W. Odongo OMAMO (Kenya): Mr Chairman, on behalf of the Kenyan delegation may I take this opportunity to thank you and to congratulate you and the Vice-Chairmen on your election. I am confident that you and your team will lead the deliberations to a successful conclusion.
On behalf of the Kenyan delegation may I extend a wholehearted welcome to the Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands as new sisters in the Organization.
Furthermore, I should like to express my sincere appreciation to the Director-General of FAO, Dr Edouard Saouma, for the excellent arrangements for this Conference and for the guidance he has given to the Secretariat in the work of the organization since we met two years ago.
On behalf of my Government and the people of Kenya, and on my own behalf, I wish to convey our sincere appreciation for the work that the FAO has donc during the last 40 years, although the Republic of Kenya has had its close association with FAO for only two decades.
For the time we have been associated with FAO, I am pleased to say we have had useful projects in which FAO’s input has been significant. I would like to mention the very good projects on dryland farming research and development at Katumani, sheep and goat development in Naivasha, marketing research, forage plant development at Kitale, horticultural development at Thika, small farm mechanization at Nakura, acqualculture, dairy development, crop protection, animal health, nutrition and community forestry projects.
I wish also to highlight the quick action FAO undertook in responding to our emergency needs including the fight against army-worms, vaccine production and the supply of horticultural seeds when the materials ran out because of the 1984 drought. I would like to thank you, the Director-General, Very much for the quick response.
The African food crisis which is of great concern to Africa and the international community is the particular concern of Kenya. It will be remembered that over a decade ago, Africa produced more goods ‘per capita than it does today. But, Mr Chairman, what has gone wrong? I am sure you will agree with me that many socio-economic factors - differing somewhat in degree from one African country to another’ have all affected and confounded the African food situation.
Even those African countries with well-defined food policies have not made dramatic progress in the implementation of these policies.
In Kenya, for example, we launched our national food policy in 1981. We have, however, had many problems in the implementation of that policy. Due to shortage of foreign exchange we have not been able to purchase enough fertilizers, agricultural credit is far short of demand, and we have not been able to procure farmers’ produce promptly due to lack of adequate funds.
During a good year - as this year is - storage facilities proved inadequate both at the national and at the farm level.
When we had the 1984 drought we were immediately confronted with an acute shortage of seed materials and breeding stock. Recovery is now proving no easy task. We would like to examine some of the tters to which we think special attention should be given.
The small farmer in Kenya had a central role to play in food and agricultural production. The focus therefore, should be on the small farm in terms of research for the small farm, training for the small farm and extention for increasing food production on the small farm. We think there is some hope in Kenya in this respect. Attention should be focused on the role of women in agricultural production
In Africa today - in Kenya, in common with other developing countries - women play a major role which should not be minimized. Attention should therefore be directed to those areas that will make women more effective in food production and in generating income for the family.
In Kenya, as in other developing countries, agricultural research is a must and should be strengthened. It is the only hope for modernizing agriculture because it still continues to be a local art. Whether it is Guernsey or Hereford cattle, it should be modernized and localized, so also with hybrid maize, tea and coffee.
Up till now, insufficient attention has been paid to key areas such as irrigation development and natural resources conservation. Efforts should now be directed to establishing small scale irrigation schemes which are cost effective and which can be managed by small farmers themselves. Kenya has had bitter experience with the management of very large irrigation schemes because of the many extra-curricular socio-economic problems which come up but are not directly connected with food production. This would not be the case if these were smalU projects, so we shy away from the large projects.
Programmes of soil conservation and of afforestation are also a must in order to reverse the threat of desertification and land degradation. Kenya attaches great importance to soil and water conservation and I am pleased to report that we are currently implementing His Excellency President Daniel Arap Moi’s decree on soil conservation and afforestation. I now appeal to the Director-General that when the Ghanian officer who won the Sen Award in forestry finishes his assignment in Thailand, he should be directly posted in Kenya where he would be most welcome. Kenya’s forest area is 3 percent less than the average for Africa and for the world.
I would like to take this moment to assure you that Kenya supports the proposed FAO programme of work and budget for the 1986/87 period. While noting the marginal increase in this budget, I appreciate the increase in the TCP mainly from cuts made in the administrative budget. I strongly feel that the TCP should receive additional resources in order for it to respond more readily to the needs of developing countries.
While supporting the programme and the budget we should also focus attention on the need for sound management and improvement of the quality of the FAO programmes.
In Kenya we know that the nation’s farmers must continue to lead the country in economic development for many years to come. A long-term agricultural strategy covering 15 to 20 years is now.being prepared and I am sure it will enable FAO and other organizations to give Kenya’s agriculture a close look.
The subject of aid is a wide one, but I would like to state that when aid is given it should result in a net flow of resources to recipients. The current tendency of staff biting deeply into the aid basket should be reversed. Instead local personnel, if available, should be employed because they are cheaper and could do the same work. On the recipient side, countries need to set up an efficient aid cooperation mechanism in order to avoid duplication of efforts.
However, I wish to underline the need for the choice of projects and programmes relevant to the specific needs of the country and the beneficiaries. Projects should not be formulated elsewhere. These should not be drawn up and finished in Rome and then forced down the throats of recipients in developing countries. This should be stopped. We have had that bitter experience for over 40 years. This is the time to stop it.
For example, in Kenya today, we have adopted the district focus strategy for rural development. Now the local people are given the opportunity of deciding their development priorities. It means, therefore, that donors, NGOs or international organizations wishing to support Kenya’s rural development today, should put their ears close to the ground and listen to what the people at the grassroots want.
I would like to mention our experience with the drought situation that hit us very, very hard last year and that resulted in the famine. The disaster struck and I am pleased to say that it was as a result of the Government’s response that we were saved from the famine situation.
When the disaster struck, we quickly set up a task force comprised of major ministries, parastatals and private sector groups coordinated by the Office of the President. This was to ensure quick clearanc
of food at the port and distribution to affected people in the country, especially in the arid, and semi-arid areas. I would now like to assure you, Mr Chairman, that those efforts paid us dividends as no Kenyan died of hunger.
The economies of developing countries have continued to be seriously affected by the international economic ‘environment. Prices offered for our export commodities have continued to fluctuate and decline, thus making our foreign exchange earnings inadequate. Protectionism in trade has been on the increase despite repeated appeals by the international community for its reduction. Unfavourable terms of trade in general have meant that important investment programmes in agriculture, which heavily rely on imported inputs, have been reduced or stopped. It has meant that our debt-servicing has become more burdensome. It must be emphasized here that accessibility to markets and a favourable external trading environment are important. Trade and not just aid should be the priority. The problem of funding and debt-servicing needs to be looked at more realistically by our creditors. They should know that our survival is their survival and a persistently adverse external economic environment will not work-out for mutual benefit.
I notice that the Conference will be discussing FAO programmes and issues in agriculture, fisheries and forestry. I see that, among other things, the Conference will discuss activities that are basic to increased agricultural production, like the role of forestry and fisheries in development, planta genetic resources, World Food Security Compact, the Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides and Agricultural Price Policies. My delegation will be making contributions on these subjects in the work of the Commissions of this Conference.
Let me, however, say a word on the Code of Conduct on the Use and Distribution of Pesticides. Knowing the problems involved and knowing the extent to which developing countries are at a disadvantage I would like to appeal to donors and international organizations to assist developing countries that lack agro-chemical testing capability in setting up foolproof facilities for scrutinizing and controlling the import, manufacture and use of pesticides.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, the Kenya Delegation wishes to appeal to all the sister nations that, as we celebrate the 40th Anniversary of FAO, all of us should reflect on the past and consider possible new ideas and new approaches to food production. As we move into the next decade, let us intensify our efforts in those strategies and approaches that have worked. I would like to end by saying that the time has come, particularly after 40 years, that we as sister nations should look back and find areas where success has been achieved and focus on this. Let us learn from one another’s experience by comparing development notes closely.
M.A. MUNIM (Bangladesh): Permit me, Mr Chairman, to congratulate you and the Members of the Bureau for your unanimous and well-deserved election.
That our ranks have swelled to 158 Member States is ample testimony to the relevance of this Organization, its viability, and its capacity to adapt to the changing needs of our time. I welcome the Representatives of the Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands in our midst and assure them the fullest cooperation of the Bangladesh Delegation.
Our special tributes and thanks are extended to the Director-General, Mr Edouard Saouma, whose dynamism, concern and zeal have bolstered FAO’s determination to keep high on the world’s agenda of priorities the awareness of the centrality of food and agriculture in the developing process.
In this 40th Anniversary Year of the FAO’s creation, we are called upon to reflect on its achievements, to review critically those compelling constraints that have vitiated past gains and have added urgency to current solutions, and at the same time to focus on programmes and plans to secure the future. It is not possible in the short time to read out even the “short list of FAO’s achievements that are written down in my speech. However, despite these very real achievements constituting the fruit of 40 years of sustained collective endeavour, the problems facing FAO remain nearly constant in their intractability. Hunger and malnutrition still grow apace, accompanied by dire statistics of deprivation. Eight hundred million people live on the margins of survival, the absolute poor, degraded by disease, illiteracy and squalor. Fifty percent of the world population have a per capita income of less than $400, a figure directly translatable into human suffering. Thirty-four of the
lowest-income countries, including my own, have even less, $270 per year or less. More than 60 percent of humanity do without sanitation or safe drinking water. Even more discouraging is the fact that 500 million people, more than one in ten of the world’s population, remain undernourished to the point of developing physical handicaps.
It is in the context of this broad spectrum of wretchedness that we turn to the global food and agricultural situation. In so doing we come face to face with a series of continuing paradoxes. The first is that the world food situation remains one of poverty and famine in the midst of abundance. The second is that despite undoubted recognition of the interdependance of developed countries inherent and the oft-repeated assertion that the economic revival of the north is intrinsically linked to economic progress in the south, policies are being pursued in a manner that can only be characterized as that of “beggaring my neighbour”, therefore inviting a chain reaction of consequential catastrophes, retaliatory measures and recrimination. The challenge of bolstering cooperation through meaningful international dialogue and action remains a challenge that was rooted in the foundation of FAO and still remains valid today.
On the face of it, the overall short-term performance in the food sector is encouraging, showing an increase of more than 4 percent for 1984-85. The overall good results, however, mask the fact that because of lack of accessibility to food, nutritional standards in some countries have barely been raised, whilst in others, have actually fallen. Many developing countries are unable to off-set insufficient production of depleted or even non-existent stocks by stepping up imports for which they lack foreign exchange. For these countries the severe effects of the 1980-82 global recession continue unabated, compounded by a hostile economic environment, debilitating debt, high interest and volatile exchange rates, unfavourable terms of trade and slamming of doors by both overt and covert protectionism. Their vulnerability has been compounded by the incidence of natural calamities and the consequent disastrous impact on food security, as evinced in Africa.
Under these conditions, even more disconcerting is the diminishing Capacity of multilateral institutions to respond effectively to the needs of the poorer countries. Total bilateral and multilateral commitments to agriculture fell in 1983 by 2 to 3 percent back to their 1980 level and the estimates for 1984 remain the same. Concessional commitments fell by even more - 12 percent. So severe was the decline in concessional aid, both bilateral and multilateral, that even allowing for the strengthened US dollar and the lower rate of inflation, commitments to agriculture declined by 8 percent. The funds of the IDA have not been replenished to an adequate level and uncertainty still plagues the fate of IFAD. Countering these negative trends is the welcome increase in food aid and the World Bank’s response to the economic Rehabilitation Programme for Africa.
I now turn very briefly to the experience of Bangladesh. For us, the 4Öth Anniversary year of the FAO has added significance, for it has coincided with the year in which we have launched our Third Five Year Plan. The main focus of our Plan and its central theme is poverty alleviation. The forces underlying our poverty are low technology, low investment and low productivity. The thrust of our Plan is a direct assault on this poverty cycle through emphasis on human resource development, particularly employment and income generation and technology and skill formation, so as to enhance the productivity of our two main resources, land and labour.
In pursuing the Plan a primary goal is the attainment of food self-sufficiency accompanied by stringent efforts to further contain the rate of population growth. During the Second Plan period we had achieved an average growth rate of 3.6 percent in food grain production, higher than our population growth. Even though the HYV technology package is rapidly expanding we have projected food grain growth at 4 percent per annum during our Third Plan period on a realistic basis. The achievement of this objective is geared to improve food availability and the status of nutrition significantly. In recognizing the strains that will be placed on scarce ground water availability in the dry season, special emphasis is being attached to efficient management and use of surface water irrigation. A vital aim is to target agricultural research to improving yields in dry land and rain-fed crops. Another imperative priority is to undertake crop diversification programmes to improve nutrition.
Budgetary and other constraints have forced us to rapidly withdraw subsidies on agricultural inputs. This may have a negative impact on the productivity of small farmers who are preponderant in Bangladesh. It is in this context that the value of appropriate pricing policies has assumed vital importance for desirable resource allocation and balanced growth. We welcome the study undertaken
by FAO on this important subject matter as critically relevant to all developing countries. I wish also to thank the FAO for the TCP project which has helped us greatly in understanding and formulating policy in this regard while at the same time underscoring the value of the TCP programme itself.
During the last Council Session in June, the Director-General was to refer to the devastating impact of natural calamities on low income countries and particularly the cyclone that affected Bangladesh in May. I may mention that in 1984 all our planning efforts and goals were seriously impeded by such disasters including, in rapid succession, four major floods. It is a measure of some satisfaction that we were able to harness and mobilize the entire nation to successfully mitigate the effects of these calamities, including the unprecedented movement of 2 million tons of food grain, thanks to farmers initiative, the Government’s crop rehabilitation programme and efficient food management measures. It is also a matter of pride that not a single death occurred due to starvation.
A valuable and growing supplement to our indigenous efforts in economic development are moves to bolster regional cooperation in our own South Asian region. It is a matter of great pride for us that the first Summit Meeting of Heads of State and Government of the seven South Asian countries is scheduled to take place in Dhaka in December 1985. A major focus of attention will be devoted to agriculture and rural development which have been identified as key areas of cooperation. It is our hope and expectation that ties between SARC and FAO will be established and expanded through meaningful cooperation.
I would also like to refer to the establishment in 1976 of the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) following a proposal adopted by the FAO Regional Conference in 1974. The Centre which became operative in July 1979 and whose headquarters is located in Dhaka has 11 member countries of the region. The main focus of CIRDAP is to follow up on WCARRD recommendations, and in the last six years it has initiated and completed a number of useful projects in the areas of research, training, documentation and information dissemination. Like many other intergovernmental institutions CIRDAP has financial constraints and we would like to appeal on its behalf to FAO and its Member Countries for whatever support and assistance it may be possible to render to it.
Despite the fundamental problems we face, overriding all our doubts is a deep-rooted conviction that we can indeed, through cooperation and collective responsibility, meet the challenge of banishing hunger from the face of the earth. Our very presence on this behalf is a testimony to that conviction. In looking to the future, we are heartened by this feeling and the fact that the main elements that comprise the global programme in the years ahead-have already been identified by FAO.
We welcome and fully endorse the World Food Security Compact proposed by the Director-General precisely because we believe that a viable institutional arrangement for world food security still eludes us. I believe that full awareness of the need to establish a world food security system and a reaffirmation of commitment towards realization of this goal is of utmost importance. Such a voluntary compact would serve as a moral declaration to proclaim forcefully that food security is indeed the collective responsiblity of all mankind. No better opportunity exists than in this 40th Commemorative year to arrive, by consensus, at a combined expression of will to eradicate hunger and malnutrition from the face of the earth.
It goes without saying that we cannot attach first priority to food and agriculture without a demonstrable renewed commitment to FAO in tangible terms of resources. There appears to be full support for the strategies and priorities proposed by the Director-General in pursuit of the four principal aims that FAO has identified in its Work Programme - namely, promotion of food production, increase in food security, achievement of impact at field level and economic and technical cooperation among developing countries.
Despite this seeming endorsement, there appears to be increased insistence above and beyond the call for financial efficiency, stringency and austerity to put a lock on the growth of FAO’s budget resources through a zero growth budget. While we can and must demand proper resource
management directed at the greater qualitative efficiency and effectiveness in FAO’s work programme, which is certainly self-defeating in the pursuit of our oft-repeated goals to demand budgetary restraint as an end in itself. We feel that the Director-General’s proposals are not only balanced, but have placed sufficient emphasis on the need for managerial efficiency and effectiveness.
Given the already depleted prospects in its field programme activities, the nominal increase of the Regular Programme activities is fully justified for several reasons. Firstly because perceived needs far exceed the level of resources proposed and the proposals themselves represent an enforced compromise. Secondly, nominal increases in net resources have been almost entirely met by substantial cuts in administrative and support areas. Finally, because of the exchange rate situation in the host country, the proposals result in the same or even lower levels of contribution in dollar terms than the present budget. I believe that the needs of the developing world and the critical multiplier effect of the food and agriculture sector deserve and warrant a much higher level of resources and I can only commend the Director-General for his restraint.
I have concentrated only on some of the vital imperatives facing the Organization in meeting the challenges of development. In the race to feed growing populations, measures to prevent degradation of the environment, conserve land, and forest and fishery resources, raise yields and; renew depleted stocks all demand attention. While most of these areas fall within the purview of national action, some fields of direct concern to all nations fall outside the control of any single government. Thus the preservation of plant genetic resources, the development of internationally accepted food standards and an international code for the distribution and use of pesticides fall within the exclusive purview of the FAO as a whole. It is therefore a measure of some satisfaction that at this session of the Conference we will be in a position to endorse the International Code on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides which has received widespread support from all relevant parties concerned.
Before I conclude, it gives me pleasure to report to this august body that Bangladesh this year has observed World Food Day in a manner befitting its high objectives. In conclusion I would like to reaffirm my Government’s deepest commitment to the goals and objectives of FAO and our fullest solidarity in its continued growth and sustenance.
S. LUNDKVIST (Sweden): The world food situation is still a paradox. Pressing surpluses occur in some parts of the world and critical and painful deficits in others.
During the last two years our focus has particularly been on Africa. The plight of millions of human beings has brought the world’s attention to the particular problems of that continent. The terrible pictures of hungry, suffering and dying people created a new sense of global solidarity. The international community manifested this by offering massive donations of food aid and other forms of assistance.
