I.I. AZZAWI (Iraq) (original language Arabic): Allow me first of all, Mr Chairman, to congratulate you on the full confidence that has been placed in you by the Conference in electing you to preside over its work. We are convinced, that thanks to the earnest efforts of the various participating delegations, this Conference will be able to reach positive results under your wise guidance.
We would like to sieze this opportunity to express our deep appreciation and kind wishes to Mr Edouard Saouma, the Director-General of this Organization, for the fruitful efforts and the extraordinary energy he has put in to provide aid and expertise for the development of agriculture in the world, and to draw the attention of the various countries of the world to the problems of food in the world. We wish him and his collaborators full success in their work.
The Iraqi delegation is pleased to attend this present session of the Conference and to participate in discussing its programme. We are fully convinced that the recommendations that will be agreed will participate effectively in establishing a sound basis for agricultural development in the world.
The main features of the present food and agricultural situation in the world are still a source of dissatisfaction in general. So far, no effective system has been found to achieve food security. The present world economic situation is still suffering from stagnation, inflation and widespread unemployment. The target for food aid has not been achieved and remains at a modest level. Malnutrition is still the bitter severe lot of millions of people. The spread of hunger will increase before the end of this century unless effective measures are taken to set a limit to it. The state of food and agriculture in the Near East, the region we belong to, indicates that average agricultural output is below world averages and that it is not in proportion with the average increase of population. This unsatisfactory situation has led most countries of the region to import their grain needs from abroad. This has had a negative effect on trade balances. The food crisis will remain a burden on the economies of the countries of the region and impede their development policies. I would like to commend the cooperative programmes between the Organization and the Near East Region to implement regional and national agricultural projects. These are an excellent example of serious and fruitful cooperation between member countries and this Organization. The World Food Day celebrated last month must be a reminder that our target is to liberate humanity from hunger and malnutrition, that we have to depend on our own capabilities to provide food for ourselves and that we should give greater importance to the implementation of development projects for this purpose.
We wish to declare our support for the programme of work of the Organization for the next two years as it is the acceptable minimum to fulfil our legitimate ambitions to develop the agricultural sector and achieve food security. We hope that FAO with the necessary financial requirements and the effective use of the expertise and potential available to it will succeed in implementing its programme. We are amongst those countries that participated in the foundation of this Organization in 1945. We have consistently attended all its meetings and participate actively in all its work and in drawing up agricultural policies on a national, regional and global level. We have effectively attended all meetings, seminars and studies undertaken by the Organization to set up plans and find solutions to solve problems of food and agriculture in the world. Our delegation appreciates the efforts undertaken by the Organization to provide improved seeds and to develop such species, to avoid food losses as well as its efficiency in combatting agricultural pests especially desert locust.
We also appreciate FAO's aid in national agricultural research activities, the attention given to the role of women in rural development, its aid in fisheries activities and in the implementation of forestry development projects. We are equally appreciative of FAO's work in strengthening training activities and in the field of technical cooperation.
The various activities for regional and subregional development in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme in our region have been completed. One project dealing with Regional Animal Health and Production is to be completed in 1986, the Regional Project for training in fisheries will be completed by 1984, as well as the new regional project for rural development. We welcome the progress achieved by the Organization in the follow-up in the work of WCARRD and all that has been achieved so far to set up a regional centre for integrated rural development in Amman, Jordan.
My country's delegation supports the overall targets and aims of the world Conference on Fisheries Administration and Management which will be held under the auspices of this Organization. We hope that the Conference will succeed in drawing üp strategies and programmes which will help to fully exploit fishery resources. This will enable us to benefit fully from the economic and social food potential of fisheries in our region and increase developing countries' self-sufficiency in this field. The Conference will be an appropriate forum to exchange information and expertise on this matter. We wish, furthermore, to support all proposals to increase the acreage under harvest and to increase output of food grains and animal production in developing countries. We also wish to express our support for the aim to increase production by 4 percent in developing countries to avoid the negative effects on food and trade in agricultural output, arising out of growth in populations and increased demand for food.
We wish to express our support for the Organization's opinion, i.e. the need to provide advanced forms of agricultural research and to increase efforts, especially in developing countries, to support research possibilities and potentials.
Furthermore, we believe that a closer relationship must be established between researchers and those responsible for agricultural extension, farmers, fishermen and consumers. Agricultural research is an important factor in increasing agricultural production, in processing the output, and in marketing and distribution. What is noted, however, is that research in developing countries suffers from a lack of investment, financial support, researchers and expertise. Workers in this field are in need of greater incentives and improved work opportunities at all levels. This sector also requires improved planning, organization, administration and evaluation. We support the implementation of programmes which are aimed at rationalizing the use of land in order to avoid soil erosion. The very existence of humanity and its prosperity depend on the continued productivity of land and the increase of its output. We wish, furthermore, to point out that lack of administrators in the countries concerned is an obstacle that prevents developing countries, especially recently independent ones, from overcoming all forms of backwardness.
My country's delegation wishes to reaffirm the importance of concluding an international agreement to ensure the safeguarding of important world plant genetic resources and the need to set up an international gene bank. We wish to draw your attention to the importance of safeguarding natural resources, be they on the land, sea or of plant or animal nature.
We wish to express our concern for the lack of progress, as reported by the Organization, in combating hunger and malnutrition over the past two years, especially in the low income food deficit countries - the per capita share of food production in Africa and Near East has dropped. There are twenty-six countries in the world suffering from severe food shortages. The spread of rinderpest in Africa is, of course, of concern as there is a danger that this disease will spread to other parts of the continent. International cooperation in this field is important. Serious attention must be given to actions to combat and control rinderpest. We support efforts to achieve food security: we support food policy programmes and the priority allocated to them in sectoral planning. Aid programmes and food supplies are temporary measures to overcome emergency food shortages. In countries suffering from such problems, phased development plans for agriculture must be established. These must take into account financial facilities available and must not rely completely and solely on international food aid. Self reliance and national efforts are undoubtedly the basis for the solution of the problem of food shortages.
We support all measures to increase public awareness of the state of food and agriculture - food is life - but if despite the availability of the means to purchase food, little is available - then hunger and death are inevitable. Thus all countries have placed food production as a top priority in their national development plans.
It is difficult for the benefits of agricultural and food development to reach all rural dwellers in countries with limited human and material potential. This is the case for many developing countries unless necessary funds for the building of infrastructure, appropriate housing or electricity networks are provided. Health and veterinary services must be provided, roads need to be built - agricultural credit must be provided as well as the necessary production, storage and marketing facilities. Failure to provide the inputs for rural development lead to rural migration, thus affecting agricultural production and the provision of food supplies.
We believe that we must give great importance to providing trained administrators and manpower to enable us to implement the strategies of food development through sound exploitation of land, water and other resources and efficient management of development projects. These should help us to administer agricultural projects ably. If one takes a look at the distribution of land and property in Iraq before the implementation of the land reclamation and reform laws, one clearly sees the uneven distribution of land and the imbalances in the interrelationship of the means of production due to feudal control, and one would note that 1.7 percent of the inhabitants owned 63.1 percent of the land. This, in fact, was a great injustice to the farmers. However, since the revolution of 17-30 July 1968 under the leadership of the Baath Socialist Party, radical changes have been introduced thanks to the Agrarian Reform Law of 1970, and another law passed in 1975. These laws organised the distribution and ownership of land in the interest of the poor farmers and the smallholders. Social policies were also applied in the field of animal production. Animal products meet a large part of local requirements. Chicken farms and batteries have been built. Private investment in this activity has effectively helped to meet local demand. Loans of millions of dinars have been provided to build chicken farms, hatcheries, feed plants and modern slaughterhouses all over the country.
Plant Protection has been given a high priority as plant pests and diseases cause serious losses that affect our economy. Plant Protection services cover more than 2.5 million hectares. We have a fleet of aircraft for plant protection activities.
Animal health services have also been given due importance. We have 18 veterinary hospitals and 243 clinics. Artificial insemination centers have been increased with 19 main centers and 149 subsidiary ones. The number of veterinarians and assistants has increased three-fold as compared to pre-1968 figures - especially if we take into account our livestock population and its diversification.
The leadership of the Party and Revolution in Iraq under the Presidency of Sudam Hussain, has given all the necessary attention to the problems of the liberation of woman, and to her participation in all social, political and cultural rights, as well as all other human rights which were guaranteed by international labour laws. Despite the war our exceptional efforts to implement development projects in our country have not stopped, but have increased. We now'defend our land and freedom with one hand and continue to reconstruct our country with the other. We are not warmongers, we are peace-seekers. However, we are fully ready to cooperate with all responsible efforts to achieve peace in cooperation with the United Nations, the Islamic Organization and neutral countries. We wish to declare here that we aspire for peace and wish to live in peace and security and to work to develop our own country and achieve prosperity for our people. We have no expansionist aims in any country or any desire to intervene in the internal affairs of any other country, yet others insist on pursuing war and aggression against our borders and on intervening in our war, yet still our aspiration is to achieve peace.
The policies set up by the leadership of the Party and the Revolution in order to reconstruct the agricultural sector were drawn up according to objective scientific principles. These have been instrumental in fulfilling our major achievements such as establishing infrastructures for agricultural development in the form of projects for irrigation, the construction of dams and reservoirs, land reclamation, the building of agricultural roads, and the setting up of agricultural installations. Our achievements include the construction of animal husbandry stations, strategically situated warehouses including refrigerators and deep freezers. We have succeeded in expanding the use of machinery in agriculture and in setting up experimental farms in addition to laboratories and centers for animal health. We have also increased the size of agricultural loans being granted and have eased the terms for providing them.
One month ago we inaugurated the Saddam Irrigation Project which has transferred more than a quarter of a million hectares from rain-fed to irrigated area. This major achievement is due to the implementation of the targets laid down in the working paper on development contained in the five-year plan for the agricultural sector which called for the construction of a modern agricultural sector on sound foundations. These would allow for the drawing up of practical plans to achieve the general goals of the ambitions of the Party and Revolution leadership. They also aim to raise the standard of living of the Iraqi citizen.
In the field of agricultural activity Iraq has increased its relations with other Arab countries. This has covered both collective and bilateral projects. Proof of this is Iraq's continued support for the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development as well as Iraqi agriculture experts1 participation in the agricultural activities of the various Arab countries.
We have exerted exceptional efforts to achieve a balance in agricultural and animal production. We believe that work in this direction has yielded satisfactory results as a number of large dairy centers were established. We have also supplied private farmers with high-yield cows and have set up special enterprises for the production of chickens, eggs and fish.
