O. AWOYEMI (Nigeria): I want to comment very briefly on one aspect of the World Food Situation as presented in document CL 79/2 and its Supplement. My understanding of the situation is that no real improvement has taken place in spite of years of effort of this great organization, the World Food Council and other specialized agencies of the United Nations.
It is quite possible to paint a brighter picture by highlighting production gains in the developed and some developing countries but the fact remains that the real food deficit countries are nowhere near a permanent solution to their problem and until this happens world food supplies will continue to be in a crisis situation.
It would therefore make more sense to see the food situation less in its global context and more in a regional and sub-regional context. It is only in that way that much needed support for programmes to enable food deficit countries to be self-reliant can be seen in the appropriate perspective. This view is supported by the opening address of the Director-General where he admitted that food aid had never met the target of 10 million tons set by the World Food Conference in 1974. It is in fact decreasing rather than increasing. In other words, large increases in food production in the United States, Canada and other agriculturally advanced countries can only be of marginal benefit to food deficit countries even though the global food situation would appear to improve. Much of the gains would probably be sold at very commercial rates to the richer countries.
My delegation therefore supports the view often expressed here that the way to solve the problem of food deficits on a permanent basis is to support countries with a programme which would make them self-reliant. It is admitted, however, that the support received would depend on the commitment and the initiatives of the countries themselves. If you turn to the last paragraph of page 3 of document CL 79/2 it would appear that this world body accepts as a fact of life that the developing world has to continue to rely on the developed market economies for their basic food needs.
This is a very unacceptable situation and this august body must continue to exert considerable influence and pressure on the multilateral as well as bilateral agencies to support regional and national efforts at self-reliance. The Lagos Plan of Action, on which we will probably have more to say in the course of this meeting, is a case in point. In Nigeria all hands are on deck for an immediate push in food and agricultural production and it is for this reason that my great patriot and Chairman of this Council and other personalities such as Doctor T.S.B. Aribisala, the former director of agricultural services here in FAO, returned last year to put their wealth of experience at the disposal of the government and people of Nigeria. The Federal Government has allocated at least 15 percent, with food taking the lion's share. It is our hope that food imports would be reduced to an insignificant level within the next five years. This magnitude of effort, and probably more, is re-quired by all food deficit countries. This would provide absorptive capacity for the much needed bi-lateral and multilateral assistance.
A. NAGA (Japan): My delegation would like to express its deep appreciation of the frank and pointed opening address of Dr. Saouma, and to the FAO Secretariat for the excellent preparation of document CL 79/2 on the World Food Situation and we would also like to congratulate Professor Islam on the concise and brilliant introduction on this item.
The World Food Situation today, or in 1981, is uncertain, owing to the considerable decline in cereal stocks, resulting from crop failures in the last two consecutive years, 1979 and 90, and at the end of the current season world cereal stocks will meet only 14 percent of world consumption. Although the coming harvest of winter wheat crops seem to be promising in the intermediate and long-range prospects, the outlook for world food production is rather tight. It is commonly recognized in the world community that the food problem is one of the most serious of the 1980s. Given this serious situation, in order to increase world food production my delegation believes that the responsibility lies firstly with individual governments which must take the necessary steps to increase food self-reliance for their people. An especially important pre-requisite for solving the food problem is increasing production efforts of the developing countries concerned.
My Government has been positively pushing forward economic cooperation in order to let FAO fulfill its obligations to the world community.
In connexion with cooperation in the region of agriculture, I would like to emphasize the following points: firstly the basic principle underlying cooperation is to give support to the self-help efforts made by developing countries. Cooperation being of such a character the primary requirement is for each developing country to formulate concrete plans for increasing food production giving them top priority and actively to carry them out to achieve development.
Secondly I would like to emphasize the importance of developing human resources in order to ensure that the cooperation extended may best serve the interests of rural communities and farmers.
My Government has conducted active agricultural cooperation in the developing countries in line with the considerations I have already mentioned. In 1979 Japan's agricultural cooperation in its offshore bilateral assistance totalled US$ 509 million, a figure approximately 6 times greater than that of 1975. This cooperation in bilateral aid increased to 23 percent in 1979 compared to 8 percent in 1975.
With regard to Japan's ODA in 1980, fiscal year disbursement of assistance amounted to 3.3 billion dollars and the immediate term target of doubling this assistance in three years was completed in the same years with the performance fairly exceeding the original target. Furthermore, in an effort to improve the amount of this assistance in GNP every major effort towards positive cooperation in this assistance, the Japanese Government, in spite of being engaged at present in the very urgent task of national financial reconstruction last January, worked out an immediate term target aimed at more than doubling the total of the aid in the first half of the 1980s as against the performance in the latter half of the previous decade and to that end more than doubling the ODA related budget in the five year period beginning in 1981 as compared with that for the past five years. Thus under this new target, Japan will be striving within the framework of its food aid policy to make a far reaching expansion in the amount of this assistance offers to support the self-help efforts of the developing countries. Japan is determined to continue its efforts to contribute to the peace and stability of the world food cooperation for stabilizing food supply and demand in the developing countries and for improving the welfare of the people in the farming areas of these countries.
I. MARGINEANU (Roumanie): En tout premier lieu, j'aimerais vous dire le plaisir que j'ai de vous voir une fois encore à la présidence du Conseil de la FAO dont l'activité a connu sous votre compétente direction des succès notables.
J'aimerais profiter aussi de l'occasion pour adresser les plus chaleureuses félicitations aux vice-présidents du Conseil et au Rapporteur pour la présente session ainsi qu'aux représentants du secrétariat de la FAO pour l'excellent travail de préparation de la session.
Avant d'entrer dans le vif du sujet, je désire vous faire part de la satisfaction du gouvernement de mon pays d'être redevenu membre de cet important organisme de direction de la FAO et donc de pouvoir actionner à ce niveau le renforcement du rôle de la FAO.
Les documents élaborés par le secrétariat sur la situation actuelle de l'alimentation dans le monde nous offrent une image assez complète du stade auquel on est arrivé et des perspectives auxquelles on peut s'attendre sur la base des données connues en ce moment.
D'une façon générale, l'analyse effectuée par le secrétariat et les principales conclusions qui s'en dégagent nous semblent être de nature à stimuler les débats au sein du Conseil et plus tard de la Conférence générale de la FAO, surtout pour ce qui est de la mise en oeuvre et du perfectionnement de certains mécanismes existant déjà dans le cadre de la FAO ou sur le plan international en général.
Nous avons surtout en vue l'analyse et les conclusions concernant des aspects tels que: le plan d'action pour la sécurité alimentaire mondiale; l'aide alimentaire ordinaire et d'urgence; le commerce international des produits alimentaires; l'assistance extérieure en faveur de l'agriculture.
Pour ce qui est des mesures à prendre pour dissiper les craintes de la plus grande majorité des peuples et assurer un fondement solide pour la sécurité alimentaire dans le monde, une image beaucoup plus claire ressort de la déclaration du Directeur général de la FAO.
Comme tous les autres représentants qui nous ont précédé, nous tenons à féliciter et à remercier le Directeur général, M. Saouma, pour les considérations présentées au début de cette session, considé-rations qui prouvent encore une fois, non seulement sa haute compétence, son dévouement dans la pro-motion des buts assignés à la FAO, mais aussi une grande capacité d'analyse politique des facteurs qui doivent entrer en ligne de compte pour la solution urgente et adéquate des problèmes de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture du monde actuel.
C'est justement sur certains des aspects soulevés par la déclaration du Directeur général de la FAO que nous voudrions nous arrêter brièvement, car il nous semble qu'ils représentent le cadre général dans lequel doivent s'inscrire les mesures à prendre pour la solution à brève et à longue échéance des problèmes visant à l'élimination de la faim et de la malnutrition.
Ainsi, dans la conception de la Roumanie concernant l'édification d'une paix durable et d'une sécurité réelle des peuples, d'un monde meilleur et plus juste, la Roumanie et son président militent de longue date tant sur le plan conceptuel que sur le plan pratique pour l'élimination du sous-développement et de la division périmée entre pays pauvres et pays nantis, ce qui représente l'élément fondamental de l'édification d'un nouvel ordre économique international.
Nous sommes aussi d'avis que l'humanité ne peut plus contempler d'un oeil indifférent une situation où plus des deux tiers de la population du monde sont victimes de la faim, de la malnutrition, des maladies et de la misère.
De même, nous estimons que la crise économique qui affecte de façon considérable le domaine de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture est aggravée par des phénomènes tels que l'accélération de la course aux armements, la recrudescence des vieilles politiques de force et des diktats, d'intervention dans les affaires des autres peuples. Tout cela ne fait qu'accroître la tension dans la vie internationale, créer un climat d'incertitude et d'insécurité, engendrer de graves menaces pour la paix, l'indépendance nationale et la souveraineté des Etats, notamment des pays en développement, des pays petits et moyens, empêchant de ce fait le progrès économique et social de tous les peuples.
A part l'élimination urgente de la vie internationale de tels phénomènes profondément nuisibles, nous considérons qu'il est très important aussi pour les problèmes du domaine de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture de donner suite à certaines politiques spécifiques qui ont prouvé leur efficacité et qui sont à même de résoudre fondamentalement les problèmes du sous-développement.
Certes, les propres efforts des pays en développement, la mobilisation et la pleine mise en valeur des ressources humaines et matérielles dont ils disposent sont essentiels pour l'élimination du sous-développement. Le renforcement de la solidarité et de la coopération des pays en développement revêt lui aussi une grande importance tant pour leur développement économique et social que pour les négo-ciations et le dialogue avec les pays développés, si l'on veut aboutir à des solutions qui assurent l'essor plus rapide des pays en développement et contribuent à la stabilité et à la croissance écono-mique générales.
L'action internationale visant le développement de l'agriculture, des voies de communication, le libre accès aux techniques modernes, la réglementation de l'activité des sociétés multinationales dans les pays en développement, l'augmentation des ressources financières et de l'assistance technique mises à la disposition de ceux-ci, surtout par l'entremise des institutions spécialisées comme la FAO, a encore un rôle très important à jouer.
L'intense activité internationale de la Roumanie visant l'édification d'un nouvel ordre économique international, le désarmement, la mise en pratique de certains autres objectifs fondamentaux du monde actuel parmi lesquels l'élimination de la faim et de la malnutrition est doublée d'un grand effort sur le plan national pour donner suite aux grands impératifs de la nouvelle société roumaine, y compris pour ce qui est de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation.
C'est ainsi qu'en Roumanie a commencé cette année une véritable révolution dans l'agriculture aussi bien en ce qui concerne la base technico-matérielle qu'en ce qui concerne l'organisation de la production. C'est une priorité à laquelle l'on attribue un caractère essentiel en vue de l'obtention de la plus rapide croissance de la production agricole de l'après-guerre et, pour la première fois chez nous, d'un rythme de développement de l'agriculture qui dépassera celui de l'industrie.
Une grande extension sera donnée à la lutte contre l'érosion du sol, aux travaux d'assèchement, d'irrigation, en vue de l'utilisation a un niveau qualitatif supérieur de chaque mètre carré de terrain.
En plus de croissances quantitatives interviennent aussi des éléments qualitatifs qui contribueront à la croissance de la productivité du travail, à la transformation du travail dans l'agriculture en une variante du travail industriel.
A présent, un grand effort supplémentaire doit être fait pour diminuer autant que possible les effets des conditions naturelles défavorables.
Voilà quelle est, dans ses grandes lignes, la conception de la Roumanie sur les voies à suivre pour améliorer la situation alimentaire dans le monde, pour parer et éliminer graduellement la faim et la malnutrition.
C'est à la lumière de cette position de principe que la délégation roumaine va chercher à apporter une contribution active et constructive dans les discussions sur les autres points de l'ordre du jour, y compris ceux concernant le programme et le budget qui représentent les points clés pour l'avenir de la FAO.
S. HAGRAS (Egypt): (interpretation from Arabic): Before discussing the current world food situation allow me to pay due homage to the terms of the report prepared by the Secretariat, CL 79/2. I also wish to pay homage to the Director-General who in his statement provided us with a clear and frank analysis of this subject. We are convinced that these two documents will provide us with additional information of great value. They will give us an all-embracing analysis of this problem, a problem which has become one of the most pressing concerns of the present time.
These two documents illustrate obvious truths. One important point is the increase that has been registered in food production throughout the world. We have noticed that this has increased at only a very humble level over the last two years. Indeed there has been a reduction in cereal production, which has gone below the threshold for food security. This has been particularly noticeable in developing countries. The drop in food security reserves in 1981 was such that this went below the security level for world food security.
Again in this document we read that dairy products and meat products have been only 1 percent; sugar has dropped during the period 1980/81 by 5 percent as compared with 1978/79.
These two documents also illustrate the inertia to be seen in production. Indeed there is an obvious lack of productivity. What is more, farmers have had difficulties with the incredible cost of agricultural inputs, such as fertilizers, mechanization, pesticides, energy and so on. So we can see here that farmers are having to face up to an overall serious increase in the cost of inputs and other commodities.