The food situation has now improved. Abundant rains have fallen and normal and good crops have been harvested in some African countries. Yet in other countries the critical situation remains. Those countries have not been able to take full advantage of improved weather conditions, mainly because of lack of inputs such as seed, tools and fertilizers. Food relief will still be needed.
Available reports agree that measures other than food aid are needed to restore Africa’s agriculture and to improve its long-term food security. The underlying causes of hunger and poverty are many and complex. Yet most of them have their roots in economic, social and political factors which have to be dealt with.
In the foreword to the excellent FAO publication Land, Food and People the Director-General states that “Every country should begin to plan now how it can balance its population with its potential for producing food from its own lands”.
The international community has a responsibility to assist and give technical and financial assistance to the rehabilitation of Africa’s agriculture. FAO has already presented a series of projects to this end. Sweden is committed to help in the development process in Africa.
The Director-General has presented us with a detailed Programme of Work and Budget for the coming two years. In general Sweden supports the declared objectives of the work of FAO in the coming biennium. The programme and review documents will be examined in detail in the Commissions. I will therefore restrict myself to some general comments.
A very careful pruning of administrative and support costs is important for international organizations and governments to allow for growth in technical and economic programmes.
It is also important to sharpen the priorities and phase out activities that have become obsolete or could be better donc by others. While certainly appreciating the difficult choices that have been made when preparing the Programme and Budget for the 1986/87 period, I feel that there is still scope for a sharpening of priorities. New activities should also be financed as much as possible through savings from activities of less importance.
As to the role of FAO in a somewhat longer term perspective, a scenario in which FAO has to act in the future is given in the introduction to the Programme of Work and Budget. In fulfilling one of its principal functions, as a centre for policy analysis, FAO has provided us with a number of more long term perspective studies. Together with other planned studies they will give the policy framework for future concerted action for sustained agricultural and rural development.
In this perspective I feel that it is time to discuss more in-depth, between Member Governments, and FAO, the specific role the Organization will have to fulfill in the future, and how FAO can best contribute to make international development cooperation more effective. By undertaking consultations to that end before the completion of the next Programme of Work and Budget, we will pay tribute to what FAO has achieved during its 40 years. We will also lay the ground for international cooperation in food and agriculture in the 21st century. Sweden stands ready to take an active part in such consultations.
I would also like to share with you some of my present concerns and reflections on matters of particular importance - my concern for the forests, for the soils and for the environment.
We have gradually come to understand that forest resources have to be carefully and rationally managed if they are to give the same strength and security for future generations as they have given in the past. The alarming signs of forest destruction cause us great pain. The forest death in Europe and North America is of great and growing concern. Concerted international action has to be taken to change the situation. A binding protocol for the reduction of sulphur emissions with at least 30 percent to the year 1993 has been negotiated and concluded between 21 countries in Europe. Even if a 30 percent reduction of sulphur emissions is only a first step in solving our problems with acidification, I still believe that the support given to this target is a breakthrough in international cooperation to combat air pollution and acidification. Important is the fact that countries of Europe - in east and west - have reached an agreement which in concrete terms specifies their commitments to reduce the emissions of air pollution.
The ability of many developing countries to feed growing populations is critically dependent on their success in managing their forest cover. And yet the forests in the tropical regions are vanishing at an alarming speed. It will be for our generation to decide the fate of the tropical forests.
The importance of forests in national economies and in the development of rural areas justified a firm appeal at the last FAO Conference that forestry should be allocated a considerably increased share of the budget for 1986/87. I can see that the share of forestry is almost the same as in the last budget. I therefore strongly urge that further consideration be given to forestry in the preparation of the next biennial budget.
The soil is the most important element of agricultural land. Soil degradation is the most serious man-induced environmental threat facing agriculture. Soil and water conservation, together with efforts to slow down the rapid increase of population, are maybe the key-issues to guarantee a decent livelihood for coming generations. FAO has done, and is doing, a lot in soil and water conservation. We feel, though, that even more concerted action is needed. There may not be a need for increased budgetary allocations during this biennium but a process should be started whereby various departments of FAO cooperate to develop long-term policy and action proposals.
It is imperative for us in the industrialized world to share such inputs as fertilizers and pesticides with the developing countries. But exaggerated use of fertilizers and the use of pesticides and other chemicals cause risks to human health and the environment. These risks must be minimized to the greatest extent possible. At the national level the Swedish Government has recently-taken action to control the use of chemicals. A new law on chemicals has been adopted by parliament this spring. The aim of the control of chemicals is to prevent damage on human health and the environment.
The issues concerned with management of chemicals are to a high degree international. In many cases they cannot be solved without international cooperation. A good example of international cooperation is the Code of Conduct for the Use and Distribution of Pesticides to be adopted by this Conference. It might not be as far-reaching as some would have wanted. However, I regard it as a very useful step towards more careful and responsible management of pesticides.
I would also like to mention that the Swedish National Food Administration has produced a publication on pesticide use and focal points, which will be made available to delegations during this Conference.
I mentioned a few minutes ago how important it is for coming generations that we take good care of farmland and woodland, resources of decisive importance in our world. We must not use these resources in such a way that our children and grandchildren will regard us as destroyers. In Sweden both the general public and scientists worry about the fact that we use our land resourses in such a way that we risk the possibility of maintaining the soil yield capacity in the long run. We ask which consequences do the modern cultivation methods with the use of heavy machinery, many fertilizers and pesticides, have for the future?
We need to know much more about these and a whole set of other questions before we can know for certain that we do not destroy the future. It is only through research that we can find answers to these questions fateful to our future.
In my opinion we have to devote many more resources nationally and in our international organizations to conduct research on improved cultivation methods for soils and other methods and on a more careful utilization of our most important natural asset. In Sweden we have developed a research programme with this aim, taking its point of departure from our special conditions. At the same time we want to underline with vigour and energy the importance of making these questions priority matters in our international cooperation.
In the field of agriculture and forestry, as well as in other areas of development, we all stand before the challenge of uniting economy and ecology. Our capacity to meet this challenge will be of decisive importance for the future conditions of life for mankind. In this process the role of FAO will be of great importance.
Jesus T. TANCHANCO (Philippines): Let me first of all congratulate the Honourable Jean-Baptiste Yonke, Minister of Agriculture of Cameroon, for having been elected Chairman of this Conference. I am confident that with your very helpful leadership, Mr Chairman, this Twenty-third Session will progress towards a fruitful conclusion.
My profound greetings also to our Honourable Director General, Dr Edouard Saouma, as well as to all the officials and staff of FAO for a job well done.
Also, I must express my country’s words of welcome to our newest members, the Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands. We consider it auspicious that the fortieth anniversary of the Food and Agriculture Organization also marks the fortieth year of the Philippines as a Charter Member of the Organization. We join other Member Nations in congratulating FAO on this occasion and in renewing our deep commitment to the vital role it has played in what is perhaps the most urgent of ‘human causes: the struggle to quell world hunger and poverty.
Today, however, after 40 years of FAO’s gallant crusade against world hunger, we still find that all is not well. The vision of a world without hunger still eludes us. Despite large surpluses overall, pockets of hunger and malnutrition persist in many parts of the world.
At the same time, many developing nations reeling from global recession are facing formidable debt burdens and worsening terms of trade which severely hamper their capacity to support their food production programmes.
World economic order has changed. Once it was thought that increasing production was the simple solution to hunger and poverty. However, as pointed out in the agricultural price policies study presented to us in this Conference, increased production is only half of the solution to our problems and in some instances becomes itself the problem.
As indicated in the study, many developing nations have experienced over the past decade, the following situations: (1) negative protection for agricultural products in an effort to bring down consumer prices; (2) worsening terms of trade for agriculture; (3) accelerated flow of capital out of agriculture because of lopsided investment incentive structures favouring industry as a result of efforts to industrialize; (4) an artificially high exchange rate penalizing the export earner, which is largely the agricultural sector, resulting in less remittance of local currency to the sector for every dollar sold; (5) declining export earnings; and (6) mounting debts and increasing difficulties in servicing these obligations.
Our country, the Philippines, found itself similarly situated as it entered the 1980s. To reverse the situation, we have since then taken the following steps: (1) we have devalued our currency to favour the export sector. Fifty percent of our exports are agricultural products. (2) We have removed price ceilings for basic commodities such as rice, maize, pork and chicken. (3) To give farmers a good return for their investments, we have strengthened our mechanism to assure farmers a minimum guaranteed price. (4) We are encouraging free trade by now allowing the private sector to import and export commodities which were once a monopoly of government. (5) We have given agriculture the top priority in our -development efforts. (6) We have even agreed with the IMF and the World Bank on their impositions related to loan agreements. We agreed to allow interest rates to rise, for inflation to take its course, and to remove subsidies in agricultural credit and fertilizers.
In short, we agreed to swallow the bitter pill, knowing fully well that IMF and World Bank prescriptions are often devoid of human compassion and sometimes cure the ailment but kill the patient. We are prepared to accept all these difficulties if only to reverse undesirable trends and lead our economy toward a vibrant growth path.
But will all these sacrifices we have to make be rewarded if the international marketplace is so distorted? These distortions in the first place caused our debt crisis. Unless these distortions are removed, developing countries like the Philippines may not find a lasting solution to their problems.
We refer to the protectionist policy of developed countries. While we allow them to flood our domestic market with their industrial products, they slam their doors to our agricultural exports. And worse, they use their riches to subsidize their inefficient producers to compete unfairly with our more efficient producers in the export market.
The agricultural price policies study which was presented to us states the following in paragraph 37:
“The general effect of developed country protection has been adverse to an orderly and stable expansion of world agricultural trade... Protection has led to lower world prices for a number of products, to greater price fluctuations and to restricted entry into developed country markets.”
The statement issued this morning by the Ministerial meeting of the Group of 77 affirms these same observations, but what needs to be reflected is the misery that protectionism breeds.
Let me take the case of sugar, and draw your attention to the tragic condition of sugarcane farmers in my country today. As a result of the European Community’s sugar regulation, producers in the tropics have been dislodged from the world market. The Philippines alone has been forced to cut production by half, and this year we lost some $600 to $700 million in potential exports - exporting only $100 million worth to the United States through a preferential agreement.
We face the closure of at least six sugar mills. These developments have blighted the livelihood of some 450 000 workers in the sugar industry, on whom 3 million Filipinos depend for their subsistence. Hunger stares at their impoverished conditions - victims of circumstances beyond our control and by conditions brought about by the self-serving policies of the powerful and prosperous countries of the world.
We regard the problems we face with our sugar industry as a man-made disaster. As you know, in the Philippines, we have 22 powerful typhoons which cross our country every year. We have learned to accept and to live with this natural phenomenon. We have endured, but we can never learn to accept this man-made disaster which faces our sugar farmers, much less endure it.
Certainly, we will find it difficult to pay for our debts when the price of our most important export product has collapsed and when tariffs are being raised and quotas are being imposed on our export products. These are the products we know how to produce and which we are in the best position to produce.
This situation has driven us to condemn protectionism as a scourge inflicting injury to developing nations and blighting their efforts in fighting hunger and poverty.
We call upon this Conference to take a stand against protectionism. We call upon this Conference to action, to take the necessary steps to eliminate it. Otherwise, this body will be no more than just a forum to air our views and grievances. Perhaps our words of condemnation are a manifestation of frustrations at the protracted debates on this issue where the light at the other end of the tunnel is not yet in sight.
The world is not wanting in declarations of concern and pledges of support to the welfare and economic well-being of the developing world. What is wanting is definitive action towards the achievement of these objectives. We submit that these declarations of principle which we have adopted be translated into vigorous action by this Conference. We must adopt a programme of action designed to correct the inequities of our economic order and counter the devastating effects of policies which run against the objectives of achieving a new sense of hope and security for all nations, and may I add, against the very objectives of the FAO.
A free and undistorted market is crucial to the welfare and development of the developing world. We are relieved to note that recent developments are moving in this direction or at least are being considered. We note in the agricultural price policies study that, for instance, the EEC is taking “serious consideration of ways to curtail subsidy payments to farmers; that the US is looking for ways of limiting its agricultural support costs; that Japan is restricting areas sown to rice”. These are rays of hope coming out of a dark sky.
No nation can solve its own problems alone and in isolation from other nations. Clearly, the attainment of our collective vision of a world without hunger calls for every country to overcome the structural barriers arising from myopic self-interest. It is time we gave substance to the conviction we all espouse that more open markets would contribute to better food security for all and a more humane world economic order.
As many countries are struggling to recover from world recession, the need for concerted and harmonious international action to make hunger a thing of the past is even more pressing now than it has been in the past two development decades. Food surpluses in the industrialized countries contrast too sharply with shortages in the developing world, and the chasm seems to grow even wider between the rich and poor nations. But all is not lost. The fact that we meet here today reaffirms that adversity may yet bring out the best in us.
We believe in the FAO, and we believe in the concern of every member nation of this Organization.
Kasdi MERBAH (Algérie): Monsieur le Président, je voudrais vous adresser au nom de la délégation algérienne, mes plus vives félicitations pour votre élection à la 23ème session de la Conférence de l’Organisation pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture.
C’est un témoignage de la confiance unanime des Etats Membres en vos qualités tant humaines que professionnelles. C’est aussi un hommage rendu à l’Afrique tout entière et une façon de souligner l’importance que la Communauté internationale attache à la solution des graves problèmes auxquels se trouve confronté notre continent.
La 23ème session coincide avec le quarantieme anniversaire de notre Organisation. Cet anniversaire sera célébré après demain avec toute la solennité qu’exige l’importance de l’événement. Important, cet événement l’est sans nul doute, car il offre l’occasion d’une reflexion menée par notre Organisation dans le cadre des principes définis au préambule et à l’article premier de l’Acte constitutif.
L’Algérie considère que notre Organisation a joué un role catalyseur de premier plan tant en ce qui concerne la mobilisation des credits, le renforcement de la ooncertation et de la coopération entre nations pour l’eradication de la faim et de la malnutrition dans le monde, qu’en ce qui concerne l’information et la sensibilisation de l’opinion publique internationale sur la situation alimentaire en Afrique.
L’Algérie, qui consacre elle-même la plus grande partie de son budget de cooperation à l’Afrique et qui a pris l’initiative, lors du 20ème sommet de l’OUA, de la création d’un Fonds spécial auquel elle a apporté une première contribution de 10 millions de dollars, ne peut que se féliciter de la priorité accordée à l’Afrique par notre Organisation sous l’impulsion de son Directeur Général dont la conviction de l’engagement est hautement appréciée par l’Algérie.
La Délégation algérienne partage le point de vue selon lequel la 23ème session devrait adopter une déclaration réaffirmant l’importance du rôle de la FAO et l’engagement des Etats Membres à faciliter l’accomplissement de sa mission selon les principes plus que jamais valides arrêtés en 1945 et qui demeurent. Ce serait une juste réponse à l’offensive déclenchée récemment et qui se poursuit encore contre le système des Nations Unies.
La 23ème session s’ouvre dans un contexte particulier caractérisé au plan de l’agriculture mondiale par le paradoxe, celui de l’abondance qui coexiste avec une situation tragique de penurie. En effet, malgré le fait qu’entre 1971 et 1982 la production alimentaire mondiale se soit accrue de 31 pour cent et celle des pays en développement de 43 pour cent et malgré le fait que la production alimentaire ait augmenté, sauf en Afrique, plus vite que la population, il y a aujourd’hui de par le monde entre 700 et 800 millions d’hommes, de femmes et d’enfants qui souffrent de famine ou de malnutrition.
Certaines des raisons de cette situation sont évoquées dans quelques uns des documents préparatoires à la conference et notamment la diminution de la capacité d’investissements des pays en développement. Cette diminution a de nombreuses causes qui sont toutes à rechercher dans la repercussion, sous des formes amplifiées, de la crise économique mondiale sur cette catégorie de pays.
Les progrès realises, au cours de la dernière décennie ne sauraient, en effet, faire oublier que le développement économique à l’échelle mondiale ne peut se réaliser pleinement que dans le cadre d’une entreprise solidaire qui puise sa justification dans l’interdépendance étroite des nations. A cet égard, la reprise du dialogue Nord-Sud et l’ouverture de négociations globales sont plus que jamais nécessaires pour trouver des solutions aux graves problèmes de la deterioration des termes de l’échange, au désordre du système monétaire international et à l’endettement des pays en développement qui atteindra, selon les previsions les plus sérieuses, 900 milliards de dollars à la fin de 1985. Il faut rappeler également les énormes dépenses en armements qui s’effectuent au detriment du développement économique et social. En vérité, le problème de la faim s’inscrit dans un contexte beaucoup plus large et doit être abordé corrélativement à tous les autres problèmes qui entravent, à des degrés divers, le développement des pays du tiers monde.
La degradation tragique de la situation alimentaire dans certaines parties du monde et plus particulièrement en Afrique démontre l’importance vitale de la sécurité alimentaire. Celle-ci ne doit pas se limiter aux aides de toutes sortes qui sont. nécessaires pour surmonter des situations exceptionnelles de crise mais insuffisantes pour, la solution à long terme des problèmes. L’aide alimentaire à elle seule peut décourager la production agricole et créer des habitudes de consommation qui ne pourront plus être satisfaites par des produits cultivés sur place.
Il est maintenant prioritaire par consequent que les pays en développement parviennent à maîtriser les techniques de production qui leur permettront de parvenir à l’autosuffisance alimentaire. Le compter sur soi, l’autonomie collective par le renforcement de la cooperation Sud-Sud et une cooperation Nord-Sud dégagée de toute arrière-pensée sont les conditions nécessaires et suffisantes pour éradiquer la faim et la malnutrition dans le monde.
Le droit de se nourrir est un droit universel et l’Algérie accueille favorablement l’idée d’un pacte mondial de sécurité alimentaire où doit être clairement indiqué le principe de non-recours à l’arme alimentaire. Je voudrais souligner que nous considérons ce pacte si, comme nous l’espérons, il est adopté par la Conference, comme le premier pas d’un processus qui devrait conduire à la mise en place de mécanismes destines à donner un contenu concret au droit de chaque individu de se nourrir décemment. Dans cette optique, il conviendrait que le theme de la sécurité alimentaire soit abordé à nouveau lors de la prochaine conférence qui aura à decider quel type d’action engager pour atteindre cet objectif.
