the only one who had not made a speech at the San Francisco Conference, in which the United Nations was established. King Faisal replied,"Public speaking is like the wind of the desert: it blows constantly, without doing any good."

I want to speak for a moment about IFAD, the International Fund for Agricultural Development. IFAD is a child of the World Food Conference of 1974 and of the World Food Council. In many ways it is like a child of the world: it is only 8 years old. It embodied our hopes and dreams, our aspirations for the future. In it we placed our trust that somehow indeed the future would be better.

In its early years, it was full of enthusiasm and energy, it was creative and flexible, but IFAD is like a child of the world in other respects. It is starving and dying before our eyes. IFAD was the instrument of the United Nations. It really spoke to the poor small farmers, fishermen and people who earned their survival on a daily basis on the direct resources of this planet. There are other agricultural agencies and financial institutions but none had the unique mandate of assisting the world' s poorest. We all know the issue of replenishment is a complicated one, but it appears that has become an excuse. We have the knowledge, the expertise, we even have the money. Take a fraction of 1 percent of our arm expenditures and we can double IFAD' S resources base. All that is lacking is the political will with courage, the courage to build on our belief. The poor of the world had placed their hope in IFAD, and if IFAD goes under it will not just be failure of another UN institution, but, I fear, the death of hope. In its place we have despondency and despair. I do not want to blame any one nation. Several from both categories 1 and 2 have failed to honour their pledges for the first replenishment. Some perhaps have better reasons than others, but one cannot believe that the strongest and the richest power in the world will allow this child, this hope to die. All other countries of category 1 are willing to complete the first replenishment and begin the second, all other countries that is, it seems, except yours, Mr Chairman. What more can we say, Mr Chairman? My Government and the governments represented here and the World Food Council, of which I have the responsibility of being President, and the highest agricultural ministries of the world have appealed to your government. We have asked not that you carry the burden alone but to share that burden with us. Certainly, all the arguments and the fine principles which your representatives speak about are important. We do not deny this, but at this moment they do not match the principle of hope which is at stake in this institution, IFAD. The death of hundreds of thousands of the world's poorest would be the likely result of the failure of IFAD.

I would like to thank, as President of the World Food Council, the delegate of France for the announcement this morning of its increased contribution to IFAD; I understand an increase from $28 to $48 million.

We must be prepared to audit the effectiveness of our actions as well. Those things were addressed at length at the World Food Council meeting in New York City in late June. I would like to review some of the key points raised at that meeting and then outline some of the plans and actions that the Council will be taking in the near future.

Perhaps I should start by noting that the ministers or their representatives from 36 countries reaffirmed their support for the World Food Council and the mandate that it was accorded by the United Nations General Assembly in 1974. That mandate is to work cooperatively with the United Nations system of agencies to monitor and coordinate policies, programmes and resources devoted to improving the world food economy.

The opening statement of Perez de Cuellar emphasized that the work of the Council was of utmost urgency and importance in view of the current global food situation. He mentioned the success that the Council has had in promoting the use of national food strategies as part of a comprehensive world food security system. In that view, it is encouraging to know that more than 40 developing nations--30 in Africa alone--are either in the process of developing or implementing national food strategies. In itself, a strategy is an intangible thing. But it does provide a road map for development. And it facilitates the process of making agricultural development an integral par--or even the leading part--of national economic development.

A food strategy sets out how production, marketing and distribution can be improved. The previous speaker just before me mentioned about marketing and how important it was to make sure that those farmers knew what they were going to receive before they planted it, and they would plant and grow what you needed. At least that was the main thing of what I got from what he said. And it helps to identify the vital links between domestic production, trade opportunities, and economic stability.

By encouraging self-reliance, I would say a food strategy also makes a contribution towards political stability. And that is a step towards world peace.

Recall what Aurelio Peccei, founder of the Club of Rome, said at the organization' s recent conference in Budapest: "Food security--as proposed by FAO-- is itself becoming a part of the elementary wisdom of our age, while at the same time, a link is being established with the imperative of peace in the world."

Signor Peccei argued that man now has the tools and the ability to achieve global food security, and that we have left behind the days when the struggle for food was a natural cause for war.

I find that an exciting idea, and it underlines the lunacy of the current situation in which about $600 billion is spent per year on armaments, compared to $12 billion for food aid and agricultural development assistance.

But we must return to the question of how we can make food policy the engine for economic recovery, political stability, peace, and social justice, which we know it can be.

As I said earlier, the World Food Council, as shown at our New York meeting, sees the need for action on many fronts.

These fronts include: poverty and the maldistribution of wealth; depressed prices in commodity markets; sluggish demand; restricted access to markets, protectionist policies; inadequate reak668e; inadequate infrastructure, technology, training and credit for farmers in developing countries; rising birth rates in the poorest countries; and insufficient attention to the role of women in the food system.

Everything that is done towards correcting those problems is a step in the right direction.

I think it is most short-sighted for the wealthier countries to find various excuses to reduce their spending on aid and development programs. In fact, a strong commitment to helping the developing countries will also lead to improved trade opportunities.

In my own country, Canada, I have seen our agricultural exports rise to record highs in recent years, at the same time as our agricultural development assistance has risen dramatically—from 14 percent of our Official Development Assistance in 1979, towards a target of 45 percent by 1985.

I can remember people criticizing the Government in Canada for being the second largest donor to the International Rice Reak668e Commission. Wheat farmers said to me: "You are going to help produce so much rice that they will not want to buy our wheat." Last year will be our largest sales of wheat ever in the world. We will export over 29 million tons of grain. It will be also the largest year of export for pure bred dairy cattle from our country. It will be the largest year ever of export for semen and embryo transplants to people in other parts of the world. So you can see that aid does not hurt, aid helps. The old philosophy of "give onefold to receive tenfold" holds pretty true.

But I must not forget that I am speaking to you now as Head of the World Food Council and not as Minister of Agriculture for Canada.

A good portion of the Council's New York meeting dealt with a review of food trends, priorities, and strategies in Africa, Latin America and Asia, with Africa, of course, receiving our deepest concern.

Out of a total population of about 460 million people, there are perhaps 150 million Africans who now face immediate threat of starvation, unless there is an increase in production and in aid.

As Mr Saouma reported at the United Nations on October 27th, the food supply situation in 22 African countries, is nothing short of alarming.

Beyond their immediate problems, resulting mostly from years of drought, Africa faces a long-term problem of feeding a population which will nearly double by the turn of the century.

The World Food Council's report on the African situation stressed the need to make agriculture the top priority by all concerned. Special emphasis should be put on improving the traditional food crops of the small farmers.

As in many Latin American countries, much emphasis has been put on the big, export-oriented farms, but insufficient attention has been given to smallholders.

In Asia, we were encouraged to note that food production in the past decade rose by more than 3.2 percent per year--considerably higher than the global increase of 2.6 percent. And that is a tribute to their growing mastery of agricultural sciences and food policy.

Nonetheless, there is a continuing silent emergency for more than 300 million Asians who are chronically undernourished.

And between now and the year 2000, the Asian population is expected to increase by 900 million people, to reach 3.4 billion.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, the food needs of an additional 200 million people will have to be met by the end of the century - and that is not very long away.

Those figures should make it perfectly obvious that a massive increase in agricultural production in the developing countries is absolutely essential. It must be done, it can be done. We have some solid success stories like India, with its great increase in wheat production. What we need to do is to ensure that the success stories become the rule rather than the exception.

Generating the political will to mobilize the necessary resources, both in the developing and the developed nations, is one of the main purposes of the World Food Council.

Since I was elected President of the Council in June, I have travelled extensively, through the Americas, Europe, and Africa, in pursuit of that goal.

I visited Ethiopia last August with my colleague, the Honourable Saijou Sabally, vice-president of the Council for Africa, and Minister of Agriculture of the Gambia, and with Maurice Williams, Executive Director of the Council. I also took some of my expert agricultural people with me to advise me on what they saw, what they observed, what they learned. We agreed that Ethiopia would be the ideal place to hold the Tenth Ministerial Session of the Council.

After consulting with the other members of the Bureau, I recently informed the WFC members that the next Ministerial session will take place in Addis Ababa, headquarters of the Organization of African States and the Economic Commission for Africa, on June 11 to 15th, 1984.

I want to thank the Governments of Italy and Greece for offering to host that session, but I think there are compelling reasons to hold the conference in Ethiopia. It will draw attention to the hunger problem in a region where it is most acutely felt, and perhaps it will also spark some new, creative ideas from the Council members.

In February, selected Council members, and authorities from several other related international organizations, will meet here in Italy, at Bellagio, to review the papers that will be presented at the Tenth Ministerial Session in Addis.

The major piece of work will be the review of progress made by the United Nations food-related agencies, and what needs to be done to achieve the goals set out here in Rome at the World Food Conference in 1974.

I was at that conference. I stayed to the very end, and I distinctly recall the speech by Dr Henry Kissinger.

He said: "The profound promise of our era is that for the first time we may have the technical capacity to free mankind from the scourge of hunger. Therefore, today we must proclaim a bold objective - that within a decade no child will go to bed hungry, that no family will fear for its next day's bread, and that no human being's future and capacity will be stunted by malnutrition."

Obviously, we have failed to meet that objective.

And we must ask ourselves why. Why have we failed?

We must take stock of our efforts, and then decide what more needs to be done. That's why I am very anxious to begin the process of reviewing the World Food Council's report on how various aid and development programs have performed.

I am pleased to report to you that both the United Nations Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly's Economic Committee have fully endorsed the conclusions and recommendations of the World Food Council meeting in New York. Further in the accompanying debate on food issues there has been much support for the Council to undertake an assessment of the work of the food organizations of the UN system over the past decade.

I hope that we will get a frank and candid appraisal, which will serve as the foundation for improved efficiency and effectiveness - both of which are sorely needed given the tight budgets we are all working with.

Then, next summer, when we meet in Addis, close to the reality of hunger, the reality of starvation, I hope we will be able to generate the political momentum necessary to transform rhetoric into action at both the national and international level.

And as Council President, I will be on the lookout for any signs of restlessness or frustration.

If, at any time, it seems that we are merely repeating the same old phrases, just going through the motions, I will do what I can to re-ignite a spirit of reform, of action.

Because we don't need more of the same. If we keep doing things just the way we have been doing them, we will have only more and more hunger.

It is time for change. To begin this change, I am pleased to announce that Canada, my country, will continue to respond to the crisis situation in Ethiopia whose people are amongst the poorest on the African continent - indeed amongst the poorest in the whole world. In addition to the 1.35 million dollars of extra emergency assistance that we have provided that nation since June of this year, it is our further intention to respond to the United Nation's Disaster Relief Office's (U.N.D.R.O.) latest 2.8 million appeal for transport and other logistics in support of emergency food programmes. My country will provide 10 percent of the funds that they require. The rest of the world has to provide the other nine-tenths to the appeal of the UNDRO for these purposes, and we invite the other nine-tenths of the world nations to be donors and to join us immediately in this effort toward great change in eliminating the intolerable hunger and starvation that so many of our fellow human beings are facing every day.

I know, and I am sure you know, every one of you, that by working together we can succeed if we want to.

