Alejandro TRUEBA CARRANZA (México): Expresamos nuestro reconocimiento a la Secretaría por el documento que preparó para el examen de este tema.
En particular, la Delegación de México desea exponer aspectos tanto nacionales como internacionales en relación con el documento correspondiente. Mi país realiza esfuerzos nacionales para alcanzar la soberanía y suficiencia alimentaria en el marco del Programa Nacional de Alimentación 1989-1994, y sobre la base de distintos programas sectoriales, en particular lo relativo a la modernización del campo. En México el Estado realiza esfuerzos para garantizar la seguridad alimentaria mediante una política de apoyo a la producción agropecuaria de los alimentos básicos. En este sentido México recuperó su autosuficiencia en maíz y frijol, y la ha mantenido desde 1990. Además esta política se encuentra apuntalada por un mecanismo de importación de grano en apoyo a la producción pecuaria.
En lo que se refiere a la pesca, se han procurado incentivar los niveles de consumo en las especies de escama y marisco.
En cuanto a los niveles nutricionales, en mi país operan desde hace algunos años diversos programas de ayuda alimentaria orientados particularmente a los grupos menos favorecidos, destacando por su magnitud y cobertura los Programas de Leche y Tortillas. A fin de cumplir con los compromisos de la conferencia Internacional de Nutrición, nuestro país actualmente formula el programa de Acción para la Nutrición.
México reconoce que el bien último de la política alimentaria debe ser mejorar el nivel nutricional de sus habitantes. En consecuencia, las acciones que realiza, y que se propone continuar profundizando, se orientan al cumplimiento de los siguientes objetivos
-respaldar el acceso efectivo a una dieta recomendable para que los grupos más vulnerables, particularmente las madres y los menores de cinco años, dispongan de alternativas diferenciales y selectivas para alcanzar los niveles mínimos de bienestar alimentario y nutricional;
-apoyar la disponibilidad de alimentos para cubrir los requerimientos básicos de la población, prioritariamente la de menores ingresos, preescolar, mujeres gestantes y en período de lactancia y ancianos, así
como los que habitan en las regiones donde se registran mayores carencias nutricionales; y
- apoyar la suficiencia alimentaria mediante el impulso sostenido de la Producción y productividad de los alimentos de origen agropecuario ypesquero, con énfasis en los considerados como estratégicos por su importancia en laconformación de una dieta recomendable en términos deacceso, valor nutricional y arraigo en la cultura alimentaria.
De esta manera, el Gobierno mexicano ratifica la necesidad de avanzar firmemente en la erradicación del hambre y la malnutrición, atacando las causas que los generan para hacer autosustentable, en el mediano plazo, el bienestar alimentario y nutricional, y para atender y mejorar, en el corto plazo, la situación de los grupos vulnerables y en extrema pobreza, atenuando los factores coyunturales que la agravan.
Las acciones que se derivarán del citado Programa Nacional de Acción para la Nutrición, contribuirán al cumplimiento de los siete compromisos prioritarios emanados de la Cumbre Mundial en Favor de la Infancia, por lo que existe una estrecha coordinación entre ambos programas.
En consonancia con los compromisos asumidos por nuestro pais en la Estrategia Internacional de Desarrollo de las Naciones Unidas para el Decenio de los Noventa y en la Cumbre Mundial en Favor de la Infancia, se han definido como principales metas de nutrición las siguientes:
- reducir en el 50 por ciento para el año 2000 los niveles de desnutrición grave y moderada de los niños menores de 5 años;
- reducir a menos del 10 por ciento la tasa de bajo peso al nacer
- reducir en una tercera parte los niveles de anemia por carencia de hierro entre las mujeres
- eliminar las enfermedades por carencia de vitamina A;
- lograr que el mayor número posible de las madres amamanten a sus hijos durante cuatro o seis meses por lo menos, y continúen la lactancia con la adición de otros alimentos hasta el inicio del segundo año; y
- otorgar especial atención a la salud y la nutrición de las niñas y las mujeres embarazadas y en periodo de lactancia.
Para avanzar y cumplir con los objetivos y las metas fijadas por el Plan de Acción sobre Nutrición, a iniciativa de México, se llevó a cabo del 11 al 15 de octubre último en Honduras, un Taller Subregional de Seguimiento de la CIN - México y Centroamérica -, para evaluar y analizar las acciones que se realizan en los países de la región a fin de mejorar el bienestar alimentario y nutricional de las respectivas poblaciones.
Finalmente, señor Presidente, cabe mencionar que actualmente se formula otro proyecto regional, promovido conjuntamente por la FAO-ALADI, para la identificación y caracterización de grupos en riesgo de sufrir inseguridad alimentaria, cuyos resultados preliminares se tendrán al finalizar el presente año.
Jan GORECKI (Poland): As our discussion yesterday on document C 93/22 on World Food Security and Nutritional Status was quite extensive and inspiring, I do not have much to add, but I should like to refer to the summary made by the Deputy Director-General yesterday evening and in particular to his comments relating to the process of transformation in Central and Eastern European countries. The Deputy Director-General correctly stressed that these processes and their consequences should be considered in the short and long term. After three years of experience in my country, we are more aware that the process is a long-term challenge and we still have no maps to follow. Our voyage, as somebody said, is more like that of Columbus. However, I should like to stress that my government intends to give much more attention to the nutritional status of the population and the new problems arising in this area.
As far as Poland's obligations arising from the International Conference on Nutrition are concerned, our government has planned some special social programmes aimed at fighting deterioration of the nutritional state of families suffering from unemployment, children and retired people. In 1994 Poland will organize the International Congress on Food, Nutrition and Health as a follow-up to the International Conference on Nutrition. The Congress will be aimed at carrying out a survey of what has been achieved so far by the domestic, scientific and research centres dealing with food and nutrition, as well as setting the course of federal activities aimed at the improvement of public health in Poland, in accordance with the recommendation of FAO/WHO at the International Conference held in Rome in December 1992.
Abdelkader EL MAZHOR (Maroc): Monsieur le Président, je voudrais remercier le Secrétariat pour la qualité de ce document et je félicite M. Hjort pour son exposé riche et clair.
Si vous le permettez, je commencerai mon intervention par une précision au niveau du paragraphe 21 du document.
Je voudrais savoir si les prévisions de production alimentaire en Afrique du Nord se rapportent à la campagne 1992-93 ou 1993-94. Il me semble qu'une erreur s'est glissée au milieu de ce paragraphe en ce qui concerne la campagne considérée. D'après le paragraphe 4 de ce rapport, l'objectif final de la sécurité alimentaire doit être d'assurer l'accès matériel et économique aux aliments de base.
Si l'accès matériel peut être assuré moyennant le développement de la production alimentaire d'un pays, ou la disponibilité de moyens financiers pour importer ces denrées, il n'en reste pas moins que l'accès économique demeure le facteur limitant de toute sécurité alimentaire. En effet, selon les prévisions à court terme, la situation des revenus dans les pays en développement ne fera qu'empirer, aggravant ainsi la situation matérielle des couches les plus pauvres et donc leur état nutritionnel.
Il n'est pas évident que les pays en développement puissent surmonter leurs difficultés de croissance économique et réaliser dans l'avenir des améliorations de revenus, notamment pour les couches les plus défavorisées, à un moment où les pays développés eux-mêmes connaissent des difficultés au niveau de la croissance et de l'emploi, favorisant ainsi un écart sans cesse croissant entre les différentes couches de leur société.
Il est certain que l'amélioration des revenus dans les pays en développement ne peut avoir lieu que par la relance de l'économie mondiale, le développement des échanges agricoles et le renforcement de l'aide au développement agricole et rural.
La sécurité alimentaire ne doit pas être pensée comme étant la réalisation de l'autosuffisance alimentaire, sans tenir compte des capacités du secteur agricole, ni des conditions aléatoires de sa production dans beaucoup de régions du monde, et sans rechercher toutes les opportunités d'acquérir une part des besoins alimentaires à partir du marché extérieur.
D'où la nécessité de raisonner niveau de sécurité alimentaire, au lieu d'autosuffisance, c'est-à-dire des stratégies d'approvisionnements à partir de la production nationale dans des conditions d'efficience économique.
