Address by the FAO Director-General World Food Day Ceremony at FAO Headquarters

Theme: "International Alliance Against Hunger"

Rome, FAO Headquarters, Plenary Hall, 16 October 2003

Your Excellency Jorge Luis Batlle Ibañez, President of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay,
Your Excellency Pierferdinando Casini, President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Republic,
Your Excellency Juan Francisco Reyes López, Vice President of the Republic of Guatemala,
Your Excellency Giovanni Alemanno, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Policies of the Italian Republic,
Monsignor Renato Volante, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to FAO,
Excellencies, Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wish to thank you all for being here with us to mark the 23rd observance of World Food Day.

World Food Day commemorates the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on 16 October 1945, as the world faced the spectre of hunger and starvation at the end of the Second World War. FAO’s task is to ensure freedom from hunger for all of humanity.

World Food Day is an occasion for reflection. Current estimates indicate that 840 million human beings on our Earth remain hungry, 800 million of them in the developing world and around 10 million in the countries in transition. That figure represents a decrease of 2.5 million per year over the last eight years. This is clearly far from sufficient to reach the World Food Summit goal of cutting by half the number of hungry by 2015. In fact, at the current rate, we will only reach this target in 2150, that is, 140 years later.

However, we must keep hope. I believe that we are now at the threshold of the end of this long struggle against global hunger.

There are three reasons for being hopeful about the future.

First of all, never before in the history of the world has so much food been produced. If all the food produced this year were divided equally among the world’s inhabitants, global food production would provide each person with 2800 calories per day, an increase of 17 percent over the level of 30 years ago. And this has been possible despite the fact that over the same period the population has grown by 70 percent.

Even in the developing countries, where the population has doubled, per capita food production has increased by 30 percent over the past 30 years.

Secondly, there is now broad international consensus that hunger and poverty must end. In June 2002, the international community met in Rome on the occasion of the World Food Summit: five years later to examine the persistent problem of hunger. One hundred and seventy-nine world leaders unanimously adopted a decision to make a strong push towards fulfilling the earlier promises made in 1996 to achieve a significant reduction in the number of persons who go to bed hungry.

In Rome, the world leaders were very clear. In the final Declaration of the World Food Summit: five years later, entitled the “International Alliance against Hunger”, they recognized that governments alone cannot resolve the problem of hunger. In fact, it is only through the strong and uncompromising efforts of civil society acting in concert with the elected political leaders that this issue can be dealt with in a meaningful way.

At the International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico, last year, many nations promised to increase official development assistance. They promised to reverse the alarming trend of falling investment and aid to the agricultural sector. Those pledges must not be forgotten.

In July 2003, at the African Union Summit in Maputo, the Heads of State and Government adopted a Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security in Africa that calls for immediate implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme under the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). The African leaders also committed themselves to allocating at least 10 percent of national budgetary resources for agricultural development within five years.

I am hopeful that this renewed international consensus will translate into an active global partnership that brings together the strengths of all those committed to ending hunger into a single effort. Appropriately, the theme of this year’s World Food Day is “International Alliance against Hunger”. Nations must turn verbal commitments to fight hunger into practical programmes that address the underlying causes of hunger. The low-income countries will need adequate financial resources to put these programmes in place. And we must continue to advocate that governments put in place appropriate policies for improved economic performance, sound institutions and good governance.

I am confident that this “International Alliance” will become a reality when partnerships have been formed between food producers and consumers, local governments and community organizations, scientists, academics, religious groups, NGOs and policymakers, who will work together at national level, in practical ways, to help vulnerable groups and particularly disadvantaged small farmers to emerge from the hunger trap.

The private sector should be fully included in this process. Some private firms have simple, sustainable technologies for agricultural production and for food processing and storage that can be transferred to help rural communities grow food, create jobs, raise incomes and reduce poverty. There are many private firms that, if called upon, will contribute technology, research and know-how, as well as skilled human resources towards helping this important cause.

I have spoken to many celebrities who are willing to give their personal time to work on the issue of hunger and who anxious to have their governments take up this cause. The appeal to end world hunger launched by the international celebrities who have been appointed FAO Ambassadors, to raise public awareness and commit themselves to fighting hunger, malnutrition and poverty in the ambit of an “International Alliance against Hunger” is an additional reason for me to have hope for the future.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The third reason for my optimism today is that during the past year a number of countries have boldly put the fight against hunger at the forefront of their national priorities. It is with a great deal of admiration that I cite, among various other examples, Uruguay, Brazil and Sierra Leone. The leaders of these countries have embarked on programmes which translate verbal commitments to fight hunger into practical programmes that address the obstacles to ensuring the right to adequate food.

I bring to you today a strong message of hope that, together, through an “International Alliance against Hunger”, governments, civil society, farmers’ organizations, private sector firms, financial institutions and a range of other partners will create a broad global coalition to deal with this problem. Everyone must be part of the solution.

A great deal can be learnt from the experiences of countries which have been successful in the fight against hunger. Many of the countries that are making rapid and broad-based progress in reducing hunger have applied a combination of measures. They have put in place programmes to improve the performance of smallholder agriculture, for example by improving infrastructure, access to farm supplies, storage, markets and credit.

At the same time, they apply more direct measures to address urgent hunger needs, like food-for-work programmes, school feeding programmes and other safety nets. These programmes are directed at the poorest and most vulnerable members of the population.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let us not forget that three-quarters of the poor live in rural areas and derive their livelihoods from agriculture or related activities. Investment in agriculture is therefore key to sustainable economic development. And yet insufficient attention has been paid to small rural farmers who are key to feeding the poorest and hungriest, especially women who represent the majority of small farmers and are often denied access to essential resources like land, water and credit.

If rich countries really want to play their part, they must also continue to address distortive trade policies that prevent developing nations from participating fully in agricultural trade.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

On this 23rd World Food Day marking the 58th anniversary of FAO, I call on everyone – world leaders, governments, civil society organizations, the scientific community, the private sector, international organizations and the general public – to join in the “International Alliance against Hunger”, to mobilize their energies to fight hunger. For there can be no hope of a just, peaceful and prosperous world when 840 million of our fellow citizens do not have enough food to keep them alive and healthy.

I thank you for your attention.

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