G. HAIDEN (Austria): Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Austrian delegation, I should like to congratulate you, Mr Chairman, as well as the Vice-Chairmen, and, on behalf of my Government, I should also like to welcome the new members of FAO. This is not a mere phrase. All countries of the world should be members of this Organization.

This year, no doubt, we had a very good crop. However, there were great differences regionally in the crops, and the dramatic situation lies in the fact that the crops were poor in these parts of the world where there is most hunger - in Africa and other parts of the world - and therefore we welcome the initiative taken by the Director-General for long term improvement for food supplies for this rapidly increasing world population.

The increase of food production in particular in the developing countries must be an essential and a rapid measure for better world security, and it is an obligation on the industrialized countries to give help to those who need this assistance.

There is already a high degree of agreement that a new international economic order is necessary. It is one of the essential prerequisites for better and more equitable conditions in the world. Such an order, which is intended essentially to cover the basic requirements of mankind, will require new forms of international cooperation, first and foremost for the production, or the creation, of the infrastructure which is necessary for social and economic progress in developing countries.

I quite understand my colleague from Gambia. The great political unsolved problem of our period is that at present some $ 750 000 million are spent every year in order to produce more tanks, guns and missiles, while in many parts of the world children are going hungry, people are going hungry, because there is not enough money for the development of agriculture in the developing countries.

What is necessary has been stressed by Dr Kreisky. The developing countries need more infrastructure: railways, roads, schools, hospitals, energy and water supplies, so agriculture and industry can be developed. These tasks, however, can only be carried out by worldwide joint effort.

For the developing countries, international trade in agricultural products is one of the decisive factors for economic development. Greater export earnings will help them to finance the imports which are necessary for the development of agriculture and infrastructures. These earnings could reduce their dependence on foreign aid and could help to contain foreign debts within reasonable limits. However, it is certainly a questionable procedure to give food aid and technical aid to developing countries on the one hand while on the other not cancelling out the result of this assistance by export subsidies in the developed countries which distort the competitive position of the developing countries.

The long-run solution of the problem of surplus by shifting those surpluses to others will not work. Recently in Vienna, at a press conference, the Director-General said that we are facing a cruel paradox - while many countries, all of them industrialized, have to grapple with a surplus problem to such an extent that a grain country encourages its farmers to reduce their grain production, there are many other countries - all of them developing countries - which do not have enough food to feed their populations; nor can they afford to buy the foods they need from the industrialized countries because those industrialized countries pay too little for the commodities which they buy from the developing countries. The Director-General also pointed out that dumping of agricultural commodities in surplus countries damages the export possibilities of poor countries by creating protectionist barriers.

Recently, during the last session of the Ministers of Agriculture of OECD, I pointed out that the constantly increasing subsidies for the export of agricultural surpluses cannot solve the problem of surplus in the industrialized countries. Instead of increasing the subsidies we should progressively reduce them, and efforts should be made by the industrialized countries to expand food aid, at least for a lengthy transitional period. We cannot overdramatize the situation in the developing countries.

In the report of the North/South Commission, the so-called Brandt Report, we find an overall picture of the situation. The developing countries face the difficult task of making better use of their natural resources in a sustained way, and not by exploitation. There is a vicious circle of capital goods and industrialized products which are needed by these countries for their development, but these are very costly for them and they can finance these imports only by the sale of raw materials and agricultural products, which they can sell only at very low prices. They should make better use of their water resources and their agricultural land, but this needs capital. They should improve communications, they should build up a health system, but they do not have the money.

Food aid is often a controversial subject. The Brandt Report underlines the need for food aid. It is true that investments and development in a particular country are more important than the supply of food, but this principle is no longer justified in shortage areas. It is well known that food aid is criticized because it might induce countries not to increase food production, but it is absolutely necessary to realize that the well fed have the moral obligation to help those who are hungry.

Austria gives support to the activities of the World Food Programme. We believe the International Food Aid Convention and the International Emergency Food Reserve are of the greatest importance. Austria gives full support to the efforts of FAO to help countries help themselves. The transfer of appropriate technology, provision of seed of high-yielding varieties, help in creating self-sufficiency in fertilizers are among the most important measures that should be taken. Austria approves the Programme of Work and Budget for the biennium 1984 to 1985, and welcomes in particular the priorities which have been adopted. We give our support to the efforts of the Director-General to improve the efficiency of FAO; we have noted with satisfaction that administrative costs have been reduced very considerably in favour of economic and technical activities. In the future also, we will try to make a constructive contribution to activities in agriculture and forestry. In this connexion, I would like to point out that Austria has the intention of helping in training activities for agriculture and forestry, especially in the construction of various roads.

Economic and political independence go together. Therefore, we understand very well that FAO wishes to increase multilateral aid for the very simple reason that bilateral aid is not always free of the selfishness of donor countries. We also give bilateral aid - I admit it - but we cannot have an agricultural trade war. The risk is too great, because worldwide recession could induce others to enhance protectionism, which would lead to a vicious circle. More protectionism could lead to the stepping up of recessive development and the reduction of world trade would lead to greater unemployment in the industrialized countries. Therefore, the extension of world trade is necessary for the economies of the industrialized countries just as much as for the developing countries.

Another subject I would like to touch on is the production of food, which is decisively influenced by climatic conditions. The exploitation of forests is being stepped dramatically. This development changes climatic conditions; it has already been pointed out that this is the case. Rainfall conditions have changed completely. We need forests if agriculture is to continue to efficient, The study AD 2000 has described this development where the rain forests are endanger in the underdeveloped regions. Destruction of forests is going on at an incredible rate because the energy requirements of an increasing population, energy requirements simply for heating and cooking which are only possible by making use of fuel wood. In the industrialized countries the forests are just as much endangered. Ecological concepts and the dangers which come from industry have not been given sufficient attention for a long time. There is great danger for the forests from pollution from industry and traffic, on a scale such as we have not seen before. The European forests are threatened by exploitation; therefore, mortality of the forests in the developing countries is accompanied by the death of the forests in the industrialized countries.

FAO would be the appropriate world organization to appeal for the protection and conservation of forests. I would like to suggest that FAO should proclaim a year of the forest. This forest year should bring about an opportunity to prepare worldwide measures to fight for forest protection. Industrial pollution respects no frontiers, nor do the climatic effects of overexploitation. This is a vital question, of concern to all countries. Let us act jointly and rapidly to protect and maintain our forests. FAO should make this question the central theme of the World Forestry Conference in Mexico in 1985, and 1985 should be world forest year.

On behalf of the Austrian Federal Government I wish to assure this Conference that we attach the greatest importance to the work of FAO. We shall always strive to make constructive contributions to the achievement of its aims. Whoever wishes for peace must also contribute to the fight against hunger in the world. And as my friend Willie has said, words will not do; they are like the wind in the desert. Austria will contribute to the measures which the Director-General has proclaimed for the African countries - I can assure him of this

Demetrios Christodoulou, Vice-Chairman of the Conference took the chair.
Demetrios Christodoulou, Vice-Président de la Conferénce, assume la présidence
Ocupa la presidencia Detrios Christodoulou, Vicepresidente de la Conferencia.

G. JAYASURIYA (Sri Lanka): At the Very outset may I congratulate you, Sir, on your election as Chairman of this august assembly. I am sure we shall be able to reach definite decisions and sound conclusions at this conference under your able chairmanship.

In your introductory speech, Mr Chairman, you referred to the principles and objectives underlying the creation of FAO when the founding fathers met at Yellow Springs, Virginia, four decades ago. Their objectives have continued to receive the attention of the world community ever since, because some are yet to be achieved and the longer it takes to achieve them, the more difficult they become.

In fact, the Director-General in his assessment of the world food and agriculture situation, and his perception of the continuing requirements of developing countries at a time of severe economic recession and social stress, has reminded us of the enormity of the problems which deserve our attention.

The shortage of external resources to provide development programmes, the marked shortfall in the flow of official development assistance and low levels of extra-budgetary resources to implement programmes at field levels for an organization such as FAO, are some of the disturbing factors, which he has highlighted.

Let me refer to the food and agriculture situation of our country, and the measures we have taken to resolve some of the problems facing us.

Sri Lanka, like many other countries in this region, is largely an agricultural country which is trying to organize its agricultural sector as the principal avenue for both economic development and employment.

The dominant position of the agricultural sector in this country is reflected in the nature of the several development strategies that have been adopted by successive governments since attainment of independence in 1948. Heavy investment has been made in the rural areas in land development, irrigation, education, health, roads, housing and the establishment of large agricultural settlements over the last 35 years.

This massive investment in the rural areas has enabled Sri Lanka to keep her rapidly expanding population within the rural areas and thus avoid a serious rural urban imbalance.

The main policy thrust of successive governments since independence has been to achieve self-sufficiency in its staple food requirements, and to enhance the productivity of the export crops such as tea, rubber and coconut which provide us with the valuable foreign exchange needed for the national development programmes.

Production of food crops within the domestic sector takes place on small farms spread throughout the country. There are about 1.6 million such small farms spread over 3.8 million acres (1.5 million hectares). These farms may consist of components of lowlands, uplands, home-gardens or a combination of each of these components. The export oriented plantation sector consisting mainly of tea, rubber and coconut covers about 1.8 million acres (0.7 million hectares) and is mainly confined to the more moist regions of the country.

The new policy emphasis should be viewed in the overall policy changes that were introduced in 1977 whereby the economy was liberalized while dismantling several restrictive controls. A more realistic and unified exchange rate was introduced. There was a cut-back on consumption subsidies with a view to releasing resources for investment. Incentives were provided for domestic production as well as for export. These policy changes have made a significant impact on the domestic agricultural sector.

The key features of the government strategy directed towards the domestic food sector were :

a) Improving the efficiency in distribution of agricultural inputs so as to ensure their free availability through the development of a coordinated delivery system at the district, divisional and field level.

b) Providing an efficient unified extension service and the setting-up of the necessary infrastructure for co-ordinated reak668e, extension and training.

c) Providing an efficient marketing system which removes state monopolies and combines the participation of both the private and public sector, thus ensuring a fair price to both producer and consumer.

d) Pursuing a pricing system that would act as an incentive to the producer; and

e)  Establishing development-oriented institutions to service the rural farming sector with a view to achieving the main objectives of government strategy.

In order to maximise production the Government has placed emphasis in farmer-participation both in programming of agricultural development activities and in their implementation. To achieve this objective several institutional changes have been introduced. The Agrarian Services Act of 1979 is one of the outstanding changes introduced in the recent past. An important feature of this Act is the establishment of Agrarian Services Committees at Divisional Level comprising officials and farmer representatives. These committees are responsible for the preparation of the Annual Agricultural Implementation Programme and its implementation which ensures timely cultivation, better water management and adequate input servicing for increased production from a unit of land.

The foregoing policies and strategies have had a major impact on national rice production. A steady annual growth rate of between 4 and 6 percent has been recorded in respect of rice production over the last six years. Matching this performance against a population growth rate of 1.7 percent, we are confident that self-reliance in respect of our main staple crop will be achieved in the very near future.