L'octroi de subventions aux ménages souffrant d'insécurité alimentaire ne peut, à notre avis, aboutir aux objectifs visés, étant donné la difficulté de contrôler la destination de ces subventions. Aussi, cette proposition mérite à notre sens d'être bien réféchie, compte tenu des expériences vécues dans beaucoup de pays. Quant au suivi de la Conférence internationale sur la nutrition, nous soutenons tous les efforts déployés ou à déployer, pour la mise en application de son plan d'action.
Enfin, en ce qui concerne le Programme d'action spécial, présenté à la fin de ce document, nous l'appuyons dans sa globalité.
Kiyoshi SAWADA (Japan): My country highly appreciates the successful outcome of ICN, focusing on food security at the household level, which can be said to be the ultimate objective of FAO. Since our position on food security at the world level was stated on the previous agenda item, my delegation will comment briefly now on food security at the country level and the household level.
With regard to the country level, my delegation recognizes that the variety of foods for the people and diet patterns should be established on the basis of the most appropriate agriculture and fisheries for each country. These diet patterns can lead the foundation of the most stable and sustainable food security of each country and also has been formulating characteristic food culture of each country. In this regard international development cooperation and food aid should take account of indigenous crops and food.
With regard to food security at the household level, we must consider the promotion of agriculture, income opportunities, distribution system, education and so forth, as identified by ICN. Before embarking upon this multi-disciplinary approach, attention must be paid as a priority to the statistics relating to the nutritional condition of the people in order to raise awareness of nutrition in each country. For these national activities, support from FAO and other international and bilateral organizations is essential. My country firmly supports the direction indicated by ICN and looks to FAO for follow-up efforts to it.
Mrs Amalia GARCIA-THÄRN (Sweden): We would like to make some brief comments on the document presented at this session, C 93/22.
We are pleased to see that the topic "Access to Food - Current Situation and Outlook", is included in the analysis of food security and nutrition. However, we believe that the analysis of entitlement to food is rather thin and has to be further developed.
FAO's excellent work in the assessment of the food production situation and outlook should be complemented by a better analysis of the issue "Access to Food". I should like to endorse what the delegate of the United States said on the need to have the capacity to assess food insecurity, and also what the delegate of Canada said on the need to develop access to food indicators.
We believe that FAO has the capacity to do it and we expect this work to be done in the future.
We would like to ask the Secretariat about FAO's work in the development of methodological tools and diagnostic techniques to be used in measuring food insecurity and access to food.
Finally, we fully endorse the given priority to assist member countries in developing national plans of action for nutrition and FAO's Special Action Programme on Food Security and SARD.
There is a final comment I would like to make on gender. Document C 93/22 does not reflect the gender awareness we would like to see. The Report on Food Security and Nutrition, with not a single mention of women, is rather surprising. We expect gender to be integrated in every analysis and presentation FAO does, and not only in the document presented on Women in Development.
Abdul-Razzak AL-HASSAN (Syria) (Original language Arabic): The document presented this morning is an excellent one. That goes without saying; in fact, the Secretariat should certainly be congratulated on the drafting of this document which is rich in content. Nevertheless, we would like to make some comments.
The problem of food security is a matter of international concern. Many meetings and regional and international conferences have been held to discuss this problem. In spite of such endeavours, food deficit still persists and the situation is even worsening. The statistics concerning the poorest sectors of populations show that the situation is extremely serious and alarming. As far as 1992-93 is concerned, production dropped by 70 percent in food deficit countries compared to 1991-92.
What are the reasons behind this worsening situation? The International Conference on Nutrition declared that poverty and social imbalance and educational needs were the main reasons for food deficit and malnutrition.
I should like to say in this connection that it would be interesting to get a clear idea about the reasons behind this situation in order to be able to cure it. The reasons which lead to poverty are not always subjective in developing countries. They are often due to external factors which have played a major role in the impoverishment of these developing countries. This is why we would like to call for remedies and solutions based on those external factors and thus we can eradicate them. Of course, we should not overlook the necessary support for social and economic efforts that aim at achieving a sustainable development in these countries.
FAO and the international community should help to improve conditions in the developing countries through economic and technological assistance. Thus, these countries could eradicate the poverty which they endure daily.
As to the follow-up of the International Conference on Nutrition, we would like to support the World Declaration made by this Conference and its conclusions. We call for further coordination of efforts so that we could help those who are most in need to develop their own production capacities.
I believe that the International Plan of Action for Nutrition has played an important role in national planning; that is to say, the support for strategies aimed at improving nutritional levels, concentrating particularly on the most affected countries. We very much hope that the Organization will be able to increase support and assistance in this area. The Organization's Plan of Action concerning food security and food itself which is to help member countries set up planning and policies based on sustainable agricultural and rural development, contains some very positive points and we hope this programme will be expanded so that the Organization might be able to follow up the implementation of these programmes with their member countries.
We also hope that the Organization will be able to develop its own information sector for the benefit of member countries.
Before concluding, it is my pleasure to indicate that Syria has taken major initiatives in order to ensure the food security dimension in the programmes of soil planning, irrigation and independent production; also the possibility of achieving self-sufficiency and the revitalization of exports. Besides, policies which help to achieve these objectives should always be followed. Syria has already benefited from such policies.
Mrs Ioanna EFSTATHIOU (Greece): Firstly, I should like to thank the Secretariat for their preparation of this comprehensive document concerning world food security, as well as the efforts made by FAO to assist countries to implement the Plan of Action adopted by the International Conference on Nutrition.
Hunger and malnutrition is a paradox with dramatic socio-economic consequences for which there will be no case to be eliminated, unless its stimulating causes be eliminated first. It has been recognized that poverty is the main cause of this paradox, resulting in low rates of development and a complete lack of social care. Moreover, the continuing rise in the rate of population growth in developing countries aggravates their nutritional situation.
In this regard, macro-economic policies that have been implemented in the past and are continuing to be implemented, discriminate against the food and agriculture sector, which is the main source for income and employment in developing countries.
Furthermore, we would like to underline that agriculture is influenced by external factors such as the fluctuation in exchange rate, the burden of external debt, etc., which have an adverse effect on food security in developing countries.
In this framework, we believe that agricultural policies can play a vital role in the alleviation of hunger and malnutrition, incorporating
objectives such as: first, the diversification of production in favour of food crops. This can be realized by giving incentives to small farmers, adopting appropriate technologies and promoting non-agricultural activities.
Second: educational information concerning nutrition. Third: safe and healthy food, with better access to food by creating the appropriate infrastructure for the transport, distribution and marketing of food products.
In this regard, we would like to make a comment on paragraph 14 of the document in front of us. We believe that the problem of consumers is not the promotion of privatization. The whole system of distribution and marketing should be re-examined as it is this system which leads to the continuing increase in the gap between producer prices and retail prices.
Changes in the world economic environment call for policy reforms. In this respect we believe that reforms should be promoted for integrated policy measures aiming at progressive adjustment. In this respect we fully agree with paragraph 16 referring to the danger arising from a rapid process of liberalization because in the long term it will be the poor who suffer most from such policy measures.
In this context we fully support the work of the FAO that arises from the Plan of Action of the International Conference on Nutrition. Action at both the country and international level is indispensable but for the goals to be achieved there is a need for concerted action by governments in international organizations, NGOs, local communities and the private sector. Development assistance, moreover, should be the motive power to attaining the nutrition objectives.
Hayim BAR-SHAI (Israel) : As I am speaking for the first time, I would like to congratulate the Chairman of the Committee. I am sure your vast experience and activities in the past will help us to understand better between ourselves an approach toward a better fed world.
I would like also to thank the Secretariat and the group of economists who prepared the excellent reviews for the debate in the last three days and for the report. Although it is rather short, I think it presents a very clear view of the urgent and important issues which are worrying us at present.
I would like very shortly to comment on document C 93/22.
The general tendency today in the world is towards a more liberal and open economy. In Israel on the whole we feel our policy has always been to balance as much as possible what is grown in Israel and what has to be imported. For the last eight to ten years the balance has been in the vicinity of US$ 1 billion on each side. While the import of foodstuffs has been growing recently because of an increase in population, exports have been steady or declining, mainly because of climatic reasons. We hope it will shortly grow. On the whole we have been reducing support and subsidization of food in Israel. I think that today, except for one or two non-food items, nothing is subsidized at the growing, marketing or final product stages.
We have performed privatization of the imports of sugar cereals, edible oils and oilseeds. We are now in the middle of the process of privatizing meat. All these processes have been undertaken and have gone through on the whole without any unnecessary shocks or changes and in a way that will enable local industry to compete with imported products fairly and not against imports.