L’Algérie propose la même approche concernant le projet de Code international de conduite pour la distribution et l’utilisation des pesticides. Ce projet, une fois adopté, ne devrait pas se limiter à l’observation par les fabricants ou les pays exportateurs de quelques regies déontologiques mais être assorti ultérieurement de dispositions contraignantes seules à même de mettre les utilisateurs n’ayant pas de dispositifs nationaux de contrôle et de protection yà l’abri des dangers reels de pesticides prohibés ou exigeant des précautions particulières d’emploi.
Dans un contexte caractérisé par la résurgence des égoîsmes nationaux et la volonté de plus en plus affirmée par un grand nombre de pays donateurs de privilégier l’aide bilatérale au détriment de l’aide multilatérale, il ne faut pas s’étonner si celle-ci a diminué de 16 pour cent en 1983, ni des difficultés rencontrées par le FIDA, dont l’action est pourtant exclusivement orientée vers la paysannerie pauvre, pour la reconstitution de ses ressources. C’est aussi ce qui explique pourquoi certains pays industrialisés proposent que le Budget de la FAO pour 1986-87 fasse l’objet d’une croissance zéro. L’Algérie lance un appel à ces pays pour qu’ils reviennent sur cette position et qu’ils acceptent le pourcentage somme toute modeste d’augmentation figurant dans les dernières propositions du Directeur général.
Je voudrais, avant de conclure, dire quelques mots sur l’agriculture de mon pays. Le nouveau plan quinquennal de développement accorde la priorité à l’agriculture. L’Algérie n’a plus de culture de rente et la vigne à vin est limitée à la production de petites quantités de vins de qualité destinés à l’exportation. Il en résulte que l’agriculture algérienne est fondée principalement sur les cultures vivrières.
Par les effets combinés de mesures incitatrices comme la fixation de prix rémunérateurs, la mise en oeuvre d’un vaste programme d’extension des surfaces arables, l’utilisation de techniques destinées à accroître le rendement à l’hectare et l’introduction de semences et de plants plus performants, nous espérons réduire fortement la dépendance alimentaire aux horizons de l’an 2000.
Une priorité identique est accordée a l’hydraulique et l’Algérie a engagé depuis quelques années déjà un programme important visant à l’exploitation, dans des délais rapprochés, des importantes nappes souterraines existant au nord comme au sud du pays.
Enfin, une politique de contrôle des naissances adaptée aux conditions sociologiques de l’Algérie est déjà engagée par le développement d’une campagne de sensibilisation de la population et qui permettra d’harmoniser production agricole et croissance démographique.
En Algérie, la production de céréales a doublé par rapport à celle de l’année 1984, résultat du double effet d’une bonne année pluviométrique et d’une volonté, concrétisée par un programme d’actions, d’améliorer les processus de production, en agissant sur les conduites et techniques culturales, sur la qualité et l’opportunité des facteurs de production et enfin sur les prix à la production.
Nous nous sommes engagés résolument, et c’est là, Monsieur le Président, le fond et le sens de la déclaration de l’Algérie face aux respectés délégués des pays membres de notre Organisation, nous nous sommes donc engages dans un programme dont l’objectif est celui d’augmenter la production agricole en l’intensifiant, donc en augmentant les rendements.
Des programmes spécifiques d’intensification ont été mis en oeuvre et ont concerné en priorité la céréaliculture: inciter les agriculteurs à suivre les itinéraires techniques appropriés en vulgarisant les techniques, la mise à disposition des facteurs de production performants, choix varié des semences notamment, limitation des pertes à la récolte en respectant les calendriers sont autant d’actions initiées et suivies localement par des comités ad hoc mis en place.
Un programme et une organisation similaires ont été mis en oeuvre pour intensifier la culture de la pomme de terre, et les résultats, quoique encore nettement perfectibles, ont permis d’enregistrer une production de saison double de celle de l’année précédente.
Nous nous sommes ainsi intéressés à chacune des spéculations, légumes sees, maraîchage, agrumiculture, viticulture, oléiculture, fruits sees en ayant à chaque fois le même objectif: augmenter la production en intensifiant les rendements, par l’amélioration et la modernisation des techniques culturales, en considérant que chaque quintal supplémentaire produit par hectare est un quintal de moins à importer et par conséquent un degré de liberté de plus dans la voie de la non-dépendance alimentaire.
Si les mêmes principes ont régi notre approche pour l’augmentation de la production animale, une dimension nouvelle, celle de l’intégration des productions, s’est imposée du fait de l’interaction des facteurs qui concourent à la production du lait et des viandes.
La production laitière nationale ne couvrant que partiellement les besoins, notre programme se développera donc dans deux axes, celui de l’accroissement des effectifs, en ayant recours, dans les premières années, à l’importation, et celui de l’amélioration des rendements en agissant sur la gestion du cheptel et l’état sanitaire du troupeau.
Le déficit potentiel en viandes rouges sera partiellement comblé par la production avicole, production pour laquelle notre pays a consenti de très gros investissements en vue d’intégrer le processus de production. Pour matérialiser l’evolution dans ces productions, il me faut d’une part constater que notre pays a importé, dans le début des années 80, plus d’un milliard d’oeufs par an et que ces quantités sont aujourd’hui produites en Algérie.
Le chemin critique, notre contrainte majeure, reste notre potentiel actuel en superficies irriguées, potentiel que nous considérons bien faible, comparé à ceux des pays du bassin méditerranéen ayant des conditions climatiques similaires à celles de l’Algérie. Si, à moyen et long terme, il est nécessaire d’accroître sensiblement les superficies irriguees, à court terme, nos actions sont engagées dans le sens d’une plus grande mobilisation et d’une meilleure utilisation des ressources disponibles. Rénover les infrastructures des périmètres existants, développer les réseaux d’assainissement et de drainage, rénover les puits déjà forés et renouveler les équipements souvent vétustes, mettre en place des équipements d’irrigation plus performants sont autant d’investissements qui accompagnent notre effort de vulgarisation de techniques d’irrigation plus performantes et surtout plus économes de cette ressource rare qu’est l’eau.
Si, dans la déclaration de mon pays, j’ai expose, quoique très succinctement, certains programmes et certaines de nos actions, c’est pour concrétiser l’importance premiere que nous attachons à la satisfaction des besoins alimentaires par la production nationale et par conséquent la nécessité de produire plus, et la manière avec laquelle nous entendons lutter contre ce qui aujourd’hui semble inéluctable, c’est-à-dire l’appropriation, par les quelques pays développés de la terre, du pouvoir alimentaire.
Notre potentiel agricole, la surface agricole utile par habitant de l’Algérie, ne cesse de décroître. Il est donc nécessaire de faire en sorte que chaque hectare produise chaque année un peu plus que l’année précédente: c’est là le sens de notre politique.
Il me reste à conclure, Monsieur le Président, en réitérant l’intention de l’Algérie de renforcer sa coopération avec la FAO et de tirer parti de la large experience qu’elle a accumulée en quarante ans d’existence.
Cyprian AJIKU (Uganda): On behalf of the Uganda Delegation, please accept our congratulations on your election as Chairman of this Conference. I am sure your wise counsel and leadership will be valuable assets to this Conference. I would also like to extend our warm welcome to the new members of the Organization. I am sure, they will bring fresh ideas to the activities of FAO.
This year we are celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the founding of FAO. One can hardly underestimate the contributions and achievements of FAO over 40 years to the lofty goals of promoting human welfare through “freedom from hunger”.
However, permit me to point out that we are still faced with unresolved tasks to battle against, namely, the ever-existing hunger and malnutrition at the global level. In today’s world full of international crises, it is of utmost importance that the member countries give their strong support to the FAO and other international organizations to enable thçse agencies to execute their mandate effectively. Although it is noted that the year 1984 had marked the beginning “of the end of the deepest economic recession to have occurred in 50 years, we should bear in mind that there was a striking contrast between agriculture in the northern countries which produced enormous surpluses and the southern countries where the bulk of the populations were unable to feed themselves. In the low-income countries, per capita food production has slumped anew. With their limited resources, these countries find it difficult to import the food they need even though cereal prices currently appear to be low. The future investment climate in agriculture looks uncertain and this situation has been compounded by the growing heavy debt burdens on the part of the developing countries. Multilateral assistance has also declined sharply. For example, IFAD’s replenishment is presently uncertain.
The main item on the agenda of this session is, of course, the next biennium’s work programme and budget. My Government has studied carefully the Director-General’s proposals for the programme of Work and Budget for 1986-87 and with some comments which we are going to present in Commission II, I can state that my Government fully supports the summary programme of work and the level of the proposed budget. Nevertheless, we would like to put it on record that this token increase, if only 1 percent inthebudget level, may certainly impede FAO’s capability to execute its mandate effectively and in a timely manner in view of the growing demands on the organization as the leading international agency for food and agriculture. My delegation appreciates the increased special programme emphasis on Africa which will receive US$3.2 million, that is 52 percent of the net programme increase. We also appreciate the token increase in Technical Cooperation Programme component from 13.6 percent to 14.0 percent of the total budget. Though very small, we feel it is a step in the right direction.
On our agenda, there is an item concerning the “distribution and use of pesticides.” We are all aware that much of the improvement in plant protection comes from the use of chemicals. We are also aware that these chemicals have to be used with care because of their potential harmful effects of human beings and on the environment. It was against this background that FAO, in consultation with other relevant agencies and organizations, developed this Code of Conduct on Distribution and Use of Pesticides whose explicit objectives are to identify potential hazards in the distribution and use of pesticides, to establish standards of conduct and to define responsibilities for all those engaged in the regulation, distribution and use of pesticides. Mr Chairman, we are all aware of the pesticide tragedy that occurred in Bhopal in India in December 1984. It is now referred to as the horror of history’s worst industrial accident. Although the international spotlight is gone, the agonies and deaths continue every other day from the effects of the gas, mostly from respiratory or heart failure. My delegation calls upon this Conference to endorse this Code whose objectives are to set forth responsibilities and establish voluntary standards of conduct for all public and private entities engaged in or affecting the distribution and use of pesticides, particularly where there is no adequate or only inadequate national law to regulate pesticides.
Alluding to my continent, the livestock disease situation in Africa continues to be a great hindrance to livestock development. In particular, the scourge of rinderpest, tsetse fly and tick-borne diseases in both human and livestock and CBPP call for greater efforts and support at national, regional and international levels. My delegation therefore endorses the planned action on Pan-African Rinderpest Campaign and calls upon our donors not to shift emphasis of Rinderpest control on a “country by country basis” but to stick to the original plan of a “Pan-African Campaign.” In the fisheries sector there is a need for more basic studies on exploited fish stocks to enable rational development and management of resources. Additionally, attention should be
focused, on fishery legislation and regulations, socio-economic studies of fishermen and pricing and marketing systems. My delegation therefore endorses the recommendations of the fishery conference in Rome in 1984, and welcomes the World Food Day as the day of the fishermen and fishing communities.
The threat to the world’s forests is increasing and if the present rates of deforestation continue, much of the world’s tropical forests could be destroyed and society would suffer as a result. In the arid and semi-arid regions of the world, destruction of vegetation is hastening the advance of the desert and the loss of productive land, while in temperate zones, damage from atmospheric pollution and fire affect vast tracts of forest land, reducing economic returns and threatening widespread ecological harm. Hence political and popular consciousness and determination must be heightened even more dramatically if the increasing serious attrition of these vital natural resources is to be halted. To rally support and to increase’recognition of their role in rural development, the Government of the Republic of Uganda has endorsed the Manifesto of Mexico by supporting the objectives of the International Year of the Forest, recognizing forests as a national concern by heightening public awareness of the importance of forests. It has designated in addition to other activities, the planting of trees on World Food Days throughout the years to come.
Permit me to conclude by expressing our gratitude and appreciation to the Director-General and the world community who have responded very positively to the problems of the African Region. A special appreciation goes to the Director-General for his initiatives in formulating the FAO Agricultural Rehabilitation Programme for Africa from which Uganda benefits enormously. Finally, I wish to thank FAO for all the assistance extended to Uganda in whatever respect since we last met here.
Jaime WHEELOCK ROMAN (Nicaragua): Hace 40 años un conglomerado de naciones convinieron en luchar man-comunadamente contra el absurdo y doloroso contraste de cuando grandes excedentes de alimentos se destruían por falta de mercado con la consiguiente ruina de miles de agricultores, mientras millones de seres humanos en la otra parte, quizá la más vasta y poblada de la tierra, morían o estaban amenazados por el hambre. Por lo mismo, la constitución de la FAO, el 16 de octubre de 1945, representa uno de los logros más sobresalientes en la historia de la cooperación entre las naciones para luchar por la sobrevivencia y el bienestar de la humanidad.
Desde entonces, es evidente que hemos registrado en el combate contra el hambre y sus causas más frecuentes, notables progresos. Hay una proporción rnenor de la población mundial expuesta a este flagelo y pocos pueden poner en duda que para lograrlo la acción beligerante, persistente y multifacética desarrollada por la FAO ha sido un factor significativamente influyente. No sólo nos referimos a la presencia, año con año, de la asistencia técnica acumulativa de FAO, o las intervenciones de contingencia, sino también a su papel en la redistribución masiva de reservas de alimentos en favor de poblaciones vulnerables. Pero principalmente destacamos la consciencia, intensamente transferida por la FAO, de la necesidad vital de contar a nivel mundial, en cada país, con una estrategia de seguridad alimentaria.
Después de 40 años pocos discuten que el alimento después de la vida es uno de los derechos elementales del hombre.
Continúa hoy, sin embargo, golpeando el hambre a millones de personas. Si en algunas regiones desde 1945 ha habido verificables progresos, en otras - particularmente en los países pobres del Tercer Mundo - hay más hambrientos que hace 40 años. El mundo contempló recientemente con dolor y perplejidad la tragedia de Etiopía, que con diferentes grados también se extiende hacia otras naciones de Africa. No podemos dejar de mencionar aquí que, año con año, está la brutal estadística que nos indica que el 90 por ciento de la población rural de America latina y el Caribe padece hambre; que por efectos de la desnutrición principalmente hay una mortalidad infantil del 120 por mil en esa región y, efectivamente, el hambre se está extendiendo entre las regiones pobres. Tal agravamiento debe ser un capital motivo de atención para todos.
En los países pobres el hambre suele ir ligada a una dependencia heredada que concentra los mejores recursos de la agricultura o del sector primario en el imperativo de exportar algo para spbrevivir y es sobre las tierras y los recursos marginales de agricultores primitivos que descansa la insuficiente producción de alimentos.
Cada vez en mayor número los pueblos pobres comprenden la necesidad de transfortnaciones estructurales y una parte con más decisión se ha empeñado en realizar reformas agrarias, control nacional de sus recursos naturales, mejora de infraestructuras, o diversificación de productos exportables y diversificación también de mercados. Mientras tanto, la cooperación internacional, y particularmente FAO, han venido trabajando en la dirección de apoyar el mejoramiento de la producción en el frente agrotécnico, producción y mejoramiento de semillas, apoyo a los programas de ampliación de las redes de acopio, conservación de alimentos en general, etc. Desde el punto de vista del esfuerzo nacional, del esfuerzo interno de los países, las cosas han venido girando afortunadamente hacia un sentido en general correcto.
No obstante, a pesar de estos esfuerzos, pesan en él presente factores sumamente graves que tienden a nulificar por completo todas las medidas correctivas internas y que se encuentran fuera del control de las decisiones de los Gobiernos. Estos factores no son propiamente agronómicos, e incluso en estricto sentido, tal vez ni siquiera de la competencia de la Organización Mundial de la Alimentación; pero no considerarlos, o no introducirlós al debate, puede, de hecho, convertir nuestras discusiones y líneas de adopción general, en cursos o palabras puramente secundarios, formales e insuficientes.
Me voy a permitir hacer una apretada reseña de tales factores desorganizantes, mencionando por brevedad, los que a.nuestro juicio y experiencia, son la causa decisiva de los problemas actuales. Encontramos en realidad estos factores englobados en dos dimensiones. La primera, problemas que pertenecen a una virtual descomposición y desorganización del Sistema Económic Mundial que bajo la hegemonía de los países industrializados, y entre ellos de la mayor potencia de Occidente, asfixian la economía de los países pobres, liquida sus posibilidades de desarrollo y somete a la pobreza creciente a los pueblos. Citemos de estos problemas, en su orden, lo siguiente:
1) El drenaje colosal de recursos desde el Tercer Mundo hacia los países industriales a través de un sistema de intercambio desigual.
2) La deuda externa, cuyo origen en realidad se sitúa en la ausencia ya histórica de acumulación nacional que tienen los países pobres y en los crecientes déficits comerciales resultantes de una relación injusta entre los precios de nuestros productos y los que tenemos necesariamente que adquirir desde el exterior.
3) Las interferencias discriminatorias que han desarticulado las bases de las relaciones económicas internacionales: el proteccionismo arancelario, los subsidios y el empleo del dumping.
4) Las manipulaciones con las tasas de interés que representan un verdadero impuesto mundial a los países deudores del Tercer Mundo, que están sufragando así el desenfreno armamentista de un solo país.
La segunda gran vertiente de desequilibrios y obstáculos está representada por las variadas y dañinas formas de agresión que sufren los pueblos que justamente vienen luchando por conseguir su propia identidad nacional, su independencia, su derecho al desarrollo y al bienestar, e incluso agresiones contra pueblos que luchan por recobrar como patria algún pedazo del mundo donde están enterrados su historia, sus antepasados y sus tradiciones. Estos pueblos y naciones están en realidad sufriendo en diversas partes del mundo, y hoy, algún tipo de castigo inaceptable a manos de la intransigencia colonialista, el apartheid, el racismo y particularmente el intervencionismo imperialista. A 40 años de ejercicio de la Carta Constitutiva de las Naciones Unidas, hay aún pueblos de raza negra marginados y humillados en su propia tierra por los que no los cuentan entre los hombres a consecuencia de su color; hay aún palestinos que no tienen patria; namibios esclavizados; angolanos y mozambicanos y otros pueblos sometidos a la agresión; puertorriqueños sin su independencia; y también, entre otros, tenemos en el centro de America una Nicaragua brutalmente agredida en contravención al marco jurídico que nos rige desde el Sistema de Naciones Unidas.
Todas las consecuencias negativas que para la lucha contra el hambre se desencadenan en estos países victimados, las podemos ejemplarizar perfectamente en el caso de Nicaragua.