By contrast the performance of the export oriented tree crop sector over the same period has been rather disappointing. The productivity of tea, rubber and coconut has remained virtually static throughout the last six years. This has in turn adversely affected our balance of payments. Meaningful steps are being taken with World Bank assitance to rehabilitate the tree crop sector which is our major foreign exchange earner.

We have special reasons to be thankful to FAO for the assistance provided in several fields of agricultural reak668e and development. The FAO/UNDP Soya Bean Reak668e and Development Project that commenced in 1976 has yielded results beyond our expectations. This was a new crop to this country, but today the country grows a little over 25,000 acres (10,000 hectares) of soya bean each year. In particular I must mention the assistance received under the Technical Co-operation Programme (TCP). The home garden project assisted by this Programme has had a big catalytic effect in promoting the value and importance of home gardening throughout the country.

FAO support for the Department of Agriculture's extension, reak668e and training has helped to build up a viable support service for the small farmer. The links between: the reak668e worker and the extension workers have become consolidated in a manner whereby farmers' problems are speedily diagnosed and serviced. The training facilities at the regional centres are having a positive effect on the quality of the field level extension worker.

We are confident that the production thrust that has been given by the country's 1.6 million small farms could be sustained in the years to come because the supporting services to this small farm sector have been properly consolidated during the last 6 years. In our Sri Lankan context we have found the small farm an efficient unit of production. Our policy will therefore be, to further stimulate this domestic small farm sector with necessary incentives and services and improve the marketing channels, storage, processing technology and credit facilities.

Mr Chairman, I would like to make a few comments on the performance of the country's export sector. As you are aware, our export sector has been confined to the traditional tree crops for which Sri Lanka has been well known. With the considerable increase in new irrigated land which will be made available in the years to come under our major Mahaweli Project, main production thrust will be on export oriented crops. We have already started a large investment programme in diversifying the uneconomic tea lands for the production of high value cash crops like pepper, cloves, nutmegs, cardamon etc. This has already brought in good results. It has not only increased our foreign exchange earnings but has also provided high income and employment to the small farmers.

Mr Chairman, we have now reached a stage in Sri Lanka where food production has to be viewed not merely in terms of production but also in terms of reducing heavy losses in what has been produced. Proper strategy has to be evolved for on-farm storage of our grains and other farm produce. Being a tropical country with high temperatures and humidity throughout the year we encounter special problems of storage with both our grains and other farm produce. The less expensive technologies that are available for effective on-farm storage have yet to be tested in our environment. We seek assistance from FAO to evolve a long term strategy and investment proposal in this important field of activity.

Mr Chairman, yet another area on which we are placing emphasis is improved processing of farm produce. Except in the case of rice and a few high value cash crops the processing technologies now used in Sri Lanka are of a rudimentary nature. The assistance that was provided by FAO/UNDP for the establishment of a Rice Processing Reak668e Centre has proved to be a great benefit in improving the rice processing technology in Sri Lanka.

In all these activities we are also endeavouring to make available to all sections of the population a well balanced range of food commodities at reasonable prices. However, a disturbing feature that has recently come to our attention has been the unbalanced nutrition in the less favoured section of our rural population. This is also reflected in the Country Report of WCARRD (World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development) done by the FAO. With the escalating prices of animal derived protein, our population has had a fall back more on vegetable sources of protein, chiefly grain legumes and indigenous vegetables. Although the country produces a substantial quantity of grain legumes such as cow pea, green gram, black gram and soya bean, we have not been able to provide the poorer section of the population with an inexpensive and acceptable processed product in respect of these commodities. This is therefore yet another area for which Sri Lanka would be grateful for external assistance.

Incidentally, I must also mention that Sri Lanka took the initiative in setting up the International Winged Bean (Dambala) Institute. Winged Bean is well known as a high protein crop which should be an answer to the nutritional deficiencies among our people. It is with that in view that the President of Sri Lanka, His Excellency J.R. Jayewardene took a personal interest and initiative in setting up this International Institute in Kandy, Sri Lanka.

A great deal of investment has been made in promotion of fertilizer for all crops in Sri Lanka. A Fertilizer Secretariat has been set up to co-ordinate and carry out an effective promotional campaign to intensify fertilizer usage. Fertilizer subsidy amounting to Rs. 1 000 million (nearly 40 million US dollars) has been provided every year over the last several years. Recent assistance by the FAO to the Extension Division of the Department of Agriculture on a fertilizer testing and evaluation programme for the small farm sector has enabled us to improve and refine our fertilizer recommendations for the different soil and climatic conditions encountered in Sri Lanka. However, it is distressing to note the reduction in the production of fertiliser in the developed countries because I feel that this would have an adverse effect on our attempt to increase productivity in the developing countries.

We have also, for a long time, felt the need to have adequate legislation governing the import, manufacture, formulation, sale and use of pesticides. Sri Lanka, like many other developing countries, is now using an appreciable quantity of pesticides. Protective legislation in this field has been enacted by my Ministry very recently. We owe much to the FAO in the assistance we received to build an effective and functional Plant Protection Service in our country. Besides those protective measures that we have taken, I would also like to appeal to the developed countries who manufacture and market most of these products to the developing countries, to take necessary and adequate precautions especially in relation to the toxic effects that endanger the lives of the people in our countries.

From what has been said so far, Mr Chairman, it is clear that the Government of Sri Lanka is taking determined steps to frame policies and programmes which will bring about changes in the agrarian structure which we expect will result in higher productivity, increase in employment and greater economic prosperity for a larger mass of small farmers.

In this task of development we greatly appreciate the assistance that has been forthcoming from the FAO in several fields of activity.

Mr Chairman, in conclusion we wish to place on record our deep appreciation of the assistance that has been forthcoming from FAO. We particularly wish to underline the independence and competence of its Director-General, to present irrefutable facts and unassailable arguments in support of the common struggle facing humanity in the fight against hunger and malnutrition to make this World a happier and better place for the greater good of humanity.

May I also take this opportunity of congratulating the new members of the FAO.

CHAIRMAN: I now call on His Excellency Mr Pereira Silva, Minister of Rural Development, Cape Verde.

J. PEREIRA SILVA (Cap-Vert) : En prenant la parole pour la première fois au cours de cette vingt-deuxième session de la Conférence de notre Organisation, j'aimerais tout d'abord vous féliciter, Monsieur le Président et Messieurs les Vice-Présidents, de votre élection. Nous sommes sûrs qu'avec votre expérience et vos qualités de diplomates, vous conduirez nos travaux de la façon la plus féconde et vous saurez dégager des conclusions qui nous aideront à résoudre les graves problèmes que l'humanité affronte dans les domaines de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation.

Il m'est aussi agréable de saluer l'entrée de Antigua et Barbuda, Belize, Saint-Christophe-et-Nevis et Vanuatu au sein de notre organisation. Leur contribution j'en suis sûr renforcera la lutte que nous menons tous pour la concrétisation des objectifs de notre organisation.

Selon les données fournies par la FAO, la campagne 82/83 a été caractérisée par des pénuries alimentaires exceptionnelles dans 26 pays, parmi lesquels 16 se trouvent dans le continent africain. Vers le milieu de cette année, la moitié des pays où l'état des cultures était inquiétant, était des pays africains. Selon les dernières données disponibles, la situation alimentaire et agricole est critique dans 22 pays d'Afrique. Si l'on ne prend pas des mesures urgentes, la situation dans ces pays qui comptent 150 millions d'habitants peut rapidement se transformer de critique en catastrophique.

Ces chiffres justifient pleinement la priorité absolue accordée par la FAO à notre région, car la crise alimentaire semble en passe de devenir plus précisément une crise du continent africain.

Et cette situation ne pourra pas s'améliorer radicalement du jour au lendemain. En effet, pour accroître la production, il faudra plusieurs années d'efforts persistants. Car, malgré leur volonté politique, nos pays n'ont ni les moyens de moderniser leur agriculture ni de quoi payer les importations nécessaires pour nourrir une population toujours nombreuse.

C'est donc à juste titre que le Directeur général de notre organisation a pris diverses mesures, spécifiquement pour l'Afrique: un groupe d'action a été créé pour suivre la situation dans ces pays, et une réunion ad hoc s'est tenue au Siège de la FAO le 19 du mois dernier afin d'examiner l'aide internationale dont certains pays africains ont besoin d'urgence.

Nous osons donc demander à la conférence d'approuver les mesures prises par le Directeur général, et nous nous permettons de recommander que la région Afrique continue à être prioritaire dans toutes les activités de notre organisation.

Il est très difficile pour les pays africains de demander de l'aide. Nous nous réjouissons que le Directeur général de la FAO ait, de par son mandat, l'autorité et le devoir de se faire notre avocat. Grâce à son action et à sa persévérance, peut-être que la communauté internationale finira par prendre notre situation au sérieux. Nos pays sont résolus à faire tous les efforts nécessaires pour augmenter leur production alimentaire et donner la priorité au bien-être des populations rurales. Cependant, nos efforts demeureront vains si on refusait de nous aider à sortir de la crise.

A propos de la situation alimentaire critique de nombreux pays africains, permettez-moi d'attirer particulièrement votre attention sur les pays du Sahel qui se sont groupés dans le comité interétats de lutte contre la sécheresse dans le Sahel (CILSS). Cette année marque en effet le dixième anniversaire de la décision historique prise par un groupe de pays durement touchés par la sécheresse catastrophique de 1972/1973 de concentrer et coordonner leurs efforts en vue de lutter contre la désertification et d'atteindre l'autosuffisance alimentaire. La cinquième conférence du club du Sahel qui a clôturé ses travaux la semaine dernière à Bruxelles a donné l'occasion de procéder à des échanges de vues et d'examiner les résultats des efforts communs des Sahéliens et de la commu‐nauté internationale. D'un côté l'assistance internationale a substantiellement augmenté, on comprend mieux les problèmes de la région, et les gouvernements des pays membres ont adopté des politiques orientées vers 1'autosuffisance alimentaire et la lutte contre la désertification. Toutefois il faut bien reconnaître qu'il n'y a pas de progrès notable dans le domaine de l'autosuffisance alimentaire, que les productions agricoles continuent à être extrêmement vulnérables aux aléas climatiques et que la production d'aliments croît à un rythme plus lent que la population, que l'équilibre écologique n'a pas été rétabli, que, globalement, la croissance économique reste lente, et, finalement, que la dette de plusieurs pays sahéliens a atteint des niveaux préoccupants.

Cette année, la situation est encore difficile pour un certain nombre de pays. En effet, les pluies ont été tardives et très mal réparties dans l'espace et dans le temps. Parmi les 22 pays africains menacés par la crise alimentaire, six sont membres du CILSS. Certains pays souffrent d'une sécheresse chronique depuis plus de dix ans. Pour le Cap-Vert, en particulier, il s'agit de la troisième année consécutive où l'on n'enregistre que deux ou trois jours de pluie pendant toute la saison des pluies.