On liberalization, we have customs and import liberalization in most basic food products and commodities. On the whole they are free from duty and in licensing. I am speaking of tea, coffee, sugar, cocoa, rice and so on.
We expect the new Peace Agreement which we have been discussing with our neighbouring countries will materialize in the not too distant future and that this will open many possibilities for cooperation and learning from one another. It will contribute to enlarging and improving crop production to the benefit of all the nations in the area.
I would like to make two more comments. We need, on the whole, more liberalization. I think the whole world needs this. I was a little sorry to see this subject is still very much at the top of the agenda of most reports of FAO. We need more liberalization regarding our trade in food products and exports. We have recently concluded an agreement with the EFTA countries, a free-trade area agreement. I would say again our agricultural products are not well covered. I hope the GATT discussions will contribute towards this but it is a big problem because it prevents a just and economically efficient exchange of goods.
In the last few years, Israel has absorbed half a million new people from other parts of the world. These are not usually wealthy people. We have to feed them and give them work. They form 10 percent of our population. It is a difficult task. It demonstrates again that we are still in the developing stages of the country and cannot be seen as developed as are the countries of Europe.
I would like to note today that the problem of hunger and lack of food is not just one of undeveloped countries but in certain populations even in developed countries. In a world of free initiatives and with some trends which remind me a little of the liberalism of the 19th century, I think we have to remind ourselves all the time that we must ensure in food security. This is still a thing that has to be provided for. I think FAO should speak out about it.
Supote DECHATES (Thailand) : The Thai Government welcomes the ICN call for concerted action to direct resources to those most in need in order to raise their productive capacities and social opportunities and put emphasis on the need to protect the nutritional well-being of vulnerable groups when needed. Thailand refers to C 93/2, which states that in the past decade the prevalence of protein energy malnutrition among pre-school children has reduced dramatically from 50.8 to 17.1 percent.
It is further documented that the success is attributed to Thailand's 5-year social, health, food and nutrition plan and to its Poverty Alleviation Plan. It is a rural investment programme aimed at improving the living standards from the subsistence level and providing minimum basic services in rural areas, except in the central region.
Four key programmes were employed with political support incorporating community participation and low cost technology: rural employment creation, village projects, provision of basic services and farm production programmes.
Implementation of the Thai nutrition plan has short-term major objectives for 1993 of eliminating the malnutrition conditions of the target groups as follows.
1. To reduce the pre-schoolchildren's nutrient deficiency of both second and third degrees to not more than 1 percent and of the first degree to 12 percent.
2. To reduce, in the infected area, the symptomatic iodine deficiency in the elementary schoolchildren, 6-18 years old, to not more than 13 percent.
3 To eliminate the iron-deficiency anaemia in both pregnant women and schoolchildren to not more than 15 percent.
Assessment of the 1993 performances has yet to be conducted.. However, the 1992 national performance has already indicated nutrient deficiencies of 0.74 and 0.004 percent for the second and third degree in pre-school children and 14.02 percent for the first degree. Iodine deficiency disease in elementary schoolchildren was 12.24 percent at the end of 1992. In addition, the 1992 survey reported 18.30 percent of schoolchildren had iron-deficient anaemia.
The Thai delegation fully endorses the FAO's Action Programmes concerning food security and nutrition and the special Action Programme on country policy and programming assistance for food security and sustainable agriculture in the rural environment.
Moses MBUGUA (Kenya): I congratulate and thank the Secretariat on the very good document which is a good long-term forecast which we wish to endorse. We also congratulate you, Mr Chairman, on your election to guide and share this session.
Kenya has suffered continuous drought over the last one-and-a-half to two years which has resulted in the importation of food. This has proved a very expensive exercise. It has also affected the change in eating habits of the people in some parts of the country because foods are imported which are not normally grown in the country. The taboos have been changed and various nutritional factors have been affected.
We recognize in Kenya that the cheapest food is that which is available at country level. We would like FAO to continue to encourage food production at the household level. We are very keen to witness food security being promoted both at country level and at household level. We would, therefore, like to request FAO to continue designing appropriate storage facilities to be used at household level because unless communities store food at their own level, it becomes difficult for them to have food security and food available at all times in their own villages. We would, therefore, like to see FAO continuing work in this area; it is not a new area. It has been done before but we would like to see the continued designing of appropriate storage facilities and the promotion of the use of these stores, otherwise there could be stores that remain empty with no food available.
We know that food comes fast and we do not think of anybody who does not eat. Everybody eats. However, there are many people in the world who never think about where the food they eat comes from.
I would like to request that we continue using World Food Day to continuesensitizing and involving every individual in the world to think about foodproduction, food utilization and food storage so that they can also help in the promotion of increased food production in this world so that the campaign that could be continued during the World Food Day will reach more people than it has done in the past because that day is now known worldwide.
We would like FAO to continue using NGOs because these are a very important arm that reaches grass-root groups and we would like further encouragement from FAO to make sure that NGOs are utilized so that they will encourage as many people as possible to increase food production.
Gender, as has previous been mentioned, is also very important. In my country, we know that women are able to grow over 80 percent of the food in the rural areas, but we also know that our rural men give very little help to the women. We know again that where appropriate technologies have been designed - wheelbarrows and donkey carts and simple appropriate technologies - the men will use these technologies and therefore help the women to work on the farms.
We would like therefore to request FAO to continue designing various appropriate technologies, appropriate in certain countries, so that this technology can help and will off-load the burden from the women and involve the men in food production. We appeal for appropriate designs of these simple technologies so that we will be able to increase food security and food production in this country.
Zachee YEM YEM (Cameroun): Merci, Monsieur le Président. Au nom de la délégation du Cameroun, je voudrais me joindre aux précédents orateurs pour vous féliciter (ainsi que le Bureau) pour votre élection, et le Bureau pour les documents et surtout leur qualité.
La délégation du Cameroun est préoccupée par le fait que, lorsque l'on parle de sécurité alimentaire, on évoque presque toujours les céréales, ce qui est important, c'est vrai. Dans nos pays, il y a certes les céréales, mais il y a aussi les tubercules dont on fait peu de cas.
Il nous paraît opportun d'insister aussi sur les tubercules.
En plus, d'une manière générale, s'agissant de la sécurité alimentaire, on fait rarement cas des produits carnés: viande et poisson. Or il est clair que, surtout dans nos pays tropicaux, il est plus facile d'avoir des produits d'origine végétale et de manquer de produits d'origine animale. Nous souhaiterions que l'accent soit mis sur ce problème des produits d'origine animale.
De même, nous avons pu bénéficier, avec l'aide de la FAO, de l'organisation d'un atelier dans notre pays, avec les pays voisins, sur la promotion des aliments traditionnels et non conventionnels qui peuvent à juste titre venir augmenter les disponibilités alimentaires et accroître la sécurité alimentaire dans notre pays et les pays voisins.
Nous souhaitons que, comme par le passé, la FAO mous aide à constituer des stocks importants de réserve de viande grâce à la construction, par exemple, de chambres froides. Nous insistons aussi pour que l'accent soit mis sur la production des tubercules.
Abdelkader CHERIF (Tunisie): La majorité des pays en développement souffre, à l'heure actuelle, d'une insuffisance en protéines, et plus particulièrement en protéines d'origine animale. Or on peut produire plus facilement les protéines végétales, ce qui devrait permettre de satisfaire davantage les besoins en protéines. En effet, pour produire les protéines animales, qui sont sous forme de viande, de fromage, etc., on doit fournir à l'animal des protéines végétales qui seront reconverties par la suite en protéines animales. Or le coefficient de reconversion est faible, allant de 10 à 40 pour cent: si l'on fournit, par exemple, un kilo de protéines végétales à un animal, celui-ci donnera 10 pour cent ou, dans le meilleur des cas, 40 pour cent de protéines animales. Avec les protéines végétales, nous aurions donc davantage de protéines et nous arriverions à satisfaire les besoins en protéines de la population.
A l'heure actuelle, en utilisant les technologies appropriées, on peut fabriquer - cela se fait dans les pays développés - des steaks à base de protéines végétales; ce sont des steaks hachés, que l'on vend congelés et qui sont consommés essentiellement à des fins nutritionnelles. Dans les pays développés, à cause des problèmes cardiovasculaires et du cholestérol, on a tendance à utiliser des protéines végétales et, à l'heure actuelle, on trouve dans les supermarchés des steaks hachés composés, de 3 0 à 60 pour cent, de protéines végétales. Je demande donc à la FAO d'encourager l'utilisation des technologies appropriées dans les pays en développement pour que les protéines animales soient de plus en plus remplacées par les protéines végétales.