An important step is the improvement of the abilities of the rural population and the increase of their productivity. This has been achieved through their organization into farmer's cooperatives and their effective participation in the construction of modern villages and the building of surfaced roads throughout the countryside.
Finally I wish this Conference success hoping that it will adopt constructive proposals and recommendations in the interests of production and agriculture and to eradicate malnutrition and hunger in the world.
S. HAYATOU (Cameroun): Monsieur le Président, la délégation de la République-Unie du Cameroun s'associe aux autres délégations pour vous féliciter de votre brillante élection à la présidence de la 22ème session de la Conférence générale de la FAO; elle présente également ses félicitations aux vice-présidents et membres du bureau qui ont mérité de la confiance de toutes les délégations ici présentes pour vous aider à mener à bien votre lourde tâche.
Je saisis également cette occasion pour féliciter le Directeur général de la FAO, le Dr Edouard Saouma, pour sa claire analyse de la situation alimentaire des pays en développement et pour son inlassable effort en faveur des pays les plus démunis notamment ceux du continent africain.
Ma délégation profite de l'occasion qui lui est offerte devant cette auguste assemblée pour vous transmettre, à vous même et à toutes les délégations à cette session, le salut cordial du peuple camerounais et les vifs souhaits que le Président de la République-Unie du Cameroun, Son Excellence Paul Biya, formule pour que nos travaux atteignent leur plein succès, espérant ainsi que nos conclusions déboucheront sur les actions concrètes et donneront une impulsion nouvelle susceptible de permettre une plus grande prise de conscience de la situation alimentaire plus que jamais préoccupante dans les pays pauvres.
La situation alimentaire dans beaucoup de pays en développement se dégrade de façon continue: les travaux de la 22ème session de notre Conférence se tiennent donc sous un climat d'incertitude bien que globablement le niveau des stocks dans certains pays soit relativement élevé.
Cette réalité d'un monde de l'abondance, d'une part, et d'un monde de la pénurie, d'autre part, n'est certes pas un fait nouveau, mais sa persistance traduit le mauvais fonctionnement du système des relations Nord-Sud, car il ne s'agit ni de l'insuffisance globale des disponibilités alimentaires, ni du manque de ressources matérielles pour mettre en exploitation d'immenses richesses que recèlent encore les pays pauvres, mais plutôt d'une question de stratégies en matière de développement.
Les efforts consentis par la communauté internationale au cours des deux dernières décennies dans le domaine de la lutte contre la faim, la malnutrition dans les pays en développement, n'ont pas donné les résultats escomptés.
En effet, depuis bientôt quarante ans, que de recommandations! que de résolutions! que de prises de positions de nos Etats vis-à-vis de cet ennemi commun!... A quand donc la fin de la faim dans le monde puisque 700 millions de personnes croupissent encore en dessous du seuil de la pauvreté.
La sécurité alimentaire mondiale a été retenue cette année comme thème de la troisième journée mondiale de l'alimentation.
Pour la délégation camerounaise, le choix de ce thème n'est que d'actualité en raison de la situation alimentaire précaire qui prévaut dans beaucoup de pays africains au sud du Sahara. Point n'est besoin de rappeler que, dans ces pays, comme plusieurs orateurs l'ont souligné avant moi, le problème de la production agricole de cette région est des plus préoccupants.
A cette situation déjà critique se sont ajoutées les calamités naturelles, notamment la sécheresse qui a sévi avec rigueur dans bon nombre d'entre eux accentuant la baisse des productions végétales et animales.
En même temps, le programme d'action de la Conférence mondiale sur la réforme agraire et le dévelop‐pement rural, préparé à l'intention de notre conférence, souligne sans détours qu'en Afrique sud-saharienne actuellement 60% de la population rurale vivent au-dessous du seuil de la pauvreté absolue et le montant des ressources de développement allouées par habitant à l'agriculture, qui reste d'ailleurs parmi les plus faibles du monde en développement, est encore en diminution.
Dans ces conditions, les perspectives d'avenir de la région restent forcément sombres.
Tout ceci souligne, Monsieur le Président, que la situation de la production agricole et alimentaire en Afrique s'est détériorée de façon particulièrement inquiétante; de ce fait, elle requiert de la part de la communauté internationale une attention spéciale.
Ce tableau sombre plaide donc pour une prise de conscience plus effective des gouvernements qui, avec le concours de toute la communauté internationale et la FAO, doivent s'attaquer de façon plus décisive et plus coordonnée à toutes ces contraintes qui bloquent l'expansion du secteur agricole et du développement du monde rural.
Les gouvernements africains connaissent et vivent les réalités de la crise alimentaire de la région. Leur réaction concrète a été l'adoption successive en juillet 1979 de la stratégie de Monrovia pour le développement économique du continent et, en avril 1980, du plan d'action de Lagos qui dégage sans ambiguïté que la responsabilité première dans le processus de la transformation de l'agriculture africaine en une source d'alimentation fiable pour le développement de la région incombe avant tout à chaque gouvernement.
Pour le Cameroun, l'agriculture reste le secteur clé de l'économie; employant plus de 70 pour cent de la population active, elle contribue pour près de 30 pour cent au produit intérieur brut; secteur stratégique par excellence, l'agriculture permet actuellement à notre pays de fournir à sa population une alimentation suffisante tout en lui assurant environ 70 pour cent de ses recettes en devises, abstraction faite des ressources pétrolières.
Notre agriculture fait l'objet d'une préoccupation constante du Chef de l'Etat, Son Excellence Paul BIYA, qui a retenu que la relance de ce secteur, en vue d'accroître sa contribution au développement du pays et de consolider notre autosuffisance alimentaire, reste pour le gouvernement un objectif prioritaire.
C'est donc pour cette raison que, dans la masse des crédits dégagés au budget de cette année au profit des secteurs productifs, l'agriculture dispose de la plus grande enveloppe.
Sur cette base, le secteur agricole doit donc continuer à jouer son rôle de moteur de notre dévelop‐pement. Pour ce faire, notre action s'appuie sur la rationalisation de l'utilisation des facteurs de production essentiels, à savoir: la terre, les eaux, et autres intrants, ainsi que sur la con‐ception et la mise en application d'une stratégie efficiente de production, de collecte, de commer‐cialisation et de distribution des produits agricoles.
Dans cette approche, l'homme tient une place de choix tant il est considéré comme l'élément capital dans le processus de développement.
Le gouvernement camerounais entend donc procurer à la population rurale un cadre de vie plus confor‐me à ses aspirations: c'est un vaste programme d'aménagement et de développement rural qui intègre la formation des agriculteurs, éleveurs et pêcheurs, la création et l'amélioration en zone rurale des infrastructures économiques et sociales indispensables.
Cette politique, Monsieur le Président, se fonde sur notre concept de développement autocentré. Elle requiert absolument l'insertion massive des jeunes générations d'exploitants ouverts et récep‐tifs aux innovations dans les circuits de production.
La fixation des jeunes en milieu rural apparaît ainsi comme un impératif qui permet de soutenir le niveau actuel de la production et de relancer la productivité en stagnation. Le transfert du savoir-faire nécessaire en vue de l'exploitation rationnelle et optimale de nos immenses potentiali‐tés agricoles, pastorales et piscicoles se fait au niveau des Centres de formation rurale et des structures de l'Office National de Participation au Développement.
La mise en place de ce programme de modernisation du secteur rural visant avant tout l'accroissement des capacités productives nationales s'appuie sur un cadre institutionnel qui intégre:
- l'organisation des producteurs;
- la recherche, la formation et la vulgarisation;
- le financement de production impliquant un crédit agricole adapté;
- les infrastructures d'appui.
Nous savons qu'en Afrique les disponibilités alimentaires depuis plus d'une décennie ne cessent de s'amenuiser et qu'une importante partie de la population souffre d'une malnutrition grave.
Nous savons que la sécheresse qui a sévi dans le Sahel au cours de ces dix dernières années et qui a laissé après elle la faim, la maladie et la pauvreté n'a épargné aucun pays de la région en 1982-1983.
La consultation des Ministres africains de l'agriculture par le Conseil Mondial de l'Alimentation a relevé que, pour la prochaine décennie, les perspectives globales de la région étaient nettement plus défavorables que celles de toute autre région du monde. Dans ce contexte, les perspectives alimentaires sont encore plus déprimantes.
Il apparaît donc clairement qu'à ce niveau il est illusoire de parler globalement de la sécurité alimentaire dans les pays africains au sud du Sahara car devant les pénuries alimentaires généra‐lisées et l'importance de la masse vivant au-dessous du seuil de la pauvreté, il n'est pratiquement pas possible:
- d'assurer des approvisionnements alimentaires suffisants;
- de stabiliser le flux de ces approvisionnements ou d'assurer aux populations qui en ont besoin l'accès aux produits disponibles conformément au concept élargi de la sécurité ali‐mentaire adopté par la FAO que le Gouvernement camerounais partage entièrement.
Face à cette situation et à celle de balances de paiement très défavorables pour beaucoup de pays en développement,l'aide alimentaire reste, devant toutes ces réalités, la première alternative qui puisse permettre de soulager dans l'immédiat les populations éprouvées.
Monsieur le Président, la délégation du Cameroun se félicite de toute la sollicitude que certains donateurs traditionnels ont déjà manifestée pour venir en aide aux pays africains affectés: nous souhaitons que cet exemple soit suivi par d'autres.
Monsieur le Président, ma délégation souscrit à l'orientation actuelle donnée aux interventions du Programme Alimentaire Mondial dans les pays en développement, orientation selon laquelle l'aide ali‐mentaire doit être considérée comme faisant partie intégrante de l'aide au développement.
Le Gouvernement camerounais estime que, pour asseoir une véritable sécurité alimentaire dans le pays, l'exécution de projets spécifiques d'accroissement de la production reste un préalable.
Mais compte tenu de l'importance des ressources financières, des moyens matériels et des technolo‐gies disponibles au niveau national pour soutenir une telle stratégie, la nécessité de l'assistance des pays riches et celle des organismes appropriés du système des Nations Unies apparaît dans toute sa dimension.
Dans cette optique et au regard du rôle que joue actuellement le Fond International de Développment Agricole (FIDA) dans le domaine du Financement de l'Agriculture des pays en développement, la délé‐gation camerounaise souhaite vivement, Monsieur le Président, que le problème de la seconde recons‐titution des ressources de cette institution retienne l'attention de notre conférence.