Tout en remerciant la communauté internationale de l'appui donné à mon pays durant les huit années écoulées depuis son indépendance, nous tenons à renouveler devant cette tribune notre appel non seulement pour que ce soutien soit maintenu sur une base régulière, de façon à nous permettre de poursuivre notre effort de développement rural, mais aussi pour qu'une aide alimentaire d'urgence nous soit accordée dans les plus brefs délais. Nous pouvons dire, d'ores et déjà, que nos besoins d'aide alimentaire d'urgence seront plus importants que l'année dernière. Une mission multidonateurs organisée par la FAO se rendra sur place pour préciser la dimension réelle des pertes occasionnées par la sécheresse et nos besoins d'aide d'urgence. A part les programmes réguliers en cours, dans le cadre de notre plan de développement national, nous sommes obligés d'entreprendre des programmes extraordinaires pour lutter contre le chômage rural du à la sécheresse, et nous aurons besoin d'une aide d'urgence pour approvisionner les populations rurales en eau potable.

Monsieur le Président, quoique la situation de la production agricole soit encore conditionnée par les effets conjugués de la sécheresse et de la longue période de domination coloniale dont le Cap-Vert s'est libéré il y a seulement huit ans, nous avons réussi à améliorer considérablement le niveau de vie des paysans de mon pays, conformément aux critères internationaux. Nous accordons en effet une haute priorité au développement rural dans les investissements publics. A titre d'exemple, pour la période du premier plan de développement national (1982-1985), 20 - 25% des investissements publics totaux sont consacrés au développement rural, au cours des premières années après l'indépendance cette proportion atteignait 50%.

En fait la politique gouvernementale s'est déjà matérialisée par un certain nombre de programmes et d'action dans le domaine du développement rural. Permettez-moi de prendre un peu de votre temps pour énoncer très rapidement les principaux domaines d'action et les résultats obtenus.

Les caractéristiques écologiques des îles du Cap-Vert sont connues de tous; les précipitations, lorsqu'elles ont lieu, causent de grandes crues qui intensifient les phénomènes érosifs.

La conservation des sols et des eaux a donc été considérée dès l'indépendance comme une nécessité impérieuse et urgente. Qui, aujourd'hui, visite le Cap-Vert, se rendra compte sur place du gigantesque effort du peuple cap-verdien, matérialisé par l'implantation de milliers et de milliers de digues, le terrassement de centaines et de centaines de kilomètres de fortes pentes auparavant soumises sans protection à une érosion implacable. Dans le domaine du reboisement les résultats sont surprenants. C'est une véritable campagne nationale qui a mobilisé tout le pays depuis le gouvernement jusqu'aux simples citoyens. Nous avons réussi à planter plus de quatre millions d'arbres en cinq ans, ce qui est beaucoup eu égard à la courte durée de la campagne, à la faible pluviométrie et à la population peu nombreuse. Pour vous donner une idée du rythme et du sérieux de la campagne, je vous dirai que cette année, en cinq jours seulement, on a mis en terre 1 600 000 plants, et ce chiffre serait encore plus élevé si la faible pluviométrie enregistrée avait été mieux répartie sur tout le territoire national.

En raison des conditions climatiques les cultures pluviales sont très précaires dans mon pays; nous nous orientons donc vers la mise en valeur des maigres ressources hydriques en vue d'une exploitation rationnelle; nos objectifs prioritaires sont d'approvisionner les populations en eau et de développer les périmètres irrigués.

Qui dit développement rural au Cap-Vert dit réforme agraire. La loi de base de la réforme agraire est entrée en vigueur le premier janvier 1983, avec un succès remarquable dans les principales îles à tradition agricole. Le consensus national nous encourage à poursuivre la politique de récupération du capital foncier pour l'attribuer à ceux qui l'exploitent directement. A cet égard, j'aimerais exprimer notre soutien aux actions de la FAO dans le cadre du suivi des décisions de la Conférence mondiale sur la réforme agraire et développement rural, notamment en ce qui concerne l'Afrique où il y a eu récemment deux réunions importantes dont les résultats seront essentiels pour la concrétisation du programme d'action de la Conférence mondiale sur la réforme agraire et developpement rural dans nos pays.

L'élevage n'est pas épargné par les effets de la sécheresse. L'expérience nous déconseille les grands troupeaux. Nous cherchons donc à réduire le cheptel et à l'adapter aux conditions du milieu. La sélection et l'amélioration des espèces adaptées au pays constituent une tâche importante qui relève du centre national de développement de l'élevage. La FAO et le Gouvernement italien viennent de financer un très important projet dans ce domaine.

En ce qui concerne la recherche agronomique, nous donnons la priorité à la recherche appliquée et à la formation des cadres. Nous sommes en train d'équiper nos services compétents des moyens nécessaires.

Le développement passe avant tout par les hommes. La formation de cadres techniques est une nécessité impérieuse qui nous a poussés à inaugurer, en janvier dernier, le premier cours intensif de ce genre dans le pays. De même le recyclage du personnel est aussi une tâche prioritaire.

Afin de doter le pays des institutions rurales nécessaires à la transformation agraire, nous avons créé en plus deux entreprises publiques dont le succès nous pousse à poursuivre dans cette voie.

Nous sommes conscients de l'importance du crédit agricole qui existe déjà chez nous, mais les moyens techniques, organisationnels et financiers laissent encore à désirer. Nous avons besoin d'une institution de crédit agricole pleinement efficace.

Le développement du coopérativisme est une tâche vitale pour laquelle nous avons créé un institut national des coopératives. Nous attachons beaucoup d'importance aux organisations paysannes. A l'heure actuelle, nous avons entrepris un travail de sensibilisation et vue de promouvoir les associations paysannes.

Monsieur le Président, nos débats devraient, je l'espère, aboutir à l'adoption d'un programme de travail, aussi bien que des moyens financiers pour le mettre en oeuvre.

C'est le point culminant de notre conférence. Cependant, s'il est vrai que tout le monde accepte la nécessité d'accroître les efforts dans le domaine de l'appui à l'expansion de la production agricole, surtout dans les pays les plus pauvres et les plus vulnérables aux crises alimentaires, et s'il est vrai que personne ne s'oppose à la priorité que la FAO accorde à l'Afrique, les difficultés semblent insurmontables lorsqu'il s'agit de passer aux actes.

Bien que nous comprenions le point de vue des principaux pays qui contribuent au budget de l'Organisation qui s'opposent à l'augmentation de leur contribution, nous sommes d'avis que, vu le rôle primordial de la FAO, il est nécessaire de lui donner les moyens indispensables pour son action. A cet égard, l'augmentation du budget de 0,5% proposé par le Directeur général est un minimum acceptable.

Nous devons féliciter le Directeur général pour les efforts déployés dans le sens d'une gestion rigoureuse des moyens mis à la disposition de l'Organisation, et l'encourager à persister dans cette voie en éliminant toutes les dépenses superflues, en introduisant des innovations possibles dans le sens d'une meilleure rentabilisation des moyens dont elle dispose.

En ce qui concerne les priorités et les programmes proposés nous constatons avec plaisir les similitudes existantes entre les orientations de mon pays et les propositions du Directeur général.

Mon pays soutient donc, totalement et inconditionnellement, les priorités, les programmes et le budget proposés par le Directeur général pour le prochain biennium et s'associe à tous ceux qui proposent leur approbation unanime. En me référant plus spécialement au PCT je dirai que son intérêt et son impact sont très appréciables. J'aimerais recommander que le PCT continue à être renforcé pour permettre aux pays comme le mien de bénéficier de l'aide précieuse qu'il nous apporte particulièrement dans les situations d'urgence.

Pour terminer, Monsieur le Président, je formule l'espoir que la FAO poursuive la voie tracée par son Directeur général. Pour cela elle a besoin de l'appui de tous ses pays membres sans exception.

W.O OMAMO (Kenya): First of all, Mr Chairman, I should like to congratulate you, the three Vice-Chairmen and the three Commission Chairmen, on being elected to these high offices, and assure you of the Kenya delegation's maximum support.

I should also like to congratulate the Director-General and the Secretariat on the excellent work they have done during the biennium that is just coming to an end.

Mr Chairman, we support the Programme of Work and Budget for the coming biennum, although it should be noted that this Organization needs far greater resources than those requested in these very, very modest proposals.

I would also like to join my colleagues in welcoming our colleagues who have joined the Organization. We extend to them a warm welcome.

Mr Chairman, I should like to concentrate, and for obvious reasons, on the African food problem. The worsening and shaky food situation in Africa has been recorded and therefore, there is no need to belabour the point. The only question that remains is why? Why is it that African countries that were largely self-sufficient barely two decades ago are in such a precarious position today?

This debate has been going on for some time. No one doubts the commitment of the African governments, commitments of the donors and other agencies to the eradication of hunger and malnutrition in Africa. But it is to be doubted that the orientation of this debate has been correct. Mr Chairman, has it been correct? The main weakness seems to be that there have been far too many people with far too many solutions in their pockets looking for problems. This has meant that issues have not been addressed properly and the exercise has had, as the main objective, the justification of particular remedies. In other words, we have not fully appreciated the causes, the tanacity, and the dimensions of the food problem in Africa.

But none of these solutions have resulted in long-lasting food security. The main problems in Africa's food security in my opinion are inadequate food production and the lack of purchasing power against the background of rapidly increasing populations.

What we need is concrete and direct action based on a sound strategy. And it is the elements of this strategy that must now occupy our minds.

If Africa is to get out of the mess in which it is today - as indeed it must - there must be increased and sustained food and agricultural production. There must be increased purchasing power, first of all, at the country level to enable the importation of shortfalls and, secondly, at the individual level to give all consumers access to supplies. But the problem of hunger must be tackled directly, because food security can no longer be regarded just as a by-product of general economic activity. The elements of any strategy must, therefore, first and foremost include the development of appropriate farming systems that work in harmony with the natural and human environment so as to produce adequate food, generate incomes, create employment opportunities and also attract the young and educated to farm work and rural life.

Such systems will have to find answers to the basic questions that inhibit small-farmer productivity besides extending the frontiers of cultivation by dryland farming techniques including irrigation. These questions must be answered, and answered fully. They must be answered totally, in order to motivate the small farmer to continue to invest his labour and his other limited resources and also to encourage others such as his educated children, encourage the government and encourage the donors to invest in these efforts because they have a good chance of producing concrete results.

The development of these systems will need multi-disciplinary problem-solving reak668e based on local experience and local manpower development, first, to indigenize thought and the process of seeking for solutions; secondly, to increase local implementing capacity at the official, or government level; thirdly, and finally, to equip the farmers with the tools with which to understand their circumstances in order to exploit these circumstances to the full.

We, therefore, support the Director-General's initiatives in high-level manpower development in Africa and his intention to launch a long-term programme to train people, develop systems and build institutions in Africa, in order to strengthen the framework in which investment in agriculture and food production can be made and be sustained.

In this connection, we feel that the FAO regional office for Africa should be restructured - Mr Chairman, I underline restructured - in order to enable it to respond more effectively to the continent's pressing food problem. We ourselves in Kenya are directing our attention to the questions of appropriate technology, of effective extension coverage, of the question of broadening the productive base, of prompt payment for farm produce deliveries, the question of adequate storage and that of fair rewards to the producers.

The second element in the strategy must be equitable international trade, because aid, including food aid, foreign loans, and so on, can only supplement what a nation itself is already doing, and in order to finance its programmes, a nation must earn rewards commensurate with its endeavours. African nations must, therefore, have free access to all markets for their products in the form in which they decide to export them. This is the only way to extricate these countries from the clutches of investment banks, besides disengaging them from a host of other problems.