International trade shows that the demand has increased for end products and food commodities, and this we are sure will have an effect as regards deficits in the balance of payments. It will in fact erode resources devoted to development.
Over and above all this, developing countries are being faced with economic and social problems which are based on the heritage they received from colonialism, colonialism which bled our resources. Some countries are still being bled by colonialism.
One of the main problems to be faced by developing countries is the lack of development in technology, the lack of investment in development, the lack of the necessary inputs required to ensure abundant agricultural production, including the services, credits and marketing installations.
What is more, countries are having to tackle the problem of heavy debts. Then there is the problem of inflation. Inflation is much more serious in developing than in developed countries. There is also a lack of technical experts which is suffered by these countries.
The documents provided have illustrated the scale of world shortages, especially in Africa. Even though Africa does have its own vast natural and human resources, our country suffers from serious agricultural shortages. Twenty-two countries in Africa are in a very serious situation. This is a problem which is being exacerbated by the extortion that exists between the possibilities available to a country and the population increase. This is the reason why this situation may give rise to famine, as we have noticed in certain countries. This famine has, of course, political, economic and social repercussions of a serious nature. We are studying the food situation in a more objective manner. We think that this is necessary because the development of agriculture has been affected by population increases and international measures which have further exacerbated the problems faced by our country. I would cite unemployment, inflation, instability and lack of security as being among the key problems. Food security is a challenge which faces the international community, especially the wealthy countries. We should not lose sight of the fact that developing countries are a vast market for the commodities being produced by developed countries. This means that what is happening in the former is bound to have repercussions on the latter and vice versa; hence, this balance shows that in the next 20 years an increase in our populations will be registered mainly in the Third World countries which are the main market for the economics of the developed countries, which is the reason why we must face up to this problem. We must make sure that both parties are geared to this same evolution. They should work as partners. They should realize they are both involved in the same thing. They should realize that the correction and amendment of this situation through the assistance of developed countries will enable us to achieve security and stability in the developing countries.
We may wonder why developing countries have not engaged in greater efforts in order to themselves correct this situation. Well, as a partial offset of that question we might say that there are bottlenecks which these countries have to face, and I would mention amongst these obstacles the mobilization of resources required to cover their import costs. This is a heavy burden for developing countries and for their budgets. I would go so far as to say that developing countries do not have the technological resources nor do they have the know-how that is required for this. That is why the programmes undertaken by these countries lack the firm political support required, so we do need this change. This change can be implemented so long as it is reflected in a change in the economic and social models. This is something which has not yet proved satisfactory. That is why I wish to state that in the years to come, it seems that this situation will grow worse, so what we need to do is to lighten the burden of local crises; what we need to do is provide efficiency and real assistance. We should realize the responsibilities of a humane nature of mankind, and this is something which calls for an organized outlook and genuine efforts and practical measures to be carried out by all parties concerned. Similarly, this calls for the establishment of a general framework covering the objectives to be sought, and here the clear outlines are already established.
At the present time we have a World Food Council which includes among its responsibilities that of alleviating the food situation in the world. We must engage in further efforts, we must assist the World Food Council and the FAO in their efforts to improve the world food situation, especially in developing countries.
It is obvious that the FAO has a key role to play in this respect. That is indeed the reason why we should all work as a team in trying to solve the problems faced by the Organization at the present time. We refer to material and moral support for the Organization. This is vital at the present time and it is something which could continue for many years to come. Obviously, the solution to this problem would involve increased agricultural production through integral plans on a realistic and healthy basis, and that is why the international community is asking countries to take a responsible attitude in this regard. Developing countries are among the first which should, engage in appreciable efforts; they should first of all draw on their own resources. Developing countries should encourage production in their own countries. It is important for them to prepare programmes on healthy economic foundations. These countries can no longer allow their resources to become debilitated. We must study world food security in an all-embracing and integrated global manner. This is something which we stress. Cereals and other commodities would give us an imbalance, otherwise we will arrive at a food deficit. Proteins, sugar and other basic commodities are necessary, not just cereals. In Egypt, we can increase our cereal production but that will be done at the expense of other crops, especially as we suffer tremendous deficits in wheat, which produce 2 million tons and we import 6 million tons. In the case of maize, we produce 4.5 million and we import one million tons. Similarly, in the case of vegetable oils, their imports represent 300 000 tons; that is about 75 percent of our total consumption.
Indeed, it can be seen that we import much more than half of our food requirements from abroad. However, we have given absolute priority to food security development projects, and that is why we have prepared an integrated policy in order to encourage investments in agricultural developments, and in the course of the present year we have allocated 965 million Egyptian pounds, that is about 28 percent of the total investments in my country, and the government has concerned itself with a policy to provide bonuses to increase the farming of vast areas of the country, and we are hoping to encourage the private sector and public sector in this respect at the present time.
We are re-examining the property laws, the land ownership laws. We are also examining the question of tax exemption in the case of agricultural and food security development projects. In this context, my country has already registered a development rate of 3.8 percent as regards agricultural production in 1980. This rate is still below the required level if we are to cover the requirements of food security and in order to encourage the production of food and therefore cater for the entire propulation, our population which is increasing by about 1,025,000 per annum. This is a problem which we consider a technological challenge for our civilization. It calls for vast investments involving all our resources, and we must draw on all available knowledge. These are aspects which we should devote to development.
We wish to pay due homage to the financial and technological assistance provided by our brother countries, the friendly countries. We thank them. We are highly appreciative of the initiatives they have taken in this context; similarly, we wish to express our appreciation of FAO's participation.
M. ZYALIC (Yugoslavia): The Secretariat documents before us have described objectively and realistically the current world food situation. We feel that the main conclusions to be drawn from analyses and documents is that notwith standing some positive developments in the world food outlook for 1981-82 due to favourable growing conditions for cereals, the situation could still deteriorate rapidly.
In 1980, food production growth in developing countries was far behind the agreed minimum objective of 4 percent growth rate. Some of the least developed countries and most seriously affected countries experienced negative per capita food production growth rate. We noted with satisfaction the better performance of the agricultural sectors of some developing regions, but we also noted with great concern that per capita food production in Africa declined for the second time in the last five years.
Most of the developing countries have substantially raised the priorities attached to food and agriculture in their national development plans, but a series of local crises such as food, energy, monetary instability, and the highly inadequate achievements at the international level, such as external assistance to agriculture, food security, food aid, assistance in fertilizers, trade agricultural commodities, have seriously hampered their efforts to accelerate growth in food production.
This situation calls for intensified action at national and international levels for the implementation of targets and objectives of international development strategy for the 1980's. The international community must find the strength and the will to overcome some still existing difficulties and start global negotiations for the implementation of the international development strategy. This could be an important contribution to the establishment of a viable and dependable system of world food security based primarily on sufficient food production in developing countries and of course a series of other relevant measures and actions. There is no doubt that the primary responsibility for increasing food and agricultural production in developing countries rests in themselves, but also there is a need for increased assistance from developed countries in terms of resource technology, fertilizers and other agricultural inputs.
Recognizing the key importance of international trade in the long-term solution of food problems in developing countries, we strongly feel that all governments should adhere to the principles of the integrated approach and speed-up of negotiations on international commodity Agreements, and that the generalized system of preferences should be substantially extended on a similar range of agricultural commodities, and that trade barriers should be reduced if not eliminated, as well as all forms of protectionism against agricultural raw materials particularly from developing countries.
A few months ago the Yugoslav Parliament adopted a policy document on the food and agriculture development for the period 1981/85, including other measures for incentives for producers such as remunerative price policies, agricultural research and extension which should provide for an annual growth in food production of at least 4 percent.
An essential part of this document deals with international cooperation in agriculture, particularly cooperation with developing countries. Our Head of State, President of the Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, during recent sessions of the World Food Council announced a set of measures in this respect - inter alia the substantial increase in resources and location for development and assitance, for food aid, and other forms of cooperation with developing countries.
In 1980 in my country wheat production was below average. Maize production was at the average level. For 1981 we expect a further decline in wheat production to 4.6 million tons because of smaller areas sown last autumn. Maize production is expected to be at a record level due to larger areas sown and good growing conditions.
Finally, we would like to congratulate the Director-General on his inaugural statement in which he made a straightforward analysis of the situation and at the same time opened new ways and horizons for the solution of problems and for the alleviation of hunger and malnutrition.
My Government supports the future activities and efforts of FAO.
S. AIDARA (Sénégal): Je vous remercie de me donner la parole à ce stade de nos discussions sur la question importante relative à la situation alimentaire actuelle dans le monde.
Je voudrais tout d'abord féliciter le Secrétariat pour le document utile qu'il nous a fourni au titre de ce point de notre ordre du jour.
C'est un document qui fait le point sur la situation alimentaire telle qu'elle se présente actuellement dans le monde.
Les problèmes liés à la production agricole et alimentaire, aux stocks céréaliers, à la sécurité alimentaire, au commerce des produits alimentaires et à la situation préoccupante du Continent africain y sont admirablement posés dans toute la cruauté de leur réalité. Du reste, le Directeur général de la FAO a développé ces questions dans sa déclaration d'ouverture et nous voudrions ici lui rendre hommage pour la clairvoyance et le courage avec lequel il a abordé ces problèmes.
Je ne voudrais donc pas revenir sur tous ces points, je voudrais tout simplement compléter ce sombre tableau international en présentant quelques brèves indications sur la campagne agricole 1980/81 de mon pays.
Au Sénégal, la pluviométrie, cette année, a été caractérisée par son installation tardive, son irrégu-larité et sa très mauvaise répartition aussi bien dans le temps que dans l'espace.
Ceci a eu pour effet de décourager certains producteurs qui ont renoncé à emblaver leurs exploitations et, de ce fait, de réduire de 6.19% la superficie totale emblavée qui est passée de 2,5 millions d'hectares environ en 1979/1980 à 2,34 millions d'hectares.
En plus de ce démarrage tardif et incertain de l'hivernage 1980-81, il faut signaler en outre:
- la mauvaise qualité des semences occasionnant des resemis parfois importants;
- l'importance du déficit vivrier en milieu rural qui a créé chez certains paysans le besoin de commercialiser les semences.
Cette situation est d'autant plus inquiétante que le secteur agricole concentre 75% environ de la population du Sénégal.
Elle laisse augurer que les objectifs du Vème Plan de développement économique et social seront loin d'être atteints. Et nous avons tout lieu de nous alarmer, Monsieur le Président, car le déficit de production va entraîner un déficit alimentaire national global de l'ordre de 400 000 tonnes.
Les autorités publiques ont réagi face à cette situation en épongeant notamment les dettes des paysans et mieux, en instituant le prélèvement, pendant 12 mois d'une journée de salaire sur le traitement des fonctionnaires de l'Etat versée dans une "Caisse de solidarité nationale" et destinée à l'achat de denrées alimentaires au profit des paysans.
Il va de soi que ce déficit qui entraînera un recours au marché extérieur grèvera davantage notre balance des paiements.
A cet égard, nous nous félicitons de la décision du FMI d'ouvrir un "guichet alimentaire" pour aider les pays en développement à faible revenu à faire face à des augmentations brusques de leurs importations alimentaires qui, selon les estimations, atteignent en 1980/81 42 millions de tonnes de céréales.
Monsieur le Président,
De l'avis de ma délégation trois questions de fonds méritent de retenir l'attention. Vous me permettrez de m'y apesantir un instant. Il s'agit de la production agricole, de la sécurité alimentaire et de l'accroissement des flux de ressources consacrées à l'aide au développement.
Monsieur le Président,
La production agricole et la sécurité alimentaire sont deux composantes d'une même donnée.
Vous le savez, il est difficile de parler de sécurité alimentaire sans un accroissement de la production agricole. Et pour accroître la production, il faut absolument des investissements massifs et des intrants agricoles importants. Il faut aussi maîtriser les pertes de récoltes sous toutes leurs formes, mettre l'accent sur l'irrigation, la formation et développer la recherche appliquée.
Si l'on veut arriver à un rythme d'accroissement de la production vivrière dans les pays en développe-ment et atteindre l'objectif de croissance fixé à 4%, il faudra, selon les estimations des experts autorisés, des investissements annuels bruts de l'ordre de 8 à 9 milliards de dollars pendant les premières années de la troisième décennie du développement.
Nous sommes conscients que la responsabilité d'accroître la production agricole et alimentaire dans les pays en développement incombe en premier lieu aux différents gouvernements de ces pays eux-mêmes, qui doivent accorder la plus haute priorité au secteur agricole dans leurs plans de développement économique et social, en procédant notamment à des réformes structurelles appropriées et en revalorisant les cultures locales traditionnelles.
Mais si la bonne volonté et l'effort d'imagination existent, il reste que les moyens financiers font généralement défaut.
L'assistance de la Communauté internationale est, à cet égard, requise pour soutenir les efforts nationaux et sous-régionaux des pays en développement.
Monsieur le Président,
Vous comprendrez aisément qu'il soit difficile sans un soutien international d'arriver à une autosuffisance alimentaire dans les pays du Sahel par exemple éprouvés par une sécheresse devenue presque structurelle.
