TWENTY-SIXTH REGIONAL CONFERENCE FOR THE NEAR EAST

Teheran, Islamic Republic of Iran, 9 - 13 March 2002

Mr. Chairman,
Distinguished Ministers,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Introduction

It is an honour and great pleasure to find myself again among the leaders of agriculture in the Near East Region to participate in this Twenty-sixth FAO Regional Conference for the Near East. I would like first to express in the name of the Conference and on behalf of the FAO Secretariat, all distinguished delegates and observers our profound thanks to the Government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran for, once more, hosting this Regional Conference in this history-rich, beautiful and hospitable country. The fraternal welcome we have all received, the splendid facilities provided and the excellent arrangements made for this Conference bespeak of this country's noble heritage of cordiality and generosity.

State of food and agriculture in the world

Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

This Regional Conference is taking place in a global economic, social and political context that is under rapid change.

The Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), that was held in Doha last November, has established the framework for more equitable terms of international trade of agricultural products. During the next years, the globalisation and liberalisation of trade, for agricultural products, the movement of capital and the transfer of technology should take place in such a way that both the developed and the developing countries will be able to enhance the living conditions of their people. For agriculture in particular, it is essential that the new negotiations under the WTO should provide the developing countries with greater opportunities to participate in fairer international trade. FAO will continue to make available to its Member Nations the analyses and information needed to reinforce the technical skills of negotiators in agricultural trade.

The last two years have seen a relatively modest performance of the agricultural sector, the economic mainstay of the poorer regions that employs more than 70 percent of the economically active population in the least developed countries (LDCs). The annual rate of growth of world agricultural production fell to 1.2 percent in 2000 and to 0.6 percent in 2001, the lowest level since 1993 and a sharp drop from the 2.6 percent of 1999. This slowdown has been due to a general levelling-off of growth in the developing and developed countries alike.

World cereal production fell in 2001 to 1,850 million tonnes, 1.2 percent down from the previous year. A number of factors have contributed to this reduction: the natural disasters and low prices of recent years and government policies to reduce surplus supply.

The projections are that world utilisation of cereals in 2001/02 should exceed output for the second consecutive year, amounting to 1,935 million tonnes, up 1.7 percent from the previous crop year.

Importantly, however, Australia, the European Union and North America have sizeable food surpluses for export (with a total value of 36,000 million US dollars) and are probably in a position to significantly increase their food production. On the other hand, food production in the low-income food-deficit countries (LIFDCs) is not enough to satisfy the needs of their populations, and these countries have neither the means nor the funds to offset the shortfall through imports.

The world still has some 815 million people suffering from chronic malnutrition, including 777 million in the developing countries, 27 million in the countries in transition and 11 million in the industrialised countries. The improvement recorded in some countries and parts of the developing world, notably in East Asia, is thus neutralised by the worsening situation in other regions, especially sub-Saharan Africa, Central America and the Caribbean.

The gap between output and needs in the food deficit regions will continue to widen unless there is an increase in rural investment to generate higher employment, income, productivity and production. Until there is an abatement in hunger and malnutrition, it will be difficult, indeed impossible, to achieve appreciable and sustainable results in other vital domains of the fight against poverty, such as health and education.

Emergencies

Food shortages caused by natural disasters continued to affect many countries. As of September 2001, there were 33 countries and 62 million people facing food emergencies. However, data indicate that their relative frequency has changed over the last thirty years. Whilst in the 1970s and 1980s food emergencies were mainly the result of natural factors, in more recent years they originate from manmade disasters.

In the Near East, they are attributable to persistent drought conditions in some countries, and, recently, the crisis in Afghanistan. In Africa, the emergency situations arise in particular from civil strife and recurrent droughts. In Asia, millions of people have seen their basic access to food eroded by declining purchasing power mainly as continuing effects of the financial crisis in 1997/1998. In Latin America and the Caribbean, hurricanes and financial instability have been the main factors.

The role of FAO in such a context is more important than ever, primarily in assessing the food and agriculture situation, determining food aid needs and informing the international community, thanks to the Global Information and Early Warning System, which is working together with the World Food Programme, the UNDP and an extensive network of governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Other crises

The long-term viability of intensive agriculture in the developed countries raises concerns and poses problems. The epidemics of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and foot-and-mouth disease, salmonella linked to eggs and chicken, and mutant drug-resistant E. coli infection from contaminated meat and water have changed consumer perception of the consequences of unbridled efforts to intensify, to maximise yields and to cut costs.

Elsewhere, the genetic modification of food crops and animals has sparked off fierce controversy. While they are not required today to achieve the objectives of the Summit of 1996, their development and application need to be studied and monitored scientifically and in an international framework. This will make it possible to benefit from the positive aspects, while avoiding any possible detrimental effects on plant and animal health or in terms of food quality.