The African countries, themselves, are not, of course, entirely helpless. They have among and within themselves a tremendous potential for marketing the products of their own agriculture and industry. This is a necessary and vital preliminary step before venturing into the hostile and sometimes troubled waters of international trade beyond their regional borders.

African countries are also substantial consumers and importers of products from developed countries and thus have in their hands the lives, and the well-being and prosperity of millions of workers and producers in those developed countries.

African countries are also producers of materials that are of strategic importance to developed countries. Thus, African trade need not be focused only, or primarily, to the north but when it is so focused, it should be on the basis of commensurate exchange. It is, of course, primarily up to the African countries themselves to create those conditions that will foster and promote trade among themselves. It is for then to exploit to the full any possibilities of comparative advantage which, among other equals, does make economic sense.

They may even contemplate barter trade to exchange needed goods directly without the medium of expensive foreign exchange and the hidden commissions and charges in this form of transaction. But this form of cooperation needs a lot of commitment, both in Africa and outside: a commitment which must be beyond the watersheds, a commitment beyond the frontiers of narrow national interests.

The third main element in this strategy must be the management of runaway population growth rates. Population growth rates must be managed in Africa not because it is the most populous continent. In fact, it is the least densely populated of all and that is exactly the point. Population growth rates must be managed now, before the whole thing gets out of hand and ruthless measures became necessary.

The existence of vast expanses of unexploited, and, usually, unexplored land in Africa must not be allowed to mislead us. For the purposes of African development, land should not be measured in hectares alone but should also be valued in terms of productivity and hence, its capacity to sustain an acceptable standard of life.

A combination of technological improvements and colonisation helped diffuse earlier population build-ups and thus prevented population explosions among developing countries. Today there are no new frontiers on this planet; none in Africa, Mr Chairman. There are no hidden corners where we can tuck in a few more people. And the effects of technological improvements depend on the rate at which these improvements are adopted. This rate is incredibly low in Africa.

Therefore, while we can debate - and we must debate - on the appropriate methods to be used, we cannot escape the residual fact that these population growth rates must be managed. Our disagreement with and about certain proposed remedies must not be allowed to cloud the issue and divert our attention from the real question.

Africa must therefore take a sober look at this whole question and appreciate the fact that with improved health, with improved nutrition, with medical care and so on, more children and older people will survive.

Therefore, population objectives must be incorporated in rural development programmes in order to inculcate the need to manage population growth rates which should be the ones chasing the rates of food production and not the other way round.

The FAO, as the lead agency in agriculture and food production, should therefore intensify its efforts to provide practical ways of incorporating population objectives in rural development programmes without excessive involvement of those who seek to make a profit out of such efforts, and who, in fact, have made the whole subject of population management highly suspect in many parts of Africa.

Mr Chairman, the high rate of population growth in Kenya is no longer a secret, but you will be relieved to know that we are looking into ways of channelling the extra growth, and I am pleased to let you know that the Kenyan Government, through an education programme, is doing everything possible to pursuade the population to engage the necessary gears to slow down the population growth.

In conclusion, Mr Chairman, if a solution to the problem of hunger is to be found - and a solution must be found - we must stop paying lip service to world food security. We must make more sacrifices, both national and international, that will create a right atmosphere and the right climate in which our good farmers throughout the world can get on with the serious business of producing enough food to eliminate hunger throughout the world.

LI HAK CHOL (Democratic People's Republic of Korea): Mr Chairman, Mr Director-General, distinguished delegates, I have the honour to speak at this very important Conference where the problem of world food and agriculture, which the fate of mankind depends on, is discussed.

I should like to express my deep gratitude to the Director-General and the staff of this Organization for the kind invitation for the delegation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to attend this Conference and the great efforts devoted to the preparations for this Conference.

My delegation is satisfied with the excellent preparations for, and successful work, of the current Conference.

At the same time, the delegation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea warmly welcomes and congratulates Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Vanuatu and Saint Christopher and Nevis on their membership of our Organization.

We have listened very carefully to the Director-General. As he stated, the Organization has so far made a considerable contribution to the worldwide solution of the problem of agriculture and food On this contribution I should also like to accord warm congratulations to the Director-General and the Secretariat of the Organization,

The problems of agriculture and food are of vital importance and play a major part in building a civilized and a better new society which is the unanimous aspiration of mankind.

Today, the problem of agriculture is the most urgent and important problem in the developing countries which were under the imperialist and colonial subjugation in the past.

Our respected leader, President Kim Il Sung, stated as follows: "The food problem, the agricultural problem, is a highly important and urgent problem that the non-aligned and developing countries should settle without fail in building a new society."

Unless the food problem is solved through agricultural development, the developing countries can neither consolidate their national independence nor attain the country's independent development.

In those countries peasants account for the majority of population,and agricultural production is the mainstay of the national economy.

Therefore, one can neither build an independent national economy nor hope for national prosperity if the solution of the food problem through agricultural development is found to be a failure. Some countries threaten the others by using food as a political weapon. Some countries which have food shortages are not in a position to say what they want lest they be refused food supplies.

If we are not in a position to say what we wish in the light of the fundamental interests and requirements of our people, there will be little difference to the loss of our political independence. For this very reason, we must first of all settle the food problem if we are to maintain independence in politics.

The solution of the food problem, the problem of agriculture, poses itself as a more urgent problem in the light of the ever-increasing global food crisis. The world grain production this year is expected to be 4 percent lower than last year, and a number of rural areas of developing countries are running out of provisions and faced with far more serious penury than expected. Today, a large number of people in the world are starving, and about 15 million children die of disease or malnutrition in the developing countries every year. This situation makes it necessary for the developing countries to give highest priority to the solution of the food problem and the problem of agriculture.

The key to this problem in the developing countries lies in the development of their own agriculture. The food problem is essentially the problem of agriculture. For the solution of the food problem, great efforts should be directed to agricultural development. If the developing countries work out their agricultural policies which are suitable for their specific conditions on the principle of self-reliance and make effective use of their domestic potential, they can successfully develop agriculture and attain self-sufficiency in food. This has been proved by experience. It is our view that the developing countries can increase the yield of grain many times through the improvement of farming methods and irrigation and the introduction of irrigation. Today, some developing countries are achieving remarkable improvements of farming methods by relying on a number of simple home-produced farm tools in a spirit of self-reliance as well as on the efficient use of oxen, which are plentiful in these countries. By doing so, they have increased the output of maize from 0.5 -0.6 tons to 3.5 - 6 tons per hectare.

Development of South-South cooperation in agriculture on the principle of collected self reliance is one of the important ways for the successful solution of the food problem, the problem of agriculture.

The developing countries have already gained useful experience and devise the techniques in agricultural fields. Therefore, if they exchange experiences and cooperate, they can achieve excellent results in agricultural development.

The Symposium of the Non-Aligned and Other Developing countries on Increasing Food and Agricultural Production which was held in Pyongyang in 1981 and the Regional Study Tour and Consultation of Asia on Achievement of Stable and High Yields of Paddy Rice in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea which was held last year marked an important occasion in developing the cooperation among developing countries in the field of agriculture.

Considerable numbers of the developing countries have not yet achieved self-sufficiency in food due to the backward socio-economic conditions inherited from the colonial domination or because of unfavourable natural conditions. The world should direct due attention to it, and genuine technical and financial support should be given to enable the developing countries to solve the food problem on their own.

Proceeding in this spirit, the Organization has included in the agenda of the current Conference a number of important items such as the Programme of Work and Budget for 1984-85, the problem of world food security and the proposal for the establishment of gene banks.

My delegation is of the view that these items are a reflection of the urgent need for the solution of the world food problem and are in full conformity with the desire and aspiration of the developing countries. My delegation maintains that these should be fully supported and the Programme of Work and Budget approved in its present format and level.

At the same time, my delegation resolutely condemns the abuse of the huge wealth and resources of mankind for the purpose of world tragedy. We maintain that the rampant arms race and production of nuclear weapons, the threat to world peace, should be halted, and that the enormous human, material and financial resources directed to it should naturally be shifted to the solution of the food problem of developing countries.

Another important issue in solving the food problem, the problem of agriculture, is to dismantle the existing international economic order and establish an equitable new international economic order. The inequitable old international economic order causes great obstacles to the agricultural development of the developing countries. In 1959 developing countries exported 6 tons of jute to buy one truck, whereas last year they had to sell 26 tons for the same purpose. This kind of exploitation and plunder should no longer be tolerated.

Developed countries should increase aid to the developing countries, and assistance to every project should be carried out with sincerity, not prolonging or delaying projects but ensuring economic efficiency in a short span of time. It fully complies with the mission of the Organization of ensuring world food security and promoting harmony and cooperation among the member states for the developed countries to give technical and material help to developing countries in their agricultural development.

Distinguished delegates, our country has been turned today into a country self-sufficient in food under the leadership of our great leader and the dear leader. We completed long ago the irrigation and electrification, and widely applied the Juche farming method newly created to suit our circumstances, thus enabling agriculture to develop on a solid foundation, even under the adverse natural climatic conditions caused by the cold front.

At present we have 1 700 reservoirs, 94 700 wells and 14 400 ponds for emergency use. As a result of the active promotion of rural technical revolution, the level of mechanization and chemicalization in agriculture increased markedly and the differences between agricultural labour much decreased.

Last year the number of tractors serving the agricultural sector reached 700 hectares in the plains, 6 in the intermediate or mountainous areas, and the number of trucks per 100 hectares of land reached 1.5.

Today in our country the agricultural mechanization and chemicalization are nearly complete. Our farmers who were subject to hard manual labour for transplanting and weeding in the past are working in a much easier and more efficient way with the help of machinery and chemistry.

As farming is carried out in a scientific and technical way as required by the Juche farming method under the rays of "the Theses on the Socialist Rural Question in Our Country" illumined by the great leader, our country, where only 1.7 million tons of grain were produced in 1945, produced 9.5 million tons last year.

We have also brought about a comprehensive development of animal husbandry, fruit growing, forestry and fishery, with stress put on grain production.

These successes achieved by our people in the field of agriculture are the results of the wise leadership of the great leader and the dear leader. The great leader put forward the grand 10 long term goals of socialist economic construction at the Sixth Congress of our Party in 1980, one of which is to produce 15 million tons of grain in the near future. In order to reach the target of

15 million tons of grain, our people are now engaged in a great nature restoration movement, reclaiming 300 000 hectares of tidal land, exploring 200 000 hectares of new land, and building the Nampo Lock-Gate and Taechon Power Station in the high revolutionary spirit of self-reliance.

Under the wise leadership of the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung and the dear leader Comrade Kim Jong &1, we shall hit the target of 15 million tons of. grain without fail in a few years by boosting agricultural production, thus greatly contributing to the solution of food problems of the world.

The Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has promoted technical interchanges with developing countries in the field of agriculture and assisted with our specialists and techniques in every possible way the agricultural development in accordance with the Pyongyang Declaration adopted at the Symposium of the Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries on Increasing Food and Agricultural Production held in our country in 1981. Our Government in the future, as in the past, will make every possible effort for the cause of consolidating world food security.