Nous pensons, Monsieur le Président, que c'est là le rôle primordial de la coopération internatio‐nale et c'est ce qui justifie la nécessaire solidarité entre tous les peuples.
F.E. VREDEN (Suriname): First of all, let me congratulate you, Mr Chairman, and the three Vice-Chairmen on their election. If the effectiveness demonstrated in guiding the discussions of the delegates attending this Twenty-second Conference is a good sign, then the implementation of all the conclusions we arrive at during this session can be faced hopefully.
On behalf of the Government and the people of the Republic of Suriname, allow me to welcome the new members of our Organization. I am convinced that Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Saint Christopher and Nevis, and Vanuatu will contribute appropriately to fulfil the objectives of the Food and Agricul‐ture Organization.
For the twenty-second time the FAO members have come together in order to identify, consider and discuss world food problems that are a serious threat to mankind and the role of the Organization is contributing to the solution. We must confess that since the last session of the Conference in 1981 there has hardly been achievement in the battle against hunger and malnutrition, particu‐larly in the low-income food-deficit countries. My Government on the occasion of the World Food Day in 1983 expressed grave concern about the present situation, that an unacceptable part of mankind is still struggling for survival in spite of all technical and technological development.
The present economic world crisis, declining international solidarity, and the alarming food situa‐tion must bring us to realize that those of us present here today have an immense task to fulfil if we pretend to contribute earnestly to the realization of the brave new world.
Document C 83/2 clearly informs us that although on a global level significant increases in food production of several food commodities were realized in 1981-82, the food and agriculture outlook for many developing nations remains bleak. Export prices for agricultural products from developing countries decreased, while as a consequence of the deteriorating balance of payments and lack of foreign exchange,imports of necessary agricultural inputs, such as fertilizers, pesticides, etc., were seriously hampered. Added hereto is the set-back in aid to the agriculture of the low-income food-deficit countries. More reasons for grave concern are the difficulties in replenishing the International Development Association and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the shortfall in UNDP resources, the inadequate funding of FAO's action programmes and decreasing bilateral aid. Given this situation, it is clear that most developing nations are confronted with a difficult mission to feed their own people. It is therefore logical that based upon the principles of the Hot Springs Conference in 1943, the responsibility of each nation to see that its own people have the food needed for life and health must be regarded in connection with concerted actions on a national, regional and global level.
Fighting hunger and malnutrition requires us to realize an increase in agricultural production and productivity, to identify the areas of increase and decrease in production and to identify why and how progress in technology has not contributed significantly hereto.
The Director-General's proposals regarding the 1984-85 Programme of Work and Budget indicate only a modest growth. Given the need to economize, this is a realistic exercise. My delegation is happy with the increase in technical and economic activities on the account of the Administrative Support Services. The emphasis given to programme monitoring, the greater orientation of the acti‐vities to the country level, particularly in the field of training, as well as the expansion of the Technical Cooperation Programme activities, are welcome to my delegation.
We fully underline the urgent need for broadening the work on farm mangement in order to arrive at small farm development systems based on integrated development schemes. But unless determinants. such as credit facilities, input supplies, agro-based industries and markets are included, programmes to improve the income and life of the rural peasants are bound to result in marginal sucess, if any at all. My delegation, therefore, fully supports the increase in resources to rural development.
My Government adheres to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which includes the basic right to eat. It is tragic to state that adequate food is beyond the reach of far too many human beings. The Government and the people of the Republic of Suriname are committed to contribute in all possible ways to fight global hunger and malnutrition. It should, however, be realized that the fulfilment of this mission towards mankind requires technical actions within a socio-economic frame‐work. And even though we might have concluded the socio-economic and political determinants several times before as the main cause of hunger, we should never fail to state that many countries succeeded in fighting hunger and malnutrition by introducing new political systems. Without mentioning any country, I am pretty sure all understand me very well.
Since the progressive forces came to power in Suriname in 1980, a political system has been introduced paying maximum attention to the actual interests of all the people, especially to the rural and low-income groups. Identification of the need for maximum development of the agricultural sector resulted in the allocation of substantially more funds than in the past for mainly small scale agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries and forestry projects and programmes in order to start in the short-term with a structural tackling of the employment problem; to build up a truly national economy in order to replace the still now existing colonially - oriented economy based practically only on the mining sector, which is bauxite, alumina and aluminum. The projects and programmes to achieve these objectives are based on an increase in agricultural production in view of either a substitution of the imports and/or an increase in exports.
The most important activities were a total additional acreage of 24 thousand hectares to be brought under rice cultivation by mainly small farmers; an increase in banana production to 60 000 tons; an expansion of the present acreage under oil palm cultivation with, additionally, some thousand hectares for the production of palm oil and fat for export markets; a programme for expansion and improvement of the artisanal fishing fleet, which would result in an increase of the export of fishery products.
These and other projects would, if completed, have created more than five thousand peasant employment opportunities, that is about 35 percent of the present unemployment. As a consequence, success would be real in the struggle against poverty and in the accomplishment of a structural solution of the problems with which we are confronted.
This projected agricultural development was, however, severly hit when the Netherlands disregarded their 1975 treaty obligations on development cooperation with Suriname. Since 1980 the Netherlands hampered the transfer of development funds, and since 1982 the Netherlands officially suspended unilaterally, without previous notice, the development cooperation for political reasons. Never before in history was it so clearly demonstrated to us how development assistance from some industrialized countries may function as a political weapon against developing countries. Never before in history has it become so evident to us that hunger, malnutrition and poverty are at will limited or stimulated as a consequence of the political whims of some developed countries. Therefore, my conclusion is that poverty in the world is to a great extent created, or at least maintained, by some rich industrialized nations.
Suriname could have become a country with great poverty and hunger had not my Government, under the inspiring leadership of Commander Bouterse, Head of the Suriname Policy Centre, carefully used our scarce means, and even more carefully taken measures to save foreign exchange, only permitting the import of necessary capital goods and prohibiting the imports of foodstuffs for which substitutes are produced locally. In spite of these and more efforts aimed at creating the conditions for undiminished progress in the execution of projects, there is a danger of stagnation. Indeed, we are now looking for alternative financing in order to prevent a drastic decrease in our development activities.
We have been told by some delegates of the developing countries of the kind and positive reactions from some industrialized nations to their requests for bilateral development assistance.
I must seriously ask our brother nations to carefully allocate funds for adequate and useful developments aimed at self-supply and food production, and at the same time to be aware that self-reliance as the objective is the only way to effectively fight hunger and malnutrition.
I believe that the role of FAO in the fight against hunger can also be enhanced. Given a suitable political and economic system which every nation has to realize on its own with its own resources, FAO, irrespective of political systems, will have to contribute as much as possible to the availability of food and agricultural products, and the accessibility thereof for the population of the world.
Everywhere, but especially where self-supply is not possible, regional cooperation is essential. The regional bodies of FAO should have no difficulty in generating that cooperation, although we have to be aware that much improvement had to be achieved in the field of regional integration and consistency in approach.
As one of the nations in the Caribbean with the most potential, we notice a lack of aggressivenessby FAO. We do hope that other meetings of this Twenty-second session of this Conference possibly will bring clarity and solutions.
As has already been stated, the speeches thus far have barely brought any solutions to our problems, although they have challenged the speaker and the listening delegates to stay awake. Let us try to make this Twenty-second session a turning point. In this respect it is hoped that we can arrive at the view that on a global level we have enough food to stay alive, all of us, but that apparently it is one of the characteristics of mankind to want to maintain tensions between people, between nations and between political and economic systems, making use of all available techniques and means, including food distribution. We shall never be able to solve the food problem without fighting these characteristics of mankind, but at the most we will be able to mitigate that way of thinking.
M. MAHMOUD DESSOUKY (Egypt) (original language Arabic): Distinguished Ministers and Heads of delegations, Mr Director-General, Ladies and Gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to congratulate the President of the Conference on his election, and I would like to congratulate the other Members of the bureau on their election. I am confident that this session, which takes place against a deteriorating economic situation and the problems of food shortage and malnutrition, as well as a decrease in agricultural investment and constraints on commodity trade, will reach constructive resolutions to help in overcoming such problems.
I should also like to congratulate Mr Eduoard Saouma, the Director-General of the FAO. We have observed his activities and his ever-increasing action in the development of the Organization's activities in the field of agriculture aimed at combatting poverty and reducing hunger and malnutrition.
Allow me also to welcome the four newly admitted members of our Organization.
A quick look at international developments will reveal clearly the direction of our world today, particularly that of the developing countries. These developments represent pressures on the international economic system and its imbalance. Therefore, we are called upon to continue dialogue with a view to creating a New International Economic Order. My country, within the framework of these developments, woul call upon FAO to increase its positive role in the field of economic and technical cooperation, and to support the developing countries in fostering cooperation among themselves, together with confronting developed countries with their responsi‐bilities to assist the developing countries to implement programmes in food and agriculture.
The. Arab Republic of Egypt has endorsed the Programme of Work and Budget for the coming biennium, and this approval was based on the fact that the Programme would realize the requirements of the developing countries within reasonable levels of the budget. My country attaches great importance to some of the programmes undertaken by the Organization, in particular the TCP and technical cooperation among developing countries, the Plan of Action for Food Security, and the efforts exerted for the consolidation and support of the Investment Centre for Agriculture Development.
The increase of agricultural production depends on three components: firstly, self-reliance and the necessity for planning in order to reduce dependence on others; secondly, assistance to developing countries for cooperation among themselves in order to face food shortages; thirdly, the industrially developed countries should give high priority to cooperation with developing countries in food and agricultural development.
We,in the Arab Republic of Egypt, had the first area ever to be planted by man and cradled the first idea of food stocks, and have done so since the days of the Prophet Joseph, in line with the expanded concept of food security given by the Director-General, which rests on three components, namely, sufficient food supplies and the creation of greater stability in the flow of such supplies, together with the guarantee of food supplies for the needy. The interest shown by my country in agriculture and food security is crystallized in the preparation of a new strategy for agricultural development which aims at achieving self-sufficiency in the main food grains by the end of the 1980s, the increase of exports of cash crops such as vegetables and fruits, and the provision of sufficient white meats and fish through the use of modern technology in agriculture, fertilization and pest control, the increase of agricultural mechanization, the use of high-yielding seeds and the rationalization of the use of water. We rely in this respect on modern scientific theories and our past experience. We are guided also by the achievements of other developed countries which have an environment similar to ours in rural areas, in addition to the economic and technical assistance we have had from friendly countries and from international organizations such as FAO, the World Food Programme and the IFAD.
