- STATEMENTS BY HEADS OF DELEGATION (continued)
- DECLARATIONS DES CHEFS DE DELEGATIONS (suite)
- MANIFESTACIONES POR LOS JEFES DE LAS IE LEGACIONES (continuación)
CHAIRMAN: I now declare open the Sixteenth Plenary meeting.
M. S. NASSER (Yemen, People's Dem. Rep. of) (interpretation from Arabic): Mr. Chairman. Director-General, Ministers, Heads of Delegations, Ladies and Gentlemen: I should like to convey to you the best wishes of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen. I hope that this Conference will be successful in putting an end to poverty and hunger in the world.
Mr. Chairman, I should like to congratulate you and your associates, the Vice-Chairmen and the Chairmen of Commissions, on your election and for the confidence that the Conference has placed in you.
The world food problem and the problem of agricultural development have become a source of major concern for all countries desirous of having international conferences to reach positive results and practical decisions which in turn will be capable of contributing to the development process and providing food to a large number of people in the world who are suffering from hunger. The problem of malnutrition, which affects almost half of the world's inhabitants, is of equal importance. The tremendous tasks that our Conference is involved in relate directly to the health and security of the world's population. This should encourage all countries of the world to become members of our Organization.
We welcome the new Member States - Angola, Comoros, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Mozambique, Namibia, Sao Tome and Principe and the Seychelles We congratulate them and we express the hope that they will contribute to bring about an atmosphere of cooperation, collaboration and understanding with other members in order to solve the crucial problems which are an obstacle to happiness and stability in the world. We also hope that they will play an effective role in bridging the gap that separates the industrialized countries from the developing countries and that separates the privileged classes and the deprived classes because of the present economic situation and the complication of the world trade system. It is quite clear that all members of the Organizations are fully aware of the need to step up their efforts if we are to overcome the problems of ignorance and underdevelopment, problems which only aggravate the problem of malnutrition which is such a dangerous scourge.
At the time of this meeting my country is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its independence, ten years of struggle in the service of the people, 80 per cent of whom are working in agriculture and fisheries. All of the achievements made by the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen during the course of this period are marked by the serious manner in which we have dealt with the crucial problems of agrarian reform. Our country has to solve the problem of land and agrarian reform, basing itself on giving the peasant what is legitimately due to him from the production of the land. Our country has given full support to these peasants and has given them modem means of production as well as the appropriate agricultural inputs at subsidized prices. During the course of the past years we have built ten dams in order to channel and distribute rainwaters and we have built drainage canals. We have reclaimed 50 000 feddans of land through irrigation. We have also introduced agricultural mechanisation in order to develop agricultural techniques, in addition to introducing new varieties of fruits, vegetables and grains of high yield.
With respect to fisheries and livestock we have, thanks to our own efforts, improved the species of dairy cattle, goats and sheep.
With respect to our three-year and five-year plans we have in this area made investments of 40 million dinars - that is, the equivalent of $120 million.
As you will have observed, the investments in the field of agriculture and fisheries have been focueeed on the purchase of fishing gear, farm machines, irrigation systems, and other necessary agricultural inputs.
The priority given to these various factors clearly reflects the input of our Government in this sector. Following our independence we saw that these elements were a weak point in the developing process, and in the past they were completely neglected. But despite all the efforts made by my country in respect of investment in agriculture and fisheries a great deal remains to be done by the various financial resources in order to avoid wastage of time and effort so as to introduce and implement these various development projects.
We would like to express the hope that the Member States hasten to implement the development projects which were approved in the various FAO programmes. It is our hope that this will not be jeopardized by routine procedures which are not linked to the fundamental problems, this in order to service millions of people who are suffering and to whom the Director-General referred in his opening address. We hope that other specialized agencies will follow along this path in their relationships with those countries which most certainly require assistance.
We have placed a great deal of hope in IFAD. It is our hope that IFAD will be able to overcome the difficulties that were experienced by other financing institutions and specialized agencies that¡ preceded it and that IFAD will be able to benefit from experience in order to avail itself of the tremendous possibilities now existing.
The efforts made by FAO to hold the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development warrant the support of all member countries. It is my pleasure to inform you here that we have already begun preparations for this conference in order to ensure our participation.
The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen has unique experience despite its small size. This experience was born from our own traditions and was carried out by the toiling masses of our country.
We try to improve the standard of living of the rural population, which constitutes the vast majority of our country's population. This experience has certainly proved to be valid in view of the fact that it succeeded in raising the economic and social standards of living in the rural areas, more particularly of women, who also participated in the development process.
In view of the considerable importance in our country of agriculture and fisheries we have taken special interests in these sectors and have mobilized all financial and human resources in this area.
Let us not forget the role played by FAO in the development of this important sector either by giving direct assistance or by providing assistance for the implementation of projects financed by various financial institutions. Here we should like to express our thanks to our Organization, to the Director-General, to the World Pood Programme and its Executive Director for their assistance during the drought that we suffered in the last agricultural season. We also stress the importance of the assistance that FAO will grant us in the future with respect to hydraulic resources in view of the fact that the major harvest in our-country depends on rainfall, which varies considerably from one season to another.
We would like to confirm our support for the Programme of Work and Budget submitted by the Director-General, more particularly with respect to natural resources and animal production in the Middle East. We should also like to remind the Director-General that despite the importance of animal production, which is a very valuable contribution to the increase in agricultural production as a whole, and despite the first attempts made by FAO in 1967 to bring assistance to this sector, nothing has been achieved thus far. In view of this we have counted entirely upon ourselves and the limited possibilities at our disposal, as well as on bilateral assistance prompted by a number of countries. Consequently it is our hope that the guidelines in the Programme of Work and Budget mentioned by the Director-General in his address will be translated into concrete action for the development of animal production in the countries suffering from shortage of natural and technical resources. It is inconceivable, therefore, to set a number of limits with respect to the financial contributions made to these countries that require such aid.
The fisheries and fishery resources in general are of great importance in our country. We appreciate the role of FAO within the framework of the technical cooperation programme for the utilization of these resources and training programmes in this connexion. It is my pleasure to inform you that we have recently established a new Ministry which is devoted to fisheries so as to guarantee the satisfactory management of this sector.
In conclusion I would like to express my Government's support for the new strategy followed by the Director-General which he announced at the beginning of his term of office. This strategy relates first to decentralization and strengthening of FAO at the national level; secondly, flexibility designed to give rapid satisfaction to the needs of the member countries; and thirdly, the adjustment
of FAO projects to the national development programmes, stressing applied studies rather than academic or theoretical studies and theoretical planning. It is our hope also that the promotions and appointments to the major posts of the Organization be based on the services rendered in the interests of member countries.
B. MANSaRAY (Sierra Leone): Please permit me, Mr. Chairman, in the first place to join the other delegations in congratulating you on your election as Chairman of this 19th Session of the Food and Agriculture Organization Conference, and for the very able manner in which you have conducted the affairs of this Assembly.
Although I have already welcomed the new Member States to this august assembly, as Chairman of the African Region, nonetheless I wish to extend to these nations namely, Angola, Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Mozambique, Namibia, Sao Tome and Principe as well as Seychelles my sincere felicitations and those of my delegation and Government, on their admission as full members to the FAO Community.
My delegation notes with satisfaction the provisions made by the Director-General in his Programme of Work and Budget, and the medium-term objectives in tackling the world food problem in a realistic and pragmatic manner, particularly the institutional and operational changes, with a view to streamlining the work of the Organization and making it more effective. It is indeed gratifying to note that the aspirations of Member Nations of this Organization over the years are being fulfilled through the Director-General's policy of decentralisation, aimed at dismantling the heavy bureaucratic system that had plagued the effective operation of the Organization since its inception. In particular, my delegation sees the establishment of FAO Country Representatives, who will be intimately involved in the agricultural development processes at the grass-roots level, and work in close collaboration with the nationals of the Member States, as a clear demonstration of the decentralisation policy. Furthermore, we welcome the initiative taken by the Director-General to reduce to a minimum post-harvest losses now experienced by farmers. This is an area that particularly appeals to my delegation, and we hope that the measures contemplated will be speedily implemented.
May I point out, Mr. Chairman, that the need for determining fertilizer blends to suit the various soil types and crops is recognised by my country. The Land Resources Survey Unit of my Ministry has carried out aerial photographic surveys of the entire country; and the Unit is now conducting detailed soil surveys which demand a review of the limited range of. compound fertilizer formulations currently in use. For this and for financial reasons it has been thought more appropriate to establish a fertilizer-blending and bagging plant which would be used to mix fertilizer ingredients locally, to suit our various soil types and crops. Whilst we welcome the continuation of the International Fertilizer Supply Scheme, we would hope that the necessary financial support and technical assistance will be offered by the international community in our efforts to establish a fertilizer industry at the level indicated.
Sierra Leone, like many other developing countries, is basically an agricultural country. Over 70 percent of its population derives its livelihood from peasant farming. Unfortunately, however, these people are often the most underprivileged, and the most neglected members of the community. As a result, there is a steady movement of young people from the rural to the urban areas, thus creating socio-economic problems within the country. Consequently, my country has embarked on a vigorous rural development programme, with special emphasis on the integrated approach to agricultural development. It is for this reason that my country appreciates the initiative taken for planning a world conference on Rural Development and Agrarian Reform in 1979. Agricultural development, however, is an expensive and time consuming process which often requires resources far beyond the capacity of most developing countries. With the escalating cost of farm inputs including fertilizer, pesticides, farm machines, etc, it has become increasingly difficult for my country to achieve the minimum annual growth rate of 4 percent in agriculture and food production as call d for by the international development strategy of the Second United Nations Development Decade withe texternal assistance. My delegation hence associates itself with the other speakers in the plea for more rational distribution of financial resources, especially for increased credit and investments ir, agricu ]ture for the developing countries which still suffer from she atages of food due to lack of capital.
My delegation therefore appreciates the activities of the Consultative Group on Food Production and Investment (CGFPI) in developing countries, in assistingfour of the 43 food priority countries in preparing their national food plans and agricultural development strategies which have been presented to bilateral and multilateral funding agencies for investment purposes. We ourselves look forward in the near future to similar assistance from the Consultative Group on Food Production and Investment.
Whilst we pledge on our part to do all that lies in our power to adopt policies and measures designed to increase our agricultural output, we are indeed delighted at the Director-General's willingness to assist us achieve these objectives, as well as act as an intermediary between the developed and the developing countries for the necessary assistance in agricultural development.
The economies of most developing countries are largely dependent upon agricultural exports for earning foreign exchange. The fluctuations in the agricultural commodity prices on the world market have proved a negative incentive to increased agricultural production. However, the bold initiative of the World Bank in lending funds for rural development and the establishment of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), if supported by corresponding measures to stabilize the prices of agricultural commodities, will make the concept of the new international economic order more meaningful and relevant. In this connection we are eagerly looking forward to the negotiations currently going on in Geneva under the sponsorship of UNCTAD, aimed at establishing a Common Fund that will be used to stabilize the prices of commodities.
Mr. Chairman, at the end of this Conference, resolutions will no doubt be passed for the consideration of either FAO or the respective governments of the Member Nations of this Organization. My delegation would like to make a passing reference to the 9th FAO Regional Conference for Africa, which we hosted in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in November, 1976. At that Conference, distinguished delegates highlighted significant agricultural development issues, most of which have already been referred to by earlier speakers at this 19th Session of the FAO Conference. These issues were embodied in the Freetown Declaration which focused attention on the following issues among others:
“(i) disappointed that two years after the resolutions of the World Food Conference, the pace of international action to increase food production has been distressingly slow;
(ii) that FAO should give greater support to member countries' efforts for the eradication of hunger and malnutrition. ''
It is very heartening to learn that the Governing Council of IFAD will be meeting soon and that the lending operations for financing agricultural projects aimed at expressly increasing food production in the developing countries will start early in the new year. As already expressed earlier by heads of delegations, we look forward to very fruitfull co-operation between the Chairman of IFAD and the Director-General of FAO in attacking the universal problem of hunger, malnutrition and poverty which are so rampant in the developing countries.
Let me now turn my attention away from the global scene to the"home front, if only to demonstrate our efforts, modest as they may be, for increasing food production in Sierra Leone. The country has steadily reduced the importation of rice, the staple food of the country, by the adoption of improved methods of production with progressive increases of output ranging from 7. 7 percent in 1975/76 to 5. 4 percent in 1976/77. My Government wishes to record its gratitude for the assistance provided under the World Food Programme of FAO for various activities associated with agriculture, especially, for swamp rice cultivation and forestry development under its Technical Cooperation Programme.
In the field of forestry, my Government has revised its policies of forest exploitation. Both existing and future forest industries will henceforth be required to contribute sufficient funds to supplement Government's expenditure on the investment required for replanting the exploited areas. A planting programme has been adopted not only to replant the exploited areas but also to increase the productivity of the unstocked forest estates by afforestation, using fast growing forest tree species. Already a target of 1, 000 acres per annum has been exceeded over the last two years.