Alhaji HAI M. JIR (Nigeria): Mr Chairman, let me on behalf of our delegation join the other delegations in congratulating you on your election, and I would like also to congratulate the Vice-chairmen and commend the Secretariat for the papers.
My comment is very brief. The issue of food security and well-nourished people is very important as it is the life and health of any nation, but we have to appreciate that in many countries food may be available but the income and the purchasing power of the nation's currency may deprive people of getting this nutritious food because many of the developing countries have embarked upon adjustment programmes, one component of which is devaluation of the currency. The food may be there but income levels and inflation may not allow people to reach the nutritious food they want.
Therefore, the global economic situation will have to be looked at. It is not food alone. The cost of production has increased. For example, in my country a tractor was costing about 50 000 Naira in my local currency. Today, the same tractor is costing about one million Naira. The farmer who is producing will have to see that he recovers that cost, so we have this problem of currency devaluation.
There has been an incident recorded about Nigeria where the Government had to distribute subsidized grain. I had the privilege of serving as Secretary. In March 1992 the Government announced the devaluation of the Naira, the Nigerian currency, and suddenly grain merchants and traders
speculated and food prices shot up, so the Government had to come in to cushion this.
The issue of devaluation is very important and I hope that developing countries will have favourable trade terms. Inevitably tied to that is the issue of debt burden and debt servicing. In an earlier document on the agricultural situation it was stated that Africa south of the Saharah is down to the tune of US$183 billion, with US$14 billion in arrears, which is stated to be more than 6 percent of the total GDP. To enable these governments to assist in providing infrastructural facilities and policy environment for people to produce with this kind of burden is very difficult.
My second comment is that in the document FAO states that it will assist member countries in a lot of areas to improve the nutritional status and food security. I hope that there will be sufficient resources and easy access by members to this kind of assistance.
Parviz KARBASI (Iran, Islamic Republic of) : In the name of God. Yesterday when Mr de Haen was making his response to members of the Commission, we asked that the resolution which has been prepared and tabled by Nigeria be read. We agree with the resolution in such a way that the Near East and West African countries also be covered, but we did not hear the resolution. I understand that today at twelve o'clock the Resolution Committee will meet, and I want to be sure, because the delegate of Pakistan has also asked the same question.
CHAIRMAN (Original language German): The Secretary reminded us of the procedure for tabling resolutions at the beginning of the meeting, but I will summarize briefly on that point. If a country wishes to table a resolution in the course of a statement he wishes to make, then the initial draft resolution must be passed by the Secretariat to the Resolutions Committee. The Resolutions Committee then deliberates on the draft, and a document is then distributed to all delegations. The document can then be dealt with in the Commission session. So far, we have not received any documents from the Resolutions Committee and therefore we have no texts to discuss. I hope I have made that as clear as possible.
Kiala KIA MATEVA (Angola): Monsieur le Président, comme les délégués qui m'ont précédé, je voudrais vous féliciter à l'occasion de votre élection à la tête de cette Commission. Je suis convaincu que vos qualités et votre sagesse sauront nous mener à bon port. Je saisis également cette occasion pour féliciter les autres membres du Bureau et le Secrétariat, qui a préparé le document soumis à notre examen (C 93/22), le Rapport sur la sécurité alimentaire et la situation nutritionnelle.
Par économie de temps, nous remettrons notre déclaration au Secrétariat afin qu'elle soit reprise in extenso dans le procès-verbal.
R.J. PERKINS (Director, Commodities and Trade Division): There are three questions of a specific nature which call for some clarification, and with your permission I will take them in the order in which they were made.
The first question was from the delegate of Morocco concerning paragraph 21. I should like to point out that paragraph gives the food production situation in the sub-region of North Africa. The paragraph is based on information as of July this year, and it has therefore become a little bit outdated. However, the wheat production forecast at that time has remained unchanged as an estimate of production at 9.1 million tonnes in 1993. The production of coarse grains in forecast has now become an estimate of 8.8 million tonnes, a downward revision and in fact, with the exception of Egypt there have been reductions in coarse grain production in all of the other North African countries. I hope that that clarifies essentially the revisions occurring because of the passing of time. Those estimates are by now four to five months out of date.
The second question to which I must reply is also a specific one from the delegate of Sweden concerning food security indicators, a matter which has been under discussion in the Committee on World Food Security in the past two years. I would just confirm we are continuing to develop methodologies on food security indicators at both national and household levels within the framework of the Committee on World Food Security. At the same time, delegates present at the last Committee Session will note that there is now the Andre Meyer Fellowship, starting this summer and finishing next summer, in which an attempt is being made to develop further food security indicators as well as to assess linkages, indicators, at the household, national and regional levels.
I would add that some of the national and regional work within the Food Security Assistance Scheme deals with the development and strengthening of food information and early warning systems, which to some extent also address these problems.
Finally in the same area, I refer to the vulnerability mapping being done by the Global Information and Early Warning System in collaboration with the Save the Children Fund, with financing from the European Economic Community. I would just like to report that two weeks ago we held a workshop of experts from FAO, the World Food Programme with whom we are collaborating in this area, the Save the Children Fund and other agencies, covering both methodological aspects of information needs and availability suitable for vulnerability mapping.
Again from the delegate of Sweden there was a reference to progress with the methodology for food security diagnostics and assessment. I would like to highlight again the point made by the Deputy Director-General in his opening remarks on this Agenda item about the attempt to develop an overall FAO methodology for preparing comprehensive plans of action for food security and nutrition, currently under development. This will be the subject of an expert consultation to be held at the beginning of December involving all concerned in-house and with participation from well-known outside experts. So I think in that way we will have very shortly a methodology drawing on both the ICN follow-up and the comprehensive food security programming activities for implementation under the PFS/SARD Special Action Programme.
Incidentally, while on that subject I would like to point out that - I am harking back to a point which the delegate of Norway made yesterday concerning bottom-up rather than top-down, in the description of the Special Action Programmes in document C 93/22 there may be a false impression that it is top-down because we have given, as it were, the nuts and bolts of the programmes and that services to be provided and perhaps
have not concentrated sufficiently on the process whereby those services are provided. I assure both the delegates of Norway and Sweden that in the implementation of the comprehensive food secrity programmes hitherto - as one example the implementation aspects - the process of delivery has been highly participatory with the use of national capacities to the maximum extent possible.
I hope that with those remarks I have covered the points raised, although my colleague Mr Lupien may wish to provide complementary information.
John R. LUPIEN (Director, Pood Policy and Nutrition Division) : Thank you very much indeed. I think there was also an implication of access to food indicators and I would like to add some supplementary information about our Nutrition Division activities with regard to food consumption studies, the work of our Statistics Division on food balance sheets and the early warning system to look at food supplies. These have to be taken into account when trying to determine access to food at country level. New work is under way on household expenditure studies. The Government of Greece raised this with us recently, and FAO is about to publish a book about the use of body mass which is a way of monitoring access to food, particularly in food deficit situations. All of this has to be viewed in the concept of training, and a series of seminars has been held at regional and subregional level to help countries to be able to assess the utilization of the range of data necessary to come up with an idea of what needs to be done at country level, and how to monitor progress in this regard.
A final point is that the costs of monitoring have to be balanced against the costs of action. You can spend all your money on monitoring and then never have any action, so I think that has to be kept carefully in mind as we move ahead.
DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL: Chairman, members of the Commission, I am pleased to have the opportunity to introduce document C 93/24, which is the revised and updated version of the 1987 study "Agriculture: Toward 2000", now with the time horizon extended to the the year 2010. I apologise in advance for having to take a bit longer than I normally would on an introduction, but in part that is because the document which is before you is somewhat longer than the normal ones that you receive. Please do not allow that comment to leave you with the impression that I shall give you an adequate summary or introduction to this rather large document.
The document is, of course, in response to the suggestion at the 1987 Conference, when the earlier version to 2000 was reviewed, that we should revise and re-issue our perspective into the future about every five years.