The Arab Republic of Egypt with its long history in agriculture and its age-old ties with the African and Arab countries in the region has assumed a positive role in technical cooperation among developing countries by providing the experience and technical expertise of national institutions in research and training within the framework of international and bilateral cooperation. The Arab Republic of Egypt is still ready for more expansion in this respect. We commend the efforts of FAO in Africa which aim at increasing agricultural and food production. Our country has made a modest contribution there and we have hosted in the last few weeks the third regional session of the Commission on Food and Nutrition in Africa.
The FAO has assumed a pioneering and leading role since its inception in meeting the requirements of countries whithin the framework of a comprehensive scenario for agricultural development, and we should like to express our appreciation for its great efforts to relieve the burden shouldered by developing countries. It is an excellent model for eliminating imbalances and the gap in the production of food. We call upon the developed countries to continue to provide the necessary resources which will enable the Organization to realize its mission.
In conclusion, allow me to call upon all the assembled delegates to pool their efforts to create a world where peace and prosperity will reign supreme, and where adequate food will be available to all. May God the Almighty guide your steps and crown with success your efforts for the benefit of all mankind. Thank you.
A. DEASY (Ireland): Mr Chairman, Director-General, distinguished delegates and observers, coming from one of the nations that has supported the FAO since 1947 I am very pleased to have this opportunity to address the Twenty-second session of the Conference and to wish it well.
In his address of acceptance, the Chairman invited us to reflect on how we have fared in the fight against hunger and starvation in the 40 years that have elapsed since that meeting took place in Hot Springs, Virginia, in 1943, which led to the foundation of the FAO. He reminded us that while many things have changed in the meantime, we are still confronted today with the spectres of malnutrition and starvation in many parts of the world. At first reading it would seem that we have failed and failed badly in our efforts to eliminate hunger. On closer reflection, however, we must note that the world's population has almost doubled over those 40 years. In the light of that massive increase in the numbers to be fed, the progress made through the dedicated work of this great Organization, is commendable.
We view, too, with satisfaction the pehnomenal progress made by several of the developing nations of the world in the production of food, not alone to meet their own demands, but in some cases also to provide buffer stocks against bad harvests and even to export surpluses. These represent real and very substantial results, particularly in a world that has been all too often confronted throughout that 40 years by both man-made and natural disasters.
More recently, we have had the added problem of the acute economic recession which has put an enormous strain on the economies of so many nations. We are well aware, that for the least developed countries which are unable to produce sufficient food to meet their own needs, the effects of this recession - seen especially in high levels of inflation, the funding of international debt and shrinking international trade - have meant that those countries are unable to purchase the supplies of food that are needed.
The Director-General has recently redefined the concept of World Food Security in clear and stark terms. His new definition has found general acceptance and we in Ireland would subscribe fully to it. His definition is also very timely and obliges us all to focus more clearly on what World Food Security should really imply.
The existence of large food surpluses in some areas of the world, side by side with the dire want of food in other regions, merely underlines how necessary it was to re-appraise what we mean by food security.
It is perhaps ironic that the general economic recession which is responsible for accentuating the food crisis in the world is itself also one of the factors that is curtailing the financial resources which might otherwise be made available to help overcome the crisis. In their battle to defeat the recession and to get the world economy moving again, many governments have had to adopt austerity measures aimed at eliminating deficits in public expenditure and at redressing domestic economic imbalances. I regret that my own country has been among those which has been forced to adopt unpleasant measures of that kind. I was, therefore, gratified to see that in his approach to the Budget for the 1984/85 biennium the Director-General has himself also shown a very clear consciousness of the problems that have to be faced. Bearing in mind the variety of conflicting demands with which he was confronted, he has earned our congratulations for his efforts to make the Budget more cost effective particularly by devoting scarce resources to those areas where they are most needed. Because of his efforts in this direction the Organization's Budget is, in my opinion, now soundly based and calculated to utilise the resources available to the best advantage. I find it particularly appropriate that a major share of those resources is now going to be devoted to some of the very critical and pressing situations that are already facing us. I am very much aware of the particularly fearsome food crisis in Africa, and I should like to confirm that my country will advance its actions for the coming year as quickly as possible so as to be able to have supplies available for delivery to that area very early in 1984. I shall also be reporting to my Government on the Director-General's urgent appeal on behalf of the African States with a view to seeing whether we might find it possible to offer further help.
I realise that the African situation itself, coupled with the frightening prospect of some 500 million of our' fellow humans throughout the world facing grave malnutrition and possibly starvation, forces us to concentrate our minds just now to a great extent on the immediate problems. It is right that our first concern must be to arrest the threatened worsening of the crises that are already before us. However we must not allow that concern to divert us from the strategy that is in the best long-term interests of the developing countries. No effort must be spared in striving to overcome the basic weakness of food production in those countries. It is only when food production in all the developing countries is maximised that we can contemplate a future without the need for continuing emergency relief on a substantial scale. Therefore, the work of those international agencies which are endeavouring to increase production in those countries demands urgent support. In this connection the early replenishment of the International Fund for Agricultural Development would be particularly appropriate.
Of course, in seeking to concentrate our minds on the need for increased production we are liable to overlook the continuing drain on food resource due to post-harvest losses. This is an aspect of food supply where continued positive action can produce results quickly.
It is, of course, abundantly clear that for some considerable time to come, food aid both for emergency relief and for regular development programme purposes must remain a feature of assistance for many underdeveloped countries. It is disappointing to learn that aid in this form is still considerably short of what can usefully be absorbed. While on this topic of aid, it is appropriate that I should congratulate the World Food Programme on the occasion of the twentieth year of its existence. In Ireland, we have been consistently impressed with both the dedication and efficiency with which the staff of this organization discharges the heavy onus placed on them. It has always been reassuring for a small country like ours to know that our food aid, which is channelled entirely through the World Food Programme, will find its way to where it is most needed.
I want to turn briefly to the topic of plant genetic resources. The value of these resources for the development of agriculture is well recognised, and the importance of protecting them from the danger of erosion and loss is not the subject of argument. What is open to question is the methods by which this protection is maintained. We in Ireland have some hesitation about subscribing to an over-rigid legalised international system for the conservation of these genetic resources. Apart from questions of cost and technical feasibility, we would be concerned that such a system would run counter to legislation governing the rights of private plant breeders. The many achievements of these plant breeders is deserving of recognition and we would consider it prudent especially to avoid a system which could inhibit the work of those breeders in the future. A great deal of progress has already been made in the conservation of plant genetic resources by the establishment of national gene banks and otherwise. Our preference would be to see this work being extended and built upon with a view to the greatest possible level of international exchange of information and resources to a voluntary basis.
The nature and scale of the problems that will be the subject of discussion at this Conference can be quite intimidating. The apparent failures to solve the food shortages of so many countries should not blind us to what has been achieved. It is understandable, perhaps, that the enormity of crisis situations such as that now facing us in Africa could lead us to be excessively pessimistic about the long term prospects for feeding the world's population. However, agriculture and food production are not at a standstill. Technology is still developing rapidly and many difficulties that loomed large 40 years ago have long since been overcome. Pessimism could induce an attitude of defeatism and helplessness about the way ahead. Of course, we cannot afford to be in any way complacent lest we should relax our efforts to guarantee all of the world's population and adequate supply of food. For my part, I find encouragement in the findings of FAO's study on Land, Food and Population (C 83/18). The global results of the study confirm that "the world as a whole should have enough cultivable land to feed far more than the maximum population it is ever likely to have to support". That surely gives us every hope for the future and must encourage us to strive even more urgently to ensure that the potential for food production that exists will be exploited.
We cannot sit and wait for things to happen. We must stimulate action and give impetus to what will otherwise be a slow process. The Director-General in his own address to the Conference emphasized that if the poorer countries are to be enabled to utilize their own land resources to feed themselves, priority must be given in many cases to the establishment of vigorous rural development programmes. The programme of action which emerged from the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development highlights the particular need for more widespread agricultural training and education and for the provision of extension advice to speed up the transfer of technology, in order to increase production. The experience of those countries which have succeeded in developing and modernising their farming industries would fully support the value of action on those lines. There is no better policy than to seek to develop the ability of people themselves to participate in their own advancement. I feel sure therefore that the Conference will give the Programme of Action the extra boost the Director-General has asked of it. In terms of cost-effectiveness I can visualise no better long term investment than the improvement of the technical and practical competence of producers so that they can become increasingly self-reliant.
Before I conclude, I would like to convey to the Chairman and his Vice-Chairmen my felicitations and best wishes. I would also like to extend a very warm welcome to the four new Member Nations on their admission to the Organization.
H.A. KASSIM (Bahrain)(original language Arabic): At the outset, please allow me, Mr Chairman, most sincerely to congratulate the Chairman of the Conference on his election to guide the work of the Twenty-second session of this Conference. This is evidence of the participating countries' confidence in his ability to assume such a responsibility.
I should also like sincerely to welcome the new member countries on the occasion of their entry to FAO. I hope that this new membership will help to strengthen international relations and help especially in the development of food production.
I wish to express my pleasure in attending this session. I hope that this gathering will represent a new initiative in our efforts aimed at creating the appropriate circumstances to alleviate the serious food crisis which affects many countries. The world food situation still reflects a sombre outlook, despite the fact that there has been a slight improvement. This has meant that many countries have been unable to overcome the problem of food shortages.
Many of our societies are weighed down by the problems of hunger and poverty. These are further compounded by unfavourable natural conditions, which have led to the further spread of hunger in the world. In the light of such circumstances, it is unfortunate that some smaller countries have been forced to increase their spending on armaments and defence to the detriment of development and production. This has led to increasingly severe problems of food supply in such countries, and agriculture has now been relegated to a lower priority in those countries.
It is equally regrettable that no progress has been made in international meetings to bridge the gap between developed and developing countries. I cite as examples those international meetings and negotiations on international economic cooperation for development, the North-South dialogue and
UNCTAD VI. It is regrettable to note that the gap is wider now than it has ever been and that it represents a real danger to world stability.