The formation of the Sierra Leone Timber Industry and Plantation Company in which Government holds a 50 percent share capital has brought the number of sawmills in the country to four. This has considerably increased timber production in the country.
Recognising the importance of combining the use of fertilizers with improved crop varieties, a Seed Multiplication project has been established through technical assistance from the Federal Republic of Germany. The programme coordinates its activities with those of Rokupr Rice Research Station and Njala University College which hitherto were the only research institutions concerned with crop va ietal improvement. Also, a Regional Rice Research Programme under the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA) is being conducted in Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone spends a considerable amount of foreign exchange on the importation of sugar. It is to alleviate this position that Government has embarked upon the development of a sugar cane and mill complex through the assistance of the Government of the People's Republic of China. The complex ranges from the planting of sugar cane to the manufacture of sugar and ancillary products. As the Chinese-supported sugar cane project will not meet all the country's sugar requirements, a number of other sites have been identified as being suitable for the crop; but sources for funding these development activities are yet to be determined.
Bearing in mind the importance of protein, especially animal protein in the diet of the people, efforts to increase animal production have continued to receive Government's attention especially in the area of genetic improvement and animal health. A crossbreeding programme to upgrade the local Ν'dama breed of
cattle utilising the Sahiwal breed is in progress and the results so far are encouraging. At the same time, prophylactic measures continue to be taken to provide protection against the major diseases of livestock in the country, with considerable success. We however, look forward to the follow-up measures after the initial attempts to respond to Resolution XI of the World Food Conference of 1974 for the control of African animal trypanosomiasis bearing in mind the role played by the tsetse fly in limiting animal production in Africa.
In keeping with our policy of encouraging joint ventures for fisheries development we have established a few enterprises with partners from developed countries. At present these enterprises are concerned with industrial fishery but it is hoped that joint venture activities will in the future include storage and processing. Equal importance is being given to the development of small scale fishery which is a major contributor to our total fish landing. Mechanization is being intensified, the fishermen are organized as a base for cooperative activities so that credit facilities could be properly utilized. The Oyster Culture Project jointly financed by International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada and the Government of Sierra Leone has yielded good results. We can now achieve a growth of 9 centimeters over a period of 8, 9 months by the raft culture method.
We are still faced with severe constraints such as the lack of trained manpower, equipment and capital which seriously handicap our efforts in developing our fisheries. Collection of statistics is another area for conern. We note the efforts being made by the FAO in trying to solve some of these issues, for which were are grateful. But these are far from being adequate if any meaningful development is to be achieved. We would urge the FAO to assume a more active role in the field.
Mr. Chairman, targets and forecasts in any human endeavour are largely dependent on a number of prevailing factors which are often outside the control of human influence - indeed, man proposes and God disposes. It is with dismay that I have to inform this assembly of a recent flood disaster in my country which led to considerable damage to property including agricultural produce. The affected area is estimated at 60, 000 acres, mainly of cultivated rice fields. These figures are provisional and the final figures will be made available as soon as possible for a formal request for relief to be made in due course.
Mr. Chairman, distinguished delegates, from this year's deliberations at the General Assembly of the united Nations it seems quite clear that this world body is now actively mobilizing all its forces in order to attack the scourges which have faced the human race over the centuries and which today are the greatest barriers to human progress, namely, hunger, malnutrition, inequality of social opportunities, -leading to abject rural poverty for millions of the world's population. Even United Nation bodies such as the United Nations' University and the United Nations' Institute for Training and Research have identified these scourges as some of the most pressing problems facing the human race.
As we are all gathered here at this 19th Biennial Conference of the FAO, and having discussed these problems at some length, we cannot help but feel the tremendous burden that rests on the shoulders of each and every one of us in terms of responsibilities for their solution; but the greatest burden of all, I am sure rests on the shoulders of the Director-General and his staff. We in Sierra Leone have no doubt that with the initiatives already taken by FAO and the inspiration demonstrated from the top executive of this Organization, given the resources, they will with the cooperation of all member states accomplish the objectives which we have set ourselves. The Director-General has demonstrated his will and ability to help the countries of the Third World solve some of their food problems. During this period also, I feel sure that he has gained the admiration and the respect of the countries of the developed world. With the faith and the hope of the developing world, and the assistance which we emjpaet will be forthcoming from the industrially developed countries of the world to provide the necessary finds that will enable the Director-General and his able colleagues to implement the very many projects aimed at the eradication of hunger and malnutrition in the world, the FAO will go a long way in enhancing a new international economic order by the turn of the century.
Finally, my delegation wishes the Director-General good health and strength and the continued courage and vision in the execution of his very difficult responsibilities.
Y. A. OSMAN (Somalia): Mr. Chairman, distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen: On behalf of my delegation it gives me great pleasure to address this august Conference.
First of all, Mr. Chairman, allow me to congratulate you for your election as Chairman of this Nineteenth Session, which, no doubt, you deserve.
We would like also to wholeheartedly welcome and congratulate the new members to our Organization, namely: Angola, Comoros, DjibbutT Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Mozambique, Namibia, Sao Tomé and Principe and Seychelles. We in particular congratúlete about with whom we share common historical. bonds.
We take this opportunity to extend our appreciation and acknowledgement for the valuable services the Director-General of FAO, Dr. Edouard Saouma, has rendered this international Organization. During his stay in office, which is barely two years, he has been able to inject new dynamism into this institution.
It is true that in the last two years a rise in agricultural and food production has been witnessed all over the world and that the threat of hunger has been temporarily delayed. But let us not be deceived and be led into complacency since at this very hour millions of people, especially in the third world, suffer from hunger and malnutrition. The FAO, as has been acknowledged by many distinguished delegates, has in the last two years accomplished great achievements in the fields of agricultural and food development. My country, Somalia, could be taken as a characteristic example.
My country has been, in the period between 1973 and 1975, affected by the easterly extension of the Sahelian zone drought. This natural calamity has adversely affected the over-all development strategy of the country in that it necessitated the reallocation of relatively huge state resources which were financial, material and labour in order to render effective assistance to the people most affected by the drought.
It is important to note that the thinking of the Somali Government in saving the hundreds of thousands hit by the severe drought was far from being static. It did not see the problem as one soluble by just feeding the people and keeping them in the emergency camps until the situation becomes favourable again for the nomads to go back to their traditional habitat. Today, the Somali people are convinced that the drought is not only to be seen as an absolute catastrophe but, ironically enough, also as a blessing.
It is so because the traditional Somali economy was distorted as it was mainly based upon pastoralism. Around 70 percent of the Somali people are engaged in a nomadic way of life dependent upon the vagaries of nature. This lop-sided development resulted in over-stocking, overgrazing and soil erosion which were contributory factors to the severe consequences of the drought. The Somali Government decided to exploit the drought-created emergency situation by killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.
Only 9 percent of the land suitable for cultivation is under the plough, the bulk of which is under dry farming and 160 000 hectares are irrigated, both controlled and inundated. Moreover, the fishery riches of 3 300 km coast-line of Somalia remain unexploited. In order to give impetus to the exploitation of this idle productive capacity and to relieve the land threatened by exhaustion through over-use, the Somali Government launched a daring programme of settling the drought-stricken nomads in the land along the two rivers that Somalia possesses and along three major points on the coast-line. Three agricultural settlement areas accommodating 110 000 of the evacuated nomads have been established. Besides the Ministry of Agriculture and other related national institutions, many international specialized agencies and governments contributed generously to the equipment and training of the new farmers and to the creation of the necessary infrastructure. The area occupied by the settlements comprises a total of 34 000 hectares of irrigated land. This ambitious project is expected to be in full swing by 1980. Of course, the resources needed for coping with the situation, both at the initial emergency stage and at the settlement and production stage, were beyond the national capability. Many friendly countries and international organizations such as WFP assisted in the realization of the Government Programme.
Out of the 350 000 hectares believed to be permanently accommodated by the two rivers, only 50 000 hectares are presently under controlled irrigation. That shows that there is a great potentiality to be tapped for development and enormous increase in food and agricultural production. However, in the last three years the agricultural sector of the country has registered huge increases in investment in the necessary infrastructure for the ultimate goal of more rational and more modern agriculture.
Between 1975 and 1976, 10 000 to 15 000 hectares of newly irrigated land have been put under cultivation. The results of this effort have been successful in the spring season of this year when the grain production exceeded the planned 80 000 tons. Around 55 000 tons more of grain are expected to be harvested in the autumn season. This makes a total of 135 000 tons of grain and falls 45 000 tons short of the total 180 000 tons of grain required for domestic consumption.
The development strategy of the Somali Government sets 1980 as the target year for self-sufficiency in major food crops. This strategy emphasizes among other things the following points:
To increase grain and oil seed crop production to meet domestic demand and reduce imports sharply.
To ralee the quality and quantity of banana production in order to meet the increased market demand, both internal and external.
To develop the irrigation potential of the country in order to have more secured production.
To increase production of agro-industrial crops such as: sugar, textiles, vegetable oil and flour.
To intensify the cooperative movements started in 1974. 277 agricultural cooperatives with a membership of 22. 114 farmers have already been established putting under cultivation a total of 42, 608 hectares both in irrigated and dry farming areas.
To intensify and reorganize with the cooperation of FAO and other international and national organizations, research, extension and training facilities in order to overcome lack of innovation and the acute shortage of trained manpower supply and to make the strategy of self-sufficiency a reality.
Livestock husbandry is the main economic occupation of the Somali people. Around 70 percent of the Somali population are engaged in pastoralism, and 70 percent of the foreign currency earnings also come from this sector. The national livestock wealth is estimated at a total of 22 million heads.
The main portion of the livestock production is export oriented. The industrially processed animal products play a minimal part of the exports. By far the larger part of the exports of this sector is in the form of animals on the hoof. Livestock production for the local market, though less than that of export, is significant and it includes: meat, dairy products, hides and skins and poultry. Poultry farming, though newly introduced, is growing rather rapidly. Two poultry projects are now functioning and a third project financed by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait is under construction. All the three projects are supposed to produce a total of 25 000 000. eggs a year.
The local breed of cattle (Zebu) has a very low production capacity of 2-3 litres of milk a day; with good feed and husbandry this production capacity could be increased to a maximum of 5 litres a day. In order to alleviate the milk shortage in the capital and to create a breed of high milk productivity a major cross-breeding project and an artificial insemination station have been established.
The fattening trials have demonstrated that a weight gain of one kg per day could easily be achieved. The results of the experiment have already been extended to the producers.
Disease control and eradication schemes are among the most important programmes given high priority in the development strategy. The schemes include activities in the tse-tse control, control and eradication of infectious and parasitic diseases and establishment of disease-free zones.
A rinderpest eradication programme (JB-15 project) started in 1969 under German technical assistance resulted in the eradication of the disease with no cases reported in 1977.
Trypanosomiasis, which is the most widespread disease in the country, is common in the fertile areas. About three-quarters of the cattle population are distributed in tse-tse areas but regular prophylactic and curative treatments are given to the animals grazing in this area. Because of the large expenses incurred by the Government due to the purchases of trypanocidal drugs and the great losses to the national wealth caused by trypanosomiasis, the Somali Government was compelled to establish a tse-tse eradication project. The Somali Government has several times invited some international organizations, among which were FAO and UNDP, to participate in this project. Unfortunately, however, no positive reaction has been received so far.
My delegation welcomes the projected programme to be launched by FAO against trypanosomiasis and we promise our full cooperation.
Basic investigations are currently being carried out in the southern part of the country with a view to the possible establishment of a disease-free zone. If this is realized there could be a great boost to our export of livestock.
To supplement development efforts in the animal sector important programmes such as grazing reserves, reclamation of deteriorated areas, fodder crop production and water preservation schemes are being implemented under the auspices of the newly created National Range Agency. A major portion of the funds at the disposal of this Agency has been provided by the Kuwait Government.
Successful work is also underway in projects pertaining to afforestation, rehabilitation of the overgrazed land and desertification.
The 1974-78 five-year development programme gave top priority to the development of fisheries. Around US $60 million from both internal and external sources have been allocated for this purpose. It is interesting to note that it is for the first time before our national independence and hence that such importance has been attached to fishing. Though the amount of investment is small in the face of the known potentialities of our seas, it shows the recognition granted the exploitation of this immense national resource.
The Ministry of Fisheries has taken important steps in the following areas:
1) The organization of the small impoverished subsistence fishermen into 23 cooperatives along the 3 300 km coast-line.
2) The provision of boats and fishing gear, better fish-processing methods and training to the fishermen.
3) The establishment of three fishing settlements composed of 12 000 former nomads evacuated from the 1973-75 drought-stricken areas. The Ministry of Fisheries, besides providing these settlements with the necessary fishing equipment and training, made it possible for them to get bank credits with nominal interest rates.
Due to the shortage of investment resources in this huge field the Somali Government encourages foreign investment. There are already two joint-stock companies.