The issues relating to the current state of world food and agriculture, food security and nutrition have been the subject of the preceding two agenda items. In this Study we are looking at these issues in a wider and longer-term perspective. The Study and the work leading up to it have been influenced by the priority areas brought upon and repeated in our Programme of Work and Budget this year, the follow-up to UNCED and the follow-up to
the ICN. Both of those conferences provided important signposts for the preparation of the present Study, as did the Den Bosch Conference on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development, which was held in 1991. The findings of the Study provide useful insights into the evolving balance between demographic growth and food, agriculture, natural resources and the environment for next year's International Conference on Population and Development.
The Study addresses how the future may unfold rather than how it ought to develop if all the problems of food security, nutrition and sustainable agricultural development were to be solved by the year 2010. As such, the findings should be taken to represent what is deemed to be the most likely outcome, not a strategy to solve all the problems by the year 2010. Indeed, it could not be otherwise since we foresee, for example, that significant undernutrition will continue to prevail. Many countries and whole regions -for example, sub-Saharan Africa - may make only slight and totally inadequate progress. Pressures on agricultural resources and the environment will continue to build. Demand for the products and services of forests will continue to grow, but their supply potential will tend to be reduced following further pressures for the transfer of forest land to agriculture. The world's fisheries resources will come under increasing pressures and the sector's output is unlikely to grow by as much as required to prevent per caput supplies of fish from falling. The prospects for expansion of the main agricultural exports of the developing countries are at best not very optimistic.
At the same time, these very findings permit us to be cautiously optimistic that a measure of progress will continue to be made. For example, world agricultural growth should continue to outpace world population growth, and this applies also to the developing countries as a whole. Parenthetically I might add that this general conclusion does not however preclude the possibility of times when supplies are inadequate to satisfy effective demand at prevailing local market prices. Second, the majority of the population of the developing countries should continue to improve their per capita food availabilities and nutritional situation. Third, the world is now more aware of the need, and at least some parts of it are better equipped from the standpoint of policy options and technologies to take action to put agricultural development on to a more sustainable path. Finally, the thrust of policy reforms under way or contemplated points in the direction of a more liberal and less trade-distorting policy environment, although admittedly progress here has been proceeding by fits and starts - mainly fits.
In this brief introduction I cannot begin to summarize all the Study findings. The first chapter of the document before you provides such a summary and the Director-General's Foreword sets the tone for reading it. The above examples are intended to highlight the fact that the future, just like the past, is likely to be characterized by a mix of successes and failures along the path towards a better-fed world and more sustainable livelihoods and agriculture. As long as many countries continue to remain poor and vulnerable on the food security front, there will be no respite from the need for continuous vigilance and preparedness to intervene to cope with the consequences of recurring food security crises. It can only be hoped that the occurrence of crises caused by war and civil unrest will tend to subside with the advancement of political solutions. If this were to happen, more of the resources now devoted to emergencies could be diverted to development assistance proper, the kind of assistance that will
attack the problem of food insecurity at its more profound roots of failure in overall development and particularly agriculture.
Indeed, the Study concludes that emphasis on improving agricultural performance in the many developing countries with high dependence on the sector will continue to be the quintessence of strategies for reducing poverty, for overall development and for food security, because, if agricultural development fails in these countries, so will the chances of reducing poverty. It is for this reason and not out of dogmatic preference for food self-sufficiency that the Study emphasizes the need for priority to be given to agriculture and local production.
Both national and international action will be needed to respond to the challenge of reducing poverty, improving food security and making progress towards sustainable agriculture and rural development. At the international level the emphasis must be on increasing external assistance to agriculture and on its more efficient utilization, as well as fair and more remunerative agricultural trade. And, of course, the Study's projections of growing food import needs of the low-income food-deficit countries underline the role that food aid must continue to play in meeting them. In this context, it is encouraging to note that this need is explicitly recognized in the multilateral trade negotiations of the Uruguay Round. But the main responsibility for better policies remains firmly grounded in national policy action. The Study devotes several chapters to the issues which policy makers will continue to face. They range from the urgent need to recognize the importance for agricultural development of maintaining a sound overall macro-economic environment to that of combining measures for increasing production with those for spreading its benefits more equitably to that of investing in the development of human resources and upgrading the role of women.
Finally, the last three chapters of the Study are devoted to the policy challenges represented by the pressures on agricultural resources and the environment which exist now and which will accompany the process of increasing agricultural production in the future.
The policy options offered by technology are reviewed, but emphasis is placed on the economic, social and institutional changes needed for putting agriculture and rural development on to a more sustainable path.
We look forward to your discussions and suggestions for further improving the way we analyse the future prospects and the possible policy responses to existing and newly emerging problems.
A. VESTEN PEDERSEN (Denmark): We wish to congratulate the Secretariat on the detailed and comprehensive document. We also thank the Secretariat for the introduction. The Report provides an important analysis on past and present world agricultural policies and it also provides an important contribution on policies and procedures needed for the future.
We find it deplorable and unacceptable that the number of undernourished people should remain at the high level of 650 million people at the end of the period. We find it equally impressive that world agriculture has been able to achieve growth rates which mean that the world population generally is better fed today than 20 years ago. To assure future food needs, major attention must be given to the situation of the farmer, farm families and, not least, women on the farm.
It is equally important that the policies of governments and international organizations adopt this approach - that is, attention to the situation on the farms - when formulating agricultural policies for the future.
It is also time for a review and settlement of a large part of the agricultural policies implemented in the period following the Second World War. It is of equal importance to establish new sustainable policies at farm level and at national and international level which match the challenge facing the world community with regard to assuring food supplies for all people in the world on a sustainable basis. We find it impressive that global per caput food supplies today are about 20 percent above the level of 3 0 years ago. World farmers and their families should be congratulated on this major achievement. The majority of developing countries has participated in this achievement, but many countries still continue to have low per caput food supplies.
The world population over the next 20 years may increase by 1.8 billion to 7.2 billion, which means that no less effort, supported by appropriate agricultural policies, is required if the present trend in per caput production is to continue. Per caput food supplies in developing countries as a whole may grow from 2 500 calories to 2 700 calories by the year 2010. In spite of this, chronic undernutrition will remain a reality for no less than 650 million people in the year 2010. This figure is not acceptable and the problem will remain on our agenda until the solution is found.
We note that cereal imports required in developing countries from developed countries may grow from 90 million tons to about 160 million tons by the year 2010. The developed countries will have a production capacity to provide this amount and even more commercially or under special conditions.
In this context, we would like to refer to the role of the World Food Programme as a supplier of food for poor and hungry people. Due to unhappy circumstances, a major part of the resources of the Programme is now used as emergency aid and aid to displaced people. We sincerely hope that the WFP may soon return to the role of an agency mainly concerned with projects for development, not least the type of projects that lead to an increase in local food production and the alleviation of local poverty.
The Report provides interesting reflections on the development of agricultural policy in the years following the Second World War, and equally some important observations in current thinking on this issue. We agree that agriculture in developing as well as developed countries should be considered an important component of the overall economy, and neglect of agriculture will impede overall development.
We also feel sure that farmers respond to incentives and that the food problem will not be solved without such proper incentives - for instance with regard to prices and tax policy. Also, in this context, incentives in the form of education, extension work and research are of crucial importance.
With regard to international trade policies, we wish to express the hope that the Uruguay Round will be concluded on a fair and balanced basis. We understand the concern of low-income, food-importing, developing countries that the Uruguay Round could lead to a fall in global stocks. We take note of the provisions in the Draft Final Act to deal with this situation, in particular the assurance that food aid will continue on appropriate concessional terms in line with Article IV of the Food Aid Convention. We
believe that in the longer term and looking beyond the Uruguay Round, there could be a case for GATT to consider a stock-holding policy which could also deal with the problem of assuring food supplies to low-income countries.
The same chapter briefly discusses questions relating to environment, sustainability and a more liberalized trading system. We believe that a profound analysis of these issues is needed, and we invite FAO commodity groups and the CCP to analyse and discuss these questions. More than a billion people in developing countries are poor and the majority of them are living in rural areas. Development of agriculture is the very key for combatting poverty and undernourishment. Therefore, we agree to many of the observations in Chapter 9 concerning access to land, tenancy reforms, credit institutions and, not least, the establishment of cooperatives and farm organizations.
Chapter 11 deals with pressures from agriculture on the environment. We believe it is of major importance to develop sustainable agricultural policies. Such policies should be ecologically sustainable, adapted to the prevailing natural conditions with regard to intensity, pollution and methods of production. They should be economically sustainable, assuring the farmer and his family of a return comparable to that of other similar activities. They should also be socially sustainable, assuring social conditions for the farmer and his family at a level comparable to the rest of society.