No vamos esta vbz ciertamente a abundar en la Conferencia sobre el rosario de daños que ha venido sufriendo nuestro país desde hace cuatro años. Pero sí creemos que es partenuestra y responsabilidad de este Foro de líderes, que tiene la tarea de dar de comer a toda la humanidad, señalar y denunciar las agresiones armadas organizadas por unos Gobiernos contra otros, especialmente si son países grandes contra pequeños, contra pequeños que se esfuerzan por su desarrollo. Estas reacciones no son sólo injustas, sino peligrosas y también contrarias a los principios de seguridad alimentaria y ala lucha por desterrar el hambre de la tierra.
Nicaragua ha venido cumpliendo los principios básicos que sustenta justamente la FAO.
1) Se han distribuido 2 millones de hectàreas a 80.000 familias campesinas que representan el 60 por ciento de todos los campesinos de Nicaragua.
2) La Reforma Agraria.ha transformado ya más del 50 por ciento de la tierra laborable del país.
3) Hay nuevas organizaciones campesinas productivas y gremiales que integran ya a 70.000 pequeños agricultores.
4) El crédito y los servicios a la producción se han ampliado notablemente.
5) En 5 años la revolucion nicaragüense ha emprendido vastos proyectos de riego para ampliar la producción de alimentos. Hemos implementado ya un àrea de 35 000 hectàreas, en las cuales se ha Ilegado a aumentar la producción de cereales en un 60 por ciento en sólo 3 años. La producción lechera también se viene aumentando.
Después de sufrir los efectos desorganizantes de un brutal bloque financiero, el corte de nuestras exportaciones de azúcar, desde mayo de 1985, todo el país ha sido sometido a un embargo económico.
Entre 1980 y el 4 de septiembre del 1984 las fuerzas mercenarias organizadas y armadas por un país poderoso han asesinado a 3 652 personas, entre las cuales 210 niños menores de 12 años; se han herido a 4 039 personas: secuestrado a 5 032, más de 240 000 pobladores de origen campesino han quedado sin hogar, y como consecuencia de los combates provocados por el terrorismo organizado desde el exterior han caído 11 000 nicaragüenses, 5 000 heridos, 5 000 secuestrados y un cuarto de millón de campesinos desplazados.
Si el país que nos agrede tuviera que enfrentar hoy una cantidad proporcional en víctimas, tendría un total de 723 000 muertos; 373 000 heridos; 15 millones de desplazados y 15 000 niños asesinados.
Por otra parte, se nos han congelado, por presiones, préstamos por un monto de 423 millones de dólares, mientras más de 1 500 millones de dólares ha perdido el país en daños provocados, directa e indirectamente, por la agresión, y esta agresión que sufre Nicaragua también la están sufriendo en estos momentos otros países.
En realidad la crisis y la agresión, juntas, embargan nuestros esfuerzos. Por muchas mejoras agrotécnicas en infraestructuras de almacenamiento que hagamos; aun cuando tengamos sensibles éxitos en elevar la productividad, estamos realmente sometidos a amenazas mucho mayores; y en última instancia muchos países están en la práctica regalando sus éxitos productivos a aquellos que imponen los precios en el mercado mundial.
Felicitamos al Doctor Saouma y a todos los trabajadores de la FAO, hasta los más humildes, por el 40 Aniversario de la fundación de FAO. Las líneas trazadas por la FAO para este período nos parecen correctas. Ayudar a los pueblos africanos, afectados por la sequía y atender la problemática de los precios desastrosos de cuyo valor depende una gran parte del Tercer Mundo son tareas correctas. Nicaragua apoya decididamente la suscripción de un pacto de seguridad alimentaria propuesto por la FAO.
Nuestro papel en última instancia es velar por que todos los niños tengan lo suficiente para crecer sanos y normales.
Trabajemos todos, por lo tanto, todo lo que podamos. Hay que ir a las causas y no sólo remediar los efectos. El injusto Orden Económico, las agresiones injustas que sufrimos aún, son en realidad las fuentes principales de nuestros problemas. Un niño etíope desfallecido por hambre en el desierto; o un niño nicaragüense destrozado junto a sus padres en una cooperativa agrícola del Norte de Nicaragua, víctima de la agresión imperialista, continúan siendo las imágenes que nosotros debemos desterrar para siempre.
ALLELE ELHADJ HABIBOU (Niger): C’est pour moi un grand honneur et un agréable devoir de m’adresser à cette auguste assemblee et de vous féliciter, Monsieur le Président, au nom de ma délégation, de votre brillante élection pour diriger les débats de cette 23ème Assemblée de notre Organisation. Votre élection, Monsieur le Président, est un honneur et un hommage à l’Afrique; nous nous en réjouissons et vous-même, ainsi que vos vice-présidents, soyez assurés de notre appui fratemel. Le quarantième anniversaire de la vie de notre Organisation que nous célébrons avec éclat est en soi unsymbole de vitalité et d’universalité de la FAO.
Cette vitalité, ce dynamisme de la FAO, nous le devons à vous, Monsieur le Directeur général, combattant infatigable de la bataille contre la faim et la malnutrition dans le monde. Nous savons toute l’attention que vous portez à l’Afrique qui vous sait gré et nous ne pouvons que vous encourager à poursuivre dans cette voie.
Permettez-moi, avant de poursuivre, de saluer l’admission des îles Cook et des lies Salomon à notre Organisation qui gagne ainsi en universalité. Nous disons à ces pays frères: Bienvenue parmi nous.
Je disais tantôt que notre session devrait être decisive parce qu’à l’aube du 21ème siècle, aussi regrettable et inadmissible que cela soit, le problème de la faim et de la malnutrition demeure encore la préoccupation de la majorité des Etats Membres de notre Organisation. En particulier la situation dramatique que vivent des millions d’Africains est une honte pour l’humanité tout entière.
En 1974 déjà, au moment du drame de la sécheresse au Sahel et de la menace des penuries alimentaires dans le monde, une conférence mondiale s’est penchée sur les problèmes de l’alimentation et s’est donné pour mission, avec des dispositions à l’appui, de rayer la faim dans le monde à. l’horizon 1984. Mais force est de constater qu’à l’échéance, au lieu d’une amélioration, la situation alimentaire s’est dégradée dans beaucoup de pays, même si des stocks céréaliers importants existent dans quelques Etats Membres. Nous nous devons alors de poser la question: notre humanité continuera-t-elle à admettre la pléthore d’aliments d’un côté et le ravage par la faim et la malnutrition d’une partie de sa composante d’autre part? Comment faut-il expliquer que dans cette ère de sciences et de technologie de pointe bon nombre de pays n’arrivent pas à arracher à la terre le nécessaire à la subsistance de leur peuple? Ce sont là quelques questions, Monsieur le Président, qui méritent réponse de notre Conférence.
Il y a cependant quelques lueurs d’espoir qui méritent d’être citées. Ce sont, par exemple, les manifestations des jeunes à travers tout l’occident pour collecter quelques fonds afin de secourir les sinistrés d’Afrique. C’est sans nul doute la volonté des peuples du monde à s’entr’aider et à former une même communauté de destin. Beaucoup de gouvernements ont véritablement soutenu l’Afrique pour l’aider à sortir de sa déplorable crise alimentaire. Mon pays, le Niger, qui a connu une campagne agricole catastrophique en 1984, leur sait gré et leur exprime du haut de cette tribune toute sa gratitude et ses remerciements.
Mais l’aide alimentaire, si elle se justifie en cas d’urgence comme ce fut le cas de la pénible sécheresse qui a affecté plus de 30 Etats africains en 1984, la véritable solution au problème de développement de l’agriculture enAfrique, réside dans l’aide au développement. C’est pourquoi, notre Président, Son Excellence le Général de Brigade Seyni Kountche, Président en exercice du Comité inter-Etats de lutte contre la sécheresse au Sahel (CILSS), en prenant la parole devant la quatre-vingt-sixième session du Conseil de la FAO, a préconisé de mettre “en oeuvre un véritable plan Marshall pour le Sahel, de l’envergure de celui qui a reconstruit l’Europe” à la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale. Faute de quoi la récession économique mondiale, la dégradation des termes de l’échange, la recrudescence du protectionnisme, le taux d’intérêt élevé et le poids intolérable de la dette extérieure sont des facteurs exogènes suffisants à inhaler tout progrès
en matière d’agriculture dans les pays économiquement faibles. Et, quand les effets pervers d’une nature hostile et perturbée sur le plan climatique s’y ajoutent, comme c’est. le cas dans le Sahel, on comprend mieux pourquoi les pays africains et singulièrement ceux du Sahel connaissent cette situation de crise alimentaire. Mais face à ces adversités naturelles et celles imposées par un environnement économique de jungle, le Niger n’a pas baissé les bras.
Pays situé en plein coeur de la zone saharo-sahélienne, sans littoral, un pays où la fragilité de l’écosystème se trouve exacerbée par une croissance démographique élevée, rompant le précaire équilibre ressources/hommes et animaux, la préservation de l’environnement et la lutte contre la désertification demeurent une composante fondamentale de notre bataille pour l’autosuffisance alimentaire.
En effet, le Président Kountche ne disait-il pas dans son message à la nation, à l’occasion du dixième anniversaire de l’avènement des forces armées au pouvoir, “Depuis les temps immémoriaux, la nature et l’homme n’ont jamais cessé de se livrer bataille, l’une obéissant à des lois physiques, cycliques ou permanentes que I’autre maîtrise difficilement malgré les progrès de la science. Une telle réalité ne devrait jamais nous échapper. Malgré les indéniables succès en matière de reboisement et protection des sols, il en faut davantage pour freiner la dégradation de notre environnement, rétablir l’équilibre écologique sahélien” (fin de la citation).
Cette recherche de l’autosuffisance alimentaire comprend deux- axes principaux:
1) Améliorer l’agriculture traditionnelle des cultures pluviales;
2) Mettre en place des aménagements hydro-agricoles partout où c’est possible pour sécuriser la production agricole.
Cela suppose, dans sa mise en application, l’harmonisation et la cohérence d’un ensemble d’actions, notamment:
- l’approvisionnement du monde rural aussi bien en moyens de production qu’en produits de première nécessité;
- la politique de crédit en direction du monde rural;
- une politique incitative en matière de prix;
- l’organisation adequate du système de commercialisation des excédents de la production et la mise en place des infrastructures de stockage et de conservation.
Des moyens financiers consequents ont été dégagés à cette fin à travers nos plans nationaux de développement: 33, 6 pour cent des investissements totaux pendant le programme triennal 1976-1978, 23 pour cent pour la période du plan quinquennal 1979-1983 et 33 pour cent pendant le programme intérimaire 1984/85. C’est vous dire, Monsieur le Président, que la matérialisation de la recherche de l’autosuffisance alimentaire au Niger n’est pas un vain mot et que mon pays a largement dépassé l’objectif de 10 pour cent des ressources d’investissements publics à consacrer à l’agriculture, recommandé par la Conférence mondiale de 1984, Comment peut-il en être autrement puisque le Président Kountche a solennellement déclare en 1976: “aucun Nigérien ne mourra de faim, même si nous devons consacrer à cela la totalité de notre budget”. L’Etat fait donc un effort louable pour mettre nos populations à l’abri des besoins mais ses ressources sont limitées. Aussi, avons-nous besoin de l’aide accrue de la communauté internationale. En effect, l’essentiel de notre production vient jusqu’à présent des cultures pluviales pour lesquelles les aléas climatiques pèsent de tout leur poids.
Le risque d’une mauvaise récolte est réel en dépit des efforts fournis, comme ce fut le cas en 1974 lorsque la sécheresse la plus terrible a affecté notre pays, décimant notre cheptel à peine reconstitué au sortir de la catastrophe de 1973 et imprimant un déficit céréalier de plus de 350 000 tonnes. Mais face à cette nouvelle épreuve, le Général Kountche a lancé un vaste programme de culture de contre-saison dont la réussite a évité à nos populations sinistrées de se trouver dans des camps de réfugiés. Cette expérience de culture de contre-saison à travers laquelle nous avons reçu tout le soutien de la communauté internationale, devient désormais un important volet de notre stratégie pour la recherche de l’autosuffisance alimentaire. Elle nous a en effet permis de voir combien le peuple nigérien, à travers toutes ses couches socio-professionnelles et à travers les structures de la société de développement est capable de lutter contre l’adversité que notre peuple, foncièrement attaché aux nobles idéaux de la coopération entre les peuples, sait d’abord compter sur ses propres forces.
Je voudrais, pour terminer, réaffirmer notre attachement aux principes fondamentaux de notre Organisation qui n’a pas démérité tout au long de ces quarante années. Nous constatons cependant, hélas, que le spectre de la faim continue de menacer l’équilibre du monde et demeure un péril commun contre lequel l’humanité tout entière doit se dresser. C’est pourquoi nous appuyons sans réserve le pacte mondial: de sécurité alimentaire préconisé par le Président du Conseil des ministres de la République italienne, M. Bettino Craxi, comme nous appuyons la constitution de fonds pour la réhabilitation de l’Afrique au sud du Sahara.
Avec la volonté de tous, nous pourrons banir à jamais la faim et la malnutrition de notre planète.
G. K. CHINKULI (Zambia): Mr Chairman, allow me to seize this opportunity, like other previous speakers, to congratulate you and the rest of the bureau on your well-deserved election and to assure you of the full cooperation of my delegation during the deliberations of this 23rd Session of the FAO Conference. I am convinced that your personal qualities and wide experience will enable us to hold very stimulating, thought-provoking and action-oriented deliberations.
As the 23rd Session of the FAO Conference meets here during this month, all of us have to pause and seriously ponder over the achievements and failures of the last biennium and see how this experience can.be used for better results in future.
For this year, 1985, this type of reflection is of even much more significance in that it marks the 40th Anniversary since the creation, establishment and birth of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. It should therefore be more opportune for this session of the FAO Conference to assess the progress made since the birth of FAO, 40 years ago.
A general look at the world economic situation reveals that the world continues to suffer from the effects of the deep-rooted and interconnected structural problems inherent in the international economic system. Consequently, the developing countries, especially those in Africa, have failed to regain their growth momentum, not only from the aftermath of the recession of the early 1970s but also from the recession of 1980-83 which is being felt now.
It is, however, encouraging to note that 1984 and the first half of 1985 showed brighter prospects after a succession of years characterized by the global recession, stagnating world trade, the debt crisis and the high interest rates. Economic recovery in some major developed countries has been much stronger than expected, while performance in developing countries has varied. During this same period the world food security improved greatly with increased production in some developing countries, although the state of food and agriculture deteriorated beyond limits in many parts of Africa.
As we celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the founding of FAO, the world community is witnessing the failure of the process of development in Africa. The current food and development crisis in Africa is not just an internal problem but is a failure by the entire international community to seize and recognize the problem in time and act to avert it.
Though the root causes of the tragic situation in Africa are multiple and complex, they could be summarized.
In the pre-independence days, African countries were net exporters of raw materials to the developed countries. Since the economies of the African countries were geared to servicing the needs and requirements of the colonial masters, most of them tended to be mono-economies concentrating only on one or two commodities. Zambia, for instance, concentrated on minerals, mainly copper, while importing her food requirements. On the agricultural side, emphasis was laid on export crops such as coffee, tea, groundnuts, sugar, cocoa and cotton. Food crops were neglected. The law of comparative advantage was being fully applied, while Africa’s natural resources were being plundered.
Africa’s problems started to emerge in the early 1970s and continued into the 1980s in the face of declining prices for non-petroleum primary commodities. Africa’s export earnings dropped while prices of imports of various goods from industrial nations rose causing a serious negative balance of payments. The African governments did, from 1980 onwards become increasingly aware and alarmed by the escalating food crisis and their warnings were not heeded.
Africa had been studying her economic situation for sometime and in 1980, the Lagos Plan of Action was muted. This Plan emphasized Africa’s desire to be self-sufficient in food and placing this responsibility in the hands of the African himself. At the time, it was anticipated that the developed world, would come forward with assitance to implement this noble African idea.
No sooner has the Final Act of Lagos been launched was the world plunged into a devastating recession. This recession brought along with it falls in commodity prices, protectionism, high interest rates, reduction in capital flows, and debt service burden. In such a situation, how could Africa amass surplus funds for capital formation and long term investments? One might ask.
This was the time when the developed countries could have come up with innovative plans and models for handling the persistent crisis. But instead, they waited to see how Africa and the rest of the developing world would come out of such a crisis. It is true that many of us resorted to high interest-rate finances of the International Monetary Fund and commercial banks. This situation aggravated the difficulties and plunged many developing economies into more debts.
Today, Africa is being identified as a land of famine, hunger, malnutrition and misery. The drought was the basic cause of the current crisis, but it is the mounting foreign debt triggered off by global unfavourable terms of trade which poses the long term danger to the economic viability of African countries. Debt service has taken a prominent position on the balance sheets of many developing countries. The developing countries are left with nothing for the development process. For instance in Zambia, nearly all development programmes are dependent on foreign aid. In the light of this there is an urgent need to find a solution now to the debt crisis, without which Africa could hardly achieve an economic take-off.
There is full agreement among the OAU member states that the prime responsibility for developing Africa rests with the African Governments and the people themselves. Since the African crisis is of a vast and complex nature, the problem cannot: however be solved without the support of the international community.
The political will and determination are there, and this was expressed in the Lagos Plan of Action and the Final Act of Lagos to which African countries remain committed. The Resolution on Africa and the Declaration by the Heads of State of the OAU during the recent 21st OAU Summit in Addis Ababa re-confirmed this determination. During the Summit, Africa declared, and I quote, “to take concrete action and measures individually and collectively for the achievement of the economic development”.
My delegation would therefore like to reiterate Africa’s call: (1) to the international community to continue to provide adequate humanitarian assistance for the people in the affected countries; (2) for the convening of a special session of the United Nations General Assembly to deliberate on the issues of the critical situation in Africa; and (3) for a New International Economic Order as this is within the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
The unfavourable terms of trade, the indebtedness, the drought and the famine.in the developing world have led to an increased demand for emergency assistance, especially in Africa. My delegation is very grateful to the donor countries, aid organizations and the UN system, especially FAO and the World Food Programme, for the good response and the key role they have played in containing the situation. As the situation stands now, some emergency food aid will be required in Africa, though on a reduced scale due to the improvements in the weather conditions in a number of countries. It is also notable that many African countries have adopted appropriate policies and strategies which are beginning to give positive results.