The Swedish Government has been helpful in establishing the first fibreglass plant for the production of fishing boats. The plant started operation in October 1977.
The FAO has actively participated in the effective provision of training to the fishermen, most of whom were nomads foreign to fishing.
In order to enlarge the internal market the Somali Government has taken steps in the encouragement of fish consumption in the capital, where the slaughtering of livestock, is forbidden two days a week. The Ministry of Fisheries will shortly import refrigerated transport facilities to provide fish to the countryside.
Among the most immediate objectives of the Government are the completion of the on-going stock assessment survey and the creation of the necessary infrastructure with a view to facilitating the mobility of manpower and resources.
Allow me to state confidently that the Somali Government and the people did not spare any effort in promoting production, both economically and technically. But the nation has faced many financial and technical problems that are beyond the country's capability. Although the state of food and agriculture in the world has been reported improving in the last two years, this encouraging news has been offset by the fact that bilateral and multilateral aid in agriculture has fallen. Although fertilizer prices have fallen sharply from their high level of 1973 and 1974, high prices in insecticides and farm machinery still persist, a fact that does not favour production expansion.
If Somalia, like many other developing countries, does not get these indispensable farm inputs at favourable terms, its efforts will be minimized and its role in freeing man from hunger will not be realized. Therefore, I appeal to the Conference on behalf of my delegation that a special consideration be given to those countries faced with problems similar to ours.
Finally, my delegation sincerely hopes that this Nineteenth Session will be instrumental in bringing about a better-fed world population.
J. VANIN TELLO (Colombia): Señor Presidente. señor Director General, señores ministros y señores delegados:
En nombre del Gobierno de Colombia, para mí es altamente honroso presentar un atento y cordial saludo a usted, señor Presidente, a los Vicepresidentes, al señor Director General de la FAO y a todos los delegados y observadores que asisten a esta Conferencia.
La importancia de esta reunión deriva no sólo de la prestancia de las delegaciones acreditadas por los distintos gobiernos sino también de los temas que se están debatiendo en ella y que van a orientar en el futuro las actividades de esta Organización, que tanta significación tiene para los pueblos pobres del mundo y que tanto ha hecho y puede hacer para ayudarlos a resolver los problemas de su desarrollo agropecuario y del hambre que se enseñorea con agudos caracteres en la mayor parte de ellos.
Porque compartimos plenamente su filosofía humanitaria, porque su línea de acción ha estado enderezada, sin desviaciones, a la consecución de sus trascendentales propósitos y porque consideramos que su tarea ha sido benéfica para la humanidad, especialmente para los países en desarrollo, durante los anos de su fecunda existencia le hemos ofrecido apoyo decidido y permaneceremos fieles a esa constante de cooperación con esta Organización y de respaldo a su política.
En esta oportunidad queremos reafirmar una vez más nuestra fe en la misión de la FAO y en los resul-tados de su acción al servicio de los pueblos en desarrollo y especialmente de aquellos flagelados por el hambre, la desnutrición y sinnúmero de carencias que desmejoran la calidad de sus vidas y los mantienen sumidos en el atraso y la miseria.
Seguimos creyendo que la FAO podrá contribuir en forma cada día más sustancial a la solución de los problemas agrícolas y alimentarios del mundo y que con su asistencia a los países que los padecen podrán ellos redoblar sus esfuerzos para salir del círculo agobiante del subdesarrollo que abre una profunda y amplia brecha entre los pueblos que forman la gran familia humana.
Compartimos y apoyamos la nueva orientación política del señor Director General de la FAO, manifeatarnos nuestra convicción acerca de la bondad y acierto de sus propuestas y le auguramos el mejor de los éxitos en su empeño de convertirlas en respuestas prácticas a la necesidad de más y mejores alimentos para la humanidad.
El Gobierno colombiano reitera su pleno apoyo a uno de los principios de la política del señor Director General de la FAO, que consiste en "atribuir mayor importancia a la prestación de asistencia a los Estados Miembros en sus esfuerzos por obtener recursos financieros para la inversión en la produoción agrícola y alimentaria".
La insuficiencia de esta clase de recursos ha sido una de las principales limitaciones para el incremento de la producción en el ramo de la agricultura y la alimentación. Si bien es cierto que el acrecimiento de la producción y el mejoramiento de la productividad dependen de diversos factores, verbi gratia, de la tecnología con sus investigaciones y transferencia de resultados, la realización de prácticas culturales y la aplicación de insumo s modernos, también es verdad que no se pueden adquirir tales elementos ni ejecutar dichas actividades si no se tienen los recursos financie roa necesarios.
Las labores propias de la producción y de la comercialización demandan a nivel de productores la inversión de grandes sumas de dinero, con las cuales, por lo general, no cuentan y exigen la disponibilidad de cuantiosos recursos financieros por parte del Estado para responder a las crecientes solicitudes de crédito.
Y también, por lo general, los gobiernos de los países en desarrollo no disponen de tales recursos y deben, por consiguiente, acudir al mercado externo de capitales en busca del crédito necesario para el incremento de la producción agrícola y alimentaria, si no quieren ver estancado su progreso y al pueblo sometido a los padecimientos del hambre, y la desnutrición.
Muchas veces la falta de proyectos adecuadamente preparados para justificar la inversión, demostrar su rentabilidad y las posibilidades de retorno de aquélla hace extremadamente difícil el acceso a las fuentes internacionales del crédito. Razón esta que demanda de la FAO la extensión e intensificación de su asistencia a los gobiernos en la identificación y preparación de proyectos que los organismos crediticios internacionales puedan considerar viables y merecedores de su aprobación.
La situación de acceso a las fuentes internacionales del crédito ha mejorado progresivamente; pero aún no es satisfactoria, Por tal razón es necesario que aumenten las facilidades para ese acceso, a fin de que una mayor asistencia crediticia internacional complemente los esfuerzos nacionales con cantidades más significativas de recursos financieros, en mejores condiciones y con procedimientos más expeditos que acorten la excesiva distancia que nedia entre la solicitud y su aprobación.
El Gobierno colombiano ha venido siguiendo con la mayor atención el proceso que habrá de culminar, esperamos que muy pronto, en la creación del Fondo Internacional de Desarrollo Agrícola - PIDA - el cual, indudablemente, contribuirá a aliviar la eseaeez de recursos financieros externos para inversiones en actividades relacionadas con la agricultm?a y la producción de alimentos. Este Pondo, por su carácter netamente especializado en el sector, podrá introducir modalidades de préstamos más convenientes que las usuales en la órbita de los organismos crediticios internacionales.
En este campo la asistencia técnica de la FAO a los gobiernos para la identificación y preparación de proyectos con miras a obtener del Pondo su financiación, adquiere especial importancia para los países en desarrollo. En ese caso específico la FAO podrá prestar un buen servicio a los fines dal desarrollo de los programas agrícolas y alimentarios que tracen aquellos países. Motivo suficiente para que mi gobierno considere conveniente la aplicación del "Acuerdo entre el Pondo Internacional de Desarrollo Agrícola y la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación".
El interés particular de mi país en el funcionamiento del Pondo lo sustenta el hecho de que existen proyectos de inversión en el sector agropecuario que, a pesar de los beneficios que traerían para su desarrollo, no se han podido ejecutar por falta de recuraos.
En diversos foros los representantes del Gobierno colombiano han apoyado la creación del Programa de Cooperación Técnica porque consideramos que constituye una afortunada innovación que dota a la FAO de medios y recursos propios para ofrecer inmediata y eficaz asistencia a los gobiernos.
Reiteramos nuestro respaldo a esa iniciativa de tanta significación en la vida de la FAO y en sus relaciones con los países que requieren su ayuda, y esperamos verla en el futuro más fortalecida y que siga figurando como un capítulo importante del Programa de Labores y Presupuesto de la Organización, con una creciente asignación de fondos.
Merece nuestro aplauso la trascendental iniciativa del señor Director. General relacionada con la prevención de la pérdida de alimentos. Abrigamos la esperanza de que ella se convierta en una realidad y que el Pondo Especial que al efecto se cree, habrá de contribuir a solucionar uno de los graves problemas que afectan a la situación alimentaria del mundo.
El dobierno colombiano apoya igualmente la política de descentralización de la FAO. En marzo pasado firmamos el acuerdo mediante el cual se estableció en nuestro país la primera Oficina propia y permanente de esta Organización en América Latina. Consideramos que la presencia directa y activa de la FAO en Colombia, a través de su representante, contribuirá a incrementar y mejorar las buenas relaciones que hemos tenido siempre con ella. Mediante el diálogo constructivo y ese sistema de mutua cooperación podremos utilizar mejor sus servicios en pro de un más moderno y dinámico desarrollo de la agricultura colombiana.
Pero los países en desarrollo, los pueblos pobres del mundo no sólo necesitan asistencia crediticia y técnica, sino, y principalmente, trato justo en sus relaciones comerciales con las naciones ricas, que se encuentran en el estadio de la producción industrial. De poco sirve el apoyo de la técnica y del crédito internacionales si los productos, principalmente agropecuarios, se pagan a precios excesivamente bajos que significan la ruina para los productores y sus respectivos países. Ciertamente, una mayor producción y una mejor productividad incrementan el abastecimiento de productos agropecua rio s y especialmente de alimentos en el interior de esos países, pero el desarrollo se estanca y no van a mejorar a la larga las condiciones de vida de la población si son injustos y ruinosos los precios de lo que ellos exportan al mercado mundial.
Los países en desarrollo exigen relaciones justas de mercado que los saquen de esa condición de vendedores de materias primas y alimentos baratos a los países industrializados y de compradores de los productos caros que sobre ellos arroja el desarrollo industrial de las naciones ricas.
Tienen que establecerse mecanismos que impidan que los efectos benéficos del crédito y de la asistencia técnica a nivel internacional sean contrarrestados y superados por las inequitativas condiciones del mercado mundial que hace que los países pobres subsidien a las naciones más ricas del mundo.
Lo incomprensible es que los países pebre s no expresan su inconformidad cuando sube el precio de los productos de los países industrializados y en éstos se levanta inmensa protesta y se acude a procedimientos tendientes a contraer el consumo y por lo tanto la compra de ciertos productos agropecuarios procedentes de los primeros cuando el precio de ellos alcanza niveles remunerativos, es decir, cuando llega a niveles de justicia.
Ciertamente la visión del mundo ofrece un panorama de desequilibrios: países pobres y países ricos, naciones desarrolladas y naciones postergadas en la vía al desarrollo, pueblos que sufren de carencias y pueblos a quienes la abundancia abruma. El cierre de la brecha, el acortamiento de las actuales distancias abismales entre unos y otros es condición de paz y de progreso de la humanidad. Es hacer posible la justicia y elevar al hombre, a todos loe hombres, a la plenitud de su vida material y espiritual, a su auténtica condición humana y a la total realización de sus valores estéticos y morales. Por eso los pueblos pobres del mundo no asisten a los foros internacionales en actitud mendicante, sino en demanda de justicia.
Pero si miramos en el interior de muchos países podríamos comprobar que los desequilibrios que se dan en el orden internacional se reproducen también dentro del marco de sus fronteras. Es que el subd-earrollo tiene sus propios desequilibrios y la vía al desarrollo en los países retrasados ofrece un abrupto panorama de desigualdades. El contraste resulta no sólo de comparar la situación de diversos sectores humanos, sino también de realidades geográficamente diferenciadas: ciudad y campo, unas zonas rurales con otras, barrios de una misma ciudad, diversas regiones de un país.
En los países atrasados la vía al desarrollo es un camino que recorren desigualmente las distintas regiones y los diversos estamentos sociales: colocados unos en situación de avanzada y postergados otrosí relativamente fácil y acelerado el tránsito para algunos, lento y difícil para los demás; seo-tores de la población que se acercan a las condiciones de comodidad y bienestar de aquellos que disponen de mayor riqueza en los países más desarrollados del mundo y otros que encuentran su equivalente de miseria sólo en las regiones más deprimidas del orbe.
Dentro de esa situación de contraste, de desequilibrio, en que unos tienen más de lo necesario y otros menos de lo indispensable, la condición privilegiada de los menos impide el avance de los más. La existencia de regiones y sectores de la población intensamente pobres se constituye en una rémora para el desarrollo general del respectivo país. La prosperidad dé zonas minoritarias no constituye una dinámica de desarrollo que arrastre al conjunto de la población. En otros términos, es condición ineludible para el desarrollo general de un país el mejoramiento de los niveles de vida económicos y sociales de sus clases paupérrimas. Por eso la ayuda externa a tales países debe encaminarse primero hacia las zonas de menor desarrollo y de mayor pobreza.
