50th IAEA General Conference

Food and Agriculture - the Global Challenges
Statement to the IAEA Scientific Forum

Vienna, Austria, 18 September 2007

Chairperson
Dr ElBaradei, Director-General of the IAEA
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is a great honour for me to be here with you at the IAEA’s 50 th General Conference, and to address the IAEA Scientific Forum. I wish to thank my colleague Dr ElBaradei for kindly inviting me to participate in this important event. We admire his wisdom and courage and would like to express again our admiration for his Nobel Peace Prize.

FAO has been enjoying a successful partnership with IAEA for four decades. The creation in October 1964 of the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture marked the beginning of what is certainly one of the best, example of inter-agency cooperation within the whole UN family.

Among the most notable and sustainable successes of this Programme of cooperation are: the millions of hectares of higher-yielding or more disease-resistant food and industrial crops grown in fields all over the world resulting from radiation-induced mutations; the huge savings in fertilizers made possible by using isotopes to determine the optimal placement and timing of applications or to let plants fix nitrogen from the atmosphere; the eradication of screwworm from Libya, fruit flies from several countries in Latin America and the tsetse fly from Zanzibar using the Sterile Insect Technique; and the widespread use of immunoassay technology now being made by countries in all regions to diagnose and progressively control transboundary animal diseases like rinderpest and foot-and-mouth. But even more important is the capacity building in developing countries with a great number of people trained and many institutions strengthened.

We obviously need to grow more food, and to do so in a sustainable manner and in full respect of plant and animal biodiversity, as there are 854 millions hunger persons presently in a world population of 6 billion expected to reach 9 billion persons by 2050.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Water is one of the major challenges of the 21 st century. To keep pace with the growing demand for food, 14 percent more freshwater will need to be withdrawn for agricultural purposes in the next 30 years. But that task will be complicated by climate change.

The rapidly growing bioenergy industry is now using increasingly large amounts of field crops – normally supplying the three traditional “Fs” of Food, Feed and Fibre - to supply fuel. One phenomenon observed in the last months has been the record increases in corn and wheat prices on world markets, and while higher prices are not normally bad news for some farmers, political and social tensions may soon arise unless appropriate safety nets are put in place for the poorest countries and vulnerable population groups.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Another grave risk we shall increasingly face in the coming decades is the spread of diseases originating in animals. This heightened probability is a consequence of human and livestock population growth, dynamic changes in livestock production, the emergence of worldwide agro-food networks, and a significant increase in mobility of people and goods.

So far, we have managed to keep a step ahead of emerging health threats. For instance, FAO and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) can rightly take pride in having helped countries across the world to check the terrifying spread of Avian Influenza in animals, in cooperation with WHO for the human dimension. But there is no room for complacency. Though the tools for HPAI’s elimination from the poultry sector are well known, their proper implementation and support to veterinary services are still deficient in most countries.

FAO’s Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme completely eradicated the disease from Asia ; the disease is also believed to have been eliminated in the last hot zone of known infection in Africa . The Programme’s success could hold out lessons for continental, regional, and national efforts to progressively control future transboundary animal diseases.

A further threat - to human health - comes from food itself as global trade moves staples, specialities and delicacies over huge distances. Hundreds of regulations have therefore been established in more than 40 years of work by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which is jointly run by FAO and the World Health Organization. The Commission has set more than 1 000 maximum limits for food additives and contaminants and 3 000 maximum residue limits for pesticides and veterinary drugs in food commodities. Continued vigilance by Codex – and respect of its standards – are essential to guarantee the safety of the food on our tables in years to come and allow consumers to continue enjoying an unprecedented quality and variety of food.

Chairperson,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Only ten years remain before the 2015 Millennium Development deadline. This target can still be reached, but only if we redouble our efforts and take the right steps in the relevant regions to make a concrete and significant difference in a relatively short time. World leaders have expressed new determination to accelerate progress towards meeting these goals. Translating these into action will require, among other things, the political will of national governments to commit adequate funds to revitalize the agriculture and rural sectors while developed countries are also required to fulfil their pledge to increase development assistance.

The UN system on its part is expected to cooperate more to provide the services expected by the member States. IAEA and FAO are committed to this goal in relation with other members of the UN family.

The joint FAO/IAEA division will however have to evolve to adapt to changes in the world environment and to new demands to be able to deal with the challenges of our times. In that framework it should provide more support to capacity building in food quality and safety. It should also be more proactive in the cooperation with UNIDO to address the great demand in developing countries for policy advice and capacity building in value addition for food and agricultural products.

These new orientations already approved by the Heads of the three UN Institutions should open the way for a vibrant and effective trilateral cooperation between them.

I thank you for your kind attention.

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