In the case of FAO requests, we will be prepared to provide training for agro-technicians for the developing countries, and to send our technicians to them. The training may include, in particular, workshops, seminars and study tours on irrigation and the effective use of draught animals.

The delegation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea will actively participate in the Plenary sessions and Commissions of the Conference during the current Twenty-second session of the Conference, sparing no effort in our cooperation, in keeping with the ideals and goals of FAO. By so doing, we shall fulfil our obligation as a Member State of the Organization.

Finally, allow me to thank the Director-General, you, Mr Chairman and all the delegates for having paid attention to me. May I express my expectation that this Conference will achieve great success by the strenuous efforts of the delegates of the member countries present here in this room.

M.A. MAKKI (Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of) (original language Arabic): Mr Chairman, the empty seats before me and the fatigue on the faces of all those who have stayed reminds me that I am one of the last speakers for today. We shall be listening to further speeches in the forthcoming days. Having heard the speeches, there seems to me to be a lot of repetition. I believe that if we all listen to all the speeches of all the countries and organizations participating today it will take up 15 full meetings that is, more than 7 days. That is nearly 30 percent of the time allotted for this session.

For this reason, Mr Chairman, I wish to make a simple suggestion - and I would like those present here to take it up seriously. My proposal is to do away with the rule which says that we should give these speeches at Plenary and in the Commissions. The Secretariat of the Conference can collect and compile them into a small booklet which will be distributed during the first week of the Conference in order to enable us to discuss some of the very good ideas which the speeches undeniably contain. In this manner, in the Commissions we will be able to discuss matters relating to these ideas and thoughts. When we discuss the final resolutions we can conclude discussion of what has gone before in the speeches.

However, if this meeting rejects my proposal, then I think every meeting should listen to one-third of the countries represented of every region. I hope that the meeting will study my proposal seriously. And now, in accordance with the rule followed so far, I shall present my own speech, with your permission. I start in the name of God the Compassionate and the Merciful.

I am pleased to congratulate the Chairman of the Conference and the Vice-Chairmen on their election. I wish them every success in their mission. I should also like to express my welcome to the four States which have joined this Organization recently, hoping they will be able to take part in a joint and constructive effort for a better future. Also I should like to express my appreciation for Dr Kreisky's lecture to which we have had the privilege of listening, for the ideas and lessons which he has gleaned during his long experience in the area of economic cooperation between industrialized and developing countries.

We meet today whilst the world is at a turning point as a result of the current world recession, which will have grave repercussions on those developing countries which depend on the marketing of raw materials, because of the wide gap between the prices of raw materials and of the processed goods - a discrepancy which limits sharply the capacity of the developing countries to implement their agricultural programmes and hence to secure financial resources needed in order to guarantee food for their people. Statistics show that the world does not lack the resources necessary to produce food, if these resources are used in the best possible manner. Autonomous agricultural development for each and every country is the formula for success in achieving food security. Agricultural development should go hand in hand with industrial development. Experience has proved it is impossible to reach a high level of industrial development unless this is supported by a developed agricultural sector. The Secretary of Agriculture of the United States of America made this clear in his speech today.

For that reason, I should like to say that in Saudi Arabia we have embarked on a new endeavour. Despite the dearth of water and agricultural resources we have given high priority to agriculture. The results have not merely been encouraging; indeed, they are a great success by any bench mark. In less than 10 years agricultural production has risen by more than 5 percent per year. We are nearing self-sufficiency in all essential foodstuffs. More than 85 percent of our wheat consumption is produced locally, as well as 95 percent of our egg consumption, more than 35 percent of poultry, more than 20 percent of red meat, a large percentage of fish, and 50 percent of dairy products consumption. We are nearing self-sufficiency in vegetable production, whilst date production is in excess of consumption. I present this brief picture of our achievements in the agricultural sector in order to highlight some of our experiences which may be of benefit to other developing countries.

In this way we hope we can help to combat the factors of famine and deprivation so that developing countries will be able to retain their political will, their pride and their dignity. The successes we have achieved we owe to God and to the encouragement the Government has given to the private sector. We are sure we are on the right path, and hope to achieve the desired objectives. We are sure it will be of benefit to our Government and our people. We affirm that hunger and poverty will find no place in our world if our peoples, our governments and our organizations show solidarity by declaring war on hunger, poverty and backwardness.

The contribution of this Organization, despite its efficacy, will not solve the problem of hunger in developing countries unless those countries rely on themselves and unless they do everything possible to mobilize their resources, using modern technology and by the diversification of the means of production through commercial cooperation amongst themselves. Because of its awareness of the scope of the problem, and because of its firm commitment to the international community, Saudi Arabia in the past has provided a lot of assistance through the international organizations and the specialist agencies as well as the international funding institutions. It has contributed in the past, and will continue to do so in the future, to the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, as well as to regional and local bodies. Our contribution has exceeded 7 percent of our Gross National Product in the year before last.

From this rostrum Saudi Arabia reiterates its trust and its cooperation with FAO because of the effective role of the Organization and the transfer of technology to developing countries, and because of the growing role of FAO in increasing food production in achieving food security, and the move towards industrialization within the agricultural sector in developing countries, thus combatting hunger and promoting the agricultural sector in those countries.

Finally, the delegation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia endorses the Programme of Work and Budget for 1984-85 and commends the policy drawn up by the Director-General, which has led to a patent fall in recruitment by giving priority to selection and by enhancing the quality of experts and specialists. To my mind, this means that at present the various bodies which make up this Organization enjoy a high level of efficacy which we trust will be reflected in the services rendered to all the Member States.

Before concluding I am gratified to extend on behalf of the Saudi Arabian delegation and on my own behalf my sincere thanks to His Excellency Dr Edouard Saouma for his valuable intervention in which he specified the activities and goals of this Organization. I would like to thank him as well as his assistants for the preparation for this Conference. I wish them every success in the achievement of the noble goals and the noble mission of this Organization.

Peace be upon you and God’s mercy.

CHAIRMAN: Before I ask the next speaker to speak, perhaps I should make a clarification from the Chair. The good idea from His Excellency the Deputy Minister for Agricultural Affairs of Saudi Arabia that statements by heads of delegations in the Plenary should be circulated ahead or at the early stages of the Conference together in a book for study seems to me to be an eminently good idea and I am sure that the Secretariat will explore it to see whether it can be implemented.

That is one comment. I want to make two clarifications which I hope are correct: the first one is that there is the facility for statements to be inserted in the record under certain conditions although not delivered here. If anybody is interested, he can discuss it with the Secretariat.

The second thing I want to say is that the statements by delegations at the Plenary come out in the verbatim record within a couple of days of delivery. I thought I would comment on this, but the idea of His Excellency should be explored because we too want to save time and utilize the excellent idea presented here much more intensively.

With those few but necessary comments, I think, I will call upon His Excellency Ignaz Kiechle, the Minister for Food, Agriculture and Forestry of the Federal Republic of Germany to address the Conference.

I. KIECHLE (Germany, Federal Republic of): Mr Chairman, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, this is my first opportunity as Minister for Food, Agriculture and Forestry to speak before FAO and I am looking forward to good collaboration, and ensure FAO of our support. It remains one of our most important tasks within the framework of FAO Conferences to review the world food situation. For this purpose an in-depth analysis has been presented to us by the Director-General and his staff. The Government of the Federal Republic of Germany can agree to a large extent to that analysis, and for that reason I want to make the following remarks only.

Firstly, we welcome the fact that special mention was made of the more favourable development of food production in developing countries, particularly in the last two years. That is due to greater self-reliance efforts in these countries and to more effective support from outside. Here a policy begins to become effective, as has been requested and supported by us for years.

Secondly, I feel the Conference should thank the millions of farmers throughout the world for having succeeded in producing additional food for the world population which has been increasing since 1974 by 600 million people. This is an enormous achievement. It should at the same time be an incentive towards further and increased efforts. The fact that the number of hungry and malnourished people continues to be about 450 million, as in 1974 at the time of the World Food Conference, is more than depressing. That is a fact we should not accept.

Thirdly, although there were also increases in food production here and there in Africa in the last few years, these lagged behind population growth in many places so that per capita production as a whole continued to decline. Thus in particular during the last few months, above all due to unfavourable weather conditions, in many African countries the food situation was very critical. We therefore welcome the initiatives taken in this connection by the Director-General. There should be appreciation of the governments of a number of African states for having submitted in the last few years increasingly their own food and agricultural policies to a critical assessment in the course of consultations and for having identified weak points. This is also reflected in the report before us on the world food and agriculture situation.

Fourthly, the first successful results in reviving economic growth, and in fighting inflation which were achieved in some countries, including the Federal Republic of Germany, are in our opinion unfortunately not adequately appreciated in the Conference documents. Behind this there are concealed great efforts and sacrifices. I think there are clear signs of a recovery which can be seen. We should therefore benefit from the positive trend and attitude arising therefrom. If this recovery is to be consolidated, every country must also contribute to improving the international situation by making greater efforts to tackle its own problems. The Government of the Federal Republic of Germany endeavours to meet both objectives.

On World Food Day, the 16th October, in our country we have sought increased dialogue with the citizen. We wanted to make the citizen understand the world food problems better and to get his agreement to and support for even more effective action in the fight against hunger and poverty. We need this agreement in two respects: on the one hand, for the approval of our increasingly fruitful cooperation with the developing countries, either bilaterally, or multilaterally. This also calls for the greatest efforts from us, especially in times which are economically difficult and our citizens have to make great sacrifices for this. The official development assistance of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1982 compared with 1981 was raised by almost 7% to DM 7.7 billion. In spite of our own economic difficulties , it: has thus almost doubled since 1977-  that means over five years. Within the framework of our financial and technical cooperation with developing countries in 1982 about 27% of our pledges were accounted for by the promotion of agriculture and rural development.

On the other hand, the consent to and the readiness of our citizens for increased action in the fight against hunger and poverty are also important because our assistance is not restricted to public aid but also comprises broad private initiatives. As efforts were successful, the non-governmental organization in our country in 1982 compared with the previous year also enjoyed a volume of donations 13% higher, amounting to about DM 950 million. A large share of these donations comes from fellow citizens who have set aside their own wishes in view of other people’s distress. They acted in solidarity towards their fellow brothers and sisters in the developing countries to help alleviate their misery.

In dealing with the central subject of food security of this year’s World Food Day, it seems to me that the problem of a drastic reduction of food losses before, during and after the harvest which continue to be too high has received too little attention. Food supply in many countries could only in this way be increased substantially without great additional efforts at any rate on the production side and import requirements for cereals of developing countries could be diminished accordingly.

The main factor for greater food security is and remains the increase in food production and the reduction of food losses in developing countries, particularly in the countries where there is a food deficit.