Esta situación de desequilibrio, de pobreza y marginamiento se produce en condiciones de mayor agudeza y acritud en las zonas rurales de nuestros países. La brecha tecnológica y la disponibilidad de recursos financieros que se da entre los países desarrollados y aquellos que se encuentran en vía de desarrollo se reproduce en el interior de éstos, entre la agricultura modernizada o dinámica y la agricultura tradicional o estática. De ahí por qué todo programa y toda acción que tiendan a impulsar el desarrollo de tales países tienen que contemplar como cuestión prioritaria la elevación del nivel de vida de la población campesina y el mejoramiento de los pequeños productores.
(illegible) Por ello, el Gobierno colombiano apoya la iniciativa de la FAO de celebrar en julio de 1979 una Conferencia Mundial sobre Reforma Agraria y osarrollo Rural. En muchos países la reforma agraria y los servicios de desarrollo rural constituya factores esenciales para mejorar la calidad de la vida de los campesinos y elevar el conjunto de 1 población a metas de progreso.
(illegible) La situación de mi patria corresponde, en ge oral, al diagnóstico que se puede hacer respecto de los países en desarrollo. Su base económica es. gropecuaria, existen en ella fenómenos de desequilibrio, de pobreza, de marginamiento de grandes zonas de la población; las áreas rurales permanecen, en un alto porcentaje, económicamente deprimidas y estancadas en su desarrollo; los esfuerzos dirigidos a una mayor producción agropecuaria se ven frenados por la escasez de recursos financieros y por la dificultad para hacer llegar las innovaciones tecnológicas a la mayor parte de los productores, como también por la baja capacidad adquisitiva de amplios sectores humanos y el tratamiento inequitativo que recibe nuestro país en los mercados internacionales.
La política agropecuaria del actual gobierno se dirige principalmente a fomentar la producción, aumentar los niveles de empleo, conseguir el incremento de los ingresos y su redistribución, dar acceso al campesino a los recursos productivo e impulsar el desarrollo rural. Con las medidas encaminadas a conseguir estos y otros objetivos de desarrollo integral el Gobierno colombiano busca el bienestar de la población como meta central de toda su política y de toda su acción en beneficio del país.
Podríamos decir que se trata de aumentar la producción y el consumo para derrotar el hambre y la pobreza.
Desde el ano de 1951 la FAO ha venido adelantando en Colombia programas de asistencia técnica, que el país reconoce como una positiva contribución a su desarrollo. Hemos logrado un importante avance en el orden tecnológico y contamos con un número considerable de expertos nacionales que inclusive están prestando asistencia técnica en diversos países latinoamericanos. Ello ha implicado un cambio de orientación en el suministro de asistencia técnica de la FAO a nuestro país, la cual se está enfocando hacia proyectos integrados y complejos, con miras a inversiones- futuras en campos muy especializados, tales como los de índole forestal, pesquera, de tecnología de alimentos y de agroindustrialización. Esperamos que este último se pueda poner en marcha en un futuro próximo, puesto que corresponde a la urgente necesidad que tiene el país de incrementar los niveles de empleo y de ingreso en las zonas rurales.
Los cambios que vienen operándose en la presentación de los problemas exigen enfoques nuevos y dinár-micos, criterios pragmáticos y medidas más concretas. Se trata de reexaminar, a la luz de nuevos conceptos, la situación de la agricultura y de la alimentación en el mundo, imprimir más energía y dine-mismo a la acción de la FAO, con la firme convicción de que los pueblos que miran hacia ella y confían en ella esperan que cada día se descienda más de la elevada cima de las formulaciones teóricas al terreno llano de las soluciones prácticas.
La renovación de criterios y de métodos de trabajo de nuestra Organización asegurará su vigencia permanente en los campos específicos que le corresponden y donde quiere verla actuar siempre la comunidad de naciones.
Con la aplicación de los principios que habrán de guiar su acción en el futuro, la FAO consolidará el prestigio de que goza en la comunidad internacional y mantendrá la apertura de los países pobres hacia la esperanza.
Por mi conducto, el Gobierno de Colombia transmite al Director General de la FAO, Doctor Saouma, y a los dignos representantes de los gobiernos que han participado en esta Conferencia, sus mejores votos por el progreso y el bienestar que deseamos a todos los pueblos del mundo.
La FAO habrá de estimular nuestro propósito de avanzar cada día más en la tarea común de aumentar la producción agrícola para que el espectro del hambre desaparezca hasta de los más remotos confines del universo.
Por último, deseo hacer una declaración.
Con gran satisfacción registramos el ingreso de 8 nuevos países en la Organización y el hecho de que dentro de una semana esta Conferencia elegirá al Doctor Bukar Shaib, de Nigeria, como Presidente Independiente del Consejo de la FAO. Será un merecido homenaje a esa distinguida personalidad y a todo el continente africano.
El Gobierno de Colombia agradece a los países miembros de la FAO la confianza otorgada a nuestro compatriota Gonzalo Bula Hoyos, al habérsele elegido Presidente Independiente del Consejo para dos períodos consecutivos. Mil gracias a los distinguidos-ministros y a las delegaciones en general que han expresado su reconocimiento a la labor del Sr. Bula Hoyos. Me complazco en anunciar que él continuará al servicio de la FAO como representante de Colombia.
R. Y, MIRANDA LUPONE (El Salvador): Señor Presidente, señor Director General, señores delegados, distinguida concurrencia: Como jefe de la Delegación de El Salvador me siento complacido de ser el portavoz para sumar nuestras sinceras felicitaciones a las ya escuchadas en este recinto, por su acertada elección como Presidente de esta 19° Conferencia de la Organización, felicitaciones que hacemos extensivas al resto de los distinguidos miembros de la Mesa de la Conferencia, y presidentes de las distintas comisiones y comités que contribuyen activamente a la realización de la misma. Mención especial merece el distinguido colombiano señor Buya Hoyos, jefe de la delegación de su país durante los cuatro últimos años, por la magnífica labor realizada al. frente de la misma. Igualmente le es a mi delegación muy grato dar una cordial bienvenida a los nuevos Estados Miembros de la FAO recién admitidos en esta Conferencia: Angola, Comoras, República Democrática Popular de Corea, Djibouti, Mozambique, Namibia, Santo Tomé y Príncipe, y Seychelles, a cuyos delegados hemos escuchado con atención durante sus alocuciones respectivas. Bienvenida que conlleva por nuestra parte la expresión de que el ingreso de los mismos contribuirá indudablemente a cimentar la esencia universalista de la FAO, al igual que dé sus principales objetivos y fines, entre los cuales se encuentra la lucha contra el hambre, la desnutrición y la miseria, que lamentable y dolorosamente existe en el mundo actual y aflige a decenas de millones de seres humanos.
En virtud de la constante preocupación y colaboración de El Salvador por los problemas agrícolas y alimentarios, nuestra delegación participó en los trabajos de la Conferencia Mundial de la Alimentación celebrada en 1974 en esta acogedora ciudad de Roma, y a esta fecha con pena tiene que admitir que muchos de los graves problemas entonces planteados en relación al hambre y la malnutrición aún se encuentran en vías de resolverse. Al respecto debe llevarnos a profunda reflexión el que el incremento medio anual de la producción de alimentos en los países en desarrollo durante la década de 1970 es de 2, 6 por ciento, porcentaje muy por debajo al 4 por ciento establecido en la Estrategia Internacional del Desarrollo para el Segundo Decenio de las Naciones Unidas, y sustentado por la Conferencia Mundial de la Alimentación. El Director General, señor Edouard Saouma, en su discurso de apertura al presente período de sesiones señaló que "la meta del cuatro por ciento fijada para la tasa anual mínima de crecimiento de la producción agrícola y alimentaria en los países en desarrollo sólo puede alcanzarse si, además de los esfuerzos que desplieguen los propios países en desarrollo, proporcionan los peíses desarrollados y las instituciones internacionales ayuda y recursos suficientes'
Es bien importante recordar a los honorables participantes en esta Conferencia ciertos aspectos y datos relevantes sobre la realidad socio-económica de mi país. El Salvador, con una población actual de 4 500 000 habitantes y 2, 1 millones de hectáreas, que da una densidad de 214 habitantes por kilómetro cuadrado, es el país territorialmente más pequeño de la América continental y el más densamente poblado de la misma; y de este territorio tan pequeño y no rico de recursos naturales dedica el 67, 6 por ciento de su superficie a las actividades agropecuarias y forestales. Desde luego, esta situación requiere por parte nuestra, entre otras actividades y esfuerzos, un hábil manejo de los recursos naturales renovables, la exigencia de un uso intensivo de los suelos, un alto grado de aplicación de insumos destinados a la producción agropecuaria, una cuidadosa planificación de los servicios de crédito y asistencia técnica y comercialización, ya que es cada día mayor la demanda de los productos alimentarios y las naturales actividades e inversiones agropecuarias de un país en desarrollo; en la realización de lo cual interviene un apoyo institucional que día a día aumenta en intensidad, gana en experiencia y establece los correctivos necesarios.
Sin embargo, las contingencias inevitables que en todos los países afectan la actividad agrícola, se han hecho presentes una vez más en El Salvador, obligando en 1976 al Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería a poner en práctica una serie de programas tendientes al cumplimiento de las metas de producción agropecuaria para ese año mediante un fortalecimiento de la comercialización de granos básicos, aumento de la capacidad instalada de almacenamiento, apoyo a la actividad pecuaria, y conservación y desarrollo de los recursos naturales renovables. Para que todo este esfuerzo pudiera expresarse racionalmente con voluntad resolutiva y permanencia en el tiempo, se elaboró el Plan Quinquenal de Desarrollo Agropecuario 1978-82 cuya aprobación definitiva es un hecho y sobre el cual hacemos las siguientes apreciaciones:
Como resultado del análisis de la problemática del sector agropecuario, se ha llegado a establecer como principio fundamental para el desarrollo del sector, proporcionar bienestar a la población del país. Para alcanzar tal propósito se han definido los siguientes objetivos:
i) Elevar el ingreso generado por el sector a través de una mayor productividad y mejorar su distribución; ii) ampliar la capacidad de empleo en el sector agropecuario; iii) lograr un mayor dinamismo de las exportaciones agropecuarias, tanto de los productos tradicionales como de los no tradicionales; iv) promover la sustitución de importaciones, principalmente de los alimentos básicos; v) promover la movilidad social de los distintos grupos insertos en el medio rural y contribuir a solucionar los problemas existentes; vi) propender al desarrollo equilibrado de las distintas regiones del país; vii) conservar y desarrollar los recursos naturales renovables; · viii) apoyar el proceso de integración centroamericana.
Dichos objetivos están en concordancia con los señalados para la economía nacional en su conjunto. De lo expuesto podemos asegurar que el sector agropecuario tendrá una participación dinámica en el desarrollo integral, que permitirá a mediano plazo superar muchos de los serios problemas que han frenado el desarrollo del país. Existiendo concordancia a tal grado en nuestros planes de desarrollo integral, que dentro de nuestros principales objetivos sectoriales para la política exterior de El Salvador, se encuentra bien determinada nuestra contribución para obtener un nuevo orden económico internacional más justo y equitativo para los países pobres y en vías de desarrollo.
La consecución de los objetivos señalados anteriormente implica contar con una estrategia fundamentada en elementos tales como el desarrollo del sector agropecuario en función de la demanda; mejora en la combinación de los recursos y factores productivos; la estructura empresarial; el desarrollo regional; el desarrollo agroindustrial y un papel más dinámico del sector publico agropecuario.
Dentro de las políticas de desarrollo agropecuario, como instrumentos del Plan Quinquenal 1978-82 cabe destacar la importancia de la política de transformación agraria, la cual persigue los siguientes objetivos: a) promover tipos y dimensiones de explotación agropecuaria que conjuguen variables agroeconómicas y sociales, tendiendo a una mayor eficiencia productiva b) facilitar el acceso a la función empresarial agropecuaria a través de una posibilidad de adquisición y uso de la tierra; c) incrementar el ingreso sectorial a través de una mayor producción y productividad.
Esta política cubre con sus acciones todo el ámbito agrario nacional y sus beneficiarios son los campesinos sin tierras y aquellos que la poseen en tal cantidad que no les es suficiente para satisfacer sus necesidades básicas. Inicialmente esta cobertura debe ceñirse a las tierras propiedad del Estado, y a las adquiridas actualmente o a breve plazo dentro del área del primer proyecto de transformación agraria. De acuerdo a la experiencia y los resultados obtenidos, podrá ampliarse el ámbito de aplicación de la misma, en aquellas areas que eventualmente y de acuerdo a las normas establecidas se ofrezcan en venta al Instituto Salvadoreño de Transformación Agraria.
El Instituto Salvadoreño de Transformación Agraria (ISTA) es el organismo ejecutor, quien para la consecución de sus fines debe mantener estrecha colaboración con el resto de instituciones del Estado que desplieguen acciones complementarias y de apoyo a la transformación agraria.