The economies of developing countries are characterized by a number of interrelated economic problems, the most salient ones being those related to slow economic growth, especially in agriculture and food production. The low prices of some primary products which are the main source of foreign earnings for some of these developing countries has also increased their problems. This has led to a deterioration in those countries' terms of trade. These countries have come increasingly to depend on meeting their requirements and needs, including those for technical know-how, on the export and the import of such commodities. The developing countries'ability to step up their development, and more specifically agricultural development, has thus been affected. On the other hand, I note that those measures and policies adopted by industrialized countries to tackle their economic problems, represented by the structural deficiences of their budgets and the inflationary stagnation in their economies have led to the appearance of certain indications of economic revival in industrialized countries. Yet those countries have failed to take into account the related economic interests of other countries, more specifically the developing ones. The developed countries' intensified protectionist policies have left in their wake a critical situation and have weakened the economies of other countries. Developing countries have thus become unable to meet their domestic needs or to meet their foreign and domestic commitments.
What is also regrettable is that an increased number of developing countries have now had to resort to imports to meet their food requirements especially from industrialized countries with surpluses. At the same time these developing countries have increased their efforts to achieve those aims and goals they are striving for, such as collective self-reliance. They have been unable to establish such a principle as a cornerstone in international economic relations. Such collective self-reliance cannot be achieved in the light of present circumstances.
As a result of this, and in order that developing countries may succeed in developing their economy and exploiting their natural resources, they have been forced to resort to borrowing from various sources, national and international institutions. The problem of the external indebtedness of developing countries is a very serious one, it has become one of their main concerns. The burden of foreign debts has increased. Debt servicing has reached an astronomical figure , while the ability of developing countries to reimburse such a debt has weakened, thus forcing them to resort to more loans in order, in fact, simply to pay the annual interest on their loans. They have also had to resort repeatedly to negotiations to reschedule their debts.
The problem was further complicated by the fact that the developing oil-producing countries, which provided a large share of GNPs in the form of soft loans, have been unable to maintain the size or level of such an aid due to a drop in their own income from oil exports.
The efforts undertaken by developing countries to solve their problems of indebtedness within the lending countries on an individual basis will never enable them to solve their problems in a radical manner. The Food and Agriculture Organization is one of the most effective agencies in the United Nations system,and must play an active role in the search for a collective solution to this question in a manner that would guarantee a fair solution to all countries suffering from such a problem. I hope that the Food and Agriculture Organization will be able to coordinate action and cooperate with other sister organizations within the UN system to coordinate efforts in this field.
The tragic situation of many societies in the world requires FAO to intensify its activities and programmes aimed at eradicating food and hunger. I do not believe I need to stress the important role that FAO can play in this field or the need to increase its efforts to improve living conditions for all, and to set up constructive programmes to improve the quality of life in rural areas.
In reviewing the various documents prepared by the Organization for discussion during this session of the Conference, we note the intensity of effort exerted by the Director-General and his collaborators in preparing the documents. They reflect a serious attempt to prepare carefully the work of this Conference. I would like, therefore, to seize this opportunity to commend the role played by this Organization and the Director-General in the wise policies they adopted in preparing the Budget for 1984-1985, as they have sought to reconcile between their ambition to expand the activities of the Organization and the need to rationalize spending, taking into account the difficult situation in the world economy.
We also support the expanded concept of food security which was proposed by the Director-General to achieve three goals, namely, adequate food production, the achievement of a greater degree of stability in the flow of resources and the need to facilitate the provision of food to the needy.
Allow me now to refer to a worthy example of international cooperation, that of six Arab countries in the Arabian Gulf which have joined together to form the Gulf Cooperation Council, collectively to dedicate their capabilities and efforts to achieve a greater degree of prosperity and progress in their part of the world. The creation of this Council represents the embodiment of an ambition to realize the hopes and expectations of the peoples of the Region. The Council though recently established has so far, in fact, succeeded in achieving a great deal thanks to the wise policy followed by the leadership of these countries, and their guidance; they seek to provide all the necessary inputs that would guarantee success for this noble institution, and which is a unique experiment of its kind in the world. The joint economic agreement that the member countries started implementing at the beginning of this year is an important turning point in favour of cooperation. The agreement between these countries to join their efforts to set up a strategic reserve of food, and their decision to undertake joint food projects, as well as their efforts in achieving food security on a collective level, represent an important step in the right direction and will have positive effects on world food security.
Finally I hope that the results of this Conference will be up to our expectations to alleviate the suffering of humanity. May the Lord God guide our hands and help us to make logic and reason prevail in our attempts to achieve our noble aims and ideals.
KHAMSING SAYAKONE (Laos): Monsieur le Président, Messieurs les Délégués, Mesdames et Messieurs, C'est pour moi un honneur et un grand plaisir de reconduire officiellement une fois de plus la délégation de la RDPL à cette 22e session de la Conférence grâce à l'aimable invitation de la FAO.
Je voudrais, pour commencer, transmettre les remerciements sincères, la coopération étroite et les félicitations chaleureuses du gouvernement et du peuple lao de différentes ethnies à Monsieur le Directeur général de la FAO, le Dr. Saouma, ainsi qu'à tous ses collaborateurs, d'avoir pris des dispositions nécessaires permettant à cette 22e session de notre Conférence de se tenir solennel‐lement .
Qu'il me soit permis d'exprimer mes salutations et félicitations particulières aux nouveaux membres de la FAO. J'ai l'assurance que leur admission au sein de la FAO contribuera au développement et au renforcement de notre "grande famille".
Notre délégation présente enfin nos remerciements au gouvernement et au peuple italiens pour nous avoir réservé des facilités nécessaires afin de nous permettre de venir au rendez-vous de la 22e ses sion de cette Conférence.
Notre 22e Conférence s'est déroulée à l'heure où la Conjoncture mondiale est on ne peut plus tendue car les peuples de par le monde en nombre toujours croissant entreprennent une lutte décisive contre la guerre pour la sauvegarde de la paix.
Quel que soit l'acharnement de cette lutte, nous avons la ferme conviction que ceux qui luttent pour la paix mondiale ayant successivement remporté des victoires, en remporteront d'autres encore plus importantes, car l'époque actuelle est, comme chacun le sait bien, une époque de l'indépendance nationale, de la démocratie, de la coopération équitable pour la sauvegarde de la paix mondiale.
La RDPL, qui a vécu plus de 30 ans de guerre dévastatrice, mesure à sa juste valeur le danger et les conséquences énormes de la guerre, connaît le prix de la paix laquelle est indispensable aux pansements de blessures de guerre et à la reconstruction du pays. C'est pour cette raison que notre Gouvernement a soutenu, soutient et soutiendra le mouvement de lutte pour la sauvegarde de la paix, l'indépendance nationale des pays de par le monde.
Nous continuerons aussi à appuyer les propositions réclamant la réduction des dépenses dans la course aux armements et celles des militaires de 10 pour cent environ afin d'utiliser une part de cette somme pour le développement économique et social.
Aussi réduisons-nous d'une part la possibilité éventuelle de la guerre qui n'apporte que malheur aux peuples, et d'autre part aurons-nous des fonds plus importants pour donner des possibilités, à des millions d'hommes qui affrontent actuellement la faim, d'améliorer progressivement leurs conditions de vie et de contribuer à construire un monde paisible, prospère et heureux.
L'agriculture et la sylviculture constituent l'une et l'autre des ressources importantes parmi les autres potentialités de la nation. C'est pour cela qu'après la libération définitive du pays notre gouvernement a élaboré le programme l'agriculture et la sylviculture comme base du développement industriel.
Pour mettre en oeuvre cette politique en vue de réduire rapidement la faim et arriver à s'autosuffire progressivement en produits alimentaires,notre gouvernement a défini clairement les directives de la manière suivante :
"... s'efforcer de promouvoir la production agricole, l'artisanat, les industries légères et certains autres secteurs industriels sur une base d'une réorganisation de production, d'une nouvelle division de travail afin de résoudre les besoins fondamentaux du peuple et dès 1985, l'Etat doit produire chaque année un surplus agricole pour constituer une réserve au moins de 6 mois de consommation..."
Dans l'exécution de ces directives, durant les années écoulées, malgré diverses difficultés provoquées par la sécheresse, l'inondation et les agissements de sabotage des ennemis, nous sommes à même de les surmonter et avons obtenu un résultat record en 1981 et cela grâce à la juste ligne et programme politiques de notre Parti et de notre gouvernement, à la lumière de différentes résolutions, à la persévérance du peuple de différentes ethnies et à l'aide efficace des pays socialistes frères, des pays amis, des organisations internationales en particulier la FAO. Ce qui nous a permis dès lors de créer des conditions favorables à la réalisation des objectifs d'autosuffisance alimentaire. Cette réalisation a apporté une certaine contribution dans la solution au problème de la pénurie alimentaire posé au pays. Le peuple lao la considère non sans fierté car elle est sans précédente dans l'histoire de la nation.
Toutefois, il est alors à remarquer qu'il reste bon nombre de pays dans cette partie du monde et dans d'autres continents qui ne parviennent pas encore à réduire le problème de la faim. La cause n'est nullement la pauvreté mais en réside dans le fait que dans ces pays, les paysans et fermiers ne sont pas propriétaires collectifs des moyens principaux de production, souffrent de l'injustice sociale, de l'insécurité intérieure, et du manque de l'indépendance nationale. Telles sont là les causes principales de la faim. A ce propos, notre délégation approuve pleinement la déclaration de Monsieur le Directeur général de la FAO, Dr Saouma, à l'occasion de la Journée mondiale de l'Alimentation, le 16 octobre 1983, dans laquelle il dit, je cite "... Les meilleurs terres ont souvent été accaparées pour produire des cultures d'exportation lucrative. Les petits exploitants et les paysans qui vivent en économie de subsistance ont dû se contenter des restes. Ils ont été obligé de racourcir les jachères pourtant indispensables pour restaurer la fertilité des sols tropicaux", car ses points de vue réflètent parfaitement la réalité actuelle dans bon nombre de pays de Dar le monde.
La RDPL, à travers les différents projets et programmes d'aide, a reçu une assistance importante de la FAO. Cette assistance a apporté une contribution efficace dans la transformation progressive de l'ancienne mode de production en une nouvelle mode plus scientifique par la pratique de la culture intensive; le nombre de techniciens et spécialistes agricoles s'est vu augmenter en effectif; les semences à haut rendement commencent à être diffusées; l'entretien des cultures s'est vu doter d'une base par la création des centres de Protection de végétaux dans différentes régions du pays; les propriétés des sols sont analysées, les pertes après récolte et les remèdes à y apporter commencent à être discutés.
Le gouvernement de la RDPL et le peuple lao de différentes ethnies expriment leur satisfaction quant aux réalisations et c'est en leur nom que nous nous permettons d'exprimer notre gratitude et nos remerciements sincères à la FAO pour nous avoir accordé une aide si précieuse. Toutefois, si les bons résultats ont été ainsi obtenus, ils ne sont que précaires, d'autres plus importants restent à réaliser car la production agricole de notre pays dépend encore trop des conditions climatiques trop souvent capricieuses.