Food security, in the opinion of my Government, should also be based in particular on an adequate national stockholding; regional and international understandings and arrangements for emergency situations; food aid for hunger-stricken areas and as aid for self-help. I say this expressly, we know that the goal of food security is only difficult to attain and a long-term task. It can be achieved only by joint and increased efforts of the whole community of nations. My country can, in principle, support the revised guidelines for international agricultural adjustment. The foundation of international agricultural adjustment, i.e. for the first approach to an international agricultural policy, was laid after lively debates at the Eighth FAO Regional Conference for Europe in Munich, in my country, in 1972. Agriculture in the Federal Republic of Germany has managed over the last three decades to go through an enormous process of adjustment without being able to solve all the problems. On the contrary, many new problems have been added. The increase in productivity achieved with our predominantly peasant family farms enables my country to meet all national and international tasks in the food sector.

On the important agenda item of plant genetic resources, I would only like to remark that my government welcomes measures to be taken for further improving the work of the existing network of gene banks. A comprehensive exchange of information is an element of special importance in this respect. But it must also be ensured that the initiatives and the work of breeders will not be affected. In the last analysis only they will guarantee further progress; therefore proposals for changes must be examined in good time and in a realistic way.

We welcome the fact that the Conference will also discuss the subject of land, food and population. These discussions will show the great inter-relationship of these three factors. One of the conclusions will probably be that population growth must be adapted more than it has been so far to the food supply possibilities in the individual countries. In many countries it should in principle be possible to produce adequate food for the increased population by the year 2000 and beyond. But one of the most important pre-conditions for this is that the natural resources like land, water and forest areas should be used more carefully.

We should by all means check not only the excessive exploitation to be noticeable, but protect nature to a greater extent than so far from the consequences of tempestuous industrialization and motorization. Inspite of reasonable management methods new damages to the forest occur increasingly. The term of "forest dying" is already going round in my country. Air pollutions are probably the main cause. A precondition for effective counter-measures are a founded assessment and a current monitoring of the extent of damages as well as the analysis of all possible impacts on the forest. For the initiatives taken by us in this respect in FAO and in the Economic Commission for Europe of the United Nations we hope for a broad support.

The proposed programme of work and budget 1984-85 of FAO will be discussed in detail in Commission II, We welcome the fact that inspite of a low real budget growth it was possible to expand the technical programmes to promote agricultural production and rural development. This sharpening of priorities is in my Government's view a step in the right direction. Further steps, for example an even greater selective review, also from outside, of the implementation of the Regular Programme of Work and of the Field Programme should follow. This is also a request from our Parliament which urges international organizations to be also economical and more efficient. Member Nations will undoubtedly welcome the fact that the Director-General has pointed out certain weaknesses and deficiencies which have occurred in the implementation of the Field Programme, as shown in the relevant Conference document. We would like to encourage the Director-General in his intention to work towards an even greater efficiency in the work of the Organization.

In conclusion, I would like to extend a warm welcome to the four new member countries of our Organization thus making FAO even more universal.

Mr Chairman, distinguished delegates. The international community is faced today with three great challenges :

Firstly, preservation of peace and enforcement of human rights.

Secondly, increasing food production and alleviation of the most acute material need in many developing countries.

Thirdly, maintenance of the ecological balance and protection of the environment,

It is the commitment and task of all of us to meet these challenges. The Federal Republic of Germany is prepared to cooperate actively also in future in the solution of these problems.

J.C. KERIN (Australia): Mr Chairman at the outset let me say how much pleasure it gives me to see you in the Chair.

I was unable to be here yesterday so I now personally welcome the nations newly admitted to membership, and greet with special warmth Vanuatu which joins us in the South West Pacific Group.

As the Minister responsible for farming, fisheries and forestry in a recently elected Australian Government, this is my first opportunity to address the Supreme Governing Body of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

Australia has been a strong supporter of FAO since its inception on 16 October 1945. We will continue our support.

An Australian, Frank McDougall was deeply involved in the establishment and formative years of FAO. McDougall had a strong concern for those people in the world for whom food on a daily basis was by no means a foregone conclusion.

It is with a similar feeling of concern that Australia is represented here today.

We are here today because we find the paradoxes of the world food and agricultural situation outrageous; we are here because we do not accept that hundreds of millions of our fellow human beings can continue to suffer hunger and malnutrition. We find it shocking and unacceptable that 40 000 of the world's children die each day from nutrition-related causes; and we are here because we do not accept the inevitability of the world agricultural economy lurching from crippling surpluses to disastrous deficits.

Australia is firmly committed to assist in overcoming these problems. The Australian Government will continue to treat the provision of development assistance as a matter of priority whether directly to countries or in partnership with FAO and other key multilateral organizations. In this context I would like to make a special plea for the early solution of IFAD's funding problems.

We do this out of humanitarian concern. But we also do it out of self interest. We firmly believe that the elimination of the grinding poverty which besets so many millions will bring positive economic benefits for all nations. Nor do we forget that poverty and hunger and gross disparities between nations have been so often the breeding grounds for politico/military adventures which ever threaten international peace and security.

Mr Chairman, we in Australia fully appreciate the daunting complexity of the issues which must be tackled to provide longer term security of food supply for all the peoples of this earth.

Today I wish to focus on two issues which I believe are of central importance.

The first point I make is that every nation must accept responsibility ultimately to provide for its own food security through the development of its own economic resources. Food aid to the low income food deficit countries can play a part in the short to medium term. But food aid must not be seen as a palliative or an alternative to agricultural and other economic development in the recipient nations. Food aid, if used indiscriminately, can positively hamper development by interfering with market prices and destroying incentives in recipient countries. The goal of development must always be uppermost.

Pursuit of development goals makes heavy demands but they must be faced and accepted. It requires strong national commitment at the political level of government to identify appropriate development strategies and to pursue them with purpose and vigour.

Such strategies must be aimed at making the best possible use of the resources available -identifying the areas of comparative advantage and making the most of them.

Some nations do not have the resources of climate to enable them to become self sufficient in food production. They must look to those things which they can do best to earn the export income with which to purchase their unsatisfied food requirements.

The inevitability of some nations having to rely on export earnings to purchase their food requirements leads me to my second point. It is this - achievement of world food security is going to require further dismantling of trade barriers and a much freer world trading order than we currently have.

Developing countries must have opportunities to sell those goods which they can produce efficiently. They need to be able to sell them on fair and reasonable terms into markets which are not artificially restricted and at prices which are not artificially reduced by protectionist and subsidy practices of more wealthy nations.

I do not under-estímate the difficulty of achieving this more perfect order. There can be legitimate political, social and economic reasons why nations protect and support particular groups of their own producers. No nation can be expected to surrender its sovereignty to provide such protection and support. But nations can be expected not to do so through measures which rely for their effect on causing injury to others.

The industry support measures which nations pursue should be of a kind which minimise the imposition of costs and burdens on others.

The industry support regimes of many countries do not meet that criterion. Support measures which restrict access to markets, which generate surplus production by less efficient industry sectors and which depress and disrupt international prices are often the norm and not the exception. They pose well nigh insurmountable obstacles to third world countries who must rely on trading opportunities to fuel their economic development and to guarantee their food security.

If we are genuinely committed to the attainment of world food security we cannot allow such policies to continue indefinitely into the future. We must move progressively to replace them with policies which are more neutral in their impact on the international trading regime.

The transformation of protectionist policies may have to proceed in a measured and carefully managed way if undue social and economic disruption in the home country is to be avoided.

In the longer term the countries eschewing highly protectionist and high price support policies stand to gain no less than their trading partners from the more efficient allocation of national resources which will follow.

Mr Chairman, let me now turn to make some observations on some aspects of Australian experience in the efficient use of resources in agricultural production.

It is natural to expect that food deficit countries will concentrate attention on means of expanding output. But in aiming to achieve the most effective use of resources it pays sometimes to look to the possibilities of input saving technology. Considerable advances are being made in devising simpler, lower cost-effective inputs and production systems. Increasingly we are finding this approach being used in Australia as a means of increasing farm incomes rather than resort to ever more intensive output-expanding methods.

For example, much stress is placed upon irrigation as a means of increasing production. Certainly, irrigation can achieve dramatic effects. But it can involve very high capital costs. And all too often it eventually leads to problems of soil salinity.

We have some comparatively large irrigation areas in Australia and we have experience both of the benefits and the costs. Much more of our land is farmed by so called dry land farming methods. Those are extensive farming systems which in the Asutralian situation provides for very efficient utilisation of land and other inputs.

Some countries with similar endowments of relatively abundant land and a dry climate are adopting these methods. They certainly warrant consideration in such circumstances as an alternative to more intensive systems which might achieve higher outputs but at a very much greater cost.

Mr Chairman, if I might return to my opening remarks, Australia has always been a strong supporter of FAO. It is the main international organisation concerned with that most basic of human needs -food. Its activities and experience are many faceted, extending across the whole spectrum of the production, consumption and marketing of agricultural, fishing and forestry products.

As such, FAO has a heavy responsibility. The problems it must address are enormous. Yet the environment in which it operates is one of severe financial stringency.

All of us are only too well aware of the difficult financial times in which we live. In our own national administrations every item of expenditure must be carefully scrutinised and its effectiveness fully demonstrated. In many cases not only do we have to forego any real growth in activities, but we are forced to absorb inflationary increases.

In this environment, international organisations, more than ever before, must demonstrate their worth in terms of practical activity and cost effectiveness. The details of their programmes must be transparant enough for member governments to assess whether they are worthwhile. Also the procedures for the evaluation of their activities must be such that members can have full confidence in their effectiveness. Agencies will not have our support, Mr Chairman, if their resources are dissipated in unproductive bureaucratic infighting.

Mr Chairman, Australia believes that the Director-General, Dr Saouma, has responded to both the needs of the membership, especially the developing countries, and their difficult financial situation in framing his proposed Programme of Work and Budget for 1984-85. He has striven to contain the growth in the Budget but has been able to propose real increases in the technical and economic programmes. Moreover, the documentation of his proposals has been improved, so enabling member governments to consider and assess programme proposals more conveniently and effectively. We fully endorse his approach.

My delegation will be participating actively in the detailed work of this Conferene In so doing, we will maintain the policy that we have long followed in FAO'S governing bodies and specialised committees of providing objective and I hope constructive assessments and suggestions.

Mr Chairman, we will continue our strong support for FAO so long as its activities are practically orientated, sufficiently transparant and cost-effective. Dr Saouma's proposed Programme of Work and Budget for 1984-85 accords with these criteria and has Australian full support.

U.G. MWILA (Zambia): Allow my delegation to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your election to this most important position of Chairman of the Twenty-second session of the FAO Conference. We could not have a more fitting Chairman than the Secretary of Agriculture of the world's largest producer of food and agriculture products - The United States of America. We have confidence that you and your Vice-Chairmen will steer this Twenty-second session with wisdom and ensure that the resolutions which we shall adopt here may lead to the improvement of the lives of millions of people now suffering utter poverty, malnutrition, disease and ignorance. It is for these suffering millions of people that we are here gathered.

Mr Chairman, Zambia believes that the world we live in is shrinking each day that passes. As such it is getting increasingly difficult for any country to isolate itself from the happenings of other countries. The economic and political events in many countries have ripples in other countries. The world's developed countries are expected to assist the poor and developing nations. If this were done we would then have some hope that one day, all of us will be developed, that all peoples of the world will one day be able to eat well, be well-housed and participate better in the development of the world they live in. This should be the mandate under which we meet at this Twenty-second session of the FAO Conference.