Lo anterior es uno de los esfuerzos más importantes que el país está desarrollando; sin embargo, paralelamente también se están realizando acciones tendientes a la dotación de la infraestructura física requerida para una mejor comercialización, una mayor asistencia técnica, mayor capacitación y mayor productividad agrícola (vía utilización de, entre otros, mejores variedades de semillas y la puesta en riego de nuevas áreas. )
Ante el anuncio de la próxima Conferencia Mundial de Reforma Agraria y Desarrollo Rural Integrado, nos complace manifestar que El Salvador está vivamente interesado en la realización de la misma, por cuanto será un foro que, sin lugar a dudas, nos permitirá el intercambio de experiencias alcanzadas en este proceso de superación, especialmente del hombre del campo, sus necesidades y bienestar.
En base a los objetivos, estrategia e instrumentos de desarrollo, el sector público agropecuario de mi país demandará durante el quinquenio recursos financieros por un monto de US$ 389, 9 millones; correspondiendo a los gastos de funcionamiento US$ 173, 8 millones y a inversiones US$216, 1 millones, equivalentes a 45 y 55 por ciento respectivamente.
Los recursos de funcionamiento estarán orientados a financiar la eficiente prestación de servicios que el sector otorga a los productores especialmente los destinados a mejorar el nivel tecnológico de la actividad agropecuaria, a través de la creación y adopción de tecnología que conlleven a la utilización racional de los factores productivos disponibles; así como también, y por medio de la asistencia técnica y la capacitación, a lograr cambios en las actitudes que permitan no sólo la obtención de altos niveles de productividad, sino que también promuevan la superación de la familia rural; asimismo aquellos servicios de apoyo como control y prevención sanitarios, abastecimiento de insumos, y estabilización de precios.
Los recursos de inversión estarán orientados principalmente a la ampliación y creación de la infraestructura requerida, tales como las de comercialización dirigidas a que el Estado pueda incidir en mejor medida en la regulación de precios de los productos de primera necesidad; las de riego y drenaje, con el objeto de lograr un uso intensivo del suelo y la diversificación de la producción agropecuaria, y las encaminadas a dotar al subsector pesquero de facilidades portuarias, para mejorar la explotación del recurso marino.
Asimismo se propenderá: a) al fortalecimiento económico y social de los productores agrarios mediante el otorgamiento de créditos en condiciones financieras razonables; b) a la conservación y desarrollo integral de los recursos naturales renovables, a través de la recuperación y conservación del suelo; del manejo y repoblación de bosques; del establecimiento, manejo y protección de parques nacionales y reservas biológicas; a la formulación de un plan para su uso de acuerdo a las necesidades potenciales de las distintas actividades de la economía en las diversas regiones del país; c) y finalmente al fomento y desarrollo de la ganadería, pesca, granos básicos y cultivos agroindustriales.
Merece especial atención a nuestra delegación el Programa de Labores y Presupuesto presentado por el Director General de la FAO para el bienio 1978-79, que se inspira en las políticas aprobadas durante la celebración del 69° período de sesiones del Consejo de la Organización (julio 1976), que encuentran así una expresión presupuestaria planteada en términos de puesta en marcha. No se trata, pues, solamente de una mejora en la presentación del presupuesto, ya de por sí satisfactoria, sino que tiene un contenido visionario que constituye un peldaño indispensable para el largo camino que han de recorrer los países del tercer mundo en su continua lucha para obtener el desarrollo.
Perfectamente comprendemos la preocupación del Director General, señor Edouard Saouma, de solicitar un aumento al nivel propuesto de US$ 206, 8 millones de dólares, que en su oportunidad contó con el apoyo del Consejo en su 71° período de sesiones. Posteriormente dos situaciones se habían presentado: la necesidad de disponer fondos adecuados para la celebración de la Conferencia Mundial de Reforma Agraria y Desarrollo Rural en 1979, y las fluctuaciones monetarias circunstanciales, ya que este presupuesto se formuló al tipo de cambio de 900 liras por dólar EE. UU. y posteriormente la fluctuación en dicho tipo de cambio le ocasionó una considerable merma al total del mismo. Al respecto, nuestra delegación acoge la sugerencia del Grupo de los 77 que recomendó al Consejo que en analogía a Conferencias anteriores se adoptara el tipo de cambio prevaleciente en el día de la aprobación del presupuesto. En consecuencia, damos nuestro apoyo al proyecto de resolución para su respectiva aprobación por la Conferencia, que conlleva consignaciones presupuestarias para 1978-79 al nivel de US$ 211, 35 millones.
El actual Programa de Labores presentado por el señor Saouma contempla la descentralización de las actividades de la Sede y una acción efectiva hacia los países, y el nombramiento a tal efecto de representantes de la Organización altamente calificados. A este respecto cabe decir que en nuestro país, en los asuntos agropecuarios, conformamos una centralización en los aspectos relacionados con la formulación, orientación y decisión de la política de desarrollo agropecuario y una descentralización en la ejecución de la misma, tal como la plantea actualmente la FAO.
Por lo tanto, mi delegación ve con mucho agrado esta acertada iniciativa, a la cual damos nuestro pleno apoyo.
La crisis financiera que afectó al PNUD en 1976 y cuyos efectos no han sido totalmente superados, constituye motivo de preocupación constante para los países en vías de desarrollo. En contraste con una entrega de más de 120 millones de dólares en 1975, la cifra correspondiente a 1977 no superará los 85 millones de dólares, lo que afectó sensiblemente el programa de campo de la Organización. Tal hecho tuvo significación negativa para nuestro país. Como ejemplo, un proyecto muy importante denominado "Determinación del uso potencial del suelo", debió contar con un aporte del PNUD del orden de $700 000 de los EUA., dicha ayuda no llegó y consecuentemente con fondos nacionales se comenzó, dentro de nuestros alcances financieros, porque estábamos convencidos de la importancia del proyecto, el cual incluía, dentro de los usuarios los planificadores nacionales que acrecían de información básica a escala nacional que tuviera aplicación práctica para la formulación de proyectos. Por ello resulta alentador que la FAO aumentará aun más su participación en las actividades financiadas con fuentes extrapresupuestarias ajenas al PNUD, nos referimos a los fondos fiduciarios dentro de los cuales se encuentra comprendido el Plan Internacional de Suministro de Fertilizantes (PIF) del cual El Salvador
ha recibido una donación de 20 590 toneladas métricas durante el período 1974-76, aportación que fue vital para nuestra agricultura, ya que El Salvador es el mayor consumidor de fertilizantes en el área centroamericana, a pesar de su pequenez, al grado que nuestro consumo significa en términos absolutos una cantidad mayor que la de los restantes países del área, plan para el cual nuestro país tiene el mejor de los conceptos y una sincera gratitud, Y en cuanto a las actividades del PNUD en los diversos países donde actúa, nos complace ver el satisfactorio grado de entendimiento a que se ha llegado para coordinar las relaciones con los representantes de la FAO.
La proximidad de la reunión del Consejo de Gobernadores del Fondo Internacional de Desarrollo Agrícola (FIDA) a celebrarse del 13-16 de diciembre del presente año, representa un importante esfuerzo en la canalización de recursos para invertirse en el desarrollo alimentario y agrícola de los países más necesitados. El Gobierno de El Salvador consciente de la importancia del fondo y de acuerdo a sus posibilidades financieras ratificó el convenio y ha dispuesto una contribución al mismo de US$ 40 000.
Debe interpretarse que nuestro país, por el imperativo de la realidad, se considera incluido dentro de los beneficiarios del fondo. Datos preliminares estimados indican que la producción de granos básicos para la cosecha 1977/78 ha sido afectada en un 20 por ciento del área total cultivada, los que llevados a términos de producción equivaldría a una pérdida de 100 000 toneladas métricas. Esta situación reviste especial gravedad e importancia, puesto que el sector agropecuario contribuye con un 25 por ciento a la formación del producto territorial bruto, añadiendo que el ingreso bruto por habitante en nuestro país es actualmente de US$ 433.
Por lo que respecta a la FAO, respaldamos la Resolución 3/72 del 72° Consejo de la Organización, que se refiere al acuerdo entre la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación y el FIDA, en el cual se establece que de los servicios prestados y realizados por la FAO por cuenta del FIDA deberán reembolsarse a ésta todos los gastos directos y los indirectos adicionales.
El Programa Mundial de Alimentos (PMA) tiene una vinculación directa con nuestro país a partir de 1969, habiéndose concluido hasta la fecha proyectos de emergencia, de desarrollo comunal a través de la cooperación y de rehabilitación agrícola y desarrollo de la producción tecnificada de granos básicos. Actualmente se encuentra en fase de revision y ajustes un proyecto de educación nutricional y alimentación suplementaria de grupos vulnerables; en la aprobación y realización del cual tenemos fundadas esperanzas por ser de capital importancia para nuestro país, ya que el mismo no se sustrae del flagelo mundial de la desnutrición que afecta sobre todo a las poblaciones rurales y estando muy distantes de alcanzar la dieta promedio de ingestión calórica y proteínica recomendada por los nutricionistas del (INCAP) Instituto de Nutrición para Centroamérica y Panamá, cuya sede se encuentra en la ciudad de Guatemala. Mi delegación hace un llamado a todos los miembros del Comité de Políticas y Programas de Ayuda Alimentaria, para que el proyecto mencionado sea aprobado y puesto en práctica con la urgencia que el caso amerita, ya que El Salvador, al igual que la mayoría de los países en vías de desarrollo y con escasos recursos naturales, considera como uno de los más esenciales derechos humanos el derecho a una alimentación y nutrición adecuadas que contribuyan al bienestar y a la dignidad del ser humano, lucha en la cual tiene un papel primordial la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación.
J. LEÍDO, Jr. (Philippines): Mr. Chairman, permit me at the outset, Sir, to associate my delegation with the previous speakers who congratulated you on your unanimous election. All of us in the Association of South East Asian Nations take pride in your election.
May I also extend our welcome to our new members. A common human concern like food requires no less than a joining of forces of all countries.
My delegation, Mr. Chairman, wishes to convey to the Director-General felicitations for his realistic assessment of the severe long-term problems in food and agriculture. Current adequate harvests tend to mask these problems. It will be in Asia where these problems will be most severe. The current density of peoples in our region, as well as the momentum of earlier population growth, guarantees a spiralling of demand on our resources. It will be in Asia where FAO and the policies of the Director-General will be put to the test.
Mr. Chairman, in your sobering statement to the Conference, you referred to the Asian Development Bank's 1977 Survey of Agriculture. This report shows that per capita grain production trends in Asia have stagnated: that food production, as a whole has barely kept pace with population growth. Today, food imports exceed 11 million tons. Inflation has eroded what little purchasing power is available.
Thus, Asia could have a possible deficit in essential food grains of 24 to 30 million metric tons by 1985. This is nearly one-sixth of average annual cereal production for the whole region for the period 1970 to 1974.
Increasing numbers of poor people are denied food, due to low production and spiralling prices. This truncates lives and snuffs out hope. It does so at a time when the capacity of developing nations to produce food is seriously under-utilized.
Paradoxically, it is also in Asia where chances for a rural breakthrough are greatest. In the region, there is a growing pool of expertise. More governments are devoting more resources for agriculture. Above all, there are success stories in China, in Korea, Malaysia and other countries.
These are hopeful indicators. Our Director-General has instituted a number of new policies and approaches such as decentralization, curbs on a bloated bureaucracy and proliferation of meetings, stress on village-level action, elimination of paternalism, bottom-up" planning and popular participation, full use of manpower and local resources, establishment of country offices, reduction of post-harvest losses and the Technical Cooperation Programme. These represent sincere efforts to retool FAO into a ·'leaner, fitter, stronger organization", responsive to the groundswell for change.
We welcome these policies. Our collective experience in Asia, as the distinguished delegate from the People's Republic of China said last Thursday, shows that: "Only by doing a good job of food and agricultural production will it be possible to stimulate the development of industry and the national economy as a whole. "
There is a growing consensus of the folly of policies that beggar the countryside, in the name of progress, for artificial urban-enclaves, eloquently underscored by the distinguished Ministers of Canada and Nepal.
It is the raison d'être for the current Philippine Programme for Agricultural and Rural Development. At the Third Ministerial Session of the World Food Council in Manila last June, His Excellency President Ferdinand E, Marcos of the Republic of the Philippines stressed that "our national development plan is anchored on a purposive effort to shift resources and priorities from the urban sector to the rural''.
These are not empty words. This commitment is consistently affirmed in all major policy. documents issued by the Philippine Government. Among these are: the Five-Year Development Plan for 1978-1982, the Agricultural Credit Plan, and the national budget for the coming calendar year. In these strategies for action we have given priority for a thrust to the countryside.
This approach rests on the realization that the old "trickle-down" strategies of the 1960s have now been largely run into the ground. The food problem is only one of the results of policies that caused disparities between city and the farm. The mega-slums of the cities in my region are another. So much so that a recent report has noted: "Asia's governments, rooted as they are in great cities, seem locked in escalating conflict with their own rural citizenry - and almost without exception, the farmers are losing".