Ces pays sahéliens, sont constamment menacés par la désertification. Une maîtrise absolue de l'eau y est nécessaire par la réalisation de forages, la construction de barrages et d'ouvrages d'irrigation.
Il me plait ici de rappeler les efforts importants consentis par le Gouvernement du Sénégal aussi bien seul qu'en association avec les pays voisins dans le cadre de l'Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du fleuve Gambie (OMVG) et de l'Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du fleuve Sénégal (OMVS) pour la réalisation de barrages sur les plans national et régional afin de maîtriser l'eau, d'accroître la production vivrière et d'assurer une autosuffisance alimentaire aux populations.
Vous vous en doutez, une telle politique ambitieuse ne peut être réalisée que grâce à un concours financier international.
C'est pour cette raison que ma délégation salue toute initiative tendant à accroître l'assistance accordée aux pays en développement pour augmenter leur production vivrière et améliorer leur sécurité alimentaire.
Au Sénégal notamment nous avons élaboré un plan d'investissement alimentaire qui, s'il est réalisé, assurera en 1985 la couverture d'au moins 75% de nos besoins alimentaires.
Ce plan attend encore de trouver des sources de financement.
Le Sénégal n'est certainement pas seul dans ce cas. C'est pourquoi, les pays en voie de développement sont obligés de recourir à l'aide alimentaire que nous, au Sénégal, nous considérons comme étant tout simplement un palliatif conjoncturel.
Et c'est la raison pour laquelle nous invitons tous les pays donateurs traditionnels comme potentiels à faire preuve d'une volonté politique plus soutenue et à prendre toutes les dispositions nécessaires afin que soient accrus les moyens financiers mis à la disposition de la FAO, compte tenu de l'ampleur des problèmes auxquels doit faire face cette Organisation dont les mérites ne sont plus à démontrer.
Il faut absolument que les moyens de l'Association Internationale pour le développement (AID), du Fonds International de Développement Agricole (FIDA) et du Programme Alimentaire Mondial (PAM) dont les ressources ne cessent de se déprécier soient renforcés:
- que la Réserve alimentaire internationale d'urgence soit également renforcée et transformée en convention ayant force obligatoire;
- que les ressources du Programme de coopération technique (PCT) et du Programme d'Assistance pour la Sécurité alimentaire (le PASA) soient accrues;
- que l'objectif de la Convention d'Aide Alimentaire (CAA) soit atteint;
- qu'une nouvelle convention sur le commerce de blé soit rapidement conclue; cette convention doit prévoir des réserves alimentaires suffisantes pour stabiliser les prix sur le marché mondial et des clauses spéciales en faveur des pays en développement;
- à défaut d'une telle convention, il faudra envisager un mécanisme international pouvant garantir la sécurité alimentaire dans les pays en développement.
Ce n'est que de cette façon, de cette seule façon, le principe de l'interdépendance entre le Nord et le Sud aidant, qu'un début de solution pourra être apporté au douloureux et honteux problème de la faim et de la malnutrition dans le monde.
A. NGONGI (Cameroon): The world food situation is critical. Some say it is not alarming, but for some of us from Africa it is already of crisis proportions. The statement of the Director-General yesterday morning was very clear; it contained statements and figures which cannot be contested. We applaud his statement and urge him to continue his valiant efforts.
It has been rightly said that the ultimate solution of the world food problem rests in increasing food production in the food deficit developing countries. We agree with this statement completely. However, it is difficult to say that developing countries are not making very sincere efforts to tackle their food problems. As can be seen in the case of Africa, there have been several highlevel meetings, and decisions have been taken at these meetings to overcome the food problem. For example, the economic summit of African Heads of State resulted in the Lagos Plan of Action. The African Heads of State have held several summit meetings at which agriculture and food security have been major items on the agenda. The Sahel countries are working together and individually to stabilize and increase their food production and ensure food security; so are virtually all African countries, but the situation is only getting worse. We are thankful for the words of encouragement and the mutual assistance which has been directed to African countries. However, it is quite clear that the efforts made to date are not enough.
On the part of the developing countries it is rot the lack of will but the lack of resources which actually hampers their efforts. How do we expect to have increased levels of investment to be directed to agriculture when many of these countries are earning less and less today? As we all know, most of the revenues of these countries come from the exports of agricultural products which are facing a very adverse price situation today. If the papers I read are correct, in the course of the last year the price of cocoa has fallen by about 50 percent and the price of coffee by about 40 percent. I do not think that for the countries which are highly dependent on these crops there is any way we can ensure the levels of investment or import of inputs needed for agriculture. How does one buy more fertilizer with less money? There is also the machinery to pay for, the technical assistance or expertise to pay for. In addition, there are the distribution systems and infrastructures to establish.
Let me not give the impression that I am asking for an open-ended aid pipeline from which the developing countries can draw at will. This is not the case. All we are asking for is that the developed countries fulfil the international undertakings which have been agreed upon and help developing countries to attain some degree of food security while striving towards implementing programmes and ensuring food self-sufficiency. This includes attaining a ten million target for food aid, assuring 500 000 tons for the International Emergency Food Reserve, making available at least $20 million for the programmes for the prevention of food losses and, above all, meeting a target of 0.7 percent of GNP as official development assistance. These have all been agreed upon long ago. Is it too much to expect these undertakings to be fulfilled?
As for my country,valiant efforts have been made. The Government declared a "green revolution" in 1973 and assured a high level of resources to this programme. We are in the process of drawing up a national food plan. The Government has decided to create a national council for rural development and is asking for opinions and ideas from all our partners in the process of development. In the next Five Year Plan starting from the 1st July, agriculture and rural development will receive the highest priorities. These efforts did not start today: since independence, Cameroon has maintained that our development depends on agriculture, which employs well over 70 percent of the active labour force. The Head of State declared recently in a major sppech that even if a country has a new source of revenue -in this instance oil - it should not abandon agriculture, for before oil there was agriculture and after oil there will be agriculture.
We therefore applaud the statement made yesterday by the Director-General and we urge him and the Secretariat to continue their efforts to bring about the process of agriculture development in the developing countries so as to ensure the technical assistance needed to increase food production. We appeal to the developed countries to fulfil these obligations and undertakings which they agreed upon in many international fora.
A. HAKIM (Afghanistan): On behalf of the delegation of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, I would like to convey the best wishes of my Government to the Director-General, Dr. Edouard Saouma, for his honest and straighforward presentation of the world food situation to the Council. It means the FAO Director-General tries to seek better ways and means of solving the problem to some extent so that those unfortunate people suffering from malnutrition, hunger and poverty in developing countries, can be helped. He appeals to developed countries for more contribution and to developing countries to increase their production within the country.
This is the second Council Session which I am attending: in both sessions the world food situation presented is so critical that some quick measures must be taken for improvement, otherwise it is going to deteriorate further. Likewise, the wide gap between the increased production and the rate of population growth has been mentioned. I believe those factors of production which can be controlled by man will be handled through better technology and a wide range of improvements in the agricultural sector. Those elements which can not be brought under control, such as droughts, floods and so on, cause the developing countries suffer. In any case the World Food Security Reserve is an essential thing.
Now I would like to brief you about the food and agriculture situation in my country. Agriculture has been the ancient vocation of the people of Afghanistan and it has been, for a long time, the backbone of their economy. I must point out that from the total of 15.5 million population more than 11.3 million is comprised of peasants, stockbreeders and villages who live on their produce emanating from farming. The share of agricultural products in the national economy is 65 to 70 percent.
Under the guidance of the Party and the Government and also the constant efforts made by the peasants themselves, our agriculture is following a normal course throughout the country. The yields with regard to agricultural products such as wheat, rice, vegetables, fruit, cotton, sugar beet and oilseeds are much better this year than in 1979-1980. Like other developing countries we are using all sorts of means to increase production, but still we have a long way to go to produce enough food for our people. Although we get a lot of help from friendly countries like the Soviet Union, yet we look forward to seeing more United Nations, FAO and WFP efforts as well as other international organizations'contribution in our country.
Once again, we wish to thank Dr. Saouma for his taking a keen interest in our agricultural projects and we wish him and his colleagues the best of luck in preparing the excellent documents on the current world food and agriculture situation.
ABU BAKAR bin MAHMUD (Malaysia): Permit me, Mr. Chairman, to make some general remarks relating to the current world food situation. Since this is our first intervention I would like to take this oppor-tunity to congratulate Their Excellencies, the Minister of Agriculture of Lebanon, the Ambassador of the Republic of the Congo and the distinguished Delegate of the Federal Republic of Germany, for being elected as Vice-chairmen of this Session, and also Mr.Ramadhar of India for being elected Rapporteur. I would like especially to congratulate the Director-General of FAO, Dr. Edouard Saouma, for his keynote address which outlined the major issues at the international level and the role of FAO in spearheading food production programmes. Professor Islam is also to be congratulated for his lucid presentation of the paper on the current world food situation, CL 79/2.
The concern echoed by the Director-General is familiar: the plea repetitive, the voice expressive of a man fully committed to improving the welfare of the impoverished sector of mankind. The continuing bleak world food situation as vividly expressed by the Director-General are constant reminders to us that the world will continue to face the harsh realities in the years to come. While agricultural development efforts have brought about a significant improvement in food production in many developing countries, the stark reality remains that the basic world food situation is insecure due to both natural and manmade disasters and the prevailing economic conditions in the world today.
Intensified efforts need to be made to focus attention on world food security, including food production and accelerating rural development and the development of agriculture in its totality. Much time, effort and resources have been devoted to these, by the national and international agencies, in discussing ways and means of overcoming the problem, and yet the world food situation of today is no better than it was in the early 70s. More so, with the continuing trend of inflation the task of increasing food production, the fulfilment of the hopes and promises of millions of rural poor becomes more difficult. The last two decades have given us a great deal of practical experience in carrying out our task. It is therefore not too late for us to identify the shortcomings of our programmes and measures to improve them.
We realise that agricultural development is a complex process as it affects and is being affected by a host of externalities, sometimes beyond the means of human endeavour. It is therefore, necessary that these factors are taken into consideration when implementing agricultural development projects. Governments and international agencies in the international community concerned with the basic problem of development and food production must continue to realise that attempts to improve the quality of life of the rural poor through projects carried out in isolation have not been and will not be very successful. There should therefore be concerted efforts among governments and the agencies of the United Nations system to ensure the efficacy of programmes and projects so as to bring about maximum benefits to the masses of rural poor.
May I take this small opportunity to relate to this august meeting the efforts taken by my country to advance and accelerate her agricultural and rural development. Under our Fourth Malaysia Plan for 1981/85, consistent with the spirit and intent of our New Economic Policy of eradication of poverty and re-structuring of society, emphasis is being given to the following major programmes: firstly, achieving higher level of self-sufficiency in food production, particularly in rice, our staple food. Secondly, increasing the productivity of the small farm sector; thirdly, increasing production of export commodities; fourthly, development of imports institution for commodities and fifthly, the improvement of nutritional status and quality of life of the population.
While concentrating on our own improvement efforts in the field of food production, Malaysia continues her collaboration with other developing countries, particularly at the regional level, and in this context the experiences of ASEAN in promoting food security through collective self-reliance through the establishment of the ASEAN Emergency Rice Reserve of 50 000 tons is worthy of note.
This is consistent with the concept of Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries, TCDC. Malaysia will also pursue collaborative efforts and share her development experiences with countries of other regions in the fields of mutual interest.
With regard to the paper CL 79/2, my Delegation wishes to compliment the Secretariat for providing a comprehensive resumé of the major aspects of the current world food situation. The stress on control of the incidence of pests and disease and the programme for the prevention of food losses are most appropriate, and it is the view of this Delegation that these programmes should be given continued emphasis in FAO' s programme of the 1980s.
The attention given to fertilizers and improved seeds are commendable since, these are two vital inputs for increasing agricultural production. The FAO Regular Fertilizer Programme should be further enhanced and expanded in order to ensure developing countries, particularly the MSA countries, are able to procure the supply of fertilizers to meet their needs.
With regard to the supply of improved seeds, the FAO's Seed Improvement and Development Programme should be expanded to cater for the needs of developing nations for this input.
It is also gratifying to note that follow-up action of the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, commonly known as WCARRD, is being given due priority in the context of the present world food situation. Follow-up programme by the international community, particularly by the FAO, is highly justified so as to assist member countries in implementing the WCARRD Programme of Action.
My delegation would strongly endorse the plea by FAO for voluntary contributions from the appropriate member governments. SIDP should intensify its programmes and activities in Asia and the Pacific region so that it could provide the necessary catalyst in accelerating the regions rural and agricultural development.
Finally, my Delegation would like once again to place on record its appreciation for the entiring efforts of Dr. Edouard Saouma, the Director-General of FAO, and his staff in trying to achieve the goals set up by the 1974 World Food Conference, that "by 1984 ... no child, woman or man will go to bed hungry and no human being's physical and mental potential will be stunted by malnutrition." We know that the odds are against us, but if everyone plays his role and exerts the necessary will, they will very much lighten the onerous task of the Director-General and his staff in achieving this objective and improving the welfare of mankind, and in the future. The Director-General of FAO can be assured of our whole-hearted support in these noble efforts.