Ulrich D, KNUEPPEL (EEC): On behalf of the European Community and its Member States, I would like to thank Mr Hjort for his very useful introduction. I would like to express our high appreciation to the Secretariat for its excellent study on the conditions and prospects for World Agriculture: Towards 2010. By drawing together a considerable amount of information on the many factors which, over the next two decades, will influence the developments in agriculture, forestry and fisheries in the major regions of the world and globally, the study represents a solid basis for policy analysis and policy development in the years to come. It gives substance to the orientations provided by the Rio Conference on Environment and Development, by the FAO/WHO Conference on Nutrition and by the Den Bosch Conference on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development.
Enhanced food security and nutrition, and improved sustainability of agricultural and rural development, are indeed among the most vital issues to be addressed nationally and internationally in order to ensure the peaceful evolution of our societies in a progressively integrated world. The projected increase of the world population by almost a third by the year 2010 is a tremendous challenge for the world society as a whole. Immediate and farsighted efforts are, therefore, needed in order to preserve decent living conditions for present and future generations and to avoid a major part of mankind remaining behind.
The Study's projection of 650 million people still suffering by the year 2010 from chronic undernutrition, despite the major advancements which are foreseen in many areas such as education, research and agricultural production techniques, is a clear indication of the immensity of the task before us.
After careful examination of the substantive information in the study, we have no reason to question FAO's projection of the overall supply and
demand balance for the year 2010. We share in particular the view that the potential for considerable increase in world food production exists and projected annual net-imports by developing countries of 162 million tonnes of cereals would in itself not necessarily constitute a problem. Questions however arise when we examine the projections for individual regions and in particular for sub-Saharan Africa and the Near East/North Africa region.
It must be feared that the projected population increase in sub-Saharan Africa, with an unchanged annual growth rate of more than 3 percent, combined with the lowest GDP growth rate among the five regions of the developing world, will make it extremely difficult significantly to reduce the major handicaps of agriculture in this region, which are highlighted throughout the study. The projected increase of cereals and rice production in the region by 100 percent, from 54 million tonnes in 1988-90 to 109 million tonnes in 2010, seems to us, therefore, rather optimistic, even if the crop area could be considerably expanded. Furthermore, the projected annual net-imports of 19 million tonnes of cereals, which represents a 138 percent increase over 1988-90 import levels, is certainly a matter of concern.
As regards the Near East/North Africa region the projected increase in cereals and rice production by 63 percent seems plausible. The projected increase in cereals net-imports by 87 percent from 38 million tonnes in 1988-90 to 71 million tonnes in 2010 raises, however, the question of how the countries in the region will be able to afford such an important burden on a continuous basis.
Against this background, and keeping in mind the study's projection of 650 million people still suffering by the year 2010 from chronic undernutrition, we hope that the Secretariat will be in a position to provide us in the near future with a complement to the present study, which would evaluate the need for food assistance over the next two decades. While food assistance should not be a permanent instrument of development policy, and long-term oriented food security should rather be the guiding principle, we all know that the need exists. Policy-makers should, therefore, get a clear idea about the potential dimension of this problem so that appropriate responses can be developed at an early stage.
The main challenge remains, however, the design and implementation of national and international policies which will enable the developing countries to break the vicious circle between poverty, population growth and resource degradation.
The study clearly shows that this can be achieved by adjustments in overall policies and by promoting agricultural, forestry and fishery policies, which provide the necessary conditions and incentives for rural people and fishermen to adopt production techniques which not only increase supply for domestic and export markets, but also help to preserve the natural resources for present and future generations.
We therefore thank the Secretariat once more for its excellent work.
Jouko NIEMINEN (Finland): The general intention of Agriculture; Towards 2010 is to assess the prospects for food and agriculture for the next 20 years. The length of the period makes the task challenging. Over the time horizon of the study, the world population may grow from five billion in 1990 up to seven billion. Probably many political and economic
changes will take place during this time. The world will be faced with historical events. Agriculture is affected not only by the climatic alteration of the world and increasing pollution, but also because of decreasing arable land resources.
In spite of the threats, many conclusions in the Report are encouraging. The most important findings of the Report indicate that progress towards increasing production of food supplies per person will continue. On the other hand, such progress will be very slow for many countries and populations. Due to this, chronic undernutrition will continue to exist.
According to the Report, the failure to diminish poverty is the main reason why undernutrition persists. This fact sets the focus on means to obliterate poverty and to increase food supplies. However, these two aspects cannot be separated in the quest for policy responses to the undernutrition problem. In the majority of developing countries, increasing food production is one of the principal means of combating poverty.
This is due to the fact that the majority of the poor depend on agriculture for employment and income. As long as this dependence continues, the growth of food production and agricultural productivity in the countries with high rural poverty will continue to be among the main means of fighting against poverty and improving nutrition.
National agricultural policy needs new concepts in order to meet nutritional demands. The developing countries should be connected more closely to the world trade system. It is necessary to create better possibilities for these countries to export both their basic and manufactured products. To ease poverty and improve nutrition in the world, the wide global approach on international trade is essential.
The general intention of the GATT Contracting Parties is to finalize the Uruguay Round. The main content of the agreement will be based on the Draft Final Act Embodying the Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations if there are not any new concrete negotiating results to be expected. In the agricultural area the key elements of this so-called Dunkel's proposal are a substantial reduction of support and protection to agriculture.
The growth of agricultural production will create pressures on the environment. Many of these problems arise from the intensification of land use. The salinization of soil occurs in hot dry zones. The use of fertilizers and pesticides contaminates the surface and groundwater resources. The discharges of organic effluent from intensive livestock units and fish-farms also cause problems. Many problems can be avoided by increasing education; using in short, human capital in agriculture.
Tae-Jin KWON (Korea, Republic of): My delegation would like to express thanks to the Secretariat for the excellent work done in preparing the report Agriculture: Towards 2010. The report states well the important underlying themes in food security and agricultural resources for improved sustainability of agricultural and rural development, technological and other policies to minimize trade-offs between agricultural development and the environment.
I am glad to hear that food production and per caput food supplies will increase continously in the future, but I am worried that such progress
will be very slow for many countries and population groups. Nowadays many developing countries suffer from unstable food production and under-nutrition. Their explosive population growth will cause deterioration of environmental resources which serve as the foundation of their food production and global environmental functions for our future generations. Most developing countries largely depend for their employment and income on agricultural resources, though some countries have made the transition to reduced dependence on agricultural resources.
The primary interest for agriculture policy is not only how to break the vicious circle between increasing poverty and resource degradation but also how to manage the process of development. In this context, we must not lose sight of the pressing need to continue our century-long efforts to improve agriculture productivity and to achieve environmental protection.
Finally, this report will provide guidelines to plan long-term agricultural policies in member countries. My delegation also hopes that the findings will be used to plan FAO programmes and to decide priorities. In conclusion, my delegation would like to encourage FAO's expertise in all of the relevant disciplines to progress this report.
Rolf AKESSON (Sweden): When it first appeared in the form of a project proposal some 15 years ago, Agriculture; Toward 2000 aroused a considerable amount of interest and high expectations. Those were the days of intensive long-term forecasting and speculation in all social sciencies and it was felt the FAO should make a contribution in the area of agriculture, hopefully dispelling at least some of the confusion prevailing at the time due to the widey different results of other studies in this area.
By and large, the high expectations were fulfilled. AT 2000 soon became a vade-mecum which was consulted in all those instances when global long-term agricultural development was involved. Especially in countries where the necessary, rather costly, facilities to undertake comprehensive exercises like this are hard to justify, and thus it is eminently rational to rely on an international organization, it was clearly of great use. This was particularly so since those smaller and medium-sized countries are the ones that are most dependent on trade and the rest of world, and thus generally tend to put more emphasis on external factors in the process of shaping national agricultural policies.
The main reason for the success, the rather durable success, of AT 2000, was perhaps due to the basic methodology used. Rather than relying entirely or mainly on elaborate econometric models which tend to generate results that are sensitive to basic (sometimes a bit arbitrary) assumptions, especially when the time horizon is extended, the reliance of AT 2000 was on knowledge, expertise and informed judgements about the specific factors shaping agriculture - such as land, other inputs, population, trade, etc. in various parts of the world, a very labour-intensive method and clearly one that could - and indeed should - only be possible to undertake here at FAO. While the little "validation" exercise in an annex to the document in front of us is not necessarily telling the full story, it gives support to the idea that the results of this approach are more robust.