To defuse this conflict, FAO and its member-governments must develop approaches that will tap low-cost indigenous resources, particularly the huge pools of under-utilized agricultural manpower.
Our Five-Year Plan for instance, provides for such an approach. Thus, it is a democratization of development. It addresses itself to the problems of mass poverty, unemployment, underemployment and social justice.
Formulated by the government, the private sector, the academic community, labour, and the farming and fishing sections collaborating at the national, regional and sub-regional levels, the plan reflects the aspirations and desired directions of the Filipino people.
Self-sufficiency in food is one of the plan's priority goals. We realize full well that food is, indeed, the coin of national security. The strategy for the attainment of its development goals involves increased provision and improved delivery of essential inputs. These include credit, extension work, marketing facilities and infrastructure such as irrigation and feeder roads and fishing complexes.
But we are, at the same time; increasingly aware of the major lesson of FAO's Small Farmers Programme in Asia: That the lack of receiving utilizing mechanisms, among the rural poor, is a major institutional gap that prevents their participation in tneir own "liberation".
Current rural development structures, at field level, are two-tiered. One is the "delivery system" I cited earlier.
But there is a complementary set of functions that constitute the second tier and which we have largely ignored: The absence of a “receiving-cum-utilizing-mechanism'', at the grass-roots level. These functions include the seeking, planning receiving and utilizing - by the rural majority themselves - of all that delivery systems provide for them.
FAO must provide increasing assistance to help us develop approaches to enable the small farmers to receive and utilize these services. Such a mechanism will help tilt. services and resources in favour of the disadvantaged poor that the Director-General referred to earlier.
I must warn, however, that there is a crucial distinction between governments and external agencies developing a receiving mechanism for the farmers and our helping them to develop their own. At the root of this distinction, there is a fundamental difference: The difference between our perception of how farmers' see rural development and their own perceptions of it.
We must build on their perceptions of their situation. Their perceptions are the foundation on which we help build their own receiving mechanisms for their own growth. It is only then that they become involved and that elusive self-sustaining growth - which for lack of a better name we call development -begins.
The Philippine agrarian reform programme seeks to increase the productivity and income of beneficiaries. Farmer organizations are being given greater access to rural funds.
For this reason, my delegation supports the Director-General's plan to organize the World Conference on Agrarian Reform - although we must underscore the need for careful preparation to ensure that the tillers for once, are heard.
In the past, credit has tended to favor export crops, more than food crops. This was a reflection of the bias of the private financing sector against the high risk, low yield nature of agricultural lending activities.
Through our Agricultural Credit Plan for 1978-1982, we have begun to correct this situation. Emphasis will be shifted away from the traditionally favoured sugar and other export crops to food commodities, particularly cereals, livestock, poultry and fish.
The sources of this credit supply will largely be government financial institutions. They will contribute 67 percent, the balance to come from the 'private lending sector. This is consistent with the Government's policy to invest in the countryside where the private sector may be reluctant to enter.
In our move to balance total development in favor of the countryside, we have restructured the budget for the coming year.
For agriculture, irrigation will continue to dominate infrastructure efforts. Other major thrusts for this sector are agrarian reform and reforestation for fishing development a thrust towards storage, fishing ports and marketing complex system.
We seek also to establish an environment conducive to increased'investments in agriculture and rural development. Thus, the Philippine Government offers a new set of agribusiness incentives, which offsets higher risks and problems peculiar to agriculture.
Small farmers and fishermen, even if they are not organized, can qualify for loans. Expenditures on infrastructure, such as irrigation and drainage are eligible for 100 per cent tax credit. Breeding stock and plant genetic materials may be imported tax-free.
Fertilizer is a vital agricultural input. The Philippines now has four firms supplying about 50 percent of consumption. Establishment of a giant ammonia-urea complex, with a daily capacity of 900 metric tons ammonia and 1 200 metric tons urea, is being contemplated. Existing fertilizer facilities producing below capacity, will be rehabilitated.
Within the spirit of ASEAN industrial complementation, arrangements are being made for securing nitrogenous fertilizers, principally urea, from Malaysia and Indonesia who would, in turn, be off-taking phosphatic fertilizers from the Philippines.
The energy crisis, however, has given new relevance to the role of organic fertilizers, specially in non oil-producing countries. We urge FAO to give greater attention to fertilizer programmes that help member governments to acquire nutrients based on both organic and chemical stocks.
Involved in this approach is a basic policy issue: we should welcome modern agricultural innovations; but at the same time, we should strengthen our traditional indigenous agricultural practices. Very often, they are rooted in our soil, adapted to our environment and undoubtedly ecologically sound.
We realize that the food lost from inadequate and inefficient post-harvest technology often spells the difference in the country's effort to maintain self-sufficiency.
In the past three years, the Philippines has undertaken a massive programme to slash post-harvest losses. Actual surveys show that these efforts have thus far reduced grain losses significantly.
This programme calls for construction of 43 additional modern warehouses by 1978, to augment the
81 already established, phasing out of inefficient mills, and operation of modern grain service centres.
The Philippines has also been honoured to head the Policy Advisory Committee of the Post-Harvest Research and Development Programme for South East Asia.
At the same time, we note how some countries have developed low-cost processing and storage facilities, in a decentralized manner, at village level using local materials. Fao's Post-Harvest Losses Programme, when established, would be doing a service if it studies ways of making such technology available.
The Philippines have been self-sufficient in rice for the past two consecutive years. A 4. 8 percent increase was attained primarily from improved yields, despite the drought that hit several parts of the country. Crop year 1976-77 ended with the highest inventory ever attained in the country's history.
To carry out the function of price stabilization and buffer stock management more effectively, a storage capacity of 1. 5 million cavans annually will be sustained by a warehousing construction programme.
Grain terminal silos will be established in strategic ports to increase efficiency in inter-island movement of grains. Modern terminal market networks of storage facilities will be established in major urban and producing areas.
Our experience shows that organization is the key to development. Thus, we feel FAO should support programmes to help in the organization of homogeneous groups, small farmers, tenants, and landless agricultural workers, below the conventional cooperative level.
This is the nether world of most developing countries. These men and women constitute an inarticulate, paralyzed and largely forgotten stratum. They are not being served by the traditional cooperatives, which are controlled by the better-off sectors.
In Asia - and we suspect elsewhere - the main block against rural mobilization is the lack of access to productive resources and work. Organization is the first step to gaining this access.
We would therefore like to express our agreement with the statement of Η. Ε· Ambassador Abdelmuhsin Al-Sudeary of IFAD before us, that its resources would be used to help the small farmer, sharecropper and landless labourer band together with their peers, for productive purposes. This ensures their survival and security, promotes their human rights and opens the way for their mobilization.
The realization of a desire for a better life, a life with dignity, amongst the rural poor is a crucial factor with rural development. Thus we must develop policies for its awakening.
Peasant motivation is a crucial factor in rural development. Thus, we must develop policies for peasant "awakening", through education, information and training, basically through group participation in productive efforts.
My delegation supports most of the initiatives suggested by the Director-General. Like all delegations, we would like to see the transformation of FAO from a complacent and ponderous bureaucracy into a trim and effective agency for the rural poor.
But we have to transform the resolution that we are now in the process of writing into concrete effective programmes. This is a task both for FAO and member governments.
In Asia, the farmers are wont to counsel those who propose grand schemes: "Let us not weave tapestries of dreams with strands of sand".
If action does not match our words, the sand castles of our dreams may be swept away by a deluge of frustrations.
CHAIRMAN: Before continuing the general discussion may we now take up the Fourth Report of the General Committee. I am informed that we have a Forum and I will ask the Secretary General to read the first section of that Report.
Fourth Report of the General Committee
Quatrième rapport du Bureau
Cuarto Informe del Comité "General
LE SECRETAIRE GENERAL: Le quatrième rapport que le Bureau a adopté ce matin, dans sa première section, se lit comme suit: "Date des élections au Conseil - se référant à sa proposition antérieure, figurant au paragraphe 26 du document C 77/LIM/12, et conformément au paragraphe d) de l'article 22 du Règlement général de l'organisation, le Bureau recommande avec insistance que les élections au Conseil soient reportées au mercredi 30 novembre. " Ceci donnerait le temps nécessaire pour les consultations d'usage après le jeudi, 24 novembre, date à laquelle toutes les propositions de candidatures doivent être soumises pour être communiquées à la Conférence.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Secretary-General. Are there any objections to this Section? If there are no objections I will consider this Section adopted unanimously.
Adopted
Adopte
Aprobado
LE SECRETAIRE GENERAL: La seconde section du rapport du Bureau concerne l'adoption de la première partie du rapport de la Commission III qui figure au document C 77/REP/1, distribué hier.
Afin de donner davantage de temps pour la soumission des propositions de candidatures pour l'élection au Conseil, le Bureau recommande également que la Conférence adopte le rapport de la Commission III, sur l'augmentation du nombre de sièges au Conseil, dans l'après-midi du mardi 22 novembre, c'est-à-dire, Monsieur le Président, cet après-midi, au lieu du mercredi 23 novembre comme prévu.
Une fois que ce rapport et la résolution y incluse auront été adoptés par la Conférence, le Bureau soumettra pour adoption par la Conférence son cinquième rapport qui traitera des élections au Conseil.
Je rappelle, Monsieur le Président, que le vote sur la résolution contenue dans le document C 77/REP/1, et qui est un amendement à l'Acte constitutif et au Règlement général, doit être un vote par appel nominal et doit comporter une majorité des deux tiers des suffrages exprimés pour être passé.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Mr. Secretary-General. Are there any comments on this part of the Report? If there are no other comments, then I will consider this Section of the Report adopted.
Adopted
Adopté
Aprobado
GENERAL DISCUSSION (continued)
DEBAT GENERAL (suite)
DEBATE GENERAL (continuación)
CHAIRMAN: We will now resume our general discussion and I will call upon the next speaker on my list, the Representative of the United Nations Environment Programme.
J. FAUCHON (United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)): Le Directeur exécutif du Programme des Nations Unies pour l'Environnement aurait vivement desire s'adresser directement à votre Conférence et en personne. Retenu à l'Assemblée générale des Nations Unies, il regrette vivement de ne pouvoir le faire et m'a chargé de faire à sa place sa déclaration. [Suite en anglais]:
This is the first time the Executive Director of UNEP has had the opportunity to address the General Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. This is an honour which I hope will have a beneficial effect on relations between FAO and UNEP. In this statement I should like to review the role of UNEP, existing cooperation between our two Organizations and the scope for collaboration in the future.
UNEP is relatively young compared to FAO. It was established by the General Assembly of United Nations in 1972 following the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held at Stockholm. The General Assembly created a Governing Council of 58 nations and a small secretariat. These were required to draw up an environment programme for the United Nations and to coordinate environmental activities of organizations within the United Nations system. The General Assembly also created a fund to help finance some environmental initiatives from within the programme, and an interagency coordinating body, the Environment Coordination Board, upon which sit the heads of all the Agencies, including, naturally, the Director-General of FAO.
UNEP is a unique body in the United Nations system with specific mandate to identify environmental problems, promote appropriate policy responses and coordinate and catalyze action on the part of the United Nations system, governments and non-governmental organizations. Clearly, therefore, UNEP was not set up to take over the responsibilities of the Agencies for the environmental dimension of their activities. UNEP is neither operational as is FAO, nor principally as funding body, as is UNDP.
The philosohy underlying the Environment Programme has evolved over the last five years and is now clear. We hold that development process should be undertaken with a view to meeting basic human needs without depleting the natural resource base upon which the survival of mankind depends. We should strive to eliminate pollution, or at least hold it to tolerable levels, and in these respects should not exceed what we refer to as the outer limits. Consequently, UNEP's Earthwatch Programme, which includes monitoring and information exchange, has a responsibility to assess threats to the outer limits, the study of climatic changes and the risks to the ozone layer are examples of such earthwatch activities. Environmental assessment is undertaken in order to provide a basis for environmental management.
We live in a world of limited resources whose ecosystems have a limited capacity to supply man's needs and absorb the waste products of man's activities. The limits of lands under cultivation are rather well known. The amount of arable land per head is diminishing, not only as a result of population growth, but also because of soil degradation, humus loss and desertification affecting entire regions. Fresh-water reserves are diminishing and will have to be managed carefully. Not so long ago the oceans seemed to be an inexhaustable food reserve, but some accessible parts of them have been subjected to. such exploitation that their productivity has collapsed. The accumulation of manmade wastes and increasing soil, water and air pollution further limit the possibilities for economic and social development.
Thus rapid depletion of non-renewable, natural resources, over-exploitation of those resources which are renewed by biological cycles, and the impact of pollution, compel mankind constantly to monitor the exploitation and proper utilization of available resources. These and other issues will, I believe, dominate international debate in the last years of this century.