T.C. RAJAONA (Madagascar) : Prenant la parole pour la première fois, permettez-moi d'exprimer mes voeux sincères de succès aux travaux de cette soixante-dix-neuvième session que vous avez l'honneur de diriger. Je souhaite donc que des progrès certains soient enregistres après l'examen des dossiers dont nous sommes saisis et à la suite des discussions et des débats auxquels ils pourront donner lieu.
Je rends hommage aussi à l'attitude lucide et courageuse qu'a adoptée le Directeur général dans son discours d'ouverture.
Hier, quand on a commencé l'examen du point de l'ordre du jour, nous nous sommes demandé si la situation actuelle de l'alimentation dans le monde est aussi préoccupante telle qu'elle est reflétée par le document CL 79/2 dont le Professeur Islam a fait une présentation remarquable.
Il nous semble parfois difficile d'imaginer un drame que nous n'avons pas vécu réellement, tel par exemple les inondations catastrophiques dans certains pays d'Asie, tel le drame de la sécheresse du Sahel ou l'afflux de réfugiés ailleurs.
Mon pays, sans connaître des situations aussi extrêmes, subit de temps en temps les effets désastreux des cyclones tropicaux qui font peser une lourde menace sur notre production rizicole, car ils apparaissent souvent au stade le plus délicat du développement du riz. Périodiquement, une partie du réseau hydraulique est endommagée par les crues et ne participe donc pas à la production de la campagne suivante. Cela coûte de plus en plus cher de le remettre en état, de sorte que depuis ces dernières années, quand la population a dépassé un certain chiffre, les importations de riz, qui furent considérées comme accidentelles, tendent à devenir une donnée structurelle de notre économie agricole.
En 1979 et 1980, au contraire, nous avons connu deux mauvaises campagnes consécutives à une sécheresse anormalement longue. Enfin, comme un malheur ne vient jamais seul, les criquets migrateurs ont réapparu dans le sud et le sud-ouest déjà durement éprouvés.
Notre gouvernement a lancé des appels désespérés auprès de la FAO et il m'est bien agréable de rendre hommage à la rapidité avec laquelle l'Organisation a fourni l'assistance et acheminé l'aide nécessaire, soit en mobilisant ses propres moyens, soit en faisant appel au PAM ou à l'OSRO.
Je saisis également l'occasion qui m'est ainsi offerte de remercier chaleureusement les donateurs anonymes qui ont permis ces réalisations hautement humanitaires.
Quels enseignements faut-il tirer de cette expérience vécue?
D'abord, il faut se convaincre que si des situations d'urgence apparaissent dans un pays donné, ce n'est.pas toujours de la faute de ce pays .Nous ne savons pas encore maîtriser totalement les aléas cli-matiques. Nous sommes complètement d'accord avec ceux qui estiment qu'il appartient d'abord au pays de prendre les mesures nécessaires pour assurer sa propre sécurité alimentaire. A cet égard, notre doc-trine fait de l'aide extérieure un supplément temporaire et non un complément et nous n'acceptons pas les aides qui ne nous permettent pas de nous passer des aides ultérieurement.
Une mission pluridisciplinaire de programmation a séjourné à Madagascar du 22 mai au 25 juin 1980 et une autre mission d'identification s' est rendue en novembre dernier. Actuellement, divers projets touchant le développement de la production rizicole et les problèmes connexes sont à divers stades du cycle des projets.
En deuxième lieu, cette expérience nous a montré toutes les qualités de l'aide multilatérale, du moins dans les domaines précis tels que l'envoi de missions, l'acheminement de l'aide alimentaire d'urgence, la fourniture d'insecticides, bref, en général, toutes les opérations réclamant une intervention rapide.
En définitive, Monsieur le Président, alors que les campagnes agricoles et la situation alimentaire sont catastrophiques dans certains pays, tandis que les perspectives de production céréalière s'annoncent favorables ailleurs, la réponse à la question de savoir si la situation alimentaire actuelle est grave ou non dépend de la manière dont nous percevrons collectivement, à l'échelle mondiale, le problème.
Un des progrès auxquels j'ai fait allusion tout à l'heure sera réalisé, par exemple, quand la Communauté internationale, consciente de la solidarité entre ses membres, aura adopté les arrangements institutionnels nécessaires qui garantissent la fiabilité du fonctionnement de la RAIU dans le sens des propositions faites par le Directeur général de la FAO.
P.A. MORALES CARBALLO (Cuba): Nuestra delegación quiere expresar la bienvenida a los nuevos miembros del Consejo y felicitar a los tres Vicepresidentes y al Relator elegidos en el día de ayer.
Una vez más nos reunimos para pasar revista a la situación actual de los alimentos y de la agricultura mundial, especialmente allí donde desde hace mucho tiempo, y más aún hoy, sufren de hambre y malnutri-ción millones de seres humanos en los países en desarrollo.
Una vez más es necesario poner de relieve los factores, los hechos que hacen que la situación alimenta-ria en el mundo sea más incierta de lo que ha sido la crisis de 1973 a 1974, según el documento que analizamos.
Hace unos pocos años se pensaba que el problema del hambre y la pobreza quedaría resuelto a mediados de esta década; hoy se dice que esa solución podría alcanzarse a finales del presente siglo. Qué tristeza y qué triste esperanza, señor Presidente, sobre esa situación; ya nos había alertado la propia Secreta-ría de la FAO en el Consejo de noviembre pasado al plantearnos que el mundo afrontaba una posible cri-sis alimentaria mundial en 1981 y una verdadera crisis alimentaria en Africa, la cual persistirá por un cierto tiempo.
Como dato alarmante se nos informó que el habitante medio de Africa dispone de un 10 por ciento menos de alimentos que hace diez años.
En términos generales, y según todas las cifras estadísticas que nos ofrecen, las necesidades de impor-tación de cereales de los países en desarrollo han aumentado nuevamente en los primeros meses de 1981. Por ello, una vez más, insistimos en la necesidad de incrementar la producción agrícola y alimentaria cuya meta histórica del 4 por ciento de aumento no se ha alcanzado aún.
Actualmente el estado nutricional de la población de los países subdesarroliados es cada día más preca-ria y la ayuda alimentaria no sólo ha sido y es insuficiente para estos países, sino que se manifiesta una preocupante tendencia a disminuir. Por otra parte, las contribuciones a la RAIE no han alcanzado los objetivos anuales de 500 000 toneladas de cereales. Las metas del PMA no han sido logradas todavía. Agudiza este panorama sombrío la grave situación inflacionaria mundial, así como las continuas prácticas proteccionistas que afectan gravemente las economías de los países en desarrollo, cuya deuda externa alcanza ya cifras que superan los 400 000 millones de dólares. La consecuencia de ello es que el volumen de la exportación de los países en desarrollo aumenta muy escasamente y su poder de compra sigue bajando en la práctica, ya que debido al alza creciente de los costos de importación de las manufactu-ras, la mayoría de esos países afrontan graves dificultades para financiar las importaciones esenciales, incluyendo los alimentos.
No podemos dejar de enmarcar esta difícil situación alimentaria dentro de una etapa caracterizada por una recesión económica que ha incidido, por ejemplo, en la disminución de los compromisos oficiales de asistencia externa a la agricultura de los países subdesarrollados. La meta, el 0,7 por ciento del pro-ducto nacional bruto, aún parece distante.
Como se aprecia, el sistema económico internacional vigente continúa siendo profundamente injusto y absolutamente incompatible con las necesidades de los países en desarrollo. Desafortunadamente, la ac-titud empecinada e intransigente de algunos países industrializados no ha permitido avances en lo que constituye una aspiración justa de los países en desarrollo; la reestructuración a fondo del sistema económico imperante y el establecimiento de un nuevo orden económico internacional.
Frente a este cuadro, nada halagador, apreciamos la situación de la FAO que contribuye a buscar solu-ciones a estos graves problemas de la alimentación y la agricultura. Respaldamos la acertada actuación de esta Organización en la búsqueda de soluciones para detener o eliminar los peligros de muerte de que están amenazados millones de seres humanos en el mundo.
Las perspectivas son de que el retraso y la pobreza se perpetúen, a menos de que se tomen medidas efectivas para que cambien radicalmente las injustas relaciones económicas internacionales, que hoy prevalecen para beneficio de unos pocos países y a expensas de los más pobres.
En este contexto se hace imprescindible el cumplimiento de los objetivos del Tercer Decenio contenidos en la Estrategia Internacional para el Desarrollo aprobados por la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas el pasado año.
Los países subdesarrollados conocemos bien que tenemos que depender, en la tremenda tarea que afrontamos para salir del subdesarrollo, en primer lugar de nuestras propias decisiones y esfuerzos, pero también no cabe duda que es una tarea que corresponde a la comunidad internacional en su conjunto.
Mucho nos ha impresionado el análisis tan objetivo y claro que el Director General de la FAO nos hicie-ra en el día de ayer: ese análisis tan certero como valiente nos hace comprender que la Organización está en manos de un eficiente timonel que ha sabido impulsarla y ponerla a la altura que requiere la so-lución de los graves problemas que afectan a millones de hambrientos en el mundo entero. Por ello, no podemos menos que apoyarlo en su política de trabajo y en su programa de labores y presupuesto que nos propone para el bienio 1982-1983, y lo estimulamos para que continúe por ese camino.
Para concluir quisiéramos recordar las palabras del propio señor Director General en su intervención del pasado Consejo cuando dijo: "Ha llegado el momento de que los países, tanto desarrollados como en desarrollo, recojan el desafío que entraña la necesidad de hacer cambios estructurales en sus economías que les permitan, individual y colectivamente, superar las dificultades actuales antes de que se precipite una crisis mundial. Sólo mediante un programa a escala mundial podrán los países ricos del Norte superar la recesión, y como algunos afirman, el desastre económico total que amenaza al Tercer Mundo".
Creemos, señor Presidente, que a todos nosotros corresponde emprender medidas y acciones positivas para superar los problemas actuales.
H. JASIOROWSKI (Poland): The Polish delegation participates in the deliberations of the FAO Council as its member for the first time for a number of years. Let me use this occasion to thank all the delegations for electing Poland as a member of this distinguished body. We will do everything possible to meet your confidence and expectations.
Coming now to the subject matter, first of all I wish on behalf of the Polish delegation to congratulate the Director-General and the FAO staff for once more preparing the excellent document highlighting the current world food situation, the document which Professor Islam so competently presented to us. This document shows how uncertain and critical is the present world food situation which could easily develop into a new world-wide food crisis. There is enough evidence in document CL 79/2 for such conclusions. The gloomy picture could be only slightly improved by the new more optimistic forecast of grain crops expected in 1981 which was presented to us in Sup.l to the above mentioned document. We all know now the main conclusions and figures in these two documents, so I will not summarize them here once again. I wish only to stress that my country shares the opinions and worries expressed by the document so strongly and courageously presented to us yesterday by the Director-General in his statement. We agree that the situation is critical and we wish to point out that although the developing countries suffer the most they are not the only countries which should worry. In fact, I think we should all worry very seriously. We should all worry especially because the last development shows that in spite of so many declarations and even some efforts the world was not able to find the ways and means of improving permanently the food situation at least to the stage which would allow the elimination of the most serious cases of hunger and manlutrition in the world. The target to assure for all human beings at least the physiological minimum of food is still far away from being reached. We even think we are not any closer to this target than we were in 1974 when the World Food Conference declared the elimination of the most serious cases of hunger and malnutrition by the year 1985.
On the other hand, the gloomy FAO projection from the early 1970s that in the future the developing countries will more and more depend on imported grain proved to be surprisingly right. We could quote many other such unhappy projections which proved to be right and almost as many promises which proved to be wrong.
Let us ask ourselves what are the main reason for such a situation. No doubt the main reason is the inadequate agricultural production and productivity. In this respect everything possible should be done to increase food production, especially in the developing countries, which is obvious.
On the other hand we reject the story of cyclical changes in food production. With all the knowledge and technology available to us in the 20th century it simply cannot be the right answer.
A number of previous speakers mentioned the international solidarity as an important key to the improvement of the world food situation. I agree. Food aid could be and should be the important factor in relieving many human beings from hunger and malnutrition. But let us be realistic. The nations have already learned how to implement solidarity within the countries within their own borders, even across different social classes. However, we are still very far away from implementing this idea across the borders. Let us hope that the time will come when this deeply human idea will cross the borders in the future.
One of the main reasons of our failure in solving the food problem is the lack of a world-wide policy on this subject. Food aid is one side of the coin. The second is undoubtedly the instability of the world international agricultural market, protectionism on one side, the great variations of food prices on the other side, destabilisation, the international trade and exchange. It harms many countries.
Let us remember that the low income countries cover their external demand for grain in 72 percent by purchasing and only in 18 percent through the aid. Therefore great hope is attached for example to the International Commodity Agreement, but unfortunately many agricultural products, including grain, are outside of this agreement.