A more detailed and systematic analysis of the predictions of AT 2000 compared to reality would have been interesting and, hopefully, have increased the presentation.
It was felt at a very early stage that the usefulness of AT 2000 would soon decline unless it was updated at regular intervals. The appearance now of Agriculture: Towards 2010 at this Conference implies an interval of some 10 years. That is unfortunate since this kind of forward-looking, global overview has to be a fundamental and indispensable activity of an organization which merits the designation "global centre of excellence". Admittedly, some parts have been updated earlier but basically we members have been without a decently up-to-date and consolidated study for at least five years. In view of the total amount of resources put into this organization, that is simply not good enough and we expect the new Director-General to propose a strengthening of the relevant department in this respect in order to prevent such delays in the future. We will, for example, very soon have, hopefully, a conclusion of the Uruguay Round which may warrant a more detailed look at future global developments.
The initial success of AT 2000 did not mean that it was free from objections. Some of them have been taken into account in the revised version in front of us. We appreciate, for example, that the slightly technocratic view of the production process has been replaced by a more elaborate and sophisticated one that better takes into consideration the natural biological cycle's negative effects on the environment and a better appreciation of alternative methods of production. We would, however, have welcomed a slightly deeper and more thorough analysis of the issues relating to trade and the environment.
Similarly, we appreciate the efforts to look into the social circumstances in areas of future production growth. Clearly, the possible increases in production in various areas depend not only on hard facts such as land areas, water availability, numbers of farmer and consumers etc., but also on the widely differing and changing social conditions. In other words, we appreciate that the farmer is not considered only as just another factor of production, homogeneous and comparable to other inputs.
We are less impressed, however, with the reaction to the earlier criticism for regionally unbalanced coverage. In one respect we recognize an improvement and that concerns by far the largest country, China, which is no longer left out more or less entirely, although there is still ample room for additional efforts to cover more aspects, such as the grains sector. We find little improvement concerning the earlier lack of comparability between developed and developing countries. If this is to be regarded as a truly global exercise, which we certainly would like to do for all outputs from UN and other agencies for whom the principle of universality is clearly and generally recognized, then it is hard to avoid the conclusion that one group of member countries has been the subject of almost systematic discrimination. I am not only referring to OECD countries. At least equally serious is the lack of comprehensive attention to countries in Eastern Europe.
That might have been avoided with a procedure of work involving member countries. In most organizations a project like this is discussed at various levels by representatives or experts from member countries and perhaps also from other institutions. To our knowledge that has not been done in here, at least not in a systematic way. We would like to suggest that this is done in the future.
Finally, as to the future of this study, we would like to endorse the idea that it is published as soon as possible. In spite of some shortcomings, it contains exceedingly interesting and policy relevant information which
clearly merits its being brought to the attention of interested parties outside the building, as well as to the public at large. The most efficient way of doing this appears to us to be to make a fairly short edition - say 50 pages or so - with major analyses and results, maximum use of graphic presentations and special emphasis on the outlook for future developments in line with UNCED results.
The present version is not easily accessible and clearly too detailed for most purposes. Rather than having an outside company publish this version, which was done with some delays for the predecessor, a shorter streamlined version would be preferable and could be done quickly in the building.
David CLAYTON (United Kingdom): Mr Chairman, the United Kingdom wishes to congratulate the FAO Secretariat on a timely update of their earlier global study "Agriculture: Towards 2000". The update usefully takes into account events at UNCED follow-up/Agenda 21 implications. I would like to refer to some of the main points.
The paper recognizes that economic growth in the developed world could have an important impact on living standards in developing countries, and hence their ability to obtain adequate food supplies. It is well known that forecasting economic growth is notoriously difficult and the paper, as can be expected, has had to make certain assumptions about future levels. It may in future be helpful if some sensitivity analysis were included in order to aid consideration of, for example, the implications and potential effects of lower growth.
In paragraphs 8.44 to 8.47, a controversial economic issue is given somewhat brief treatment. This is the extent to which it is valid for countries to resort to trade restrictions in support of environmental objectives. For example, if a country is producing a product at a high cost to the environment, another country may decide to impose a tariff on this product to take account of the environmental externality. A number of issues emerge from this. Firstly, countries may use the environmental argument as a spurious justification for protection. Secondly, is it legitimate for one country to impose its own environmental standards on others? Clearly, where there is an environmental overspill (for example, acid rain) then a country does have a legitimate interest in another's environmental policies. However, some would argue that even when the environmental damage is completely confined within national boundaries other countries can have a legitimate interest. It is argued that countries which damage their own environment to gain a competitive advantage are engaged in some form of "unfair" competition. However, the counter-argument is that it is quite legitimate for countries to choose differing environmental standards. These choices reflect the current tastes and priorities of these nations (although this could be questionable in undemocratic countries). This issue could be given greater consideration in these paragraphs.
On fisheries, the United Kingdom aims to ensure stocks are conserved and managed as a sustainable resource, and that fishing effort is balanced with available resources. We fully support the initiative in the UN Conference to prepare a Code of Conduct on Responsible Fishing to help ensure high sustainable yields for both coastal and high seas fisheries.
Research is an important topic and it is important to recognize the important role of the public sector in research and development. In the
United Kingdom, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food targets its efforts towards the public good and environmental research spending around £130m each year. Research which is likely to bring direct commercial benefits is funded by the private sector.
The United Kingdom Government.recognizes the importance of good marketing to the commercial success of its farming and food industries. We believe that the key issue is better communication and more collaboration between all parts of the agriculture and food industry - producers, processors, retailers and catering outlets - so that the whole industry can become more aware of customers' needs and how to meet them. The United Kingdom encourages contacts throughout the industry and makes available grant support towards the development of marketing structures which are better able to respond to the commercial realities of today's market.
There is of course a wider context. As the United Kingdom delegation said during the discussion of paper 93/2, the global economy and food and farming in particular will clearly gain from a successful conclusion to the Uruguay Round. The United Kingdom is strongly committed to doing all that we can to help achieve that conclusion.
The United Kingdom delegation has taken note of the Chapter on Forestry which restates the present situation of the world's forests, forest production and trade and forestry and the environment. The paper concludes with a section on future perspectives.
We believe the focus must be on practical implementation of the UNCED Forestry Principles, and it is encouraging to note that initiatives such as the Helsinki Ministerial Conference on Forest Protection in Europe and the Montreal Seminar on Sustainable Development of Boreal and Temperate Forests, as well as the activities of the International Tropical Timber Organization, are taking this forward.
It is widely accepted that farmers have a dual role as food producers and stewards of the countryside. However, agriculture's impact on the environment has not always been positive. Technological developments and the influence of agricultural support policies have, over the past 30-40 years, resulted in agricultural practices that have led to the loss of valued landscape features and wildlife as well as water and air pollution problems.
In recognition of this, the United Kingdom has been at the forefront of efforts to integrate environmental objectives into agriculture policy. For example, we pioneered the Environmentally Sensitive Areas concept under which we aim to conserve those areas of high landscape, wildlife or historic value which are vulnerable to change in farming practices.
Also, the May 1992 Common Agricultural Policy reform agreement included, at the United Kingdom's insistence, a declaration affirming the Agriculture Council's commitment to environmental protection as an integral part of the CAP.
We believe that environmental conditions should be attached to payments to farmers to prevent damage to the environment. However, where environmentally positive management is required going beyond normal good agricultural practice, we believe farmers should receive compensation.
Looking to the future, it is vitally important that the process begun at Rio is carried forward. The United Kingdom for its part will produce, by the end of this year, a sustainable development strategy as well as national plans on biodiversity, climate change and forests. These will set out how we intend to respond nationally and internationally to the Rio agreements. Agriculture, fisheries and forestry policies will all be covered as appropriate.
FAO are to be congratulated for their work on sustainability issues to date. Obviously, it is important to ensure that, in progressing this, due account is taken of work undertaken in other fora (for example, UNECE and OECD) to ensure best use of resources.
Finally, we have a long text before us already but we might. reflect on whether it would be beneficial if the Secretariat had included in the document suggested outline action programmes in critical areas. The United Kingdom delegation believes there would be merit in highlighting both the problems which must be resolved and the action which needs to be taken, recognizing this can only be done in outline with the detail followed up elsewhere.