These grave and far-reaching problems have been the focus of cooperation between FAO and UNEP since the creation of UNEP. At its Seventeenth Session in November 1972 your Conference defined the framework of cooperation activity within the United Nations Environment Programme based on the assessment as an ecological management of natural resources of food and agriculture. A little over a year ago, we reviewed our joint activities. This revealed the wide extent of our cooperation, which covered most of FAO's major activity sectors and I shall just quote them to show the extent of this cooperation:
Integrated pest control, ecological management of range-lands, safe use of pesticides, conservation of crop, forest and animal, including wildlife, genetic resources, conservation of forestry resources, soil and water, fishery resources and aquatic pollution, food contamination, problems of agro-industries, environmental law, and environmental training. In this connection it is worth recalling that to date UNEP and FAO have undertaken 47 projects, of which 38 are still underway, and with a total cumulative commitment of about ten million dollars on the part of UNEP.
Initially our joint activities developed in a somewhat pragmatic fashion, but assumed a more formal character with the signing of a memorandum of Understanding by the Director-general of FAO and the Executive Director of UNEP in July of this year. The text recalls the objectives of the two Organizations, areas of mutual interest and co-operation, and arrangements for cooperation.
It forms the agreed basis for joint activities by the two Organizations, and a common FAO/UNEP policy towards environmental problems.
I would now like to turn to a recent event of great importance to UNEP, FAO and to other United Nations Specialized Agencies. I am referring to this year's United Nations Conference on Desertification which was held at Nairobi from 29 August to 9 September. It brought together representatives from 95 countries and 65 non-governmental organizations. Its objectives were to draw world attention to the immense problem of the spread of deserts in a number of countries, to identify solutions, to propose precise actions at the national, regional levels and to create a sense of common purpose in the struggle against desertification. In this way it was hoped to promote cooperation among those peoples and countries which had been the victims of desertification, and with those more fortunate peoples and countries which had not been directly affected but were able to make technical or financial contributions. Without doubt, the Conference succeeded in alerting governments to the national, regional and global nature of the problem of desertification, the complexity of the response which is required, the high degree of cooperation needed if the process is to be halted and at least some of the desertified lands reclaimed. The conference adopted a plan of action which is now being considered by the United Nations General Assembly.
FAO has a vast body of experience in this field and is one of the major U. N. Agencies directly concerned with the implementation of the plan of action. UNEP looks forward to cooperating fruitfully with FAO in assisting countries anxious to implement various aspects of the plan of action, and in executing transnational projects which were considered by the Conference on Desertification.
I would like to draw a few lessons for the future development of our joint activities from this brief panorama of cooperation between UNEP and FAO.
First, we have established the mechanisms for cooperations between UNEP and FAO.
Under the auspices of the ECB are held regular meetings of environmental "focal points'' within the United Nations system. These meetings and other frequent, less formalized contact, ensure that our two Organizations have many opportunities to discuss matters of common concern. In this respect, we are particularly happy with our relationship to FAO's Inter-Departmental Working Group on Natural Resources and the Human Environment, through its Chairman, Mr. Louis Huguet and his colleagues.
Secondly, it is not enough to rely on bilateral cooperation. There are many environmental problems - and we have quoted desertification, for example, which concerns several Agencies. If the collaboration envisaged in the establishment of ÚNEP is to be achieved, we must cooperate, both together, and with others concerned. For this reason the Environment Coordination Board recently decided to lend its support to a meeting, to which all interested agencies are invited, to see how joint activities can be developed in line with the objectives and strategies of the Environment Programme in the fields of arid lands and water. This meeting will take place, at the kind invitation of FAO, in Rome in about 10 days' time.
Thirdly, we have a full agenda for cooperation. There is the plan of action to combat desertification to which I have already referred. There are also some very important emerging issues which will concern us in the years ahead. For example, there is the question of basic human needs, which is naturally of direct relevance to FAO since food is perhaps the most basic need of all. The challenge is how to provide the required quantity and quality of feed without destroying the environmental base for sustained productivity.
A second problem which preoccupies a number of scientists is that of the possibility of the depletion of the zone layer around our planet, with the dangers of a catastrophic impact on human health. The increasing use of chlorofluoromethanes and of nitrate fertilizers are suspect as possible dangers to the ozone layer. To establish the nature of the threat and respond to it appropriately will call for coordinated international action.
Guessing the future is very much in vogue as we approach the milestone of the year 2000. But we should not be satisfied with prediction since we can, in fact, influence the course of future events. We have β double obligation to our descendants. First, we must leave to them a planet productive enough to feed its inhabitants and rich in a variety of plants and animal life. Also, we must educate and train the next generation, which will inhabit a world of more people making more demands on finite resources, to be sensitive to environmental implications, and thus equip them to hand their descendants an unimpaired environmental heritage.
I wish every success to the General Conference, and urge that these simple and far-reaching objectives be borne in mind.
This is the end of the Statement of the Executive Director of UNEP.
CHIN CHUNG GUK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea): Mr. Chairman, Mr. Director-General, Distinguished delegates: Allow me, first of all, to express my thanks to Mr. Chairman for affording the Delegation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea the opportunity of making a speech again at this Conference.
At the same time, I would like to express once again my deep thanks to the delegates from various countries for having actively supported the admission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea into this Organization.
Our delegation warmly congratulates you, the Minister of Agriculture of Indonesia, on your election as Chairman of this important Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Our delegation is deeply moved by the positive activities of Mr. Edouard Saouma, who was elected two years ago as the Director-General, the responsible post of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U. N., having advanced a new orientation and programme of action, is making active efforts for the rational development of the Food and Agriculture Organization in conformity with the constitution and alms of the Organization and for the development of the agriculture of the developing countries.
Our delegation wishes Mr. Saouma greater successes in his continuous work as the Director-General of the Organization.
It is one of very important questions at present to increase food production through the correct solution of the rural question.
Therefore, I would like to deal with how our country has increased food production by correctly solving the agricultural question in our country.
We think it can further deepen our mutual understanding and will make a contribution to further strengthening mutual cooperation and friendly ties.
Before the liberation our country was a backward colonial semi-feudal State which could not get rid of natural calamities and food famine every year because of lack of material means for agricultural production.
We, however, after liberation have turned in a short span of time our countryside into a socialist one firmly equipped with modern machines and technology with the support of a strong socialist industry.
This entirely owes to the wise leadership of the respected and beloved leader President KIM IL SUNG who set forth the most correct policy for the solution of the rural question at every important stage of the revolutionary development in our country and has wisely led our people to the struggle for its implementation.
Carrying out of the land reform posed itself as a most important question in solving our rural question after the freeing from the yoke of the imperialist colonial rule.
Every peasant household has only less than 2 hectares of land because mountains occupy 80 per cent of our territory and arable land was extremely limited.
Particularly due to the colonial predatory policy pursued by the imperialists for a long time, the overwhelming majority of our peasantry were landless or landpoor, and in the countryside existed relations of colonial and feudal plunder and exploitation, in which agricultural productivity was insignificant and living conditions of the peasants were miserable beyond description.
It was a great stumbling-block to the advancement of our society.
After the liberation the respected and beloved leader President KIM IL SUNG, having grasped the specific conditions of our country, put forward most correct policy of land reform and the slogan: "land to the tillers", and wisely led the struggle for its implementation.
As a result, in a short period of over 20 days more than one million hectares of lamd formerly owned by the Japanese imperialists, traitors to the nation and landlords was confiscated without compensation and distributed free of charge to over 700 000 households of landless or landpoor peasants.
In the wake of land reform we abolished all manner of miscellaneous taxes and established the system of agricultural tax in kind, thereby radically increasing agricultural production and improving the living conditions of the peasants.
But our post-war agricultural conditions became very difficult again owing to the 3-year war ignited by the US imperialists.
After the war everything was destroyed. Therefore peasants could no longer do farming unless they pooled their strength. At this very juncture when the peasants were in such a difficult position, we set forth the policy of agricultural cooperativization an energetic struggle for its implementation. As a result, the cooperativization was carried out very smoothly and at a high rate and completed in August, 1958.
Following the brilliant completion of the peasant question and agricultural question at the two stages, that is, the land reform and the agricultural cooperativization the respected and beloved leader President KIM IL SUNG issued the "Theses on the Socialist Rural Question in Our Country" in February, 1964 and thus brilliantly illumining the road of the final solution of the rural question.
The peasant and agricultural questions under socialism are to highly develop the agricultural productive forces, make the peasants life abundant, abolish all sorts of backwardness of countryside left by the exploiting society and gradually lessen the difference between towns and villages on the basis of continuous consolidation of the socialist system established in the countryside.
We have firmly maintained the three fundamental principles in order to solve the peasant and agricultural questions successfully.
That is: First, the technical, cultural and ideological revolutions should be thoroughly carried out in the rural areas;
Second, the working-class leadership over the peasantry, the assistance of industry to agriculture, and the support of the towns to the countryside should be strengthened in every way.
Third, the guidance and management of agriculture, should be brought continuously to approach the advanced level of enterprise management of industry, the bonds between all-people property and cooperative property should be strengthened, and cooperative property should be steadily brought closer to property of the whole people.
Our agriculture has come to stand on the solid material and technical foundations with the energetic promotion of the ideological, technical and cultural revolution in the countryside along the bright road illuminated by the respected and beloved leader President KIM IL SUNG in the "Theses on the Socialist Rural Question in Our Country".
As a result of the over-all acceleration of the technical revolution in countryside with irrigation, electrification, mechanization and chemicalization as its' main content, in our country irrigation system has been established with the result that we can supply enough water to the vast areas of one million hectares and reap bumper harvest every year, never influenced by any big drought or whimsical weather.
Today we sufficiently provide with various kinds of chemical fertilizers and the agricultural medicines suitable to the characteristics of the soil and crops and many farm machines supplied to the countryside are doing hard labour for farmers.
The respected and beloved leader President KIM IL SUNG has created the great Juche-based farming method the scientific method for radically increasing the agricultural production on the basis of the solid material and technical foundations of our rural economy.
The Juche-oriented farming method is most scientific and modern farming method to increase the agricultural production -- establishment of the system of improving seed in conformity with the soil and climatic conditions of our country, selection of the crop and seed on the principle of the right crop at the right time and the right crop to the right soil, ensuring of correct number of plant in farming, introduction of new manuring system and cold frame rice seelings in non-paddy field on a wide scale and growing of maize in a humus pot.
All these made our country scale the height of the 8 million tons of grain even under last year's conditions where the world underwent great sufferings owing to the influence of the cold front.
Today our country has been converted into a country self-sufficient in food from a famine-striken country whose pre-liberation grain production was only 2 million tons.
The respected and beloved leader Conrade KIM IL SUNG set forth new five-point policy of nature-remaking under the actual conditions where the demand of state for food is further increasing with the recent expanded scale of socialist economy and the improved material and cultured life of the people.
The respected and beloved leader President KIM IL SUNG instructed as follows: "Firstly, irrigation of non-paddy fields should be rounded off, secondly, land adjustment and land amelioration be undertaken, thirdly, terraced fields be built, fourthly, afforestation and water conservancy be carried out to prevent the damages by downpour, and fifthly, tideland be reclaimed. This is the five-point policy".
This five-point policy and nature-remaking illumined by the respected and beloved President has opened up a broad road for our country to reach the eight of 10 million tons of grain in the near years to come.
Our people waged a vigorous struggle to implement the five-point policy of nature-making, and as a result, nearly 200 thousand hectares of non-paddy field has been under irrigation in the last few months alone.
By successfully carrying through the five-point policy of nature-remaking set forth by the respected and beloved President, we will have the complented irrigation system in not only paddy field but also non-paddy field and thereby achieve greater successes in the development of agriculture in our country, not shaken by any drought or storm caused by the influence of the cold front.
Due to the Occupation of South Korea by the U. S. Army, our country is divided into north and south for more than 30 years.
The National split is obstructing the united development of national economy in all fields including agriculture.
It is the greatest national aspiration of our people to realize the reunification of the divided country.
We will ensure the coordinated development of the country on a nation-wide scale and build a more abundant strong paradise for the people good to live in by ending the division and accomplishing the cause of national reunification with the united efforts of the people in north and south Korea.
I am convinced that you will express an active support to the Korean people in their struggle for achieving the country's reunification independently by the Korean people themselves in a peaceful way and on a democratic principle without any outside interference.
Mr. Chairman, Distinguished delegates: Now the countries of the third world are attaching significance to agriculture. We think it a very good thing. We are strengthening the economic and technical cooperation with the third world countries in the field of agriculture.
Our delegation supports the Programme of Work and Budget for 1978-79 proposed by the Director-General with the conviction that it will contribute to the effective administration of the Organization and to the economic and technical co-operation and assistance for the development of agriculture of the third world.
In conclusion, I express the hope that this Conference will achieve great success by the sincere efforts of all delegates present here.
Mrs. M. DEHARENG (Observer for ICFTU): The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions represents over 50 million workers organized in 119 affiliated organizations. Our members come from 88 countries of vastly different levels of development. Political systems and culture. We are not a monolithic organization but a genuine international confederation, in which the dialogue between affiliates leads to a consensus on policies and action to be carried out in the interests of the workers we represent.