During the past few years, many third world countries have made strenuous and concerted efforts to increase food and agricultural production. Zambia, for example, has over the past four years given great emphasis to the development of agriculture. Farmers have more than ever before been given attractive producer prices and numerous other incentives. It has been very encouraging to note that both the large-scale commercial and the peasant farmers have responded well to these incentives. Unfortunately, due to drought, instead of realising increased production, we have had decreased production. What a terrible and frightening reward for hard work !!

Mr Chairman, there is a greatneed for massive investment in irrigation infrastructure. I take this opportunity to appeal to the FAO and to donor countries to ensure that funds are provided either multilaterally or bilaterally for the development of irrigation infrastructure for Africa.

Mr Chairman, we note that a number of industrialized countries are restricting the entry into their markets of semi-processed and processed products from the developing countries. In other words industrialized countries are becoming more and more introspective. It is important for developing countries to be able to export processed products to the markets of the developed countries in order to gain foreign exchange - which in turn is required for the importation of industrial goods necessary for the modernization of agriculture.

Mr. Chairman, we gathered here should agree to monitor protectionist measures existing and being introduced in the various countries. We must agree to monitor export subsidies and other aids being used by industrialized countries that are aimed at preventing entry into their markets of goods from the developing countries.

As I have observed already, the world is shrinking and we are all becoming more and more dependent on each other. There is no doubt that improved trade between the North and South and improved trade among the developing countries themselves is beneficial to the world economy. We ignore it to our own peril.

Mr Chairman, we are pleased to note from the Programme of Work and Bugdet that Africa has been given due emphasis. We have tremendous problems, especially the incidence of drought which is devastating crops and livestock on which human life depends. The Programme Work and Budget should accordingly emphasize water resource conservation and use. My delegation gives its full support to the Programme of Work and Budget tabled by the Director-General. While we appreciate the fact that only a small increase has been allowed in the budget which is now before us, we can only hope that in the future, the FAO Programme of Work and Budget will be allowed to increase at a reasonable rate in order to assist developing countries to resolve the immense problems they are now facing.

On the question of food security, we feel that we cannot talk about world food security before national food security; in fact, national food security depends on food security at the family level. Emphasis must, therefore, be given to increasing the production efficiency of the peasant. His ability to preserve whatever he has produced is a crucial part of food security. In this connection, we fully support the redefinition of food security which the Director-General proposed at the last session of the Committee on Food Security.

Mr Chairman, we believe that the only lasting solution lies in strengthening the capacity of each nation to produce its own food. It is now, however, so expensive to open up new land, in view of inadequate financial resources. The immediate prospect, therefore, lies in increasing yields from existing cleared farm land. It is for this reason that we support strongly the creation of a regional maize reak668e centre in southern Africa. As you may know, Mr Chairman, maize is the staple of most of southern Africa. We have the problem of low maize yields in our region, especially when compared with maize yields in the USA, Yugoslavia and Latin America. The centre would greatly help in increasing grain production and, therefore, food security in our sub-region.

Mr Chairman, our peasant farmers need adequate extension services and agricultural reak668e geared to their needs, that they should understand the inter-relationship between agriculture and forestry. Fisheries development is also realized as an important instrument for developemt of our peasantry. Zambia has abundant inland fishery resources. There is tremendous scope for both artisanal and industrial fisheries. The development of our fisheries resources will put a great many peasants into the money economy. We need assistance in strengthening our operations in these fields.

Mr Chairman, safe storage of food is of great concern to us. We believe that it is not correct to let the little food that Africa produces go to waste. We have, in Zambia, already worked out a programme of storage improvement that requires funding.

Mr Chairman, Zambia is determined to increase her food production . If we appear not to be making progress, it is not due to lack of will and determination, but due to lack of skilled manpower and funds. We therefore appeal to FAO and the international community to assist us in training our people and in the provision of the necessary funding.

S. LUNDKVIST (Sweden): Mr Chairman, Mr Director-General, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen.

Almost ten years have passed since we gathered here for the World Food Conference. Although the high expectations expressed during the World Food Conference have not been met, we can register a number of achievements during the past decade, new institutions have been set up and old ones have been strengthened and reinforced. There has on the whole been considerable advance towards the goals set out ten years ago.

During the past decade new initiatives have also been taken. The World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development and its action programme is a bold attempt to redress imbalances and inequities at national as well as at international level in order to bring a better life to millions of people.

A decade ago the world faced a serious food crisis. Stocks were being depleted, food prices sky-rocketed and large population groups were confronted with serious food problems, or, even worse, starvation and famine. Despite some setbacks the world cereal production has nevertheless continued to increase. During the last year FAO targets for minimum world food security have been met. In certain regions we have witnessed remarkable results, thanks to the ingenuity of reak668eers, support by governments, national and international financing institutions and the hard labour of farmers. However, certain areas of our world continue to face very serious problems. The countries whose situations seem to be the worst and whose populations the hardest hit are situated on the African continent, particularly south of the Sahara.

The alarming reports recently presented by the Director-General on the African situation are a memento to all of us that quick action needs to be taken. As in past years, the Swedish Government will make important contributions towards the alleviation of the plight of refugees and the prevention of acute food shortages.

As was pointed out by the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme in his World Food Day address here in Rome some weeks ago, there is a direct relation between war and hunger. Most hunger catastrophes that have struck the globe during the latter decades have been caused or aggravated by armed conflicts. The victims of hunger caused by war are very seldom soldiers.

It is the civilian population that is uprooted and deprived of its normal means of livelihood. And there is often nothing to replace it. One important way to start the struggle against hunger would be to struggle for the peaceful settlement of conflicts and to fight for disarmament. This message has to be repeated again and again.

Military expenditure requires more and more resources at the expense of peaceful economic development. Even poor developing countries increase their military expenditure at an alarming rate. No one can say that there are no resources. It is only a question of how to use them; to feed humanity or to exterminate it.

Time has come to start a long needed reduction in military spending in order to use the resources for peaceful development. Thus, even if the main responsibility for a reduction of military expenditure rests with the industrialized countries, the developing countries themselves have to take their share of the responsibility.

Mr Chairman, the Swedish Government has now acquired some measure of experience, extending over a couple of decades, of development cooperation with countries of the third world. Much of this has been directed at rural development, and a lot of it has been conceived and executed in close contact with FAO. All through the 1970s and the first years of the present decade, Sweden has been a staunch supporter of the FAO endeavour to focus attention and effort on rural development encompassing peasants.

A milestone in this endeavour was the 1979 WCARRD declaration of principles. It is the considered opinion of the Swedish Government that all parties concerned with development, whether multilateral organizations or national governments, should urgently pay more attention to the role of the peasant population in development. The peasants, whether they are smallholders or landless, constitute the majorities in almost all countries in the third world, and surely no genuine self-generating and lasting development can come about without their involvement and active participation. This is a matter of social equity, of course, but it is also very much a matter of increased national self-sufficiency in food, and of economic development generally.

I am happy that FAO is showing an increasing awareness of the importance of productivity incentives to peasants as illustrated inter alia by the initiative of a study on pricing policies and incentives. I trust that this study will provide the organization with a useful tool with which to assist member countries to establish policies which encourage agricultural production at prices that are reasonable also to consumers.

Much more needs to be said - and, above all, needs to be done on the subject of promotion of peasant productivity. If, for example, scarce agricultural inputs were more available to small farmers their production could increase. To this end the developed countries could contribute by avoiding the use of scarce resources of, for example, fertilizers that would only give marginal increases to an already efficient production but could be of great importance to developing countries to produce their daily food. This brings me to another concern I would like to share with you - my concern for the forests.

Sweden is a country of forests. The Swedish forests have always been a great asset to us. At times they have been mismanaged and overexploited. Gradually, however, we have come to understand that forest resources have to be carefully and rationally managed if they are to give a sustainable yield and thus the same strength and security to future generations as they have given in the past. Likewise forest resources are assets to other countries. In the last few years in a number of countries alarming signs of forestry destruction have been discovered. The forest depletion is of growing concern to thousands and thousands of people. Forest death is a phenomenon that we witness in larger and larger areas in Europe. To bring a stop to this very alarming situation concerted international action is needed. In Europe and North America the damages caused by air pollution such as acid rains require rapid and concerted action. Time is short. Europe and North America cannot afford to lose any valuable time - measures have to be taken now to reduce the emissions harmful to the forests, the environment and to people's health. Likewise the rapidly deteriorating situation in tropical areas if of great concern to us all. Tropical forests constitute natural resources of extreme importance.. The widespread mismanagement and depletion of tropical forests is a serious environmental problem with devastating consequences not only in the regions directly affected. Exhaustion of genetic resources and increased carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere are problems of even global importance.

The rapid depletion of forests will have serious consequences also for the supply of fuelwood and wood for household needs, needs that are very basic for the rural populations in developing countries. The human actors are mostly poor people, who destroy the forests not because of ill will, but because they see no other means for their survival than exploiting the forest resources.

An assessment of the tropical forest resources undertaken jointly by FAO and UNEP has provided us with base line data for further concerted action. This study is one of the results originating from the United Nations Conference on Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972. This joint undertaking by FAO and UNEP is a good example of fruitful cooperation between two organizations of the United Nations system. Such a good cooperation on environmental problems and natural resources management the Swedish government would like to see expanded and enhanced, not only between FAO and UNEP, but among all organizations within the UN family. Likewise we want a fruitful cooperation among all organizations dealing with food and agriculture.

The Swedish Government contributes to a global social forestry programme managed by FAO. The overriding objective of the programme is to meet the local needs for fuel wood and building material with the active participation of the village people. This activity has been undertaken for some years now and I am pleased to announce that the Swedish Government has approved a continuation of its support to this programme.

I am pleased to note that the forestry department seems to have been influenced in its work by the WCARRD principles. These principles should be the guiding principles not only for the forestry department but for the whole work of the FAO.

A conclusion of what I have just said is that, in the view of the Swedish Government, forestry development is a most important sector both for forestry and agricultural development. The world forestry congress in 1985 will provide a good opportunity for us to discuss interrelated questions and take new initiatives. It seems, however, that forestry has not so far been given its proper place within the FAO of the total regular budget resources for 1984-1985, only 4 percent has been allocated to forestry. The Swedish Government is certainly aware of the limited resources available to FAO but we cannot accept that forestry should be the stepchild of FAO. For the next programming period 1986-1987 we request increased resources for forestry. We are convinced that by a careful review of ongoing activities, resources could be reallocated from other sectors. It is our view that in times of economic difficulties, it is good policy that we pool our resources for solving our common problems.

The Programme of Work and Budget for the coming two years has been prepared in an atmosphere of financial austerity. This atmosphere will probably prevail in future years. Nevertheless, it seems to my delegation that with the resources available a number of important activities can be continued and new ones initiated. The task before us is enormous and time is running short. The problems could seem insurmountable. But, Mr Chairman, let me support the declaration pronounced by Dr Bruno Kreisky yesterday. We have only one way to go: the way of international solidarity.

The meeting rose at 18.45 hours.
La séance est levée à 18 h 45.
Se levanta la sesión a las 18.45 horas