Si celles-ci étaient bonnes, comme celles en 1981, la production atteignait son niveau record. Si, au contraire, elles ne le sont pas, tel est le cas de cette année, elles posent alors de sérieuses difficultés à nos paysans pour réaliser leurs travaux agricoles. Cette année, dans plusieurs régions qui sont touchées par la sécheresse, les paysans se sont obligés de répéter plusieurs fois les semailles, de ne transplanter que tardivement leur riz, ou, pis encore, de laisser incultes leurs rizières. Cette situation n'est que peu propice à une bonne récolte.
Pour pallier cette déficience et pour réaliser les objectifs d'autosuffisance alimentaire, notre Parti et notre gouvernement se préparent activement en mettant tous les moyens disponibles à l'intensification des cultures irriguées et pluviales afin de faire de l'année 1984 une année plus abondante. Pour faire ceci, notre Parti et notre goùvernement comptent beaucoup sur la FAO, les organisations internationales et sur les pays frères et amis et formulent l'espoir qu'ils continueront à nous assister davantage, tant dans le domaine de la technique, de l'équipement que sous forme d'aides substantielles.
Monsieur le Président, notre délégation a examiné attentivement et avec intérêt le Programme de travail et budget pour le prochain exercice biennal 1984-85 ainsi que d'autres documents importants présentés par Monsieur le Directeur général.
Nous sommes satisfaits de constater que la réduction des coûts administratifs et des services communs et l'augmentation de ceux des programmes techniques et économiques sont des mesures justes et correspondent bien aux besoins actuels car ils donnent aux pays en développement la possibilité d'élargir la production agricole et de résoudre progressivement le problème de la faim et de la malnutrition.
Notre Délégation exprime une fois de plus nos compliments à Monsieur le Directeur général pour ses efforts inlassables dans la préparation de ces documents, et lui apporte pleinement son soutien pour le programme de travail et budget qui nous a été présenté.
Pour terminer, nous souhaitons les meilleurs voeux pour le plein succès de notre Conférence.
Bonne santé à Monsieur le Président, Monsieur le Directeur général, Mesdames et Messieurs, ainsi qu'aux invités participants à cette vingt-deuxième Session de la Conférence.
D.S. BROWN (IFAD): I am pleased to have this opportunity to address the Twenty-second session of the FAO Conference on behalf of the International Fund for Agricultural Development and its President, Dr Abdelmuhsin M. Al-Sudeary, who regrets he could not be here with you.
President Al-Sudeary has also asked me to express to the newly elected Chairman and Vice-Chairmen of this important Conference his strongest congratulations. He wishes to extend his best wishes for the success of your deliberations here. We in IFAD are following closely the proceedings of this Conference which comes at a time when the world agricultural situation is complex and difficult.
As FAO was born forty years ago and WFP celebrates its twentieth anniversary, it is less than six years ago that IFAD came into being, largely as a result of ideas which flowed from the World Food Conference.
The World Food Conference and the world community as a whole have seen major problems in our present agricultural systems:
- to relate adequately food production with population growth;
- an inability to avoid famine in all cases even when global food availability is adequate;
- an inability to stabilize grain markets sufficiently to protect interests of both producers and
consumers and to avoid unreasonable price fluctuations;
- a failure by all of us to understand and respond adequately to the special problems of Africa.
From this complex of problems, IFAD came into being with the particular purpose of more forcefully addressing issues of agricultural production activities by small farmers and on dealing directly with the problems of the rural landless.
In its first six years, IFAD has had an opportunity only to make a modest beginning to address some of the problems I have mentioned above. Its 138 projects launched with a total cost of US$ 7.8 billion, including amounts provided by the Fund, by recipient governments and by other institutions, have focussed exclusively on incresing food production by small farmers and on raising the purchasing power of those who have limited or no access to means of producing their own food.
We are very conscious of the fact that even if a fully adequate global food production and stocks situation can be achieved, individual and family access to food resources still depends on each person being able to produce or to buy what they need to eat. This is why IFAD devotes its resources to meeting the needs of the poorest people in the poorest areas, to give them the wherewithal to produce or buy adequate food. Our efforts in the field, if all goes well, should boost agricultural production in poor areas by 20 million tons in terms of wheat equivalent. In just six years, IFAD's projects have brought new hopes to about 40 million people in 77 countries. This is done at a cost of less than US$ 1 000 per beneficiary family. We have tried to pay special attention to remote and inaccessible regions of low income, food deficit countries. We are pleased that we are seeing our member governments devoting increasing resources, financial and manpower, to support similar activities for small farmers, landless labourers and other disadvantaged groups in rural society.
In carrying out our mandate, we have worked in close cooperation with other international financial and technical organizations. We have a very special relationship with FAO which I want particularly to acknowledge here in these Conference proceedings. Cooperation between our two organizations has steadily increased with the growing size of the Fund's operations.
This, Mr Chairman, brings me to the question of resource flows. Growth of production and poverty alleviation are not without cost. We must be prepared to devote more resources than we have in the past. In order to carry out our mandate effectively, IFAD's resources must be replenished periodically at an adequate level. Negotiations for IFAD's second replenishment have just been started and we hope they can be completed by mid-1984. I am sure you will all agree with me that as a new institution, any delay in replenishing these resources could harm IFAD's effectiveness in augmenting food production and easing rural poverty in member developing countries. We have been most appreciative of the many statements made by delegates here who have recognized the importance of this replenishment process.
The subject of IFAD's financial position, and the status of negotiations of the second replenishment, will be an important agenda item at the Fund's Governing Council meeting taking place from 6 to 9 December here in Rome. President Al-Sudeary has asked me to express his personal strong feelings on the importance he gives to the fact that all member countries of IFAD be represented at the December Governing Council meeting at the highest possible level so that these financial concerns can be discussed and overcome. He has asked me to urge delegates in the FAO Conference, who are members of IFAD, to assure that their governments participate actively in all fora devoted to the discussion of IFAD's future.
R. LIEBERS BALDIVIESO (Bolivia): Señor Presidente, señor Director General, señores delegados y observadores.
Deseo comenzar dando una cálida bienvenida a los nuevos miembros de esta Organización, naciones nuevas que se suman a los esfuerzos para responder al desafío cada vez más fuerte del hambre y el desarrollo.
También deseo expresar que los bolivianos abrigamos esperanzas de que este debate se traduzca en iniciativas concretas para superar problemas, que dado el avance científico, tecnológico, y en algunos casos económico, que ha alcanzado la humanidad, debían haber sido erradicados hace mucho tiempo.
El empeño del Director General de la Organización merece nuestro decidido apoyo porque con su tenaz defensa de la seguridad alimentaria mundial alienta esperanzas de un futuro mejor. Nos reunimos en momentos en que las grandes tensiones internacionales y los no poco fundados temores de una guerra parecen haber eclipsado el drama de millones de seres humanos. El hambre, como la expresión más deshumanizada de la creciente brecha que separa a países ricos y pobres, continúa poniendo a prueba nuestros compromisos de solidaridad y asistencia.
Lo que es verdaderamente alarmante, señor Presidente, es que políticas e intereses injustos están desviando la atención sobre este problema y sofocando los trabajosos esfuerzos de países en vías de desarrollo de satisfacer sus necesidades y ampliar sus perspectivas económicas. Los precios de la mayoría de los productos de los países del tercer mundo han caido a los niveles más bajos de la posguerra, mientras medidas proteccionistas del mundo industrializado no cesan de levantar barreras a nuestras exportaciones. La inestabilidad de los precios mantiene en ascuas a economías enteras, ensombreciendo las perspectivas de un desarrollo saludable de las instituciones llamadas a garantizar un orden social en el cual el individuo pueda gozar de sus libertades y derechos.
Con el trasfondo de un gigantesco despilfarro mundial en armamentos, vemos el crecimiento paralelo del endeudamiento externo de nuestros países, cada vez más empeñados a atender compromisos muchas veces contraídos por políticas erróneas que luego toca corregir.
Es el caso de mi país, Bolivia, que ha retornado luego de casi dos décadas de gobiernos dictatoriales, a la senda cada vez más amplia de la democracia en América Latina, se encuentra atravesando una de las peores crisis económicas de su historia-. El Gobierno constitucional ha heredado problemas que gravitan cada vez más sobre nuestra sociedad. Estamos empeñados en lograr un reordenamiento de nuestra economía para dar una respuesta adecuada a cuestiones que han sido por mucho tiempo postergadas.
Una de nuestras prioridades es precisamente consolidar la reforma agraria, una de las conquistas pioneras que Bolivia orguilusamente defiende y promueve. Somos un país de campesimos y concebimos nuestro desarrollo a partir de la generosidad de nuestras tierras. Por ello estamos llevando a cabo con decisión la segunda etapa de este proceso, con renovado espíritu revolucionario y con las mismas fuerzas que lo inspiraron hace 30 años.
Señor Presidente, las dificultades que distraen nuestros esfuerzos no son pocas. La crisis económica nos coloca cada vez más lejos de la infraestructura necesaria para desarrollar eficientemente nuestros recursos. Paralelamente, las disminuciones de nuestras exportaciones, la inestabilidad de los precios de nuestras materias primas y los mercados cada vez menos accesibles, han agudizado nuestros problemas. En los momentos más críticos nos hemos visto frente a desastres naturales que han destruido gran parte de nuestras cosechas. Sequías e inundaciones se han abatido sobre mi país afectando a más de 1,6 millones dé habitantes; es decir al 25 por ciento de nuestra población. Las pérdidas ocasionadas suman aproximadamente 900 millones de dólares que equivalen a nuestras exportaciones anuales.
En una suerte de oscuro fatalismo la democracia boliviana pasa por una durísima prueba, la ayuda de la comunidad internacional, unida a la entereza de un pueblo que aprendió a sobreponerse a las adversidades y comprende bien lo que significa elegir su propio destino, permitirán que el Gobierno constitucional democrático de Bolivia encare la crisis con un sólido respaldo. A estos problemas, se añaden las limitaciones que nos impone un injusto enclaustramiento geográfico. Consideramos que este factor retrasa nuestro desarrollo y nos margina del aprovechamiento de los recursos del mar.
Valoramos los pronunciamientos de apoyo a nuestra irrenunciable demanda de salida soberana al Océano Pacífico, como la expresión más elocuente de la solidaridad internacional.