State of food and agriculture in the region and challenges

Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen

Since the late 1980s, many countries in the Region have adopted profound economic policy changes to macro-economic imbalances reflected in a large current and fiscal account deficit, mounting foreign debts, inflation and high unemployment rates. While some countries made positive strides in adopting reforms, many others are still struggling. According to available information, the annual GDP growth rate in the Region reached 4.7 percent in 2000, and registered an average increase from 2.4 percent in 1981-1990 to 3.1 percent in 1991-2000. Changes and levels of oil prices have a noticeable effect on the direction and magnitude of the average growth rates and economic development in the Region. However, countries with a limited economic resource base continued to face mounting debt problems, rising unemployment rates, commodity price shocks and an escalating balance of payment deficits.

The record-high growth rate of agricultural output in the Region in 1998 could not be maintained, and a decline of 4.0 percent ensued in 1999. Furthermore, the 2000/2001 season saw little improvement as agricultural production fell by 0.8 percent. The main attributing factors are natural causes relating to inadequate rainfalls, culminating in droughts that hit many countries in the Region and to man-made disasters, including civil strife, wars and, sometimes, inappropriate policies.

The impact of drought is most evident in cereal production, which declined by 7.7 percent in 2000 and by 17.9 percent in 1999. I am pleased to note the news of good rains in many parts of the Region, which I hope will lead to good harvest.

Agricultural production did not keep pace with the rapidly increasing demand for food in the Region, and hence a widening food gap persisted which had to be filled by imports, especially of cereals followed by dairy products, sugar and vegetable oil. Only very few countries in the Region succeeded in realizing self-sufficiency in basic food items. The value of agricultural imports is, on average, about 30 billion US dollars - three times the value of exports from the Region. The net cereal imports rose from 6.5 million tonnes in 1960-71 to 55 million tonnes in 1999, which is about one-fifth of world imports of cereals.

The Near East Region, as compared to other regions in the world, has the lowest indicators relating to undernourishment (7.2 percent) and extreme poverty (2 percent). However, these average figures hide a wide range of variation among the countries. The Near East Region contains two of the most food insecure countries in the world &endash; Somalia (about 75 percent of the population are undernourished) and Afghanistan (70 percent undernourished). And the prevalence of undernourishment in Iraq has not improved in recent years, while the situation in Palestine has worsened in the past year.

Projections indicate that the number of the undernourished in the Near East Region would, by 2015, still remain far from the WFS target of reducing their number by 50 percent. In this regard, I wish to recall commitments of the member countries to this goal and emphasize that concerted and focused development efforts, combined with investment in manpower development and productivity of land and water, can make a difference and reverse the current trend. It is noted, with satisfaction, that most countries of the Region continued during 2000 and 2001 to pursue radical macro-economic and agricultural sector reform programmes that, if carried through, would improve economic prospects and accelerate sustainable and equitable growth.

The current developments in the international economic environment including the new rules of international trading systems set by the Uruguay Round Agreement (URA), the EU-Mediterranean Agreements (EMA), and the proliferation of regionalism world-wide, bring co-operation in the Near East again to the forefront. Despite a seeming lack of clear and significant success, regional integration continues to be an issue of great importance in the Near East; and agricultural trade liberalization and promotion of intra-regional agricultural trade remain key objectives in several regional trading agreements.

Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Agriculture in the Near East Region operates under severe natural limitations characterised by scarce cultivable land and water resources. Arable and permanent cropland constitutes about 8 percent of the total area, while a further 27 percent consists of permanent pasture.

The Near East is the most water scarce region in the world. The Region has 6.2 percent of the world's population, 8.6 percent of arable land and 11 percent of its irrigated land, but it has only 1.5 percent of the world's renewable fresh water resources. The region relies heavily on surface and underground water, which will become increasingly scarce in the Region and, as such, it will remain a serious barrier to the achievement of food security in many countries. Almost all easily accessible conventional water resources in this Region have already been committed and the demand for water, in most countries, will soon likely exceed renewable freshwater supplies, and by the year 2025 the per capita availability of renewable water for most countries in the Region will fall below 700 cubic metres compared with a world-wide average of 4,780 cubic metres per person in that year. Therefore the future emphasis must be directed towards increasing the efficiency of water management systems and increasing water productivity, getting more crops per drop, as well as to move seriously towards tapping new non-conventional water resources to be utilized for increasing agricultural production.