The long and endless discussions on an international wheat agreement are good examples of the difficulties of bringing more order and stability to the world grain market. As a result all the grain import dependent countries suffer. Among them is my country. For many reasons, among them of an objective and subjective nature, my country became over the last ten years overwhelmingly dependent on grain imports mainly for fodder purposes. Recently we were importing up to 8 millions tons of grain and feedstuffs annually. This burden became one of the main reasons for our present economic crisis. But the original reason for our economic troubles is most probably the insufficient agricultural productivity, which was mainly due to the following reasons: firstly, a number of consecutive unfavourable years diminishing our agricultural crops; secondly, due to the permanent policy of favouring the quick industrialisation we are neglecting agriculture; thirdly, due to the policy of the low food prices for consumers, which means low prices, sometimes below profitability, for producers, and the growing subsidies of course; and fourthly, due to the uncertainity of the family farming system. The result is inadequate food supplies in the country.
Fortunately these are temporary difficulties, we hope. But we know that quick recovery depends entirely on ourselves, as we believe all necessary steps were already undertaken to reverse the unfavourable trend in our agriculture. I can mention them: first, agriculture was given the highest priority - finally, let me say - in our economy; secondly, the highly profitable prices were established for all agricultural products. There are plans to increase food prices paid by the consumers up to the cost of production. The industry was obliged to provide more production means for agriculture, and finally the family farming system received full support and stability. We hope these steps will help us to recover quickly, especially as the 1981 yield seems to be rather good for our agriculture.
I mention here frankly our agricultural failures and disappointments because I think they have broader than just national importance. We have learned our lesson on a national scale but we know we do not live in a vacuum. This is why we now maybe more than ever sympathize with all efforts made to increase world food production, and therefore, we support the programme presented by the Director-General and all his efforts to focus the world's attention on the dangerous food situation, espacially in the developing countries. In this regard, the Polish delegation wholeheartedly and fully supports the statement made yesterday before us by the Director-General of FAO.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Professor Jasiorowski. We are very glad to listen to you as a delegate this time after being a member of the Secretariat for so many years.
I will now jump the queue a little and call on the Minister of Agriculture of Morocco, who has an appointment and will have to leave the room soon, so I give the floor to the Minister of Agriculture of Morocco.
A. GHISSASSI (Maroc) : Je voudrais, au début de cette intervention, remercier au nom de la délégation marocaine, M. le Directeur général, Edouard Saouma, pour l'intervention sincère, courageuse et profonde par laquelle il a ouvert cette session du Conseil.
Depuis près de six ans, M. Edouard Saouma dirige avec foi et abnégation cette grande famille que constitue l'Organisation mondiale de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture.
Le Maroc tient à lui témoigner toute sa reconnaissance pour l'action inlassable qu'il mène contre la faim et la malnutrition dans le monde. Nos félicitations et ma reconnaissance vont aussi au Secrétariat pour la qualité des documents préparés à notre intention.
Elles vont également au Professeur Islam pour l'excellent travail d'analyse et de synthèse qu'il nous a présenté à propos de la situation actuelle de l'alimentation mondiale.
La tenue de cette 79ème session du Conseil en ce début de la Décennie 80 constitue pour l'ensemble des pays membres de cette instance et à travers eux, pour l'ensemble de la communauté internationale l'occasion d'évaluer les progrès, certes limités, réalisés depuis la Conférence mondiale de l'alimentation de 1974, dans le domaine de la lutte contre la faim et la malnutrition. S'il est réconfortant de constater que la situation alimentaire mondiale n'a pas connu depuis 1974 de perturbations comparables à celles qui ont marqué le début de la Décennie 70, nous devons relever cependant la persistance, au niveau global, d'un état d'équilibre alimentaire précaire et l'absence de progrès dans la réalisation des objectifs que s'était fixés, en 1974, la communauté internationale.
Ainsi, dans les années 70, la production alimentaire n'a augmenté que de 2,7 pour cent par an dans les pays en développement et beaucoup moins dans les pays à déficit alimentaire. Près de 500 millions d'êtres humains souffrent de la faim et de la malnutrition.
C'est ainsi que la situation est particulièrement alarmante dans certains ensembles géographiques, telle l'Afrique au Sud du Sahara où au cours des dix dernières années, la production alimentaire a baissé par tête d'habitant.
En l'absence de politiques et de mécanismes adaptés de sécurité alimentaire, au niveau national et international, de priorité effective accordée au secteur agricole, de flux suffisant de l'aide économique, la régularité de l'approvisionnement du monde en denrées alimentaires demeurera problématique et deviendra incertaine en cas de fréquence de situations de mauvaises récoltes.
Certes, l'état actuel de l'économie alimentaire internationale est tel que les disponibilités alimentaires présentes sont de l'avis général suffisantes au niveau global, les potentialités dépassent largement les besoins minima de la population du monde. Cependant, les pénuries et les distorsions observées découlent de déséquilibres dans la répartition géographique et sociale de ces disponibilités. De plus, les ressources en devises que les pays à faible revenu sont en mesure d'affecter aux importations alimentaires ont fortement baissé en raison de la crise économique mondiale.
Suite à la récolte médiocre de 1980, les importations globales de céréales augmenteraient de 3,6 pour cent en 1980/81, celles des pays en développement de 7 pour cent et celles du groupe des pays à faible revenu de 17 pour cent. Parmi ces derniers, 31 pays d'Afrique, au Sud du Sahara, ont enregistré de très mauvaises récoltes suite à la persistance de la sécheresse pour la deuxième année consécutive. Aux mauvaises récoltes, s'est ajouté l'afflux des réfugiés qui augmente la pression sur les disponibilités alimentaires limitées dans la moitié des pays touchés dans cette région.
Malgré les contributions effectuées ou annoncées, la situation alimentaire en Afrique devra constituer pour notre Conseil un sujet de grande préoccupation.
Mon pays apportera son soutien aux efforts déployés par votre Conseil pour mobiliser l'opinion mondiale et sensibiliser la communauté internationale à l'acuité de cette situation. Il saisit l'occasion de la tenue de cette 79ème session pour réitérer son adhésion à toute politique tendant à l'amélio-ration de la sécurité alimentaire en Afrique.
Toutefois, l'approfondissement de la prise de conscience des dangers des déséquilibres alimentaires et des menaces de la faim et de la malnutrition, et la mise en place d'institutions et organismes chargés de les surveiller ne suffisent pas à assurer l'objectif de sécurité alimentaire qui exige des efforts déterminés et volontaristes de la communauté internationale.
Il est temps de passer du stade de la prise de conscience, de la mise en place des structures de réflexion et de surveillance, vers l'action, une action concertée systématique et efficace visant à parvenir progressivement à une restructuration réelle de l'économie alimentaire internationale. L'élimination de la faim exige une volonté politique de tous les gouvernements des décisions politiques que la FAO doit mobiliser et organiser.
Relevant que le délai d'une décennie fixé par la Conférence mondiale de l'alimentation pour enrayer la faim et la malnutrition s'est écoulé sans que de très grands progrès aient été réalisés, la stratégie internationale de développement adoptée par l'Assemblée générale des Nations Unies en 1980 a recommandé la restructuration des relations économiques internationales et du secteur alimentaire en particulier, considéré comme une composante vitale de cette stratégie et ce dans le cadre de négociations mondiales en vue de supprimer la faim avant le début du siècle prochain.
La restructuration du secteur alimentaire nécessitera dans le cadre de plans nationaux visant à une autosuffisance plus poussée, 1'accroissement de la production alimentaire des pays en développement à un rythme de 4 pour cent durant la Décennie 80, la mobilisation des ressources financières et techniques accrues à cette fin, 1'affectation par les pays développés et ceux qui sont en mesure de le faire, de 0,7 pour cent de leur PNB à l'aide au développement, des engagements plus importants étant consacrés au secteur alimentaire et enfin le renforcement du cadre international de sécurité alimen-taire par les améliorations nécessaires du commerce mondial de produits alimentaires.
La délégation de mon pays appuie les propositions de la stratégie recommandant le renforcement de la coopération économique entre les pays en développement : multiplication des échanges, investissement, aide économique et alimentaire de la part des pays disposant de balances des paiements excédentaires.
Le rééquilibre de la structure de la production et du commerce des denrées alimentaires dépend en premier lieu de la recherche de nouvelles sources d'approvisionnement au sein de chacun des pays en développement. La sécurité alimentaire nationale est la base de la sécurité alimentaire mondiale. Des possibilités importantes existent dans les pays en développement. Les réserves de productivité sont à peine entamées. L'augmentation des niveaux d'utilisation des intrants modernes et la rationalisation de la gestion et des méthodes d'exploitation apporteront certainement des relèvements substantiels des productions alimentaires.
Les pays en développement à balance des paiements excédentaires peuvent contribuer considérablement à la progression de la réalisation de cet objectif par l'affectation d'une partie de leurs excédents à l'investissement dans le secteur agricole et alimentaire des pays en développement.
Outre l'élan de solidarité qui s'exprimera à terme par le renforcement de l'autonomie collective, nous estimons nécessaire que l'effort soit porté en premier lieu sur la mobilisation des potentialités agricoles et alimentaires de chaque pays en donnant la priorité effective dans la hiérarchie des objectifs nationaux au secteur agricole et alimentaire.
L'objectif d'autonomie alimentaire doit en effet reposer d'abord sur le renforcement des capacités productives nationales dans le cadre de stratégies et plans de développement du secteur alimentaire dont la réalisation doit recevoir la plus haute priorité.
La restructuration de l'économie alimentaire mondiale exige, en plus des efforts en vue d'accroître l'autonomie alimentaire des pays en développement, que soient satisfaites les conditions d'une croissance favorable des échanges internationaux.
En effet, le protectionnisme et sa montée actuelle sur la scène internationale .constitue un réel obstacle à cette croissance. Le protectionnisme agricole est une sérieuse barrière à l'expansion des exportations agricoles des pays en développement. Cette barrière est beaucoup plus sévère pour ces produits comme il ressort d'études récentes consacrées à la protection dans certains pays industriels durant les décennies 60 et 70 et qui a relevé que le protectionnisme agricole était trois fois plus élevé que le protectionnisme industriel appliqué par ces pays. Par ailleurs, le niveau et le champ d'application du protectionnisme agricole sont constamment relevés.
Les travaux de la Conférence des Nations Unies sur le commerce et le développement ont établi également qu'une des conséquences du protectionnisme agricole est de déprimer les prix agricoles mondiaux en les ramenant à des niveaux inférieurs à ceux auxquels ils s'établiraient dans un système de libre échange. Cette situation conduit à un manque à gagner considérable au titre des exportations agricoles des pays en développement.
La libéralisation des échanges comporte des effets positifs, constitue un facteur de stabilité et d'expansion pour l'économie mondiale, et un facteur de rapprochement entre les peuples. Mon pays appuie les efforts tendant à éliminer les barrières protectionnistes aux produits agricoles des pays en voie de développement, produits dont les recettes en devises sont nécessaires à leurs achats massifs de céréales.
Si le renforcement de l'autonomie alimentaire nationale et la libéralisation du commerce international des produits agricoles constituent à nos yeux deux vecteurs importants de la restructuration de l'économie alimentaire internationale à moyen et à long terme, nous attachons beaucoup de prix à la mise en place de mécanismes adéquats et opérationnels pour faire face aux situations d'urgence ali-mentaire et assurer une meilleure stabilité alimentaire mondiale. Il en est ainsi de la fourniture de 500 000 tonnes par an pour reconstituer la Réserve alimentaire internationale d'urgence (RAIU) destinée à une aide alimentaire fiable et multilatérale dans les situations d'urgence.
Dans ce contexte global, nous appuyons tous les efforts tendant à encourager le développement de pôles de production de céréales dans les pays en développement. Nous accordons aussi notre soutien aux efforts tendant à stabiliser le marché mondial des aliments de base par la mise en place d'arrangements et de mécanismes indispensables à la sécurité alimentaire.
Ma délégation insiste notamment sur la nécessité de parvenir rapidement à un accord international sur le blé, comportant des dispositions à caractère obligatoire pour la constitution de réserves coor-données au niveau international et des dispositions prévoyant d'aider les pays en développement à prendre part à un système international de réserves.
Il est temps en effet de passer à une phase plus avancée en donnant un contenu concret aux engagements internationaux pour la sécurité alimentaire mondiale.
Cette sécurité, objectif ultime de l'économie alimentaire mondiale nécessite aussi des actions soutenues au niveau des marchés des intrants agricoles et en particulier au niveau de la régularité des prix et de l'approvisionnement qui conditionne dans une large mesure la réussite des efforts entrepris par les pays en développement pour accroître leur autonomie alimentaire nationale.
Aussi, estimons-nous qu'il est aussi vital de rechercher à régulariser le marché des produits alimentaires que de veiller à stabiliser celui des facteurs de production agricole.
Si une des conditions de la réalisation de la sécurité alimentaire mondiale est constituée par l'effort d'augmentation de la production alimentaire par les pays en développement en comptant d'abord sur leurs propres ressources humaines et matérielles, il est nécessaire qu'un apport d'appoint sous forme d'assistance technique et d'aide alimentaire mais surtout d'investissements dans les projets du secteur alimentaire de ces pays, soit apporté par les pays développés et ceux qui sont en mesure de le faire.