In order to enhance the international community’s reaction to emergency calls and to facilitate the operations of the World Food Programme, I would like to reiterate my delegation’s repeated calls for prepositioning of stocks in strategic locations or areas most vulnerable to calamities. This is the only way in which donors could answer emergency food aid needs and ensure the delivery of food at a time when it is most needed. Needless to say, this action could save hundreds of lives while other arrangements are being made. There is no doubt that the current food crisis has highlighted the need for an effective and reliable early warning system and the need for timeliness of operations in emergencies. If only the global early warning system was effective and respected, the food disaster experienced in Ethiopia might have been prevented.
Over the last few months the world has witnessed the degradation of humanity caused by famine. While emergency operations have been carried out, it is now more apparent than ever before that what is required is to create conditions which reduce the risk of famine. More attention should now be concentrated on non-food aid such as provision of logistical support. My delegation is fully committed to the principles of regional cooperation and to the action programme as laid down in the OAU’s Lagos Plan of Action. Africa’s priority remains to be food self-sufficiency and food security. To this effect, my delegation calls upon the Director-General to assist in the implementation of this Plan.
We wish to commend the Director-General for his initiative on the rehabilitation of Agriculture in Africa. This initiative should be supported by the entire world community.
We welcome the proposed workshops by the World Food Council on Food Strategies and Regional Cooperation in Africa to be held next year.
I am aware that all multilateral and bilateral organizations involved in development of agriculture in Africa have identified the pivotal role of smallholders and women. As the next step, the FAO and other multilateral development agencies must consult the local people and come up with appropriate programmes to improve the capability of these producers. Unless the plight of the small-scale farmer and women is recognized and given attention and that more manageable projects can be taken over locally, famine will not be easily eradicated in Africa.
Allow me now to say a few words on international cooperation. In spite of the apparent interdependence inherent in the global economy and the well-known efficacy fthe multilateral approach, we are today witnessing the abandonment of the multilateral spirit in favour of the bilateral approach to the solution of global problems. Bilateral development assistance has tended to address itself more to national policy which can only be applied under a specific environment. Even worse is the tendency to contemplate the unilateral approach. The creation of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the International Development Agency (IDA) was the greatest manifestation of man’s desire to promote social progress and better standards of life and enhance the international machinery for the promotion of economic and social advancement. The effectiveness of IFAD in servicing the needs and well-being of the small-scale farmer, the landless and the poor is being echoed in all independent evaluations and studies carried out so far. Unfortunately, the success ofIFAD in servicing the developing countries has been looked upon by some major industrialized countries as a threat to the bilateral approach. Consequently, IFAD is being abandoned, and likewise IDA is being strangled to death.
Anything which has to do with the development of the third world countries is being looked upon with the utmost suspicion. For instance, the Code of Conduct on Distribution and Use of Pesticides, the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources and the World Food Security Compact are all being rejected by some industrialized countries.
This is unwarranted, and allow me to seize this opportunity to urge all those countries who have reservations to reconsider their stands and join the consensus in the spirit of international cooperation. I am also appealing to all donor countries urgently to bring about the revival and growth of IFAD, the youngest and one of the most effective United Nations Agencies.
In re-affirming Zambia’s commitment to the multilateral approach, my delegation is calling for sustained efforts to translate the development consensus into effective action on behalf of the developing countries. While the recent past has been a truly difficult period for international cooperation, my delegation is of the opinion that progress is possible and we can continue to work together with renewed dedication to the objectivity of the multilateral approach. The international community must therefore rekindle its desire to re-activate the process of development in the developing countries. I am sure that this Conference will come out with pertinent resolutions on this issue.
In regard to the FAO Budget for the Biennium 1986-87, my delegation would like to state from the outset that Zambia does not believe in zero growth. While we do understand that zero growth is an institutional concept to limit the expansion of the administrative management, my delegation feels that this state of affairs is uncalled for at this hour.
A review of the world economic situation clearly shows that we have an unhealthy state of affairs and the situation is bound to get worse, especially in Africa. Instead of calling for zero growth, my delegation would like to insist on strengthening the effectiveness of the FAO projects and programmes in the field. The recent evaluation of the FAO Technical Cooperation Programme supports this view that the technical support for projects and field programmes are not always forthcoming and that this area should be strengthened. In the light of this, the FAO 1986-87 Programme of Work and Budget as recommended by the Director-General is fully supported by my delegation.
I would like to say that the member states should come together in unity of purpose and become true partners in the development process.
Finally, as we celebrate 40 years of the life of the FAO, it is heartening to welcome two new members, the Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands, to this international family. In the African context, the bigger the family the greater the warmth, as it were. In this regard the addition of the two new members is a sure sign that FAO is still growing, and my delegation wishes the Organization a vibrant and successful future.
ANWAR IBRAHIM (Malaysia): May I begin by applauding the FAO, the relevant agencies and the international community for their concerted efforts in trying to alleviate the suffering of millions of people surviving on the brink of starvation and death. I would also like to express appreciation to some members who have so generously contributed their share in alleviating the misfortune and restoring the economic status of the affected countries.
However, I would be pretentious or even bordering on. hypocrisy if I failed to state that the contributions and the role of the international community, particularly the industrialized world, have been meagre and grossly inadequate. The contributions from these industrialized countries are miniscule compared to their expenditure on armaments or even their expenditure in the upkeeping of their household pets.
Food aid and assistance programmes should not be mere “tokenism” from the benevolent leadership of the industrialized world, for such aid is in reality the result of growing surpluses created through protectionist policies.
The rape of the peasantry, the sobbing of starving children, have been ignored for decades, and in fact repeated warnings by FAO years ago of the impending famine were not met with a sense of urgency and responsibility. It was only when mass starvation and death were widely televised in the living rooms of the industrialized world that their precious attention was finally awakened and their conscience pricked.
I derive no pleasure whatsoever in deploring the rich industrialized world. In fact, I would venture to assert that some developing countries themselves lack the commitment and resolve to undertake the necessary measures to alleviate the sufferings of their people. We profess to talk about justice but that is an apparent contradiction in some of our own societies.
This is precisely the reason why I would view the issue of poverty and development as a moral imperative. We perceive this struggle as a sacred trust that must be shouldered by all irrespective of region, race or creed. In the words of the Algerian thinker, Malik ben Nabi, the issue should radiate from the ‘inner struggle of conscience’.
It is in this belief and conviction that we need to correct and liberate ourselves from the clutches of the unjust economic system within our own environment. We should continue to strive to bridge the gap that exists between the rich and the poor and to bring development to the remotest parts of our countries. We must also check the rampant corruption and the moral decadence in our societies.
What we are striving for is total achievement in the real meaning of development. This means the development of man in terms of technology, skills and knowledge, as well as an equitable distribution of ownership, employment, educational opportunities and other social and basic amenities. Reducing or discarding this meaning of development would be tantamount to the denigration and dehumanization of man himself.
We must ensure, therefore, that concrete steps are taken to provide opportunities for the development of man and where necessary the removal of obstacles and restrictions, unjust and oppressive practices, particularly when these are man-made. Otherwise, we would continue to witness the paradoxical, situation of abundant world food supply, yet with widespread starvation and famine, great strides in material and technological achievements yet spiritually sterile and devoid of moral and ethical considerations.
I wish to reiterate that growth strategies should be in consonance with distribution strategies in order to alleviate poverty and to ensure a fairer distribution of income, ownership and employment within the country and international community. To consolidate development efforts a balance should be struck between growth and efficiency and equity objectives. I wish to stress that conscientious and undeterred commitment and participation from all relevant quarters is pertinent to realize such noble aspirations. The policy-makers, planners’and implementers should orientate themselves to take leave from what is dubbed by Gunnar Myrdal as “traditionalist conservatism” and conventional philosophy of planning and thinking, but courageously endeavour to accept and pursue new and dynamic strategies and horizons to meet the challenging tasks ahead.
Apart from the collaborative efforts of member countries and FAO’s active role, it is also imperative that structural and institutional adjustments be made within the national system of developing countries themselves to ensure progress.
Much has been said at many international fora on the necessity to gain access to international markets and the removal of the numerous abhorrent trade restrictions so often imposed on the agricultural produce from the Third World. Instead of making progress, more recently the trend has been for such restrictions to be on the increase.
Is it not more logical for developed countries to allow free access to their markets and restructure themselves towards more capital intensive and higher technology products? Developed countries have the technological and financial resources to make these changes and adjustments. Instead, they choose to impose restrictions on products from developing countries thereby affecting the livelihood of millions of poor people the world over.
We have on various occasions reiterated our concern regarding the proposal by a group of countries to levy a variable tax on certain commodities. It seems that developed countries, completely oblivious to the realities, more than ever before are becoming less and less sensitive to the pleas and plights of the developing countries.
Rich countries through their protectionist policies of price support, tax levies, import restrictions, etc, etc are producing huge surpluses which are dumped into the world markets depressing prices drastically. Billions of dollars are being spent to protect a few rich farmers in the industrialized world at the expense of millions of struggling farmers in developing countries. Depressed world markets become a disincentive to production, plunging the export earnings of developing countries.
When hunger and famine afflict a large proportion of humanity, countries the world over are spending over $800 billion annually on armaments. This is threatening the human race itself. How could mankind allow such futile and self-destructive pursuits when over half a billion people are still struggling on the brink of starvation. The legacy of the imperial past still persists where armaments and the arrogance of power are considered necessary to exert their will on others.
We in the FAO are gathered here not only to suggest ways to increase production and yield, but we must be equally committed in ensuring that there is justice in the economic and social order. By this we mean easy access to markets, reduced trade barriers, price stability and the elimination of price support and export subsidies.
Protectionist trend is in fact a major factor contributing to the perpetuation of poverty. Furthermore, developing countries facing falling export earnings from their agricultural produce in the face of protectionist measures have to allocate a large portion of their modest earnings to service their untenable debt.
Therefore, I strongly urge those rich developed nations to spare some efforts to dismantle their unjust policies and to fulfill their moral obligations.
What is further disconcerting is the unhealthy trend whereby funds’ are being withdrawn, reduced or withheld from international agencies which undertake projects for the benefit of hundreds of millions of the world’s poor. Funds for international development agencies have been either denied or reduced. Even the proposal for a meagre increase of 1.14 percent for FAO’s Budget for the coming biennium is being strongly objected to. This apparent retreat and erosion of multilateralism must be viewed with great concern.
We would like to reiterate that the current economic recession should not in any way be used as the justification to shirk our responsibility. We are not deliberating on the question of welfare but rather the question of justice.
We strongly subscribe to the principles of cooperation as enunciated by FAO and believe in the role that FAO has to play in uplifting the socio-economic status of member countries. In this connection, concerted efforts must be made to ensure the effectiveness of the programmes and activities undertaken by FAO. Priorities must be given to those programmes and activities which focus on common issues and problems found in member countries, particularly programmes and activities which would enhance the planning and implementation capabilities and capacities of member countries, as well as programmes for maximizing the potentials of cooperation in the sectoral areas relevant to the implementation of the international development strategy.
I must stress here that we can learn about successes of our fellow members through multilateral or regional fora such as this and try to emulate their strategies and prescribe appropriate remedies to our situation.
On the FAO itself, we believe it is pertinent and timely for a critical review to be made of the various regional institutions established under the auspices of the FAO for the transfer of technology, skills and knowledge as well as to provide institutional support for manpower development in member countries. This is in order to ensure that these activities are supportive of efforts in and among member countries. Duplication and overlapping of activities must be avoided to ensure efficient use of available limited resources for the maximum benefit of members.
We believe also that this Organization could benefit by taking further steps towards debureaucratization. It is essential that accountability, effective and equitable utilization of resources among regions be ensured to give credence to this august body.
Let us not be entangled in engaging ourselves in rhetorics and platitudes that are so abundant and excessive in international fora.
Let us instead focus our attention in resolving the unhealthy state of world agriculture, the inequitable and unjust economic order, as a “struggle of conscience” to ensure the attainment of a just and equitable order on this earth.
Svein SUNDSBØ (Norway): Mr Chairman, let me first congratulate you and the other members of the bureau on your elections to these important posts.
I also want to congratulate FAO with the 40th anniversary of the Organization. I want to stress the great importance which I personally and my country have attached to the work of FAO throughout all these years.
A world free from hunger was the noble vision of the founding fathers of FAO. Their hope was that a new pattern of international cooperation and improved knowledge and techniques would enable the world to reach a level of agricultural production sufficient for all and available for everybody. Although their vision and hope continue to be ours, we must acknowledge that we are far from reaching the noble objective of the founding fathers. The recent food crisis in Africa is a dramatic reminder in this respect.
We are faced with the paradox that there is enough food in the world, but too often it is not found where it is needed. We are faced both with a crisis of environmental management and with a crisis of development. We are therefore compelled to try to give new answers to very old problems. FAO is the appropriate forum for such an exercise, which, obviously, also must include a critical look at the Organization’s performance and its contribution in reaching our objectives.
In its declaration of last July, the Organization of African Unity stressed the need to get to the root of the continent’s food and agricultural crisis. Such an approach seems indispensable to redress the long term balance of overall development. African leaders reaffirmed that development is the primary responsibility of their own peoples and authorities. They alone can decide upon the appropriate policy framework for development plans and objectives. It is equally obvious that the efforts must be supported by the international community in technical and financial terms.
As regards the role of FAO, our Organization must continue to be the focal point for technical advice, an instrument both for communicating and refining agricultural knowledge, in an effort to make it relevant for the developing world. An institution able to analyze our common effort as partners in development, in transmitting a flow of relevant knowledge, data, information and experience to the developing world, and, in the reverse direction, a flow of analyzed information about the specific needs for financial and technical assistance.
We must be more selective in our approach in order to obtain optimal use of scarce resources. We consider, therefore, that a measure of larger concentration of efforts and resources is called for in our work programme.
My Government is convinced that the developing countries and the international community together have the means to reverse the present negative trend in agricultural development in many member countries. An adjustment of national as well as international development strategies are, however, called for. The role of FAO is a crucial one in order to assure appropriate cooperation and dispensing of advice to this effect. To fulfill its role in the present circumstances, a reconsideration and reorientation of its activities are in our view a matter of utmost concern.
I am convinced that for our Organization to fulfill its role in today’s world it must reorient its activities along the lines I have just indicated.
In the following I should like to highlight the main points of Norway’s development policies.
The Norwegian Government has just proposed to Parliament a budgetary allocation corresponding to 1.18 percent of our GNP for development cooperation.
We intend to maintain in real terms our support for the work done by the United Nations system of agencies and programmes which today receive between 40 and 50 percent of our total development budget.
The decision of contributions to be made to individual agencies and programmes, will be subject to individual evaluation by my Government as to their efficiency, the direction of their programmes, and the result of their work. We will also examine the activities of the agencies with a view to avoid costly duplication of efforts, causing friction in the system, instead of development in the recipient nations.
A priority of Norwegian development assistance is to bring women into the mainstream of the development process. Experience shows that it has been difficult for women to get their share of development assistance. Donor and recipient countries, and development agencies have a shared responsibility to change this situation.
Development is also a question of how to put available resources to proper use. In our view, one of the most effective methods to achieve this, is to develop the productive potential of small farmers, bearing in mind that these are often women. Young people in rural areas also constitute a resource that could be better utilized in order to increase agricultural output. The productive potential has to be developed through the implementation of appropriate agricultural policies, marketing outlets, improved farming systems and extension services, and supply of inputs. In this connection I would like to mention the dialogue between the Nordic and the SADDC countries wherein a number of agricultural areas have been identified for the adoption of improved policies likely to contribute significantly to economic development.
Increased agricultural production will have to be based on ecologically sound methods. This means that along with efforts to increase the agricultural output, one important task will be environmental management as well as development of sustainable agricultural systems.
The. Norwegian Government has proposed to increase its development assistance to the Sudano-Sahelian region with 1 billion Norwegian Krona over the next four to five years in addition to our present assistance to this area. This programme will concentrate on two main areas, namely environmental rehabilitation and increased food production. Important elements in such a strategy will be soil conservation, protection and rehabilitation of forests, water management and proper land-use. Support for extension services is considered particularly important. At least half of these additional resources will be channelled through the multilateral system.
As has been the case in the past, research within agriculture, forestry and fisheries will also in the future be of great importance for the long-term solution of the problems in front of us. It is therefore very important to expand the research capacity and facilities in the developing countries themselves, based on existing research cooperation.
Although increased attention has to be paid to the agricultural sector in order to feed an increased population, one should not overlook the fact that agriculture is an important growth element in many developing countries’ economies. Increased agricultural production will therefore be one of the most important factors for ecomic growth and increased employment within, as well as outside, the agricultural sector. Expansion in this sector could be a motor in a target-oriented development policy, and it should be evaluated in this context. FAO should therefore give higher priority to these intersectorial aspects of agricultural development. It is imperative for FAO to take up these questions in a broader context if FAO is to be in the forefront in solving the problems and advising governments in the future.
The rapid depletion of tropical forests is alarming. Half of mankind is dependent on energy from wood in order to cook their food. The forests also represent a greater part of the world’s genetic resources and are a source of raw materials for a wide range of industries and products.
The potential contribution of forests to human welfare and food security has never been greater than today. A closer cooperation between agriculturalists and forest resource managers is therefore called for. One example of possible useful cooperation is research concerning anti-desertification methods and identification of drought resistant tree species.
I started by referring to our founding fathers’ vision. Let me end by briefly summing up my view of how our Organization today can best be reoriented in order to realise this vision.
Efforts must be concentrated. The formulation of policies should focus on national and subregional activities.
Priorities must be set in a world of scarce resources: not everything can be done at once.
Care must be taken not to use resources for tasks that are not relevant to the efficient solution of the developmental problems of member nations. The developing nations themselves must be the focus, not how they are viewed from outside.
Overlapping with other agencies’ work must be counter-acted. Inter-agency cooperation and making common use of results must be encouraged.
Finally, emphasis must be placed on development, not only crisis management - development through advice, education and technology transfer, thereby bringing the poor peoples into a steady developmental process.
Charles. A. MAYNAR.D (Dominica): I consider it a privilege and an honour to be able to address the Twenty-third Session of the FAO Conference.