Poor food marketing systems constitute a major constraint to the availability of and accessibility to food in the Near East countries. Much of the locally produced and imported food does not reach consumers largely due to inefficient distribution and large post-harvest losses. Accelerating urbanisation, in particular, presents an enormous challenge to ensuring adequate supplies and to the food distribution system in the Region. Enhancing competitiveness of national agricultural products to secure local and foreign market outlets under the present prevailing open trade and liberalisation policies is another daunting challenge.

Other challenges for the realization of high levels of food security and reduction of rural and urban poverty include sustainable management of natural resources, sustained increases in crop and livestock production, mitigation of drought, combatting desertification, improving quality and value added of agricultural products, adoption of quality standard and reduction of post harvest food losses, control and eradication of plant pest and livestock disease, increasing investment in agriculture, and intra-regional economic cooperation.

FAO activities in the region

The Organization has pursued its policy of reform and decentralisation. In this regard, the day-to-day management of its field programme is being transferred from the Regional Office to the Country Representations.

Programmes of normative and operational activities have been formulated and implemented in the spheres of the Organization's mandate, and detailed reports have been submitted to the Regional Conference.

Issues on the agenda

Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

This Twenty-sixth Regional Conference will examine the key issues relating to the fight against food insecurity. One of its major tasks will be to prepare for the World Food Summit: five years later, which will be held in Rome from 10 to 13 June this year to accelerate implementation of the decisions taken in 1996 and make it possible to reduce by half the number of people suffering from hunger by 2015. This important meeting, which was postponed because of tragic international circumstances, should help revitalise the fight against hunger. Progress made towards the objective set in 1996 of halving the number of undernourished people in the world by 2015 has been inadequate. At the present rate, this would only be achievable towards 2050. The Summit this June will be called upon to identify and adopt concrete measures to correct this delay. It is imperative to reinforce the political will at the highest level and to mobilise the necessary financial resources.

In this context, the participation of the Heads of State and Government of the Near East Region at the World Food Summit is essential for its success. Besides the statements at plenary sessions, the Heads of State and Government will be able to exchange views at round tables and participate if they so wish in daily press conferences. Separate meetings of parliamentarians, private sector NGOs and Civil Society would give other stakeholders the opportunity to provide their input to the debate.

On your agenda is also the report, prepared by the Secretariat, on action taken on the recommendations of the Twenty-fifth Regional Conference.

Another major item is the Report of the Senior Officers meeting which preceded this Plenary Session. Issues of great significance to the development of agriculture in the Region were discussed by them during the last three days.

Let me highlight just two of the areas:

	Drought, a recurring phenomenon in the Near East Region, with cumulative deleterious consequences on agricultural development. In this context, the Conference document No. NERC/02/4 on "Long-term Plans for Drought Mitigation and Management in the Near East" included a proposal for establishing a regional network for drought mitigation; and
	Trade liberalization policies and their implication for intra-regional trade and sustainable agricultural development.

I would also like to draw the attention of the Conference to the information documents that are being distributed:

	International Year of Mountains, 2002: FAO has been invited by the UN General Assembly to be the Lead Agency for the preparation and co-ordination of observance of the International Year of the Mountains in 2002. The document reports on the observance of the Year with a number of follow-up actions.
	The Tehran Process for Low Forest Cover Countries, initiated in this City where we are currently meeting. The document reports on follow-up action which has its origins in an expert consultation on "The Special Need and Requirements of Developing Countries with Low Forest Cover and Unique Type of Forest", and concludes with a number of proposed actions for accelerating progress.

Your attention is also drawn to two information notes:

The impact of BSE and Foot and Mouth Disease and the Development of Biotechnology for Agriculture, including Forestry and Fisheries.

Other issues

Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me mention two other important issues. On the occasion of World Food Day, last October, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, His Excellency Mr Johannes Rau, called for an International Alliance against hunger and poverty. This concept was subsequently widely supported at the FAO Conference in November 2001. Such an Alliance could be the tangible expression of reinforced political will and an important step towards removing the despair and anger that are so favourable to extremism.

Also, the Organization has set up a Trust Fund for Food Security and Food Safety. Its Member Nations and development partners have been invited to provide voluntary contributions. The success to date, with 20 percent of the initial sum of 500 million US dollars already secured, would be even greater if further pledges could be made before the Summit.

Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

This is the first FAO Regional Conference for the Near East to be held at the dawn of this Century. I am confident that you will contribute to the efforts of preparing agriculture, at national and regional levels, for the challenges of the Twenty-first Century. I trust you will spare no effort in giving due consideration to these vital issues and propose the most required actions for accelerating the progress of agricultural development and ensuring food security for all men and women of this Region.

I eagerly await the results of your deliberations and I wish you a very successful meeting.

Thank you.

Back to 2002 statements