Nous soutenons dans ce contexte la recommandation de la stratégie internationale de développement pour la Décennie 80 relative à l'affectation à l'aide au développement de 0,7 pour cent du PNB des pays développés, et l'augmentation des apports des autres pays en mesure de la faire, une plus grande partie de cette aide devant être orientée vers le secteur agricole et alimentaire.
Nous déplorons que les engagements à taux préférentiels aient diminué de 9 pour cent en termes réels en 1979.
La délégation de mon pays souhaite voir sortir dans les plus brefs délais le mécanisme de financement alimentaire du FMI qui sera d'un secours appréciable pour les pays en développement contraints d'augmenter brutalement leurs importations alimentaires. Nous saluons dans ce cadre la décision prise par le Conseil du FMI de créer des mécanismes de financement pour aider les pays en développement à faire face à leurs factures d'importations alimentaires.
Nous estimons que l'approche de la problématique de la sécurité alimentaire mondiale ne peut être parcellaire, ni suivre une méthode du coup par coup. Au contraire, nous pensons qu'une approche intégrée est seule à même de maximiser les chances de parvenir à la sécurité alimentaire et à un meilleur équilibre géographique et social de l'économie alimentaire mondiale dans des délais raisonnables.
Puisse cette session du Conseil donner une impulsion politique puissante à un processus de dialogues, de négociations et de décisions d'action collective qui permettrait d'arriver à des accords interna-tionaux durables sur un certain nombre de problèmes clefs pour une sécurité alimentaire mondiale meilleure pour les prochaines années.
P.D. TANOE AMON (Côte-d'Ivoire): Notre délégation aimerait adresser ses plus vives felicitations au Directeur général pour sa très courageuse et brillant déclaration et elle manifeste son soutien aux propositions qui y sont contenues et qui se résument en un appel pour relever le défi de la faim et de la malnutrition. Elle voudrait par la même occasion féliciter le Secrétariat pour la qualité des documents produits et qui confirment bien que la situation alimentaire est alarmante, notamment en Afrique.
Notre délégation aimerait enfinr remercier la délégation des Etats-Unis d'Amérique qui a bien voulu citer parmi un certain nombre d'Etats notre pays pour les efforts qu'il a pu réaliser en matière de production alimentaire. Pour nous en tenir au secteur vivrier nous dirions que la volonté de notre pays est de parvenir à une autosuffisance alimentaire. Les cultures concernées parmi les plus importantes sont l'igname, le manioc, le taro, la patate, le fonio, le sorgho, la banane plantin et une attention particulière est dirigée sur la volonté des autorités du Ministère de l'agriculture d'augmenter la production de riz et de maîs. On estime à cinq millions de tonnes la totalité des productions vivrières, soit en quantité deux fois l'ensemble de la production des cultures industrielles et d'exportations qui jouent cependant un rôle autrement plus important dans notre économie.
Ainsi il y a lieu de souligner ici les cultures sus-citées qui sont réalisées par nos pays en vue de leur propre consommation. Pour certains d'entre eux, il y a lieu de souligner ici les cultures qui sont réalisées par nos pays en vue de leur propre consommation. Certaines d'entre elles constituent les besoins du marché local. Dans ce contexte, la promotion réelle de ces cultures reposera un certain temps sur les recettes de l'exportation de nos cultures industrielles et d'exportations.
Il apparaît dès lors qu'en réalité, compte tenu des facteurs adverses à ces activités d'exportation, l'état des problèmes agricoles de notre pays est en dernière analyse tout aussi préoccupant que celui des autres pays du tiers monde et notamment africains. Comment pourrait-il en être autement quand les supports essentiels de notre économie sont actuellement si fortement ébranlés? Je cite un cas édifiant: le prix minimum d'intervention qui détermine le prix plancher fixé à un niveau ne couvrant pas nos coûts de production et nos frais de commercialisation, qui se fondent sur 870 francs CFA le kilo. Cela met notre exploitation en déficit permanent qui a été de 200 milliards de francs CFA en 1980 pour notre seul pays. Notre pays subit par ailleurs la détérioration des termes de l'échange, l'inflation entre autres. Vous comprendrez, Monsieur le Président, que notre pays ne cesse de réclamer une nécessaire solidarité internationale pour ne pas parler tout simplement de justice sociale internationale afin que les efforts de notre pays soient, d'une part, récompensés par un juste prix et, d'autre part, confortés par le concours multiforme extérieur tant bilatéral que multilatéral.
C'est dans ce contexte que nous nous félicitons de la déclaration de la délégation française qui a bien voulu rappeler à notre intention la volonté politique de son pays de renforcer de manière significa-tive sa contribution à la solution des problèmes fondamentaux du tiers monde.
C'est bien, en effet, de volonté politique qu'il s'agit et voici pourquoi, sans perdre de vue que la solution des problèmes de développement agricole incombe à titre principal à nos pays eux-mêmes, nous aimerions lancer dès à présent un appel à tous les Etats Membres en faveur notamment d'une dotation budgétaire adéquate à notre organisation, la FAO, eu égard aux nobles et combien vitaux objectifs que nous lui avons assignés.
AMIDJ0N0 MARTOSUWIRYO (Indonesia): On behalf of my delegation I should like to congratulate the three Vice Chairmen elected yesterday. I should like also to thank Dr. Hurul Islam for his statement, and to express my delegation's appreciation for the enlightening opening address by the Director-General.
The statement of the Director-General, among others, implies the wish that all the countries in the world should cooperate closely in order to produce food in sufficient quantity to ensure that world food security becomes a reality, and not just an ideal. My delegation notes with concern that the problems of food shortages and malnutrition have continued to exist in the world despite the many efforts which the world governments and the international communities have made so far.
The collective causes are as wide as they are varied, but many developing countries have not been able to produce enough food for their populations. Some of these causes will hamper food production increase and are beyond their control, such as natural disasters, prolonged drought and heavy rains, but some causes can be controlled although such measures would call for assistance in the form of expertise, funds, and other inputs.
My delegation fully agrees with the views that food production is primarily the responsibility of the countries concerned, but it is the primary duty of every country to feed its own people.
The Director-General in his opening address rightly pointed out that all developing countries should give priority to food and agricultural development through investment and budgetary allocation, and that all efforts should be made to increase domestic food production. Moreover, those national efforts need to be complemented with extra assistance. In this regard due to limited external resources, prio-rity should be accorded to LDCs and MSA countries, and also to other developing countries having potential capacity of substantially expanding their agricultural area and of increasing their food production.
My delegation is convinced that not all, but certainly many, developing countries have been making such efforts. As far as Indonesia is concerned, agriculture occupies a most important place in the Five-Year National Development Plan. Food production is given top priority in the third Five-Year Develop-ment Plan initiated in April 1979. The main objective is to increase food production, particularly rice which is the staple food, by all possible means, among others by the application of more efficient farming techniques in existing farm land, education and training of rural people who actually do the farming in the use of properly tested high-yielding varieties, and in the highly organized eradication of pests and diseases. These efforts were not in vain. The rice harvest in 1980 was substantially higher than that of previous years. Further efforts were made to expand the areas and the food crop by opening new lands which are suitable for farming.
At present Indonesia has been able to utilize only about 10 percent of its total potential, 200 million hectares. Relocation of thousands of families from densely populated regions to sparsely populated areas has taken place over years and the experience gained from its success proves to be a very valuable asset in implementing further expansion. These undertakings are of such magnitude that assistance from international organizations is considered most appropriate.
In addition, Indonesia has also embarked on the expansion of food crops other than rice, including those with higher nutritional value. All this effort should make the country less vulnerable in terms of food supplies and to become less dependent on the availability of imported food and to economize in the spending of foreign currency, which should be efficiently utilized for the purpose of capital which is indispensable for industrial development.
Many developing countries which suffer from food shortages do not have the financial means to import the necessary quantities of food. In most cases their failure to raise enough money for importing food should be attributed to the worsening balance of trade. The export earnings from agricultural products have dropped owing to the existence of various forms of trade barriers in the world market. This being the case, the plight of such countries deserves the attention of the international community. It is high time that effective measures are taken in order to remedy the situation.
In the last few years the food production increase proceeded very slowly and stagnated at only 2 percent per annum during the period of 1976-78, which is decidedly less than the target of 4 percent recommended by the World Food Conference in 1974. In developing countries the average increase during the same period is estimated at only about 0.6 per annum. In the meantime, the number of people has been increasing at a more rapid pace.
All these facts combined have created a situation in which the demand for import continues to rise more rapidly than the marketable food supplies, while shipping and other transport costs show increases. This means that developing, food-deficit countries face a terrible reality, namely to be compelled to import foodstuffs at price levels they cannot afford to pay. Under such circumstances the requests for food aid should be justified or another kind of aid should be given in order to enable the country concerned to import food in quantities it needs.
Speaking about food aid in general, my delegation would like to stress the importance of utilizing food aid for development projects as was the aim of the WFP when it was established some twenty years ago. In the past, however, food aid was also used to overcome emergency situations created by natural disasters or crop failures. It should be noted, however, that as mentioned in the document the target of contribution to food aid in the framework of WFP, IEFR and Food Aid Convention have never been reached. It is understandable that the donating countries encounter their problems before they are ready to put their country provisions into effect. In this case, needy developing countries can only appeal to the more fortunate countries to take the necessary action so that the target is reached.
Finally, I should like to compliment the Secretariat for having prepared the excellent documents with such a solid platform for dealing with this very important subject of the world food situation.
L. AUSTIN (Barbados): It is deeply appreciated what an important role FAO is playing in world agriculture and its efforts to keep before the eyes of all nations of the world the grave world food situation and the need for each and every one of us to play our part in developing agriculture and increasing food production, in an effort to reverse the downward trend in per capita production so as to ease the hunger and suffering of so many of our brothers and sisters around the world. Barbados is a very small nation of only 166 square miles and a population of approximately 250,000. This gives a population density of approximately 1,500 per square mile, thus making it one of the most densely populated countries in the world. You can therefore see our difficulty in producing enough food to feed our people.
Our food import bill has been rising from year to year and every time we import these commodities, we import inflation. Consequently, in an attempt to reduce imports Barbados has, with assistance from this and other organizations, been taking positive steps to increase food production, especially through rural development schemes and more extensive and intensive use of irrigation, fertilizers and other inputs. However, like many other developing countries, a matter which is of great concern to us is the high and ever-increasing cost of agricultural inputs, most of which have to be imported; and yet we receive so little for exports, making it more and more difficult for us to purchase the necessary inputs to enable us to expand our food production.
We therefore believe that developing countries need to have some assistance by way of cheaper inputs, if any real headway is to be made in increasing food production. We therefore feel that some mecha-nism must be found to provide this assistance. We hope that our efforts to increase production will leave more food for export to the other needy countries in the world. The amount will be small -you may even say infinitesimal - but we believe that ever so little is a help. I may mention here that we are also attempting to increase our production of fish as a means of increasing the supply of protein.
I believe that at least one other delegation has mentioned the question of food storage. This is an area where I am sure a comparatively high percentage of food produced for both human beings and animals is lost, and I would urge that both producing and importing countries give this matter the highest priority.
This delegation wishes to associate itself with the remarks of those delegations which have congratul-ated the Director-General on his clear and precise statement yesterday morning regarding the grave world food situation. I again wish to stress how much Barbados appreciates the good work that has been done by this Organization and because of this we pledge our fullest support, and sincerely hope that the deliberations during the remainder of this meeting will bear fruit and will experience the fullest cooperation from all delegations, leaving us all with a sense of satisfaction at its conclusion.
F. PETRELLA (Argentina): Por ser la primera vez que tengo el privilegio de actuar en este Consejo deseo hacerle llegar mis saludos, señor Presidente, así como a los Vicepresidentes y demás autoridades de la Mesa.
Quisiera también felicitar a la Secretaría por la valiosa documentación que nos ha suministrado, y de manera muy especial destacar la impresión que nos ha causado la intervención de nuestro Director General pronunciada el día de ayer.
En efecto, la descripción de la situación alimentaria, así como la atmósfera de crisis y tirantez por la que transitan otros campos de la actividad humana internacional, no puede menos que inducirnos a justificar esta preocupación. La escasez de recursos constituye la tendencia actual; habrá que afrontarla de manera realista y procurando que el sistema multilateral, que tantos soportes ha dado a la paz, a la seguridad y al bienestar internacional, no sufra deterioros graves ni retrocesos irreparables. Habrá que determinar prioridades dentro de dicho esquema y habrá también que determinar prioridades dentro de cada organismo específico. Todo ello deberíamos hacerlo con ponderación y cuidado respondiendo, en lo posible, a un esfuerzo armónico donde la opinión de la mayoría sea tenida en cuenta.
Nos complace escuchar que FAO ya ha realizado importantes medidas de racionalización y economía.
La posición argentina en lo que hace a los problemas alimentarios es conocida; no obstante, cabría destacar nuevamente nuestro énfasis en la importancia del esfuerzo individual de cada uno de los países para superar las dificultades derivadas de la falta de alimentos. Esto no implica que deba dejarse de lado la asistencia, la ayuda y la seguridad en materia alimentaria; significa que los esfuerzos deben orientarse a crear condiciones para la autosuficiencia allí donde ello resulte posible.