May I also join in congratulating you on election to the high office of Chairman of the Session and wish you every success in your task of guiding the deliberations that will be taking place here. My congratulations are also extended to the Vice-Chairmen, who I am sure are most competent and will assist you in bringing this Session to a positive and meaningful conclusion.
As we celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the FAO, it is most fitting that we acknowledge the outstanding work that the Organization has been able to achieve so far. In every organization it is to be understood that there will be successes and failures. We therefore at this time need to build on those successes and reflect on the failures, to evaluate the various programmes that have been developed and implemented and to analyse the constraints that have impeded the progress that we had sought to achieve.
It is a time, therefore, for us to recommit ourselves to the noble objectives we have set ourselves through the workings of the FAO.
It is a time also when we need to assess our own contributions to the workings of the organization and its other supporting institutions, for it can only be through our own unity and cooperation that we will be able to achieve the successes that we wish to occur.
The eradication of poverty and hunger among all the peoples of this earth still remains the greatest challenge facing us all today. Food production and food, security still remain our primary concern.
While we acknowledge the improvements we have been able to make in some areas, we are most painfully aware of the worsening situation that has occurred and is occurring among some of our member countries. We recognise the fact that the economic recession that has plagued us all over the past years has seriously jeopardised some of our efforts in implementing the programmes that we had planned for addressing these issues. However, the question still remains, how are we going effectively to harness the resources available to us and what are the mechanisms we are willing to develop that will facilitate the fullest participation of all in the achievement of these objectives?
To many of us the only resources available are the agricultural potentials of our lands and our people.
It is only through the efficient development of our agricultural sectors that we can efficiently address the issues of nutrition, poverty and employment of our peoples and the development of our countries.
My government recognizes that for the foreseeable future, the economy of Dominicana and the hope of our national progress are inextricably bound with the productive use of our agricultural resources, with due regard being given to the ecological balance and environmental protection.
Central to Dominica’s development objectives is the need to release the productive potential of the agricultural sector so as to generate increased domestic food supply and output for exports while expanding the opportunities for employment. In Dominica, the agricultural sector as a whole presently accounts for about 30 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, 55 percent of export revenue earnings and 60 percent of the total labour force.
In our efforts to maximise the land resource available for agricultural production, we have been taking the necessary measures required to bring idle and underutilized land into full production. We recognize that the rural poor must be given access to land resources, as well as’ access to agricultural inputs, services and extension and research facilities if we are to fully develop our country. In order that this can be achieved we believe that the proper design, implementation and evaluation of agricultural development programmes must be encouraged. The expansion of non-traditional agriculture and the development of agro-based industries are key components of these strategies.
My Government has no difficulty in supporting the World Food Security Compact and the International Code of Conduct on the Use and Distribution of Pesticides.
Another major concern for the international community today is the availability of credit for farm development. While credit is usually available for the farm inputs and capital development (though sometimes at unrealistic interest rates) to the rural poor, the availability of credit to purchase the land from which this production is to come is sadly lacking. If our efforts at land reform and at the redistribution of lands to the landless are ever to be effected successfully, then this basic assistance to facilitate the legal access to those lands in the first place must be made available. There is obviously a need for an urgent review of the lending policies of donor countries in this particular area.
The cooperation of the developed countries in support of this plan of action is particularly critical in the areas of international trade, market access and commodity agreements, economic and technical cooperation, foreign investment and development assistance.
In that connection I wish to express the support of the Government of Dominica for the Programme of Work and Budget of FAO. Such sums can achieve significant returns in our island states and we give our unqualified endorsement to a well thought out Programme and Budget.
We would also like to go on record as stating that FAO’s Technical Cooperation Programme represents a most significant device for urgent and timely support for developing countries. Indeed, without this Programme and the flexibility and resourcefulness with which it is implemented, FAO could become merely a world academy for the agricultural sciences, with no relevance to the immediate concerns of agriculture in the world today.
The Technical Cooperation Programme is the best evidence of FAO’s service to its varied clientele.
In the area of international trade, governments should move more positively toward the reduction and elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to the entry of agricultural and rural products, both raw and processed, of particular interest to our agricultural diversification programmes. The availability of external markets is critical to the further development of developing economies where so many states produce the same commodities at the same time. Furthermore, in a situation where domestic populations are relatively small in relation to the total agricultural output, the production of non-traditional crops, as is now being emphasized, must necessarily rely on extra-regional markets.
The volume, terms and conditions of development assistance through official bilateral and multilateral channels have been of crucial importance in supplementing national efforts by our countries to achieve the objectives of agricultural production and rural development. I should here single out the outstanding work being donc by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and its cooperating Development Banks, and urge your continued support of this Fund. The resources of this Fund should be replenished on an increasing rather than decreasing scale.
Often when one discusses the issues related to the effective utilization of our natural resources as the impact is rural development, in particular, fisheries and forestry resources do not receive the special attention they deserve.
We have noted that while the more impressive developments have taken place in crop and livestock production systems the development of the appropriate technologies to harness forestry and fisheries resources on a sustained basis has often been very slow. We, therefore, wish to commend the FAO in its recognition of this problem and the focus it has been able to initiate in the development, exploitation and management of the forest resource in its declaring this year the International Year of the Forest.
But it is important that resources be made available for forestry if the international community is not to declare an International Year without the resources to support it.
Our country is known for its luxuriant forests and in fact the land available for intensive agricultural production is extremely limited. We are therefore convinced that this most valuable natural attraction has the potential for developing into a most significant contribution to our economic and national development. It is most critical, therefore, that the conservation and preservation concerns are recognized and attended to, and that appropriate agro-forestry systems be developed that can
also address the demands for food and shelter. The assistance of the Technical Cooperation Programme in that connection is appreciated, and we would like to place on record the despatch with which we can now, tomorrow, sign an agreement for a forestry inventory to be undertaken.
As an island state, the sea is a most dominant resource. Fishing to a large section of the population is a way of life. However, the development of this resource, as a major contributor to our protein food requirements has been unfortunately slow. The persistence of traditional methods of fishing have not yielded the true potential of this resource. There is, therefore, an urgent need to address the problems of the traditional fishermen of our countries, and to introduce more efficient fishing systems, boats, equipment, as well as preservation and storage technology.
A number of these issues were discussed at the FAO World Conference on Fisheries Development and Management held last year and we look forward to the implementation of a number of recommendations and plans of action arising out of this Conference.
On this momentous occasion of the 40th Anniversary of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization and the observance of the International Year of Youth, my Government notes with pleasure the special initiative of this Organization through its Barbados office in promoting an increased awareness among the youth of the Eastern Caribbean Region in agriculture. I refer to the Regional Poster Competition on the theme “Youth in Agriculture”. The seven lucky winners of this competition, all youths in the age range 14 to 18, have been given the unique opportunity of observing the 23rd Session of the FAO in progress as part of their prize. This recognition of our youth is most worthy and we wish FAO will persist in such initiatives for in these, the flowers of today, lie the seeds of tomorrow’s generation. Let us inspire these youths and all the others of the world through our deliberations that in agriculture there is hope for a better life for all the peoples of today’s and tomorrow’s world.
LE PRESIDENT: Etant immédiatement appelé à d’autres fonctions, en raison de la charge même que vous m’avez confiée, puisque je dois participer à l’inauguration de la salle de Chine dans quelques minutes, je suis heureux de céder la présidence au distingé délégué de la Barbade, l’honorable R. Cheltenham, qui va donc assumer la présidence pour la fin de cette séance. Mais peut-être, avant de partir, je voudrais vous livrer le message que j’ai reçu de la part de l’honorable délégué de la République centrafricaine qui vient de m’informer par le Secretariat qu’il dépose sa déclaration au Secrétariat et demande qu’elle soit reproduite dans les procès-verbaux de la Conférence, ce qui sera évidemment fait. Je cède le fauteuil à M. Cheltenham.
R. Cheltenham, Vice-Chairman of the Conference took the chair.
R. Cheltenham, Vice-Président de la Conférence assume la présidence.
R.Cheltenham, Vicepresidente de la Conferencia ocupa la presidencia.
Carlos Emanuel ROJAS LOPEZ (Costa Rica): Es inevitable estar presente en esta Conferencia sin que venga a la mente la grave situación por la que atraviesa la mayoría de las naciones hoy aquí representadas; grave en los aspectos de producción de alimentos, endeudamiento externo, empobrecimiento creciente y otros aspectos que hacen que sus economías se deterioren aún más.
Un evento reciente reunió en mi país a tecnicos en planificación y desarrollo científico-tecnológico de todo el itsmo centroamericano y República Dominicana, quienes señalaron como elementos básicos de la problemática rural agraria y alimentaria de nuestra region los siguientes:
- Deficiencia en la dotación de tierras, debido a la mala distribución o poca cantidad y calidad, en relación con la población existente.
- Deficiencia en la dotación de créditos y otros recursos financieros, debido a mala distribución o falta de disponibilidad oportuna.
- Falta de mercados adecuados o difícil acceso a ellos, debido a desinformación o costos prohibitivos por distancia, medios o regulaciones de acceso.
- Deficiencia en la disponibilidad y coordinación de servicios para la producción, mercadeo y otros, incluyendo educación rural y salud.
- Faltá’ de organización de la población rural, tanto para presionar ante los organismos idóneos como para contribuir en la consecucióV de los recursos y servicios necesarios.
Lo más grave de esta situación planteada, cuyas consecuencias son entre otras: una baja producción y productividad agropecuaria, desocupación y migraciones de la fuerza de trabajo rural, empobrecimiento de la población y deterioro de los recursos naturales es que lleva a un mayor deterioro de las ya deprimidas economías de nuestros países, lo cual se traduce en estómagos vacíos o satisfechos a medias, con alimentos pobres en valor nutritivo. Lo lamentable de esto es que siempre los más afectados son los segmentos más pobres de la población. Costa Rica no escapa a este retrato regional y, por ende, afronta severos problemas de naturaleza económica y social.
Se sustenta nuestra economía en la agroexportación, la que ha aportado desde 1970 más del 70 por ciento de las divisas que el país percibe. Esto por si no ofrecería ningún problema si no fuese que un 90 por ciento de ese aporte se deriva de cuatro actividades: cafe, banano, caña de azucar y ganadería vacuna, rubros cuyos mercados enfrenta situaciones de saturación y problemas de cuotas. En efecto, de nuestra producción de cafe y azúcar del año agrícola 1985-1986 que generarán, respectivamente, excedentes estimados en 30 000 y 50 000 t, que equivale al 40 y 80 por ciento de sus correspondientes cuotas. La venta de estos en el mercado libre va a significar un grave perjuicio a nuestro agro, ya que, por ejemplo, el precio del azúcar en este mercado, en junio de 1984 fue de 119, 6 $ EE.UU./t, en tanto que hubo un precio de 480 $ EE.UU./t en el mercado preferencial. Factor agravante de este problema es el comportamiento de los mercados internacionales de nuestros productos, y de aquellos rubros que debemos importar para la producción, tales como energético, maquinaria, agroquímicos, y otros. Por ejemplo, durante el periodo 1976-1983 los precios reales del cafe, nuestro principal producto de exportación, señalaron una tasa anual negativa de crecimiento de alrededor del 5 por ciento, mientras los del petróleo, insumo fundamental en nuestros procesos productivos que debemos importar en su totalidad, mostró un incremento anual que osciló hacia el 8 por ciento. Conviene asimismo citar el efecto negativo que tienen en nuestro esfuerzo productivo las políticas de subsidios y precios de otros países. A raíz de la reciente crisis mundial fue evidente que las medidas proteccionistas de los países industrializados intensificaron el deterioro de las economías de nuestros países, altamente dependientes del mercado extemo.
En el nivel nacional nemos realizado grandes esfuerzos para superar la angustia de las presiones económicas mediante la reactivación económica del sector agropecuario. Hemos obtenido resultados satisfactorios, tal es el caso de la reversion de la tendencia negativa de crecimiento de la producción agropecuaria que fue de un -5 por ciento en 1982, a un -8 por ciento en 1984. Lamentablemente las razones que menciono anteriormente prevalecen como condiciones desincentivantes de las actividad agroproductiva. Se concluye de lo expuesto hasta este momento que es necesario fomentar entre los países un mejoramiento en el comercio exterior agrícola y promover la cooperación agrícola en este sentido y en aquellos que propician la solución de la problemática regional y nacional que he citado.
Concuerdo así con las conclusiones de un estudio recieïite sobre desarrollo rural y programación urbana de alimentos realizado por PROCADES - es el Proyecto de Capacitación en Planificación, Programación, Proyectos Agrícolas y de Desarrollo Rural que forman conjuntamente FAO/CEPAL/PNUD - el cual cita lo siguiente: “Como una dolorosa conclusion es necesario reconocer que, de continuar por los actuales caminos de organización económico-social, el mundo subdesarrollado tendría muy poco que aportar en el concierto mundial de las naciones, a no ser un infinito espacio social de necesidades insatisfechas.” Continúa diciendo en el mismo documento: “En los foros internacionales especializados se proclama que, para que el planeta no estalle en indefinidas revueltas sociales de consecuencias imprevisibles, se requiere urgentemente de negociaciones globales para introducir cambios radicales en las actuales formas de organización económica mundial. Tales cambios deberían posibilitar nuevos acuerdos internacionales de cooperación entre los mundos desarrollados y subdesarrollados.”
Quisiera expresar ahora el convencimiento de que, para permitir un desarrollo agrícola equilibrado de nuestros países es necesario que la comunidad internacional siga firmemente y sin incertidumbres, contemporáneamente dos métodos de política económica. Por un lado, es necesario acercarse, en la medida de lo posible, a la eliminación de los obstáculos al comercio de nuestros productos y de cualquier tipo de subvención a las exportaciones, lo que se puede lograr únicamente incluyendo la agricultura en el conjunto de las próximas negociaciones comerciales multilaterales del GATT.
Por otro lado, es indispensable que, por conducto de convenios de productos básicos, se llegue a guardar un mínimo de estabilidad en los precios.
Veinte años de experiencia con el Convenio del Cafe nos han convencido de que este mecanismo, evitando alzas y bajas exce’sivas, es un instrumento muy eficaz para lograr estefin. Nos han preocupado mucho los recientes acontecimientos en las reuniones de Londres y quisieramos llamar la atencion de nuestros amigos consumidores sobre el efecto desastroso y desestabilizante que podría tener una interrupción de la adhesion a este Convenio por parte de alguno de ellos.
Mi país apoya en esta Conferencia la discusión de los temas que den ayuda en el campo de la organización de la producción y comercialización de productos agropecuarios, en especial si la podemos dirigir a los pequeños y medianos productores como un medio importante para impulsar nuestro desarrollo económico y nuestra organización social.
Anadou Bator DIOP (Senegal): C’est toujours avec un grand plaisir que je me trouve à la FAO, plus particulièrement au moment où cette Organisation internationale, fondée sur les relations de coopération, célèbre quarante ans d’une activité inlassable au service de l’agriculture et de l’alimentation.
C’est pour moi l’occasíon de redire combien mon pays, le Sénégal, reste attaché à cet instrument indispensable que nous avons bâti ensemble. Nous réaffirmons d’autant plus notre attachement que la crise mondiale, qui revêt des aspects douloureux et souvent scandaleux, impose à tous les pays, aujourd’hui plus que jamais, de partager leurs experiences et leurs réflexions pour lutter, en commun, contre la misère, la faim et la malnutrition qui sévissent un peu partout dans le monde.
Nous devons, en effet, mobiliser toutes nos forces et notre savoir-faire pour combattre ces fléaux dont souffre la majeure partie de la population mondiale. C’est un devoir dont l’urgence se fait sentir de jour en jour, un devoir politique qui appelle des solutions politiques.
Le salut que je vous apporte au nom de Son Excellence Monsieur Abdou Diouf, Président de la République du Sénégal et Président en exercice de l’OUA, se veut ainsi un encouragement pour nos travaux et un fervent appel pour la recherche de solutions plus humaines parce que plus justes.
Votre élection, qui honore toute l’Afrique, est également pour nous l’expression de notre solidarité ainsi que le témoignage, en particulier au nom de mon pays, de l’appui et du soutien de ma délégation.
A votre illustre prédécesseur, M. John Block, Secrétaire d’Etat à l’agriculture des Etats-Unis d’Amérique, je tiens aussi à dire toutes nos félicitations pour l’ efficacité et la précision avec lesquelles il a mené son action qui aura largement contribué au succès de notre précédente session.
Nos félicitations vont aussi aux Vice-Présidents élus, au Directeur général, M. Edouard Saouma, pour sa déclaration positive et au Président sortant du Conseil, M. Swaminathan pour le rapport exhaustif qu’il nous a présenté.
Cet hommage s’adresse également aux membres du Conseil dont le travail pendant les intersessions de notre Conférence, si utiles au déroulement de nos débats, permettra de parachever les actions nécessaires et de préparer le futur.
Enfin, permettez-moi de souhaiter la bienvenue aux nouveaux Etats Membres de notre Organisation qui viennent, riches de leurs forces et de leurs potentialités, participer avec nous à la mise en oeuvre des missions assignées a la FAO en faveur des pays pauvres.
Les analyses contenues dans les documents soumis à notre Conférence, sur la politique des prix agricoles, la situation mondiale de l’agriculture, notamment la situation alimentaire des pays en développement, sont très pertinentes, de l’avis de ma délégation, et traduisent en règie générale les dilemmes auxquels le tiers monde est confronté. Nous voudrions donc féliciter le Secrétariat pour la qualité du travail ainsi accompli.
Cette 23ème session de notre Conférence revêt, comme l’ont déjà dit ceux qui m’ont précédé, une signification toute particulière puisqu’elle coīncide avec les cérémonies commémoratives du quarantième anniversaire de la fondation de notre Organisation.
La visite de travail des éminents chefs d’Etat représente un témoignage éloquent du prestige dont jouit notre Organisation quand on sait le rôle combien déterminant que ces hautes personnalités jouent tant dans leurs pays respectifs que sur le plan mondial, dans le domaine de la lutte contre la faim et la malnutrition et pour le rapprochement des peuples, dans la paix et pour la dignité de l’homme.
Elle constitue un encouragement dans la poursuite de la noble mission de la FAO au service de l’humanité tout entière.