Bernardo PALESTINI (Italy): The forecast for the period 1990-2010, as given in document C 93/24, shows a further increase in the world's population of 1.3 billion so that the total of the world's population in 2010 will be 7.2 billion. Nevertheless, this increase, even if high, is lower in percentage terms than the one we had in the past. Unfortunately, it is not evenly shared and will cause many problems because the poorest countries show the highest increase in population growth.
In contrast, the increase in GNP in agriculture is in percentage terms lower than that for the previous ten years, as shown in Table 3.2 of the document under consideration.
Therefore, we can foresee that the food situation will always be serious. Nevertheless, if we examine food habits, we will note that, first of all, in the developing countries studied in this document, there is an improvement in their diet. In fact, animal products are used more now than cereal products.
Interesting data come from a survey of future trends for non-food agricultural products. A typical example is tobacco. Its use is decreasing in developed countries but is increasing in the developing countries. The latter will probably reach and even overtake the former in the near future.
The decrease in arable lands - caused by the spreading of cities and by protective measures of the environment, for example parks and natural reserves, hydrogeological constraints, etc., - together with the decrease in agricultural working populations take place both in the developed and, although to a lesser extent, in the developing countries.
As we can see in the document, in the developing countries theoretically there is the possibility of increasing the arable surface and exploiting in a better manner the existing one. On the contrary, in industrialized countries this possibility does not exist or, if it does, it would be uneconomic. Nevertheless, there are also positive aspects. The transition from a mainly agricultural activity, often with the aim of mere survival, towards tertiary and agro-industrial activities generally causes an
increase in per capita income and, therefore, in the end a general improvement in conditions of life.
Moreover, "part-time" farming is a growing aspect of our time. It has to be considered in relation not only to the absolute values of productivity of professional agriculture, but also in relation to the protection of the environment in which this activity develops. This is particulary felt in highly-populated countries. Here we have witnessed, especially in recent years, a return to the countryside, caused more by health and ecological reasons than by economic ones.
In the general view of Agriculture in 2010, particular attention is rightly given to the difficult problem of forests. Forests are a renewable resource, although the renewal process takes a long time. Their products are of vital importance both for the economy and daily life. They bring about beneficial effects of wide-ranging significance which need consideration also for their important consequences.
Forests are all too often requested to provide goods and services. The growing demand placed upon them causes more and more antagonism concerning both the benefits of forests and the possible utilization of the land for different purposes such as agriculture, animal breeding and human settlements.
The major challenge lying ahead of us is to settle such conflicts over the different destinations of forests so as to be sure that they will be managed in a proper way and to guarantee that their basic functions will not be endangered.
Governments and competent authorities must take the necessary measures at national, international and local levels to provide a sustainable management of forests and to favour, as far as possible, those ways of utilizing natural resources capable of assuring their renewal and regeneration.
The initiative contemplated in the Tropical Forest Action Programme, engaging jointly the FAO, the World Bank, UNDP and the World Resource Institute, must be supported and given the utmost participation in order to help the countries involved finalize their policies according to the principle of the sustainable management of forests. We do not certainly mean to underestimate the many other worldwide FAO initiatives in the forest and environmental sectors. We would wish to stress Italy's special interest in the Mediterranean Forest Action Programme which offers a further opportunity to meet and cooperate at international level in an area of great historical, humanistic and political significance.
Mrs Hedwig WÖGERBAUER (Austria) (Original language German): Although this is a very comprehensive document I will be brief in my comments on it. I simply want to point out those issues which seem most important to us.
Like Agriculture: Toward 2000, this comprehensive piece of work --Agriculture: Towards 2010 -- is not only of particular interest, but also in a very impressive way shows us future prospects. Although there are certain limits contained in all forecasts we have to thank very warmly the authors of this work. They have done a great deal of hard work and have shown a sense of responsibility and expertise in putting together this forecast which goes beyond the turn of the century. Naturally enough, the
emphasis of this forecast is on agriculture and nutrition, showing possible trends in developing countries. In this connection, we should mention the individual chapters.
The authors point to already existing or suggested measures which might be useful for the future. They refer to measures in agriculture, forestry and fisheries while taking into account the environmental aspects. Even in the introduction they point to a reduction in the number of under-nourished people from 800 million to 650 million in the developing countries which is a pleasing result, but which shows we still have many important tasks before us.
Quite apart from the very impressive overview contained in Chapter 11, from our point of view we would refer particularly to Chapters 3,10, 11 and 13. The stepping-up of specialized schooling and advice, especially for women, focused on in Chapter 10, is in line with our own opinion that this is one of the most purposeful and useful investments in the interest of producers and consumers in forestry and agriculture.
Chapters 11 to 13 list measures and proposals for environmental protection in connection with production of and trade in agricultural products, which in our country are becoming more and more important from the point of view of both the consumer and the producer. Therefore, we feel the points in paragraphs 13.29, 13.3 0 and 13.36 to be of particular interest.
All in all, this exemplary report is a useful basis for agricultural policy considerations with a view to better nutrition as well as a better standard of living for those active in the spheres of agriculture and forestry.
Eberhard SCHKAUZ (Germany) (Original language German): By updating and extending this study to the year 2010, the FAO Secretariat has once again provided us with a remarkable work. We congratulate them on this and thank them for the work they have done. This exceptional study we have before us follows on from the study which appeared in 1987, which was a similar FAO study, known as Toward 2000. This continuation is a very successful document looking at the probable developments of nutrition and agriculture (including forestry and fisheries) over the course of the next twenty years.
The Chapters have been well divided into 13 themes. They give us a good overview of the important questions relating to world agriculture as well as to the interlinkage of the main and substantive issues such as the fight against poverty - for example in rural areas: the fight against hunger -for example in the Sahel region; the preservation of the natural bases of life - for example in deserts, steppes and mountain areas, as well as the inclusion of all sectors of the population in rural development.
In the conclusions in Chapter 1, paragraphs 1.98 through to 1.100, the study emphasizes a whole range of important statements and perspectives which are of great importance for the debate on agricultural policy as well as for the future work of FAO. The study includes a wealth of information which will be of great interest to the international community. Detailed assessments especially with a view to the forecast development of important agricultural markets are also being undertaken in the Federal Republic of Germany.
In this respect, we support what the delegate of Sweden said - that is to say, we should have a summary of the document. At first sight, the assumptions in the document seem to be quite plausible. On the other hand, it is very difficult to assess to what extent these assumptions will prove to be realistic, all the more so since the forecasts for the developing countries are based partly on unreliable data and the developments in the reformed countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and the area of the former Soviet Union are very difficult to foresee.
A decisive question is whether and to what extent by the year 2010 we are going to have an increase in energy costs and what impact this may have for further economic growth and demand for agricultural products, for example, in the technical industrial area. According to an assessment of the company PROGONOS AG, Basel, in its report of Germany produced in 1993, the price for a barrel of crude oil could rise from the present level of US$18.5 by the year 2010 to US$70 to US$75. This would mean a price increase in real terms of about 85 percent.
The study makes clear that problems of food security, poverty, hunger and chronic under-nutrition may well prevail, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, but may also continue in other developing countries. Reference has already been made to this in a statement made by the European Commission.
It is going to be even more important to be more precise in regional terms about the obvious need for actions concerning resource conserving, sustainable and food-securing agriculture resources, which have been made clear in the study should be supplemented through proposals and concrete measures.
This comprehensive compendium which concentrates above all on portraying the results of analysis of important specialized areas should provide a good basis for FAO's work in the next 10 to 15 years. It includes the area of production technology, questions relating to rural development in connection with natural resources in agriculture, forestry and fisheries as well as demographic forecasts in connection with poverty and hunger.
To achieve this goal, it is essential to bring into line the areas of action outlined in the study with the priorities in the Medium-Term Plan 1994-95, document C 93/23, and to adjust them in the course of development. In this respect I am thinking, for example, of the application of research results with regard to the use of the means of production. Training and extension are other areas which can decisively help to improve the situation in the problem areas. On top of that, we need measures in the spheres of fisheries and forestry.
The trends shown in this study offer the bodies, the various working groups and committees of FAO very good guidelines for their future work.
The meeting rose at 12.3 0 hours.
La séance est levée à 12 h 30.
Se levanta la sesión a las 12.3 0 horas.
