Millennium Development Goals Summit 2010

FAO Statement
20 September 2010

Delivered by Mr. Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Excellencies,
Honourable Delegates,
Distinguished Participants,
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
Ladies and Gentleman,

It is a great pleasure for me to be with you today to participate in this important roundtable addressing some of the most pressing issues of our daily life – hunger, poverty and gender equality. 

FAO’s latest estimates indicate that 925 million people will be hungry and malnourished in 2010. While this figure marks an improvement compared to last year’s spike in world hunger of 1 billion persons, there is no cause for complacency. At close to one billion, hunger is and remains unacceptable. A child dying every six seconds because of undernourishment related problems is the world’s largest tragedy and scandal.

The expected decline in world hunger in 2010 is primarily a result of better access to food as the global economy recovers and food prices remain below their peak levels of mid 2008. 

But let me clearly state that despite the expected decline, the achievement of the international hunger reduction targets is at serious risk. The figures speak for themselves. The current number is higher than the level that existed when world leaders agreed to reduce the number of hungry by half at the World Food Summit in 1996. To meet the first MDG on hunger reduction, the prevalence of hunger in developing countries needs to be reduced to 10 percent by 2015. That means the proportion of hungry people has to drop by 6 percentage points in 5 years while it decreased by only 4 percentage points in 19 years. The same arithmetic applies to the World Food Summit target:  while the number of hungry people should be halved by 2015 to about 420 million, it has instead increased as the latest data show.  A drop of 500 million is needed over the next 5 years in order to meet the WFS target.

It should be made clear that at 925 million, the level of hunger makes it extremely difficult to achieve not only the first MDG but also the rest of the MDGs.

It is therefore very clear that only swift, resolute and concerted action by all actors, at levels can enable us to honour our commitments and move towards wiping hunger off the face of the earth as we have repeatedly pledged to do.

What is the solution?  What should be done? 

The rapid increases in hunger following the price spikes is 2007-2008 and the financial and economic crisis reveal the fragility of the global food system and show the extreme vulnerability and precarious conditions of countries and people. 

However, the problem of hunger goes beyond sudden shocks and crises. It is a structural one.  The fact that nearly one billion people remain hungry today in spite of relatively lower food prices and better economic prospects points to a deeper, well-entrenched problem that necessitates purposeful action at massive scale. 

The current dramatic hunger situation is the result of neglect of agriculture in development policies over the past three decades. It is time to tackle the root causes of food insecurity by adopting lasting political, economic, financial and technical solutions. We know what should be done and how to do it. Success stories do exist in Africa, in Asia and in Latin America. These experiences need to be scaled up and replicated. 

In addition to improving safety nets and social protection programmes to reach those most vulnerable and in need, the long-term solution to food security is investing in agriculture in developing countries so they can produce the food needed for a world population expected to exceed 9 billion in 2050. In this regard, stable and effective policies, regulatory and institutional mechanisms and functional market infrastructures that promote investment in the agricultural sector are paramount. 

Another important dimension in achieving sustainable food security is gender equality. Women make up 51 percent of the agricultural labour force worldwide and participate in all the stages of food production. However they have the least access to the means for increasing output and yields and for moving from subsistence farming to higher-value, more commercial products. No initiative to address the problem of food insecurity in developing countries can succeed without taking into account these economic and social realities. Rural women should be given equal participation in decision making processes; improved access to, and control of, resources; and more decent employment opportunities. It is only by considering women as equal partners that we can succeed in defeating hunger and poverty.

The reformed Committee on World Food Security (CFS) which will meet next month opens new opportunities for open dialogue and coherence in policy and action among all relevant actors in the fight against hunger. We should not miss such opportunity.

Investment needs in agriculture 

In preparation for the “World Food Summit: five years later” in 2002, FAO prepared a comprehensive programme, known as the “Anti-Hunger Programme”, to reduce the number of hungry people in the world to the level set by heads of state and government at the World Food Summit in 1996, that is 420 million by the year 2015. The overall annual investment needs were estimated at 24 billion US dollars per year at the time. The adjusted figure for inflation stands at 30 billion dollars annually. The programme includes five areas of investment: improving agricultural productivity and enhancing livelihoods and food security in rural areas; developing and conserving natural resources; expanding rural infrastructure and broadening market access; capacity building, knowledge generation and dissemination; and ensuring access to food to the most needy and vulnerable. 

On the occasion of the High-Level Expert Forum on How to Feed the World in 2050, organized in October 2009, FAO’s work showed that eliminating hunger from the world will require 44 billion UD dollars per year of official development assistance (ODA) to invest in rural infrastructure, modern inputs and technology. Food production will need to increase by 2050 by 70 percent at the global level and to double in the developing countries.

These will need to be complemented by private investment and funding from the governments concerned. Developing countries must devote a larger share of their budgets to agriculture, reflecting the sector’s contribution to national GDP, export revenues, employment and income creation. The share of public expenditure allocated to agriculture in low-income food-deficit countries should be raised to at least 10 percent. Private investment, from both national and international sources in the framework of fair “win-win” agreements, should be encouraged. 

It was with great satisfaction to note the encouraging policy change in favour of support to small farmers and the rural poor that was manifested in the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative by the G8 Leaders’ Meeting in July 2009. The initiative, which for the first time put emphasis on assistance to small farmers in developing countries to increase their food production, and the financial commitments of 20 billion US dollars over a period of three years for a comprehensive strategy focussing on sustainable agricultural development are an important step in the right direction. These commitments must urgently translate into concrete action in order to achieve the intended goals. 

I thank you for your kind attention.