Argentina ha logrado un destacado progreso mediante una estrategia escasamente original, pero que demostró ser sumamente efectiva; ello se tradujo básicamente en acentuar los incentivos y la seguridad a los productores individuales, complementada recientemente con un sistema de créditos. Mediante este mecanismo se aspira a una meta de 50 millones de toneladas para ser alcanzada gradualmente sin afectar la productividad de las tierras ni el medio ambiente.
La campaña agrícola 80/81 arrojó una cosecha récord de 36 millones de toneladas de grano, que deja 22 millones libres para la exportación.
El actual aumento de producción se percibió en los mejores rendimientos que pasaron de un promedio de 1,150 kilogramos a poco más de 1 500 kilogramos por hectárea en los últimos 5 años. Por ello, la Argentina se considera preparada para contar en el mediano plazo con la meta de 50 millones de tone-ladas a que aludiera precedentemente. Dicho volumen podrá surgir de un aumento que estimamos entre un 20 y un 25 por ciento de la superficie sembrada más un incremento de los rendimientos promedio que deben alcanzar los 2 500 kilogramos por hectárea.
Para contribuir al logro de esas metas se considera la renovación y modernización del actual parque de maquinaria, a la vez que expandir el uso de las mejoras técnicas disponibles, tanto en los insumos como en el manejo y conservación de los suelos.
El problema de las barreras arancelarias ha sido tocado en varios discursos, incluso por nuestro Director General, con dramática precisión. Deseamos expresar nuevamente que no censuramos al proteccionismo cuando es utilizado como instrumento de la economía al que recurren recíprocamente países de igual grado de desarrollo; lo censuramos cuando se aplica a los países en vías de desarrollo creando discriminaciones y entorpeciendo el comercio mundial. Esa política desgraciada vulnera uno de los principios esenciales sobre el que se asienta el sistema internacional, a saber, el principio de interdependencia al que tan oportunamente aludiera el señor Saouma en la sesión de ayer.
Finalmente, desearía señalar que hay tres aspectos de los que tratamos en este foro que suscitan constantemente nuestras inquietudes. Estos son: asistencia, ayuda y seguridad alimentaria.
Con respecto a la asistencia técnica tenemos en marcha algunos proyectos en diversas regiones que esperamos arrojen resultados interesantes.
En lo que hace a la ayuda, nos complacemos en exaltar la tarea del Programa Mundial de Alimentos, órgano a través del cual nos hemos comprometido a realizar algunas contribuciones por valor de dos millones y medio de dólares en productos.
Destaco además que somos donatarios por un volumen de 35 000 toneladas dentro del marco del convenio de Ayuda Alimentaria. Todo esto sin perjuicio de acciones bilaterales que es tradicional.
Sobre seguridad alimentaria, se estudian las posibilidades que existen a disposición y se siguen con mucho interés las iniciativas que se presentan en éste y en otros foros internacionales.
Señor Presidente, desearíamos que esta sesión del Consejo reafirme formalmente la necesidad de respe-tar el principio de interdependencia; desearíamos que se exhorte a preservar los recursos de la FAO en razón de los trascendentales objetivos que cumple en el orden internacional; y desearíamos que este Consejo nos oriente hacia la preparación de un programa alimentario mínimo mundial viable que nos permita superar la presente coyuntura.
S. I. ALMANNAI (Kuwait) (interpretation from Arabic): We would like to thank the Director-General for his very clear and frank statement yesterday which showed us what the world situation was. He had the courage to give us the reasons and causes for that situation. We fully support everything he has said with regard to the armaments race and the enormous sums of money that are spent in this field. Obviously, as he said, it would have been better to spend that money putting an end to hunger and poverty rather than using that money in order to destroy humanity. However, it would appear that the world does not attach as much importance to this question as it should in that it prefers to spend more money on weapons and armaments in order to damage peoples and attack them without justification, which would mean, of course, destroying development programmes and increasing the numbers of refugees to be found in the world - - a phenomenon I am afraid of our era. These refugees have no country, and apart from that their food needs are increasing. Food shortages and poverty are also increasing and it is up to countries, the host countries, to help them as much as they can. If there were no wars, there would be no refugees fleeing from their war stricken countries.
Food aid has not attained its objective, and we would requests states, first of all, to try and increase their own food production, but we must also provide assistance to food deficit countries by strengthening development programmes and production programmes so that they may reach self-sufficiency. We read in all these documents that the world food situation is critical, the increase in production has been lower than we tried to achieve and seeds and fertilizers had to be imported too by developing countries, that is why we think that a sincere cooperation between all countries of the world should be our aim and we would ask developed countries to increase their assistance to developing countries so that they can increase their food production and in that way we shall be working jointly in this unstable and uncertain world to eradicate hunger.
Kuwait has tried to carry out measures for food self-sufficiency. However, our climate is a very extreme one and what we have done is to try and increase the rate of growth of our agricultural production, and that is why we now have an agricultural policy which serves to increase food production where we can. At the beginning of the year we started implementing agricultural development policy in a five-year plan which will continue until 1986. Among the objectives of the plan appear an increase in production by using modern technology in every field, that is whether for animal breeding, fish breeding or agriculture. The state has allocated the necessary number of sums required for the Kuwait Agricultural Fund, not only for our country but also to help those states that need to increase their food resources. We are also contributing to the various international funds that have the same aim.
We have also set up a cooperation centre in the Gulf which will be our contribution to increasing food production throughout the world. We feel that every organization involved in agricultural production should have a more positive attitude towards increasing production in this world is beset with problems.
A.F.M. DE FREITAS (Brazil): I would like to offer a number of comments on document CL 79/2 and CL 79/2-Sup.l. I believe that the facts and analysis contained in those documents are produced in realistic and balanced terms. The overall picture of the current world situation is such as to justify the general concern of the international community, suffice it to highlight some of the difficulties described in the document; rising cereal export prices, rising freight rates, the unsatisfactory nutritional status of the developing world population, declining food aid, not to mention the rising trend of food prices and overall price inflation of recent years. All these and other similar and even more difficult problems are very well discussed in the documents under consideration. There are fortunately some rays of hope in a few areas in particular, the changing prospective for better harvests in 1981 for several crops and the revised index of higher estimates of food production in the developing market economies, with the exception of the Near East. Even Africa, whose plight has been a continuous source of concern for the international community, seems to have had slightly increased food production in the period under consideration, but all those positive developments should not turn us away from the uninterrupted efforts that the world food situation demands both from the international community and from each one of our countries individually.
The Director-General in his opening statement repeated his call to all developing countries to make all possible efforts to increase domestic food production. In this respect, allow me to mention briefly the national efforts being presently made in Brazil, not only to intensify but especially to extend agricultural production. I will not quote any figures, I will only describe the main directions of these efforts. In the south of Braxil, which is a traditionally agricultural area, a huge programme is being implemented to increase the productivity of the area under cultivation." In some cases the productivity per hectare is being increased from one or two tons to six or more of rice. In the centre of the country, which used to be considered an area only appropriate for grazing, a special programme lodged by the Government has now been approved and is likely to become one of the most promising agricultural regions in Brazil where rice, wheat, maize and other cereals will grow extensively.
Finally, as a result of the effort to occupy the whole land, roads and communications have been opened towards the western part of the country and now not only cattle but especially soya beans, cocoa and coffee are being produced with success in that area. So this is how Brazil is trying to cope with the difficulties we are now faced with in the world as far as food is concerned.
My Delegation believes that the Director-General described yesterday with sobering words the food situation in the world and how he thinks the Organization should deal with it. My Delegation agrees entirely with his position. He touched on the difficult problems that we must face, the question of refugees and emergencies, food aid, food products, food production, terms of trade, the present international economic order, the financial problems of the Organization and many other important points.
We heard with special satisfaction the description of the efforts he promoted to increase the effectiveness of the Organization and he mentioned a few particularly important areas like the performance of the Investment Centre and its large multiplying effect, the Technical Cooperation Programme, and its effect on the effort to de-centralize the activities of the Organization. He even recalled the efforts to reduce and cut expenditure in the practical administration of FAO and we commend him for such efforts.
My Delegation would like to renew its support and confidence in the Director-General. We must work together to help the Organization to fulfill its role, especially in the difficult circumstances that we must face these days.
CHAIRMAN: This brings us to the end of Members who wanted to speak on this subject and, because of shortage of time, I have asked for Observers who have asked for the floor to submit their comments in writing to the secretariat so that they can be taken into account and reflected in the report.
T. MINKOUE (Observateur pour le Gabon): Je dois d'emblée faire remarquer au Conseil que j'ai demandé d'intervenir sur ce point de l'ordre du jour, non pas en qualité d'Observateur, place qui revient à mon pays, le Gabon, mais en qualité de l'un des Représentants d'un Groupe important par son nombre d'affamés, l'Afrique.
Avant de poursuivre mon propos qui du reste sera assez bref, permettez-moi M. le Président de présenter toutes mes sincères félicitations au bureau élu, je veux citer le Ministre de l'Agriculture du Liban en tant que Premier Vice Président sans oublier les deux autres Vice Présidences qui reviennent respectivement aux éminents représentants de la République Populaire du Congo et de la République Fédé-rale d'Allemagne. Monsieur Ramadhar n'échappe pas à ces félicitations pour avoir été élu Rapporteur de la Session.
J'estime que le point de l'ordre du jour que nous étudions en ce moment, ou plus exactement que nous venons d'étudier, se révèle important si l'on se rappelle les premières interventions d'hier. A juste titre l'on peut considérer l'examen de la situation de l'alimentation dans le monde comme un hors-d'oeuvre avant d'entamer le plat de résistance de la Session, qui contient en substance le program-me de travail et de budget 1982-83, programme et budget qui engageront la nouvelle direction de l'action efficace de l'organisation.
Dans une assemblée comme celle-ci, l'on a coutume, les participants j'entends, de faire une classification de ses orateurs: il y a les ténors et les autres.
Les ténors, ce sont ceux qui ont le verbe facile, voire l'intonation qu'il faut, ce sont aussi ceux qui peuvent trouver les solutions aux problèmes qui préoccupent les autres, avec en filigrane un peu d'esprit par ci, un peu de sollicitude par là, pour faire admettre aux autres que l'on ne saurait être aussi pessimistes puisqu'en fin de compte, ils les comprennent. Les autres, hélas, c'est nous autres, pays en développement, qui subissons la faim, la malnutrition, en un mot la misère et partant qui appelions un chat, un chat, sans fioriture, sans recherche d'élocution, mais hantés par leur sort, et c'est pourquoi, le trop de pessimisme que l'on a osé attribuer au début des débats hier au cri de détresse et d'alarme du Directeur général montre bien combien nous sommes loin de ce que l'on appelle solidarité de la communauté internationale.
La situation alimentaire est alarmante. Nous ne pouvons, le nier et après le discours d'ouverture de la présente session du Directeur général M. Saouma, qui oserait prétendre le contraire? Ce serait faire une plaisanterie de mauvais goût pour tous ceux qui paient, non seulement de leur honneur, celui de mériter le titre d'Homme, mais aussi de leur vie, car, de la faim, ils en meurent, et par milliers.
Si certains pays se satisfont de la relance, heureusement d'ailleurs, de leur production, elle ne peut être considérée que sur un niveau national. La situation alimentaire mondiale peut être comparée à un Produit National Brut d'un pays. Ce PNB résulte en fait d'une opération fort simple, revenu national brut divisé par sa population. Partant de ce principe, si l'on fait la même opération en ce qui concerne l'alimentation: production alimentaire mondiale, divisée par la population mondiale, nous obtiendrons un chiffre médiocre, très en dessous très certainement du niveau minimum de subsistance par tête d'habitant, le nombre de populations sans nourriture étant élevé. Autrement dit, une situation des plus alarmantes analysée fort à propos par le Directeur général et son secrétariat.
Donc trève de considération nationale, si toutefois nous continuons à prôner dans nos sessions la notion de la conscience de la Communauté internationale.
Ceci m'appelle à lancer à cette honorable assemblée un appel solennel de mon gouvernement et du groupe affamé dont il fait partie. Que ceux que j'ai appelés les ténors ne minimisent pas les autres dans leur effroi. Au contraire, qu'ils les comprennent et qu'ils les appellent par leur offre d'entente communautaire à une mobilisation internationale vers un ennemi unique, la faim, la malnutrition, qui frappe d'autant plus l'homme que la conscience humaine ne peut rester indifférente. Ils ont un mot à dire, c'est celui-là qu'on attend d'eux, oublier que la croissance zéro ne peut s'appliquer au pro-blème de la faim car la croissance positive est le seul moyen d'améliorer la situation alimentaire mon-diale que nous déplorons aujourd'hui.
Un seul souhait, c'est celui de la prise de conscience du Conseil, non pas des ténors et des autres, mais bien du Conseil qui peut résoudre le problème préoccupant de la faim et de la pauvreté. Que l'on ne se réfugie pas derrière des groupes de mots tels que la grande majorité, la plupart des délégués ont constaté que la situation est alarmante, expression qui fait fureur dans nos rapports des sessions, masquant ainsi notre fuite devant notre responsabilité, acceptée hier et mise en cause aujourd'hui: mener sans préjugé et discrimination une lutte acharnée contre la faim et la pauvreté.