Depuis que la communauté internationale a pris l’engagement solennel, en 1945, de favoriser l’expansion de l’économie mondiale et l’éradication de la faim, de la malnutrition et de la pauvreté, les résultats obtenus, bien qu’appreciables, n’ont pas encore permis d’atteindre les objectifs fixés.
Certes, la production mondiale a augmenté depuis, dégageant, en 1984, l’un des meilleurs résultats enregistrés au cours de ces dix dernières années, avec un taux de croissance de 4 pour cent, mais cette augmentation a surtout permis d’accroître les revenus des pays industrialisés, creusant la disparité avec la plupart des autres pays du monde, mises à part quelques nations comme la Chine ou l’Inde qui ont enregistré leurs premiers grands succès sur le plan agricole.
L’Afrique, pour sa part, est encore à la traîne avec une production agricole dont le taux de croissance est de loin inférieur à son taux de croissance démographique (1 pour cent contre 3 pour cent).
Selon les estimations de la FAO, la demande de vivres augmentera dans ce continent à un rythme d’au moins 3, 4 pour cent par an jusqu’à la fin du siècle.
Il y a deux ans, du haut de cette tribune, d’éminents orateurs s’interrogeaient encore sur les causes de cette disparite entre le Nord et le Sud.
Il reste qu’une analyse objective des faits montre que nous sommesen face d’un désajustement structurel qui mérite d’être compris et corrigé de façon radicale.
On pourrait relever quelques unes des raisons techniques de cette disparité: I’Afrique a à sa disposition beaucoup moins d’intrants agricoles et beaucoup moins de technologie performante que les pays industrialises.
Ce continent se trouve dans sa majeure partie couvert par trois déserts qui tendent, chaque année, à augmenter leur empire sur les terres cultivables avec les drames humains que nous connaissons bien, nous sahéliens, de ces fléaux.
Or, pour mieux gérer les terres cultivables ou les pâturages, le continent africain manque de cadres ruraux compétents et ne dispose pas d’une recherche scientifique agricole de haut niveau.
Mais ces obstacles ne sont pas à l’origine de la crise qu’ils contribuent à alimenter. D’autres raisons plus profondes ont créé cette dernière en l’aggravant.
La détérioration des termes de l’échange, fixant des prix agricoles trop bas pour les matières premières et les produits agricoles exportables, des prix trop élevés pour les produits industriels et les différents services économiques et financiers, en particulier le coût du loyer de l’argent, ont eu un effet délétère sur nos différentes économies.
A cela, s’ajoutent le protectionnisme international, et l’absence de débouchés qui ont limité toute la portée des mesures d’incitation à la production.
Aussi, souffrons-nous comme bien des pays d’Amérique latine, d’une dette extérieure de plus en plus lourde. Tous nos efforts de redressement économique et financier se heurtent à des déficits de plus en plus importants de notre balance des paíements.
L’Afrique n’attend certainement pas de miracle et sait qu’elle doit compter sur ses propres moyens, car elle sait que tous ses efforts seront inutiles sans une croissance élevée et sans un développement durable des forces productives qui sont le fruit d’un meilleur respect des règles du commerce international, d’une meilleure garantie de la stabilité des monnaies, d’un meilleur financement au niveau mondial de ses plans de développement.
Ma délégation reste convaincue que les moyens et les capacités existent à l’échelon mondial pour édifier, en commun, des économies solides pour nos pays et éloigner de nos populations le spectre de la faim. “La déclaration de Rome sur la faim” adoptée par les participants au colloque organisé par la FAO à l’occasion de la deuxième journée mondiale de l’alimentation, ne le reconnaissait-elle pas, à juste titre?
Par la déclaration de Harare et les conclusions du 21ème Sommet des Chefs d’Etat de l’Organisation de l’unité africaine, l’Afrique a réaffirmé, pour sa part, son engagement et sa volonté de tout mettre en oeuvre pour promouvoir son développement économique et social.
Malheureusement, la dimension des tâches à entreprendre dépasse largement ses possibilités et ses ressources.
C’est pourquoi elle espère et attend que la communauté internationale qui a déjà démontré d’imraenses capacités de mobilisation, aille cette fois jusqu’au bout de ses intentions, car nos sorts sont intimement liés, pays créanciers et pays débiteurs, en somme, pays développes et pays en développement.
L’objectif. qu’il faut, en définitive rechercher, c’est, grâce à la mise en oeuvre d’un plan de financement s’appuyant davantage sur des fonds d’origine publique et faisant meilleur usage des ressources disponibles, d’assurer à nos pays un développement autocentré et une promotion rapide des cultures vivrières, seuls capables de nous permettre de combattre les fléàux endémiques qui nous interpellent tous. Ceci est possible, grâce à une meilleure conception de l’assistance où l’initiative et l’autonomie de la FAO peuvent être d’un apport considérable.
Malgré son volume record, en 1984, d’environ 11 millions de tonnes, l’efficacité de l’aide alimentaire s’est fortement limitée par certaines faiblesses dans la sélection, l’acheminement et la distribution des denrées fournies.
En ces douloureux moments traverses par les pays du tiers monde, l’on constate avec beaucoup de regret que l’aide internationale au développement diminue sans cesse et gue les obstacles aux négociations globales et aux échanges internationaux deviennent de plus en plus complexes alors que la concertation à l’aide publique internationale s’avère plus que jamais nécessaire.
Or, le PNUD a décidé de réduire ses ressources, au moment où les pays du tiers monde ont davantage besoin de son assistance.
Le budget de l’AID a été ramené de 9 à 7 milliards de dollars, tandis que la deuxième reconstitution du FIDA est toujours retardée par des considérations où la pure technicité tend à offusquer les nobles objectifs visés par cette Organisation.
Je reconnais que la crise économique et financière actuelle commande une plus grande rigueur dans la gestion de nos ressources et moyens, mais cela ne devrait nullement nous conduire à abandonner les programmes et les initiatives d’une solidarité internationale irremplaçable et toujours plus qu’indispensable devant l’accroissement des besoins, l’acuité des problèmes et des contradictions naissant de l’actuel ordre économique mondial.
Ces quelques considérations suffisent à montrer que des tâches essentielles nous attendent et que la coopération multilatérale a besoin d’être réorientée dans le sens d’une plus grande solidarité internationale.
Quant au budget, nous exprimons notre satisfaction pour la part importante attribuée aux programmes techniques et de coopération ainsi qu’à l’Afrique, tenant ainsi compte de l’urgence des problèmes de notre continent et des solutions qu’ils appellent.
Nous appuyons les propositions du “Programme de travail et Budget” du Directeur général et invitons tous les pays membres à voter pour ce budget qui représente en termes reels un minimum.
Il y a à peine deux ans, 26 pays africains (dont le mien) étaient encore frappés de plein fouet par une sécheresse dont les effets furent plus catastrophiques que ceux des années 1968-1973, dans le Sahel.
La campagne agricole de cette année a connu, dans nos pays, une pluviométrie proche de la normale. Si les dégâts causés çà et là par les déprédateurs n’atteignent pas de grandes proportions, les récoltes pourraient être proches de la normale.
Il me plaît de souligner ici, l’heureuse initiative prise par Son Excellence Monsieur Abdou Diouf, Président de la République du Sénégal, d’avoir convoqué, en juillet 1984 à Dakar, la première Conférence ministérielle de lutte contre la désertification et son institutionnalisation.
Ma délégation a analysé le Programme de travail et Budget ainsi que les différents programmes opérationnels que nous propose le Directeur général de la FAO:
S’agissant des différents programmes, nous notons qu’ils vont dans le sens des orientations et des priorités établies par le Gouvernement de mon pays car elles tendent essentiellement à une promotion rationnelle du développement rural.
Mais cela ne signifie pas que nos problèmes sont résolus pour autant; car, comme le disait en mars dernier à Genève, Son Excellence Monsieur Seyni Kountche, Président de la République du Niger et Président en exercice du CILSS: “Nous ne le souhaitons guère, mais c’est là une réalité, au Sahel il faut que nous apprenions à travailler avec la sécheresse”.
Le Sénégal, pour sa part, s’est résolument engagé dans une politique de redressement et a procédé à des réformes profondes de structure.
La plupart des pays africains suivent la même voie, celle-là même qui a le plus de chance de faire l’objet d’un consensus de la part de la communauté internationale.
Il est vrai que la situation économique générale dans le monde n’incline pas à l’optimisme, mais l’interdépendance qui existe nécessairement entre nos pays et les autres doit nous rappeler à tout instant que des déséquilibres ne peuvent éternellenient subsister au Sud, sans affecter, à terme, le Nord dans ses structures politiques, économiques et sociales.
La communauté internationale doit, aujourd’hui plus que jamais, prendre conscience de cette réalité que nous rappellent tous les faits quotidiens. Nous devons désormais évïter les déceptions et relever les grands défis de l’histoire.
Pour ce faire, il importe d’inverser la tendance actuelle de la dégradation qualitative et quantitative de l’aide publique au développement, qui semble malheureusement avoir tristement marqué la première moitié des années 80.
Assurément, le succès de la recherche du nouvel ordre économique international que nous appelons tous de nos voeux dépend de la volonté politique des pays développés et des pays en développement.
Les rencontres comme la Conférence des Nations Unies sur les pays les moins avancés, le sommet de Cancún, celui de Versailles, avaient suscité beaucoup d’espoir parce que considérées comme les meilleures occasions où peuvent être discutées des solutions susceptibles de conduire à l’instauration de ce nouvel ordre.
Malheureusement, et ce sera ma conclusion, les recommandations issues de toutes ces rencontres n’ont pas encore pleinement donné les résultats que les pays en développement étaient en droit d’en attendre.
Qu’en sera-t-il tant de la récente réunion de la Banque mondiale et du Fonds monétaire international à Séoul que du sommet prochain des chefs d’Etat des pays industrialisés convoqués à New York à l’occasion du quarantième anniversaire des Nations Unies? L’Afrique écoute, regarde et attend.
Le continent africain n’est nullement condamné par nature et le monde peut être sauvé des affres de la famine à condition que puisse pleinement jouer la solidarité internationale.
C’est à ce prix, et à ce prix seul, que nous atteindrons ce nouvel ordre économique international sans lequel il he saurait y avoir d’équité, de justice et de paix dans ce monde en pleine convulsion.
Saihou SABALLY (Gambia): Mr Vice-Chairman, Director-General, distinguished Ministers, ladies and gentlemen, with your permission, Mr Chairman, allow me to join the long queue of speakers who have preceded me in congratulating the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman of this Conference on their unanimous elections In the same vein, on behalf of the Gambian delegation, I should like to place on record our sincerest felicitations to the new Members, Cook Islands and Solomon Islands. We welcome them, and we expect and hope that they will totally participate in this very important family of nations.
On behalf of the Gambian government and the Gambian people, I should like to congratulate the Director-General and the staff of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on the fortieth Anniversary of FAO. In doing so, I think it would be appropriate for me to extend these messages of congratulation to the farmers and fishermen of the entire world, because they are the people who also deserve special congratulation since the FAO was created for them, and without them the FAO would not succeed.
I do not think we should just stop at congratulating each other, because we are not foreign ministers. We are ministers of agriculture, and we should try to make an objective analysis of what we have achieved as Members of the FAO, of what the Organization has achieved in the past forty years, where we have failed, and what we can do to map the path we should follow in the future.
Ten or eleven years ago, there was the World Food Conference. The World Food Conference was organized here in Rome, and at that Conference a very eminent world leader stood up and predicted that in ten years to come no child would be going to bed hungry. That was in 1974, and in 1984 the whole of mankind woke up one morning and saw the catastrophic story of Ethiopia. I am not going to make a prediction, but I will express my wishes and my prayers that when we come back here in Rome to celebrate the golden jubilee of the Food and Agriculture Organization, that is the fiftieth Anniversary of FAO, we will not see any child going to bed hungry.
As I said, there is need for us to make an objective analysis and assessment of what we have achieved and where we have failed, and what we can do for the Plan of Action for the future. This is where we need to be critical indeed at this FAO biennial Conference. This is quite an important Conference, but I think there is a need for the FAO Council to look at how to make it more effective and more cost-effective. I think when Ministers meet here it is important that we do something that will be of benefit to all of mankind. I will give an example. I was in New York two weeks ago at the meeting of the General Assembly. After listening to five, six speakers at the general debate, I turned to a friend of mine who is a Foreign Minister and commented that I was there 11 years ago and it seemed to be the same old General Assembly. He said to me that the FAO Conference is like that.
Can we not look at the organization of our Conference and work toward reducing the period of the Conference from three weeks to a reasonable period and try to reduce the need for prepared statements, because if there was a roll call on Monday you would find that very few Ministers would be here. The remainder of the Conference will be covered by technicians. Where is the need for three weeks of ministerial time in Rome? I think there is need for us to look at this. The United States Secretary of Agriculture in his intervention made a reference to American food aid and indicated that if that food was put into 50 kilo bags and joined, it would go twice around the globe. If we attempt to take sentence by sentence all of the prepared statements that we make here, I think it would go a hundred times around the globe.
There is also need for us, I think, to look at the bureaucracy of the Organization, the bureaucracies of all multilateral organizations. There are so many multilateral organizations that are guilty of that. If you want to help developing countries, at the end of the day you discover that the best part of the resources allocated to projects are spent on bureaucracies. This is absolutely unnecessary. There is need for us to try and improve the bureaucracy in order that we can have cost-effectiveness and value for money.
Another point is the need for FAO and multilateral organizations to try and utilize the local expertise rather than that of expensive consultants. You bombard the developing countries with consultant after consultant, and they are very expensive. Sometimes some of the consultants come to our countries just to discover that in fact we know much more than they do about our country. So why cannot.the FAO and the multilateral organizations try to exploit the richness of the local expertise? I think this is very important.
My intervention on the African food crisis will be very brief because there is nothing new as far as the African food crisis is concerned. All of these things were pointed out in April 1980 when the Lagos Plan of Action was adopted. I happened to be one of the people associated with that Plan.
The food and agriculture chapter of the Plan of Action has ittall; the Harare Declaration has it all; the Addis Ababa Declaration has it all. Therefore, I think African Governments and people have clearly identified their priorities and indicated what our shortfalls are and how these things could be met by the international community. For us to develop our food and agriculture we need three things. We need to put emphasis on national effort; nothing can substitute for that. I am glad to say that most if not all African Governments have put relative emphasis on national efforts. African Governments have agricultural policies which are geared toward the incentive system, which is geared toward the improvement of the foodpricing system, which is geared toward production, and in turn, geared toward marketing, improvement of technology, training and effective extension services. All of these things are there and there is better coordination at the level of African Governments as far as agricultural development is concerned. We are allocating a very large chunk of the national cake. There is no doubt about that. However, that has to be supplemented by the contributions of the multilateral organizations and by the contributions of the international community as a whole. Mr. Chairman, it is an obligation. It is very important for these organizations, which were created by both developed and developing countries, as they have a set of objectives to reach. In order to do this we have to give them the right tools. Otherwise they will not be effective and they will not be able to deliver the goods. We created them and we have to support them by whatever means.
I call on the international community to try to support the Programme of Work and Budget of the FAO, to try to support the World Food Programme, to try to support IFAD in particular, which was created to help the poorest of the poor in 1974. It is now dying because of resource constraints, which is most unfortunate. The international community should try to help all multilateral organizations which are geared for economic development and agricultural development in particular.
I want to say how impressive it was, as far as I am concerned, to hear the representative of the United States state that the United States has spent something like US$ 1 billion for development aid to Africa. And yesterday I listened to the BBC and heard that the United Kingdon Government has decided to increase overseas development aid by a substantial margin, and that the best part of this will go to Africa for the development of agriculture and forestry. I think the problem is that there is a lot of goodwill in the international community, but that there is a need for these things to be coordinated. I think that what the United States has done, what the United Kingdom has done, what Italy in particular has done, we should expect the USSR to do, and all countries that can afford it, whether developed or developing, both East and West. Africa does not have any identity in terms of where we are going to choose our friends. People who are concerned, committed and prepared to help us are our friends. If countries want to come and compete with each other, they are absolutely welcome whether black or blue, whether you are East or West, whether North or South, if they have the potential to compete in Africa, they are absolutely welcome. I think that if the United States can come and can put US$ 1 billion on the table, we invite Russia to do the same thing, as well as the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia, and all of the developing countries. There are two options. You can go to replenish or build the African Fund which was established by our Heads of State. The second option is that you can, as Italy has done, create an emergency fund, an emergency department for assistance to Africa. In that way you will be able to help Africa and help Africa effectively.
As Minister Coordinator for CILSS I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who have helped the countries in CILSS and I would like to announce here and now that we want to invite all our friends and all the donors of CILSS to a Sub-Saharan meeting which will take place from 10 to 12 December in Milan. In the same vein, I would like to invite the donors to a meeting which will take-place in Dakar, to which all the CILSS Heads of State will be invited.
I would like to say on behalf of my Government and my country that we fully support the Programme of Work and Budget of FAO and the Food Security Compact, and we call all Member States to try and support this without any delay, without any controversy.
My concluding remarks are to extend our congratulations to the prizewinners, and in particular to the two gentlemen who came from Africa. These two gentlemen, Mr Danso and Mr Mohammed Amin, have made all of us proud to be Africans. By giving away their prize money, in the eyes of the entire world community the African personality and dignity is enchancedand elevated. They have proved to all of us here that Africa is prepared to share what little we have with others. My message, therefore, is for the international community to try and emulate what these two Africans have done. Let us try and share whatever little we have with others. Whether we come from East or West, whether from North or South, whether we are black or white, man is a man. Long live African development.
Dean R. LINDO (Belize): Mr President, Distinguished Colleagues, Sir, I wish to congratulate you on your unanimous election to this august Global Body, a credit to your illustrious self and your great country. May I assure you of my government’s country’s support to you and your Committee and for the continuing efforts of FAO to resolve the critical situation on the African Continent.
I am most grateful for the opportunity afforded me today to address this illustrious body of Agriculture Ministers on a number of subjects which I consider to be crucial to the improvement and expansion of the agriculture sector in all countries, and particularly to the developing countries which have agricultural industries as the base of their economies.
Many factors impinge on the success of agriculture and it would be impractical in the limited time available for me to try to elaborate on all of these, if that were at all necessary. Consequently, I will limit my comments to a few key issues which I believe to be areas of common concern.