Señor Presidente, no quisiera dejar pasar esta oportunidad para expresar el reconocimiento del Gobierno de Bolivia a la FAO, al PMA, a aquellas naciones y organismos internacionales que están manifestando diligentemente su solidaridad con la situación de las familias afectadas por los desastres naturales.
Señor Presidente, mi país cree que es posible una nueva concepción del desarrollo, que las relaciones de cooperación e intercambio entre naciones bien llevadas y justamente definidas, pueden conjurar el gran desequilibrio económico que nos abruma y desterrar no sólo el hambre, sino la abominable idea de usar los alimentos con fines políticos.
Para terminar, la delegación de Bolivia desea expresar su conformidad y pleno apoyo al Programa de Labores y Presupuesto presentado por el Sr. Director General a la consideración de esta Conferencia.
S.G. DEMBA (Malawi): It is my honour and privilege to address this Twenty-second session of the FAO Conference on behalf of the Malawi delegation and the Government of the Republic of Malawi.
Before I proceed any further, permit me, Mr Chairman, to convey to the Conference the best wishes for the success of this Conference of my Head of State and Government, His Excellency the Life President, Ngwazi Dr H. Kamuzu Banda, who is also Minister of Agriculture.
Malawi is an agricultural country like so many other countries in the Third World in general and Africa in particular. Agriculture, including forestry and fisheries, is the backbone of the economy of Malawi which was not endowed by nature with any precious minerals.
In addition to providing us with food and fibre, agriculture also serves as the only source of livelihood for over 90 percent of our people, the smallholder farmers who account for up to 85 percent of all agricultural production. Over 90 percent of our export earnings are also derived from agriculture.
It is against this background that the Malawi Government attaches great importance to the development of this sector and to the work of FAO in assisting its Member Nations in this task. Our Government wishes to reaffirm its support for FAO and the activities it undertakes for the development of the agricultural sector.
It is also for this reason that the Malawi delegation congratulates the Director-General of FAO for the brilliant manner in which he presented his address to this Conference and, in particular, the new strategies and approaches which he has highlighted in his budget as priorities for combatting the world-wide food problem which has now reached crisis proportions particularly in the African region.
There is sample evidence that Africa is endowed with adequate resources whose exploitation can easily provide enough food to feed three times the continent's present population even at current levels of input availability.
I believe that all the relevant questions have already been asked in this Conference as to why the African region continues to be confronted with this serious food crisis which is characterized by declining per capita food production, hunger, malnutrition and widespread poverty, and why Africa is unable to exploit fully its vast agricultural potential and thus rid itself of poverty, hunger and malnutrition.
Several useful answers to these very important questions have also been provided, including the devastating droughts and epidemics which have ravaged the African continent for a decade. While fully endorsing the validity of these answers, the Malawi delegation also believes that some of the main causes of this food crisis are to be found in some of our policies and institutions which might have been adopted and pursued in good faith but have hindered rather than promoted agricultural development in general and food production in particular.
The Malawi delegation further believes that the problem of poverty, hunger and malnutrition is-a long-term one. Its solution therefore lies in long-term investments in several key areas.include training aimed at the development of indigenous manpower resources: research aimed at the development of suitable crop varieties and related packages, particularly, but not exclusively, for the drier and marginal areas; irrigation development to free our farmers from the vagaries of the weather and to fully exploit our vast and hitherto untapped potential; and provision of the necessary infrastructure.
As pointed out by the Director-General and other speakers, we agree that world food security can be achieved only by ensuring the security of the individual farmer, which in turn facilitates national and regional food security. This we consider to be of particular relevance to the food problem in our region.
We believe that our people, including the many small-scale farmers who dominate the agricultural sector in the African region, are among the most hard-working people in the world. All they require in order to achieve the desired level of food production is security in the form of remunerative prices for their crops relative to input costs, and equitable land tenure system and protection from the ravages of crop and animal diseases and post-harvest losses.
Moreover, my delegation believes that it will take greater commitment by all concerned in order to resolve the food crisis in our region. Greater commitment is required from funding agencies in providing adequate financial resources and other forms of assistance. Greater commitment and support for the agricultural sector is also required from the region itself and should be reflected in our national development policies and budget allocations. Our commitment to the agricultural sector should also include better management of our natural resource base, particularly our soil, rivers, lakes and forests, all of which are essential for sustainable agricultural production. FAO's initiatives in these areas are therefore particularly welcomed by the Malawi delegation.
The Malawi Government is convinced that viable and lasting solutions to the food crisis must ultimately come from our individual countries. It is for this reason that the Malawi Government attaches great importance to training programmes for the development of local manpower resources and the need to reflect this aspect in all technical assistance programmes.
In addition to human capital formation, external aid will continue to play a vital role in many key areas in furthering our agricultural and rural development. These areas include resource mobilization and technology transfer as well as food aid for emergencies and other short-term, stop-gap measures.
In this connection, the Malawi delegation joins previous speakers in congratulating the Director-General of FAO on his comprehensive and realistic Programme of Work and Budget for the years 1984 and 1985, including the three newly proposed strategies for food security, which we fully support.
The Malawi delegation also wishes to register its concern at the decline in resources available to the International Fund for Agricultural Development, IFAD, and at the worsening terms of trade for our agricultural commodities on the international market. We wish to associate ourselves fully with previous speakers who have urged and pleaded for positive and concerted action in these important areas of our concern.
Permit me now to make one or two remarks about the food and agriculture situation in Malawi. Our food and agriculture policy in Malawi is embodied in the words of the Head of State and Government, who frequently and publicly proclaims that whatever else Malawians may not have, they must have three things: food, clothing and housing.
These three basic needs are to be provided by the people themselves through their own hard work in various agricultural activities including forestry and fisheries. The prime object of our agricultural production is to provide enough food for self-sufficiency and to generate farmers' incomes through the sale of cash crops and surplus food crops.
This policy has now been translated into an integrated, country-wide National Rural Development Programme which focuses almost exclusively on small-scale farmers, including women, who are fully integrated into this important national development effort. Agriculture, encompassing food and cash crops and including livestock, is the main thrust of the programme. Diversification of smallholder crops is a major object of the programme, which is backed by appropriate training facilities for staff and farmers and multidisciplinary teams of research and extension workers. Provision of short-and medium-term credit and marketing infrastructure are other key features of the Programme under which some roads, water supplies and health facilities are also provided.
Recognizing the importance of sound environmental management to substantiate agricultural production, the National Rural Development Programme also includes a forestry component. Under this component the Government has a unique opportunity to better manage its forest resources, thus safeguarding both the soil and water resources and ensuring the present and future populations an adequate supply of fuelwood and other forest produce.
Notwithstanding the serious droughts which have affected many parts of Africa in recent years, Malawi has remained reasonably self-sufficient in food production. During this year, for example, Malawi's maize harvest yielded not only enough grain for food self-sufficiency, including a modest strategic reserve, but also realized a sizeable surplus for export.
Malawi is therefore able to join the fortunate few who can say in these very difficult times that what we need is not food aid but aid to grow food.
The Malawi Government wishes to thank all donor agencies, including FAO, for the very valuable assistance which they have rendered and continue to render to us. We wish to assure them that on our part we shall continue to use such aid productively.
Last but not least, Mr Chairman, the Malawi delegation wishes to congratulate you on your unanimous election and for the able manner in which you and your deputies have conducted the business of this Conference. We also congratulate and welcome the four new States of Antigua and Barbuda,Belize, Saint Christopher and Nevis, and Vanuatu which have just been admitted to the membership of FAO.
W.R. MESWELE (Botswana): Mr Chairman, distinguished delegates, Ladies and gentlemen, I am greatly honoured to have this opportunity to address this Twenty-second session of the FAO Conference and also to confer with fellow delegates and colleagues on the many important issues that are reflected in the agenda before us. It is my sincere hope that our deliberations on the major issues on the agenda will be both constructive and fruitful.
Mr Chairman, my delegation congratulates you and your Vice-Chairmen on your election. You can count on our support in your demanding assignment. We also warmly welcome our Commonwealth sisters of Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Saint Christopher and Nevis, and Vanuatu to this family of Nations.
We are meeting here at a time when the world food situation is very unsatisfactory. There is therefore, I believe, an urgent need for those of us gathered here to re-examine our responsibilities as members of the world community in the fight to eliminate hunger and malnutrition. The resources to accomplish this, both human and natural, are there in abundance. What is required is the will and commitment on our part to find ways in which these resources can be exploited to the fullest in order to eliminate existing food shortages.
Despite favourable reports of large surpluses of food grains in some of the developed countries of the West, the continued decline in food production in most of the developing countries, especially those in Africa, should be of great concern to the world at large. This decline in food production, coupled with severe drought conditions and destructive floods in parts of the world, does not bode well for future food production prospects.
The persistent drought that is gripping most of the African continent has greatly hampered the implementation of national food plans and rural development programmes. In my country, Botswana, the drought, which is now in the second year, has meant the diversion of millions of Pula from important development projects to providing drought relief to the affected rural population. Our plight has been ably communicated to the international community by the Director-General and we are grateful to the World Food Programme and other donor organisations and countries which have come to our assistance during the past two years.
The diversion of scarce financial resources for use on short-term drought relief measures, coupled with the continued depression in the world economy, will seriously affect the ability strategies aimed at reducing food deficits. Unless we make an effort to break this vicious circle the problem of hunger and malnutrition will remain with us for a long time.
It should be noted that improved agricultural production relies very much on costly inputs such as agricultural machinery, fertilizers, seeds, pesticides and irrigation. There is also the need to provide adequate extension, research, marketing facilities and transportation. All these things require a great deal of financial investment which many developing countries cannot afford. It is imperative therefore, if we are to assist the developing countries to produce more and thus close the global food gap, to commit ourselves to increasing the flow of financial resources to these countries.
We view with increasing concern the increase in political tensions throughout the world in recent years. To us this has only one result, and that is the continued diversion of scarce financial and human resources into the acquisition and development of military equipment. It is indeed a very sad state of affairs to see the genius of mankind applied to efforts of self destruction when it could be honourably used on improving his welfare.
The problems of world food production and food security have been thoroughly discussed at many fora in the past, including the FAO Council meetings, the World Food Council, the FAO Conference and many others. Solutions have been put forward and agreed disappointing. I think we who are gathered here as Ministers of Agriculture are much aware of the problems related to food production. We should therefore take this opportunity to call strongly for a renewed world commitment to an increased flow of resources towards the improvement of food production in the developing countries.