Autrement dit, c'est bien le Conseil qui constate cette situation alarmante de l'alimentation dans le monde, et c'est à lui qu'incombe la tâche de déployer les efforts nécessaires à l'amélioration de cette situation. 1/
G. PELÀ (Observer for the International Federation of Agricultural Producers); IFAP would like to confine its comments to the question of the effects of inflation on food prices.
Document number 2 contains a section entitled Inflation and Consumer Food Prices. It is true that FAO is the food and agriculture organization; we would, however, have liked to find in this section a few lines on the effects of inflation on the cost for the farmer to produce food. I shall endeavour briefly to fill that gap, for as we have stated many times before, if the farmer has no incentive to produce, the consumer will go hungry.
As long ago as 1969, farmers at their General Conference in Tokyo pointed to inflation as a looming problem. The reason they were among the very first to recognize this danger is that they were the first to be affected by it.
There are two important ways in which inflation affects food costs; at the farm level and at the processing and distribution level.
At FAO's Regional Conference for Europe in 1972, IFAP's representative pointed out that producers would have increasing difficulty in keeping down the cost of food. As long as rises in productivity outpaced inflation, governments could get away with raising farm prices by less than the rate of inflation. But inflation accelerated at such a pace that no increase in productivity could possibly make up the gap. Thus the cost of producing food necessarily began to rise almost as fast as inflation and no-one should be really surprised at that.
In countries and at periods when agriculture is virtually autonomous, with energy being supplied by human or animal muscle, fed by the products of the farm; with fertilizer being supplied by those animals; with pest control performed by the farm children; with implements, baskets and other necessities being produced from locally available materials, inflation could have little effect. Modern agriculture, far from being autonomous, is very closely tied to and dependent on outside suppliers: petroleum-based fuels, and farm chemicals and fertilizers, in particular; machinery, the cost of which is itself strongly influenced by energy costs and wage levels; and credit, which is all the more indispensable today as the prices received by farmers are insufficient to allow the investments required to ensure tomorrow's production.
This can be illustrated by a few figures. In Belgium and the Netherlands, the value of inputs represents no less than 56 percent of the value of production. The index of prices received and prices paid, based on 1973, is also illustrative: in France by 1980, prices paid had increased 34 percent faster than prices received; for Finnish farmers, the figure is 17 percent; for Austrian farmers almost 22 percent. In the USA, the bread-basket of the world, between 1978 and the first quarter of this year, farmers faced the following increases in their costs: fertilizers rose 40 percent, interest payable on farm real estate debt rose 75 percent, fuels and energy prices doubled. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural Economics estimates that while gross rural production value will fall only marginally, "rising farm costs will push total net value down 19 percent, and when inflation is taken into account the fall will be 26 percent". How many office or factory workers took a wage cut in 1981?
The Irish Farmers Association has calculated that the effects of inflation on interest rates means that every 1 percent inflation deducts £15.7 million from farm incomes. Allowing for a 1.5 percent annual rise in productivity, farm incomes will only be maintained if inflation is kept at 5 - 6 percent annually (it was 18.2 percent in 1980).
I believe there is no need to provide any more illustrations of the phenomenon of the effects of inflation on food production. Such detailed up-to-date figures are not available for our developing country members. However, the bulk of farm supplies to those countries comes from the world market where prices have risen considerably, while prices for sugar, coffee, cocoa, fibres and most of their other exports have weakened. Insofar as developing country governments can afford to subsidize input prices, the benefits go almost exclusively to cash crop rather than food producers.
Inflation is a problem for everyone. However, we wish to stress very strongly that it is no less a problem - and almost certainly more of a problem - for food producers as it is for food consumers.
The other way food prices are affected by inflation are in the processing and distribution sectors. Whereas the farmer is generally a price taker (his net income is simply what is left over when all his costs have been deducted), other sectors base their prices on "cost plus", that is they charge all their costs plus a profit margin. Add to this the increasingly sophisticated processing and packaging which food products undergo (not always with any demonstrable benefit for the consumer) and a major share of the rise in food costs will be accounted for. Where such processing goes on, the farmer's share of the consumer's dollar has declined as low as 25 or 30 percent even where there is virtually no processing, as in fresh fruit or vegetables, the consumer pays as much as twice the price paid to the producer. Given that half the cost of production is accounted for by inputs, the price of which the farmer can in no way influence, and the farmer's responsability for rising food costs is difficult indeed to identify.
IFAP believes that consumers in industrial societies have been subsidized for over a century by farmers through "cheap food policies" pursued by governments. IFAP also believes that many developing countries have depended so much on the existence of cheap imported food that they have neglected their own farmers and lost even the possibility of a reasonable degree of food independance.
The era of cheap energy ended in the last decade. We believe the era of cheap food will end in this decade. Governments must adapt to this new reality.
There is, however, one thing which can be done to shelter consumers to some extent from inflationary effects on food prices: that is to devote far more attention to the virtually autonomous food production systems which already exist in their own countries. By this, we mean the subsistence sector which is managed with such skill and devotion by farm women the world over, without whose efforts the food situation would be even worse than it is already. 1/
N. ISLAM (Assistant Director-General, Economic and Social Policy Department): I have only a few queries to answer. First, insofar as the current and prospective food situation is concerned it seems there is a general concensus and agreement with the analysis contained in the supplementary document - not the original one - which was distributed yesterday. However, there are still some uncertainties in the situation relating to the weather conditions in the coming months which hopefully will be cleared up in the next three to four months.
A question was asked about the decline in the share of developing country exports as a proportion of world agricultural exports and how far the decline was related to protectionism in the developed countries. In the last year or two the rate of decline in the share of value of agricultural exports of developing countries in world exports is partly due to the fact that the price trends for those export commodities which are exported by developing countries had been more unfavourable than those exported by developed countries. In addition of course the slowing down of the growth rate in the developed countries providing markets for agricultural exports for developing countries and persistence of protectionism have contributed.
Turning to the wider question of the effects of protectionism on the developing countries agricultural exports I would like to refer the Council to the forthcoming meeting of the Committee on Commodity Problems in September this year, which will reveal developments in protectionism and the effects on agricultural exports, especially exports of developing countries. This is in pursuance of conference resolution 2/79 on Commodity Trade, Protectionism and Agricultural Adjustment. The Committee and the inter-governmental commodity bodies have been charged by the Conference and the Council to review progress in protectionism and its effects on trade. Our studies do demonstrate that as reported in last year's Commodity Review and Outlook liberalization of trade barriers against agricultural .exports of developing countries would bring about a substantial increase in the export earnings of developing countries.
We have been asked to be more precise about the analysis not only of the food situation - this refers to the question raised by the delegate of Canada - but also the analysis of food aid. I would like to refer here to the fact that we do try to .be as precise as the availability of data permits and insofar as food aid analysis is concerned we do distinguish between food imports of developing countries as a whole and food imports of low income developing countries as a group within the total of developing countries and then demonstrate the food aid going to low income food deficit countries as a proportion of total food imports. Since food aid is directed exclusively to the low income developing countries we believe this was an analysis which would be relevant for policy purposes for the international community. I would also like to remind you that in the monthly Food Outlook Bulletin we provide statistics of (a) production of cereals for developing countries and (b) imports by developing countries as well as low income developing countries as a separate group and provide also commercial purchases of food imports by the low income developing countries, also data on prices of main cereals as well as freight rates. I am sure that member Governments receive these Food Outlook Bulletins regularly and are therefore completely appraised of the details of the food aid situation in relation to other aspects of food imports and the food situation.
External assistance to agriculture, why do we use narrow definition of agriculture as used by OECD in our analysis in the document submitted to the Council? As you are well aware, We have two definitions of agriculture, broad and narrow, which are used by OECD, and we use the data in collaboration with them in producing estimates of external assistance to agriculture. In this document we have used narrow definition because the document relates to the world food situation and the narrow definition is more clearly germane to the food sector rather than to the wider agricultural sector. In The State of Food and Agriculture we give details of both types of definition, broad and narrow, and provide data of the flow of external assistance under both types of definition. Therefore in this case also I am afraid there must be some misunderstanding: it is not true that we always give data under narrow definition, but in this document narrow definition is used because it is particularly relevant to the food sector, not other sub-sectors in agriculture. But if you look at the trends in resource flow, whether it is narrow or broad definition, trends are broadly similar.
What about data on domestic investment in agriculture.for developing countries? As the Director-General said yesterday in response to some of these questions, I would like to reiterate that we have been making efforts in this direction since the Conference in 1977 wanted us to collect data on this. As we have been reporting from time to time in The State of Food and Agriculture, we have encountered serious difficulties in collecting data on investments in agriculture in the developing countries. Our efforts can only be successful to the extent that the Member Governments are willing and able to cooperate with us in providing such data, in compiling and providing it to us for our analysis. I must report here that this cooperation or availability of data on this subject has been so severely limited that we have not been able to do the work that we are asked to do. This is partly because readily available data on domestic investment in agriculture is not available. I will even go further, not to speak of domestic investment in agriculture, even data on investment as a whole from many develop-ing countries is very difficult to come by. In full recognition of this difficulty we have been trying to collect data on public investment, forgetting about private investment. As most of you are aware, even in many developed countries it is difficult to get precise estimates of private investment in the agricultural sector for every year. In developing countries even with sophisticated statistical resources and information private investment in agriculture is probably available once in a decade. To monitor flows on private investments in agriculture every,year is asking for the impossible. As far as public investment in agriculture is concerned, even there we have encountered very serious difficulties. We tried first to do this by sending a questionnaire to member governments telling them what we wanted and the response was very inadequate and the replies we did receive we could not use because of inconsistencies of data and inadequacies in filling up the questionnaire. We have been trying since then to find alternative ways of making these estimates. We are now doing some case studies in selected countries trying to find out if we pan devise a simplified method. But the basic problem remains unanswered because in the developing countries themselves this data is not readily available. Classification of budgets, expenditures by governments in the categories which are necessary to estimate investment flows of government expenditure on agriculture are not available. The usual classifications are more administrative than economic. So there is a need for a lot of work to be done in the developing countries themselves in terms of analysing and compiling this data. It is scattered all over government departments and not to be found in one particular ministry, but basically in the finance and planning ministries. I am sure most of you are aware of these difficulties. The Secretariat can only succeed insofar as the Member Governments are willing to let us succeed, which means that a lot of work has to be done in the ministries concerned in the compilation and analysis of data, which means that manpower has to be devoted by the Member Governments in collecting this kind of data in each of the countries. So unless Member Governments are willing to do this we will not succeed in producing the data which is wanted. This is a frank and candid view of the situation. We are still trying to find some way out of it but I do not think we will succeed very much. In the meantime we have published such an amount of data relying on International Monetary Fund statistics and government expenditure on agriculture, but here again they are very incomplete. As you will know, government expenditure is at various levels of government - central, provincial, state and local - and most of the data at state, provincial and local level is not available at all. I am listing all these difficulties to try to convey to the Council that we are making efforts but succees is not likely unless considerable efforts are made in the countries themselves.
Coming back to the question which I dealt with earlier, yesterday on this stock figure which we publish, I would like to add one more comment. Basically this concept of stocks that we use in our publications has been discussed in the Committee on Food Security and it is defined as figures on carryover stocks. This is to be distinguished very clearly from operational and pipeline stocks. They do not mean the same thing, they are entirely different. Carryover stocks are stocks which are carried over at the end of one crop season before the next crop is available, while operational stocks or pipeline stocks are held between the period when the crop comes to the market and the time when the next crop is available to meet consumption requirements during that period. The carryover stocks, we believe the concept is relevant to the concept of food security and security reserves. Therefore the stock figures used by FAO strictly relate not to pipeline and operational stocks but to carryover stocks. Once this concept is accepted the stock figure has to be crop specific and country specific. Each crop has a different season, different crop calendars. Therefore the choice of one uniform point of time in any country would be confusing from the point of view of this concept of carryover stocks because any uniform time point for the estimation of stocks would imply a combination of putting together carryover stocks and operational stocks and therefore would not be relevant to the concept which FAO uses for the stock figures. We hope to issue an explanatory note detailing the methods we use and the time period used for each country and the definition of the terms used in the FAO stock figures. We are planning to bring out a compendium of stocks country by country and will therefore provide a detailed explanatory note so that in the future confusion can be avoided.
CHAIRMAN: That concludes our discussion on Item 4.
The Secretariat has just mentioned a problem to me. We had hoped to inform you of the candidates of the Drafting Committee this morning but this has not been possible because there are some consultations still going on. All the regions have agreed on their candidates except the European region, and I would like to appeal to the European groups to agree so that we can make an announcement this afternoon, because the Drafting Committee will have to start their meeting tomorrow.
The meeting rose at 12.45 hours.
La seance est levee à 12 h 45
Se levanta la sesión a las 12.45 horas
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1/ Texte reçu avec demande d'insertion au procès-verbal.
1/ Statement inserted in the verbatim records on request.