Conscious that problems of hunger, unemployment and mass poverty cannot be considered in isolation from the general economic and social problems, the ICFTU supports the establishment of a new international economic order which should bring justice between nations and within them. The ICFTU therefore supported the UNCTAD integrated programme of commodities. Through our affiliated organizations,
particularly in. Europe, we called on governments inviting them to contribute to the establishment of a common fund to finance buffer stocks. However, international trade in itself does not promote social justice. This is why technical solutions to the problem of world commodity trade are not enough. It is essential that the integrated programme and other appropriate mechanisms are constructed in such a way as to benefit the poorer section of society in the developing countries. The trade unions cannot endorse such mechanisms if they merely add to the profit of rich landlords, large multinational companies or commodity market speculators. Countries benefiting from these mechanisms should therefore be urged to pursue policies for the creation of employment and the satisfactioa of basic needs.
We are glad that the Director-General, in his introduction to document C 77/23, has re-affirmed that basic needs of the rural poor are now rightly receiving increasing attention. For the trade unions the basic needs strategy is a universally applicable and dynamic concept. As an international trade union organization the realization of full employment in conditions of economic and social justice is at the centre of our concern. We consider that the right to employment is an integral part of the basic needs strategy. The right to employment means the right to a job in a private or public enterprise, but also the right for the small farmer and the self-employed worker to earn a decent income from his work and to benefit from services enabling him to satisfy his basic needs. In this context, the basic need concept is relevant to the FAO activities and we are glad to note that, without waiting for the Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, the FAO has in its technical cooperation programme placed the emphasis on projects enabling the participation of the majority of the rural population concerned
Rural workers' organizations, in the broad definition of ILO Convention No. 141, have proved effective instruments to determine the needs of rural workers, wage-earning or self-employed, and governments should allow these organizations to exist and encourage them wherever they do exist. For example, through international trade union solidarity we have been able to mobilise the resources in order to support spontaneous organizations of the rural poor and to help them to develop a variety of self-help projects, helping them not only to increase their income through better productiviy but also giving their members training, access to credit, and other facilities. However, freedom of association and democratic leadership of workers' and peasants' organizations are prequisites for an effective participation of the rural masses in the development process. We believe that workers' and peasants' organizations are the motive force of development. They lead to a more equitable distribution of income, stimulate productivity, develop internal markets. Measures limiting the activities of such organizations do not solve problems. On the contrary, they create more poverty and intolerable tension.
Indeed, rural populations should, through their freely and democratically elected representatives, be able to participate in the elaboration, implementation and evaluation of rural development programmes, as well as at all stages and levels of relevant national and international planning. In particular, their active participation in the preparation and proceedings of the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development should be accepted and properly organized at all levels.
The ICFTU has supported the creation of the International Fund for Agricultural Development. Through our affiliated organizations we have brought pressure to bear on a number of governments so that they participate generously, and we hope that the Fund will function without delay. We have also supported the refunding of the AID, the "Third Window" of the World Bank, and the "Witteveen facility mechanism" of the IMF as a short-term measure to solve the most urgent monetary problems. We want to be sure that our efforts have not been in vain and benefit the poorest workers of the developing countries who can only be reached if freedom of association and the ILO standards are respected. FAO Assistance in the preparation of the investment process should be conditional on the observance by the aid-receiving country of ILO Conventions Nos. 141, 87 and 98. We believe that the activities of the agencies of the United Nations system should be mutually supportive.
We do not doubt that the service established in the FAO to answer the requests of developing countries concerning investments will be very useful and will ensure, is already ensuring, a more rapid and less bureaucratic solution of the problems of financing development projects. However, we have some doubts about the value of the participation of private banks in the FAO/Bankers Programme. According to document C 77/3 private banks represent 40 percent of the participants of the Bankers Programme. It would be interesting to know to what extent the loans they finance really contribute to the development of the countries in which they invest and especially to what extent the majority of the population of these countries benefit.
Multinational companies, whether their activities be financial, banking, industrial or commercial represent an important source of capital and technology but they are far from providing a solution to development problems. Very often, their ability to manipulate the three key factors of development -capital, raw materials and access to markets - tends to underline the economic and social possibilities of the countries in which they establish themselves Their basic objective is to increase company profits and not, for instance, to increase the food supply of. the population or improve its distribution.
The impact of agro-industry in developing countries has often been linked to the introduction of techniques which are prejudicial to their economies, leading to the reduction of the number of jobs, the expulsion of tenants, the production of luxury goods at the expense of production for local consumption and, because of the repatriation of profits, to the slowing down of asset formation. That is why, as we have already stressed several times, we find the privileges granted to multinational companies in FAO, through the Industry Cooperative Programme, intolerable, and far in excess of the consultation framework admitted by the United Nations system.
We hope that there will finally be an inquiry into the activities of the Programme, as demanded by the 18th Conference, and that if it appears in the Programme of Work and Budget in the future, it will be a little more explicit in this direction. That does not mean that we want FAO to cut all contact with industry; not at all, but we do want an appropriate structure to be found in which trade unions and industry - that is, both sides of industry, the capital and the workers - would be represented on an equal footing in order to advise and assist the FAO and its Member States in all matters concerning rural development, agriculture and agro-food industries, in order to ensure a better balance between the economic and social objectives of development.
VONDRAS (Observateur pour la Federation Syndicale Mondiale (WFTU)): Permettez-moi, au nom de la Fédération Syndicale Mondiale, de vous exprimer nos remerciements pour nous avoir donné la possibilité de prendre la parole du haut de cette tribune.
Nous avons étudié avec intérêt les documents de la Soixante et onzième session du Conseil de la FAO et les documents préparés en vue de cette Conférence.
Nous partageons pleinement la thèse fondamentale figurant dans le Programme de Travail et Budget pour 1978-79 présenté par le Directeur général constatant: "Si l'on veut résoudre les problèmes de la faim et de la malnutrition, accroître la production alimentaire et favoriser un développement rural efficace, il est nécessaire de faire participer la population en cause, qui comprend les couches les plus défavorisées de la société rurale, "
Pour la FSM, et cela est réaffirmé dans les documents préparatoires du IXème Congrès Syndical Mondial qui aura lieu à Prague du 16 au 23 avril 1978, ce n'est qu'avec l'appui des travailleurs ruraux que l'on peut envisager la solution des problèmes qui pèsent sur l'agriculture dans les pays capitalistes et surtout ceux en voie de développement.
C'est pourquoi la FSM cherche à amplifier sa coopération avec la FAO tant dans l'intérêt des travailleurs ruraux que dans celui du développement général de l'agriculture et de l'industrie alimentaire.
Dans ce sens, nous apprécions la tenue régulière des consultations annuelles entre les organisations syndicales internationales et la FAO, Nous les considérons comme une contribution positive tant en prévision du développement de la coopération future entre les syndicats et la FAO, que du point de vue des possibilités d'une certaine coordination des initiatives de toutes les organisations syndicales internationales.
En 1976, les organisations syndicales internationales ont commencé à réaliser avec la FAO une activité commune au niveau régional. Les résultats de la première consultation regionale entre les organisations syndicales internationales, la FAO et certains Etats Membres d'Amérique latine, tenue en octobre 1976 au Honduras, correspondent aux orientations de la FAO, car cette activité; se rapproche davantage vers la base. Les résultats positifs de la première consultation régionale ont été obtenus grâce à une sérieuse coopération sur un pied d'égalité, entre les syndicats et les gouvernements.
Les propositions du directeur général de la FAO visant à déplacer le gros des efforts de l'Organisation dans les régions et au niveau national ouvrent de nouvelles perspectives pour un engagement plus actif des masses rurales et leurs syndicats à la mise en oeuvre des programmes et projets de développement.
La prochaine consultation régionale entre les syndicats, la FAO et les gouvernements des pays d'Asie et d'Extrême-Orient prévue pour 1978 sera sans doute un autre pas en avant dans ce domaine.
Dans ce contexte, nous formulons notre première proposition: élaborer, au sein de la FAO, un programme concret visant à instituer un système de consultations régionales entre la FAO, les gouvernements et les organisations syndicales.
La F. S. M. a confirmé à maintes reprises l'intérêt particulier qu'elle attache à la realisation et aux résultats positifs de la Conférence sur la Réforme agraire et le Développement rural prévue pour juillet 1979. En nous référant au rapport présenté par le Directeur général de la FAO à la session du Conseil en juin dernier, nous saluons sa ferme intention de joindre ses efforts à ceux des autres organisations pour que cette Conférence aboutisse à des résultats positifs et concrets.
Notre organisation répond positivement à cet appel du Directeur général et lui offre dans ce but sa pleine et sincère coopération active tant dans la phase préparatoire "de la Conférence que dans les suites à donner à ses travaux.
A ce sujet, nous constatons avec regret que le Conseil n'a pas encore jugé opportun de prévoir la coopération de la FAO avec les organisations syndicales internationales à la préparation de la Conférence dès sa phase préparatoire. Nous déplorons également le fait que le Directeur général n'ait pas invité les experts des organisations syndicales internationales à prendre part aux travaux de son Comité consultatif d'experts qui s'est réuni pour la première fois en octobre 1977. Si la FAO fait siens les principes stipulés dans la Convention de l'OIT sur les travailleurs ruraux et leur role dans le développement économique et social, elle serait bien inspirée d'appliquer ces mêmes principes au niveau international.
A notre avis, la Conférence doit aboutir à des résultats conformes aux besoins vitaux des populations rurales, paysannes et salariées, entraînant du même coup un développement général et rapide de: l'agriculture dans le monde.
Et voici notre deuxième proposition:
Il conviendrait que l'ONU, la FAO et les Etats Membres fassent participer les représentants des organisations syndicales internationales à la réunion préparatoire qui est prévue au siège de la FAO six mois environ avant la Conférence; et que les gouvernements fassent également participer les organisations syndicales nationales à la préparation de la Conférence dans leurs pays respectifs et intègrent des représentants syndicaux dans leurs délégations nationales à la Conférence.
Compte tenu de l'importance exceptionnelle des problèmes relatifs à la réforme agraire et au développement rural, la FSM et l'UIS Agriculture envisagent de contribuer à l'organisation, en 1978, d'une rencontre syndicale mondiale sur ces questions. Elle serait convoquée par un Comité préparatoire composé des organisations syndicales internationales·et régionales intéressées et la FAO sera invitée à y participer à part entière.
Cette rencontre syndicale mondiale aura pour tâche de formuler les positions du monde du travail sur la réforme agraire et le développement rural et apportera ainsi sa contribution qualifiée et efficace à la Conférence mondiale de l'ONU.
Afin de faciliter aux syndicats la possibilité de jouer le role qui leur revient dans l'agriculture, il convient que les gouvernements ratifient et appliquent la Convention N° 141 de l'OIT concernant les organisations des travailleurs ruraux et leur role dans le développement économique et social adoptée par la Conférence internationale du Travail en 1975.
Nous sommes préoccupés du fait que les gouvernements attendent trop longtemps pour ratifier cette Convention. Elle n'a été ratifiée jusqu'à présent que par six pays.
Conformément aux conclusions de la 18ème session de la Conférence de la FAO, la Conférence actuelle de la FAO jugera certainement nécessaire d'encourager les Etats Membres à prendre des mesures énergiques en vue de la ratification et de l'application de cette Convention de l'OIT. Cette question doit occuper une place de priorité tant dans les politiques nationales visant à combattre la pauvreté que dans les programmes de la FAO.
Par leur vote massif en faveur de cet instrument à la Conférence internationale du Travail en 1975, les gouvernements ont manifesté leur volonté politique d'encourager la création d'organisations indépendantes et efficaces des travailleurs ruraux.
Ces réflexions nous amènent à une troisième proposition: La présente Conférence pourrait iuger cette question assez importante pour qu'elle figure à l'ordre du jour des sessions du Conseil de la EAO pendant plusieurs années afin d'examiner régulièrement les progrès réalises dans ce domaine. Dans ce sens la FSM offre à la FAO son enture coopération.
Selon la FSM, l'engagement des organisations des travailleurs ruraux et la cooperation avec eux est nécessaire notamment dans des projets relatifs à la formation et au perfectionnement professionnels. Nous constatons avec satisfaction que le Programme de travail met un accent particulier sur la formation du personnel de terrain. Dans ce domaine comme vous le savez, la FAO, l'Unesco et l'OIT ont constitué un groupe de travail interinstitutions.
La FSM demande à être associée aux travaux de ce groupe de travail tenant compte du fait que d'autres organisations syndicales internationales ont déjà leurs représentants dans ce groupe.
Convaincus que la Conférence voudra bien tenir compte de nos remarques, suggestions et propositions, nous lui souhaitons plein succès dans ses travaux.
The meeting rose at 12. 45 hours
La seance est levée à 12 h 45
Se levanta la sesión a las 12. 45 horas