As we approach the end of this century we can ask ourselves whether we will at that time be able to adequately feed the growing millions of starving people throughout the world. We know that the world production of cereals and pulses at this time is sufficient to feed adequately the world population. The main problem therefore is not that of production but that of distribution. This is a problem of our own creation which is a result of our social, political and economic systems. It is this failure to readjust or modify these systems that has led us to where we are at present, that is, with large surpluses in some parts of the world and huge deficits in others.
I am aware that I have painted a rather gloomy picture of the problems of the world food situation. I am aware that some progress has been made in the past few years by countries that are implementing food strategy programmes. I am aware of and would like to commend the FAO and the World Food Council on the tremendous efforts they have made to mobilize resources towards the improvement of agriculture and efforts they are making in raising the political will of the nations of the world to tackle this problem. We thereby strongly support the programme of work and the modest budget which has been prepared by the Director-General.
I would like to point out that millions of hungry people throughout the world are looking to us for relief. They will not be satisfied by elaborate speeches and discussions. What is needed are bold actions to overcome the world food gap. Unless we decide to restore peace throughout the world, unless we decide to settle our differences and remove the tensions that exist in the world, it will remain impossible for us to get on with the important task of producing sufficient food to ensure that every man, woman and child throughout the world has a fair share.
May I now turn to our regional effort in Africa, especially since WCCARD follow-up action is an agenda item for this Conference. In our endeavour to galvanise the efforts and resources of the African continent towards concerted action in the crucial area of rural development in general and food production in particular, we jointly decided at the Tenth FAO Regional Conference for Africa to establish the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Africa (CIRDAFRICA). This Centre, whose major role is to promote cooperation between the African governments in the field of integrated rural development, began operations in January 1982, at Arusha in Tanzania.
As the current Chairman of its Governing Council, I should like to use this opportunity to invite all the member governments of FAO and indeed non-governmental international agencies to see in CIRDAFRICA a genuine effort by Africa to create conditions for the sharing of resources and experiences for the sustained development of the continent through rural development. We shall be most grateful, therefore, if those present here will give us a sympathetic ear and help this young Centre in fulfilling its obligations in Africa for Africa.
In this connection, I should like to use this opportunity to pay special tribute to the Director-General of FAO and all his staff for the invaluable help he, personally, and FAO have given to the Centre since its inception. Special tributes also go to the Governments of Norway and the People's Republic of China for opening the gate of international governmental support for CIRDAFRICA. We sincerely hope that the support of FAO and that of these two Governments will be continued in the future.
M.P. CRACKNELL (Observer for International Federation of Agricultural Producers): First of all, I should like to apologize for the President of IFAP, Mr Heereman, who was hoping to come and address you today. Yesterday evening he telephoned and told me that unfortunately he had to cancel, and so asked me to make the address on his behalf.
In his opening statement to this Conference, the Director-General said that the FAO Conference is the only international forum where the world's farmers are symbolically represented. We would concede this, and it is therefore a particular pleasure for me, as Secretary-General of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers, to address you, because IFAP is, in fact, the only international forum where farmers are directly represented through their national organizations.
The documentation of this Conference paints a rather sombre picture of world agriculture; the problems, and there are many; the concerns, which are grave; and some of the solutions. We hope your recommendations will be more specific than most of the discussions last week. Our concern is that these recommendations should have practical application.
As you discuss these matters, I hope you will remember that they are first and foremost the problems and the concerns of the farmers of the world, and I hope you will also remember that you depend on farmers to implement the solutions. As the only one here, if I may say so, with a specific mandate to speak on behalf of the world farmers, I admit to sharing Mr. Whelan's disappointment at the very small number of national delegations which include farmers' representatives. In fact, if you look back to the Conference in 1974, you will find that there were more farmers there then than there are here today. This is all the more surprising as the need for workable solutions to the problems of your Conference becomes more urgent every year. We in IFAP believe that farmers could contribute much more to your search for solutions if you called more often on the knowledge and practical sense of the farmers.
IFAP develops policy and guidance which, since 1946 when we were created, has often proved useful to governments. This is done at our general Conference, and it is also done in commodity groups which discuss specific problems of grains, of meats, of dairy products and of sugar, as well as in committees on agricultural cooperation in developing countries.
Farmers the world over have served the other sectors of the population well, and they continue to do so. We believe that sometimes this is not sufficiently recognized. Global world food production has increased in line with population growth, and today stocks of cereal are very close to FAO's security level. In this sense, the Malthusian fears about population rising beyond production capacity have not been justified, but Malthus could not predict that problems of income, and inappropriate policies in many countries, would lead to starvation, co-existing with the appearance of food surpluses in such a dramatic way at the end of the 20th century. The farmers who produce the food are very conscious of the enormous suffering which persists in so many regions of the world, and which is hidden by the aggregate figures to which I refer.
The abundance in the OECD countries, in the industrialized countries, has not come about by chance. It is largely due to the initiative and hard work of farmers and to the very substantial investments in agriculture and supporting services. This abundance owes a lot to the successful partnership between governments, research establishments and farmers, as well as to effective marketing arrangements. Yet even this abundance, which seems to come regularly year after year, is very fragile, as the devastating droughts which affected major food-producing regions of the industrial world in 1981 and 1982 have recently illustrated.
In most developing countries, on the other hand, the farmer/government partnership has not yet developed nor has the importance of farmers yet been adequately recognized, even though we have heard a great deal about that today and over the last week.
It is a matter of great concern to farmers in countries able to produce beyond their needs or their country's needs that no satisfactory solution has yet been found to get the results of their efforts to hungry people, or to transfer what is appropriate in their knowledge and capacities to farmers in food-deficit countries.
IFAP includes organizations representing farmers basically on family farms from both the developed and the developing countries. For many years, we have been putting forward proposals to solve some of the most pressing problems of world agriculture. In IFAP we have long seen the dangers of massive rural exodus, and have understood the reasons for it. We have viewed with consternation the decline in food self-sufficiency in many developing countries due largely to inadequate agricultural pricing policies and insufficient investment in the rural sector. It is therefore a matter of some satisfaction to us to note the growing awareness in international circles, and at national level, of the need for a change in policy orientations.
IFAP and its member organizations are ready to increase their support to FAO, to its sister organizations, and to national governments in their efforts to improve the world food situation, but this effort must begin by improving the situation of farmers in the food deficit countries.
A very stimulating discussion took place with the Director-General when he participated in IFAP's Twenty-fifth General Conference in June last year. His words to us then show the extent of our shared concerns. He told us:
"FAO and IFAP together share a mission to confront governments with their responsibilities to agricultural producers and to the hungry people of the world. We must endeavour to create effective channels of communication in order to give rural people, particularly food producers, a say in national policies. We must act to ensure access for the rural poor to land and other resources that they need to generate employment and income."
In IFAP we believe that the food security and the food strategy approach is a good means of focusing attention on agriculture and food production. However. planning and political priority will not be enough for farmers to increase production and reduce wastage. Farmers will require the necessary resources if they are to satisfy expectations, and providing them with the necessary resources will demand sustained efforts by governments and donor countries as well as international organizations.
In making that effort, which will be a great one, it is especially important for everyone to recognize that farmers are the instruments and the main actors in a collective effort which will benefit each country as a whole.
It is very important that it should be fully appreciated that policies to improve agriculture are clearly seen in the light of farmers contributing to the country's development and to solving the food problem, and they should not be seen as some sort of concessions made to farmers for the benefit of farmers alone. Although we often see this in the industrialized and the developing countries, there is resistance to policies to improve agriculture as if somehow farmers alone would benefit from them.
Because of the size of the effort required and the life-and-death importance of success, governments cannot afford to make mistakes. The best way to ensure success is to involve the farmers directly, not just symbolically as is so often the case, through their truly representative organizations, in the planning and implementation of policies for food and agriculture.
We are glad to note here again that there is some progress in such farmer-government collaboration involving some of IFAP's member organizations in several countries, especially in Africa.
IFAP is today also trying not only to put forward policy proposals to governments but also to undertake some more direct action whereby solutions might be found on a farmer-to-farmer basis. For example, we are fully aware of the difficulties for farmers, especially under developing-country conditions, to establish their own organizations, to gain access to their governments, and to be listened to by their governments. Therefore we are drawing on the experience of farmers with strong representative organizations and efficient commercial structures, to encourage and assist farmers in developing countries to become better organized, so that their production potential can be developed. In this, we are working in tandem with FAO's people's participation programme.
In June 1982 farm leaders from 25 developing countries took part in an IFAP seminar on national agricultural and food policies seen from the farmer's point of view, where a set of guidelines for action was established. These guidelines have met with considerable success and interest in many quarters. They have been very widely distributed, for example within this house, and they will undoubtedly help farmer's organizations to become more effective representatives of their members and responsible partners of their governments in the fight for better conditions for the development of agriculture.
An important area of collaboration between IFAP and FAO is the major study FAO is undertaking on agricultural and food production and pricing policies. We have proposed our collaboration in the identification of the main components of effective pricing policies, in the examination of the factors used in formulating price policies, and in making recommendations. In relation to this, in 1983 we began a new initiative of collecting from our farm organization members in Africa, in Asia and in Latin-America data on prices received and prices paid by farmers as seen by the farmers, which are not always the same as prices paid and received as seen be governments. Although this exercise is new and is only partial in coverage, it has already proved very revealing. We intend to continue it in the future and of course we will make the results available to FAO.
In conclusion, IFAP is the only worldwide organization of farmers where farmers are directly and not symbolically represented. It has among its members representatives of agricultural producers, large and small, mainly family farms, working in all latitudes and producing most types of crops. IFAP itself, and more especially its national member organizations, wishes to develop the partnership with governments in seeking an improvement in the world farm and food situation. Without such a partnership, no lasting improvement in that situation is possible.
CHAIRMAN: Netherlands has asked for the floor in exercise of its right of reply to Suriname. Normally, this should take place at the end of the day after all the speakers on the list have spoken, but if it is the wish of the Conference I will give the floor to the Netherlands now.
J. SONNEVELD (Netherlands): Thank you, Mr Chairman. I should like to reply very briefly to that which was stated earlier this morning by the Minister of Agriculture of Suriname concerning Dutch development assistance to Suriname. In the framework of its policy with regard to human rights, the Dutch Government condemns the infringement of human rights whenever and wherever they occur. A decision to suspend our development assistance to Suriname is a consequence of this policy, following incidents in Suriname in December 1982.
The meeting rose at 12.15 hours
La seance est levée à 12 h 15
Se levanta la sesión a las 12.15 horas