The Extension Service
One of the most commonly accepted methods of improving and expanding agricultural production is through provision of improved agricultural services. The extension service is in fact the front line of contact between the farmer and the decision or policy maker, serving as a catalyst in providing the producer the technology with which to improve productivity and production. As such the level of production can be increased in direct relation to the concentration of extension efforts. The effects of these efforts are in turn related to the physical and technical capacity of the service.
Unfortunately, in most developing countries, there are a number of situational problems of farm distribution, accessibility of farms, technical capabilities of staff and other logistical problems. Some of these problems can be solved through economic cooperation or assistance programmes that provide transportation, housing and improved working conditions thereby enabling extension agents to reach all their farmers, especially those who are situated in the more remote areas, those who are in less fortunate circumstances and - you will agree - those who are more in need of the technical assistance of the extension service.
It is also recognized that as agriculture develops there is a corresponding need to increase this service. It is also true, however, that in order to improve the effectiveness and vibrancy of the extension service there is a concomitant need to provide technical assistance in the form of training in a wide range of subjects including technical as well as management and economic considerations. In this respect there is a need for developing countries to share similar experiences through technical cooperation and technical network programmes, thereby enhancing the technical capabilities and confidence level of those officers who must maintain the agricultural thrust of our countries.
Drainage and Irrigation
Perhaps the biggest single factor affecting production may be that of climate which, whilst beyond the control of man, may be somewhat modified in its effect on agricultural production. In this respect-water control - that is, the ability both to irrigate and to drain - can help overcome the two major hazards of drought and flood. The need to assess “water resources, and determine the ability to both irrigate and drain based on catchment areas and a greater appreciation of the concepts of agro-meteorology is of paramount importance. Much flooding now occurs, some of it quite imperceptible, with consequent loss of production. This would be avoided by simple land formation and establishment of drainage districts.
If one were to look at the total rainfall figure in most of our countries, it would appear at first glance that even the most arid regions should be able to sustain plant growth at its maximum. However, because of the rainfall distribution pattern there usually are distinct dry and wet seasons. This situation creates problems in that during the wet seasons, areas which are not naturally drained become waterlogged. Diversely, during the dry seasons plants suffer from water stress and do not perform at their maximum. The fact of the matter, however, is that the application of water control measures can- normally impose large economic burdens on developing countries which can ill afford it. The situation normally results in the implementation of very rudimentary systems, if at all, which are quite inefficient. Nevertheless, unless the products from such lands are naturally high-valued or are sold into preferential markets, it is unlikely that the high cost of water control schemes can be supported.
I would wish to indicate that this area should be the subject of greater economic cooperation whereby grant or soft loan funds may be made available to deserving cases. Furthermore, through technical assistance programmes which would refine the information on climatic factors, soil types, topography and overall water management more countries will be able to participate in this important area of activity.
Post-harvest Technology
Another area which has given cause for grave concern over the years considers the subject of substantial losses which have occurred in post-harvest operations. Estimates of such losses have been quoted at figures as low as 10 percent and as high as 30 percent depending on the type of crop and the stage of agricultural sophistication for individual countries. Suffice it to say here that these losses represent financial losses in the billions of dollars and, if they were to be prevented, could in fact contribute significantly towards satisfying the hunger of a large percentage of the starving masses of the world.
Post-harvest losses occur in many forms and at several stages commencing in the field, and include losses at farm level storage as well as in large storage silos or warehouses. In many developing countries, total storage capacity often does not satisfy storage requirement. Furthermore the quality or suitability of the available storage leaves much to be desired. At the end of the day then, when all factors are taken into consideration, in many cases only about 50 percent of the total crop which is produced reaches the table of the consumer.
It cannot be denied that a considerable number of consultancy or technical cooperation programmes have been sponsored in this sector of discipline. Unfortunately, however, many of them stop short of attaining the final objective of assisting the farmers to preserve more crops, succeeding as they do in only exposing the nature, quality and extent of the problem. This situation is akin to someone attending the doctor only to be diagnosed as being sick but being provided with no curative or preventative medicine or necessary surgery.
It is important that economic assistance and, where relevant, technical cooperation in post harvest technology, should lead to the establishment and utilization of improved storage and processing facilities. Furthermore, the training of local personnel in post-harvest technology, accompanied by training of farmers and extension agents in practical aspects of the post-harvest handling of agricultural produce, is a dire necessary.
We would all agree that successful implementation of projects in this discipline will not only reduce effective cost of production, but will also contribute to the food security of many countries by enabling them to carry buffer stock over in storage from one harvest to another thus providing a compensatory factor against natural disasters such as droughts, hurricanes, floods, etc.
Marketing/Processing
I wish at this point to address myself to the last major topic of this presentation, representing as it does the point to which we all aspire at the end of the day - that is, the matter of marketing our. produce.
Most of us in the developing countries have had reason to agonize over the most unsatisfactory situation that exists with respect to the marketing of our produce, largely producing as we do raw materials and primary agricultural commodities. The answer to this dilemma has often been suggested as being that of processing and obtaining the benefit of value added as well as providing a more specialized product. The attainment of this goal has, however, been limited in many cases by lack of appropriate technology and diseconomies of scale which make our products uncompetitive.
Some of the developing countries have sought to address this weakness by forming trading associations, an example of such an arrangement being the Caribbean Common Market (CARICOM) of which Belize is a member. Such an arrangement seeks to achieve structural adjustment and closer integration of the member territories for accelerated development through improved economics of scale and comparative advantages in cost of production. As has been discovered by the members of other such arrangements, however, even among developed countries, this integration must occur within the scope of the political mandate of each individual member.
Of course, there are preferential markets for some of the raw material and primary commodities produced by developing countries; one such example is sugar. It is lamentable, however, that the sugar industry in the Caribbean as well as other ACP members has contracted because of increased supply of beet sugar and use of corn and artificial sweeteners resulting in record low prices being paid for sugar on the world market. It is, furthermore, unfortunate that this situation has been exacerbated by beet sugar production from some of our EEC partners in trade and economic cooperation.
On the other hand, the initiatives taken under programmes such as the Caribbean Basin Initiative have been somewhat blunted by the.reduction of US sugar quotas.
I believe that it behoves this Conference of Agriculture Ministers to signal its support for the improvement of current marketing arrangements and for renewal of the agricultural thrust of these developing countries whose economics are largely based on agriculture.
Mr President, at the risk of being invidious, I wish to commend the work of our valued Director-General for the time and talent which have been put into the Herculean task of preparing the Budget and Work Programme for the period 1986-87. My Government unhesitatingly supports this work. We are particularly supportive of the Technical Cooperation Programme.
Finally, Mr President, I must congratulate the FAO on its 40th Anniversary, having regard to its near miraculous performance during these trying and tempestuous years. May the Lord continue to bless richly the good work of this productive Organization. 1/
Emmanuel ABDOUL République centrafricaine): Monsieur le Président, Monsieur le Directeur général de la FAO, Excellences, Mesdames et Messieurs les Honorables délégués et observateurs, je vondrais, au nom du Gouvernement de la République centrafricaine et à celui de son Excellence le Général d’armée André Kolingba, Président de la République, Chef de l’Etat et du Gouvernement, remercier l’Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’alimentation et l’Agriculture (FAO) pour l’invitation qui nous a été faite pour participer aux travaux de cette vingt-troisième session de la Conférence de la FAO et pour l’accueil chaleureux qui nous a été réservé.
Monsieur le Président, je voudrais également m’acquitter d’un honorable devoir qui est celui de vous présenter, au nom de ma délégation, toutes nos félicitations pour votre brillante élection à la présidence de la vingt-troisième session de la Conférence de la FAO.
Vos expériences, vos compétences si connues, présagent déjà des résultats des travaux de cette Conférence.
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1/ Statement inserted in the verbatim record on request.
La délégation de la République centrafricaine se félicite de ce que l’ordre du jour de la présente Conférence comporte une série de thèmes qui recouvrent toutes nos préoccupations qui sont également celles de la FAO, que dirige le Dr. Edouard Saouma. Qu’il reçoive ici tous nos remerciements pour la quaiité des documents présentés et pour les efforts qu’il ne cesse de déployer pour une meilleure orientation de -notre organisation.
Ma délégation profite de cette occasion qui lui est offerte pour saluer l’admission des Iles Cook et des Iles Salomon à notre organisation. Qu’ils soient assurés du soutien de mon pays.
Loin de m’étendre sur des considérations générales au risque de répéter ce que mes prédécesseurs ont déjà dit, je voudrais plutôt m’apesantir sur la situation spécifique de mon pays, la République centrafricaine.
La République centrafricaine est un pays à vocation essentiellement agricole. En effet, l’agriculture qui occupe plus de 80 pour cent de la population figure pour la décennie 1981-1990 en tête des grandes orientations socio-économiques du gouvernement. Mais, dans ses efforts de développement socio-économique, elle se heurte à de sérieux obstacles qui sont ceux auxquels sont également confronted tous les pays en voie de développement. Ces obstacles nous ne cesserons de le répéter, trouvent en partie leur origine dans des contraintes internes qui procèdent de facteurs “structurels”, découlant eux-mêmes des circonstances historiques ou de l’environnement physique. Ces facteurs sont l’insuffisance en ressources humaines, les troubles économiques dont s’est accompagnée la décolonisation et la consolidation qui a suivi le climat et la géographie.
Les conditions géopolitiques font de la République centrafricaine un pays enclavé, qui ne trouve d’accès aux débouchés que par la voie terrestre (Bangui-Douala) ou par la voie fluviable prolongée par le chemin de fer Bangui-Brazzaville, par le fleuve sur 1 300 kilometres et Pointe Noire par le rail sur 510 kilomètres. Les conséquences en sont un alourdissement des charges de transport aussi bien pour l’exportation des productions nationales que pour l’approvisionnement en biens d’équipements et de consummation.
Des facteurs externes sont, en outre, intervenus pour freiner la croissance, notamment les tendances défavorables de l’économie internationale. Parmi ces tendances, citons:
- l’inflation qui fait galoper les prix des équipements;
- la hausse du prix de l’énergie;
- la croissance relativement lente des échanges de produits de base;
- le caractère défavorable des termes de l’échange qui fait que nos exportations ne suffisent pas à financer nos moyens de développement.
Ces contraintes se sont aggravées à partir de 1970 par une gestion qui a plongé le pays dans une situation sociale, politique, économique et financière catastrophique:
- le taux moyen de croissance qui était de 4, 8 pour cent par an en valeur réelle à la fin des années 1960 et pendant la première moitié des années 1980 est tombé brutalement à 2, 6 pour cent;
- la production agricole par habitant a diminué de 18 pour cent en volume;
- la production alimentaire n’a pas suivi la croissance démographique;
- la production des principaux produits d’exportations (coton, café, tabac) s’est effondrée, entraînant une chute des exportations de coton qui sont passées de 60 000 tonnes en 1970 à 17 000 tonnes en 1980;
- tant la production que les exportations de bois et de café ont stagné;
- l’entretien des routes et des pistes a été négligé.
La production industrielle s’est mise à décliner en raison de la perte de confiance des milieux d’affaires: son taux de croissance qui avait été de 6, 5 pour cent pendant la période de 1966-1970, adiminué entre 1970-1980. Des années durant, la mauvaise gestion et la politique inadéquate des prix ont découragé les paysans qui se sont repliés dans une production de subsistance. Les entreprises publiques et privées et le système bancaire ont été mis dans une situation extrêmement difficile.
Le produit intérieur brut par habitant et par an qui était de 53 160 francs CFA en 1977, à prix constants, n’était plus que de 43 690 francs CFA en 1980.
La recherche n’a pas été non plus épargnée. En effet, il n’est pas inutile de rappeler ici la prospérité scientifique qu’a connue le Centrafrique jusqu’en 1970 avec des grands centres de recherche que sont:
- le Centre national de la recherche agronomique de Boukoko où ont été effectuées des etudes très poussées sur le caféier, les autres plantes à tubercules et à racines amylacées. Des études sur des champignons à carpophores étaient également effectuées à La Maboke qui donna naguère son nom à une revue scientifique de renommée mondiale, je veux citer “Les cahiers de La Maboke”.
- L’Institut national de la recherche sur les textiles et les vivriers de Bambari qui étudiait les plantes textiles dont le coton et les vivriers appartenant à toutes les families dont particulièrement les céréales et l’arachide. Depuis lors, cette prospérité n’est plus pour nous qu’un triste souvenir.
Telle est, à la fin de l’année 1980, la situation économique désastreuse du pays; le nouveau gouvernement se devait d’y mettre fin. C’est pourquoi, il a estimé que sa première tâche devait être d’élaborer un plan d’urgence de redressement économique et social afin de réparer les dommages subis par le pays. Ce plan d’urgence est fait en trois phases:
Première phase: assainissement des finances publiques afin de retrouver une crédibilité à l’exterieur et prétendre aux financements des projets,
- assainissement de la fonction publique
- reorganisation des principaux organismes d’etat charges de la production pour une meilleure gestion et une efficacité sans faille.
Deuxième phase: désenclavement des regions par la réhabilitation de l’infrastructure routière afin de faciliter l’écoulement des produits agricoles et d’approvisionner l’agriculture en intrants,
- relance de la production agricole.
Troisième phase: démarrage d’un véritable programme de développement économique et social basé sur la planification des ressources nationales.
Les activités agro-pastorales occupent une place prépondérante dans ce programme de développement économique. C’est pourquoi notre approche de l’agriculture repose sur deux conceptions:
- confier le développement rural à des structures d’intervention soutenues par une formation des conducteurs des travaux et par une relance de la recherche conséquente;
- faire de la sédentarisation de la culture et de l’élèvage et de la régionalisation de cultures notre stratégie de développement rural.
Vous conviendrez avec moi qu’un tel programme appelle d’autres considérations particulièrement celles de dépasser l’agriculture de subsistance pour arriver à celle où le paysan se responsabilise.
Pour cela, nous mettons l’accent sur le choix du terroir, sur la traction animale, sur les semences améliorées et sur les pesticides.
En ce qui concerne le choix du terroir, la situation géographique de la République centrafricaine implique des pluies suffisantes en durée et en quantité pour obtenir de hauts rendements en cultures vivrières et cultures de rente. Malheureusement, les fortes précipitations accélèrent la décomposition chimique du sol et le lessivage des substances chimiques. A cela, il faut ajouter qu’une grande partie du pays ne peut être exploitée à cause de la faible profondeur du sol et de l’abondance des surfaces rocheuses.
C’est dans ce souci que le gouvernement a recherche et obtenu de la FAO le financement du projet “assistance au service de pédologie” en vue de promouvoir le développement de l’agriculture sur les bases rationnelles et scientifiques. Ce projet a donné entière satisfaction mais, il faut souligner que les études pédologiques n’ont pas encore été exploitées systématiquement pour des fins de
développement agricole. Afin de nous aider à asseoir un bureau pédologique décent, nous sollicitons non seulement le renouvellement de l’assistance de la FAO, mais son élargissement en vue de former les cadres nationaux et de completer les équipements de laboratoire pour les analyses.
Quant à la traction animale, le matériel aratoire utilisé par le petit paysan demeure traditionnel et dérisoire: Houe, matchette. Ce matériel ne permet pas de développer une agriculture concurrentielle. Aussi, poursuivions-nous résolument l’intensification de la culture attelée dans toutes les zones de culture. Actuellement, les paysans de la zone savane qui pratiquent la culture du coton et des vivriers appartenant aux céréales, légumineuses et le manioc adhèrent profondément à la traction animale non seulement pour la culture mais également pour le portage et la réduction de la pénibilité du travail. La présence de glossine et de la trypanosomiase empêche l’introduction de la traction animale dans les zones de forêts. Toutefois, nous pensons résoudre ce problème par l’élevage des trypanotolérants du groupe des Ndamas et Baoules.
Quant à l’élevage du gros bétail qui se fait d’une manière itinérante, nous avons réussi, après des années d’effort, à créer une association nationale des éleveurs centrafricains et à mettre en place des communes d’élevage en vue de la sédentarisation des éleveurs et du contrôle des pâturages.
Le petit élevage fait aussi, ces dernierstaips, l’objet d’une attention particulière du gouvemement. Des actions sont menées en vue d’une production de races performantes dans les domaines de l’aviculture et de la porciculture.
La faune constitue également l’une des richesses naturelles de la République centrafricaine.
De par sa continentalité, la République centrafricaine a développé la pïsciculture qui a pris un essor considérable sur toute l’étendue du territoire grâce à l’assistance de la FAO et du PNUD.
Quant aux semences, elles sont le souci du gouvemement, car, au-delà du choix de bon terroir, au-delà de la modernité du matériel aratoire, le rendement demeurera toujours faible si on ne dispose pas de semences adéquates et améliorées.
A ce sujet, les projets “recherche agronomique et production de semences” finances par la FAO et “réduction de perte après récolte” financé par l’USAID sont pour nous d’une importance capitale.
Hormis le manque de semences nous éprouvons également des difficultés à donner aux paysans des boutures aussi bien des plantes à tubercules que des plantes à racines amylacées. Parmi ces plantes, le manioc constitue la base de notre alimentation.
Mais on enregistre actuellement des pertes dues aux ravageurs (acarioses, cochenille farineuse) allant jusqu’à 50% Ainsi, nous nous sommes mis en contact avec l’Institut international d’agriculture tropicale pour engager une lutte biologique conséquente.
Outre ces mesures, le gouvemement a affecté dans chacune de nos régions des ministres résidents pour exhorter la population au travail de la terre, à l’utilisation des fertilisants et des pesticides en vue d’accroître davantage le rendement et d’atteindre l’autosuffisance et la sécurité alimentaires.
Monsieur le Président, ces efforts de redressement oht commencé à donner des résultats assez satisfaisants malgré quelques calamités qui nous sont imposées par la nature, outre les ravageurs de manioc, je voudrais citer: l’invasion du nord du pays par les criquets migrateurs en 1980, ce qui nous a amené à demander l’aide alimentaire extérieure; la menace de la peste bovine en 1983 que nous avons jugulée grâce à l’appui de la FAO; et enfin, la sécheresse qui a sévi sur le pays en 1983, laquelle a entraîné des incendies d’habitations, des cultures, des forêts, et des pertes de production allant jusqu’à 75%.
Malgré ces calamités, l’autosuffisance et la sécurité alimentaire demeurent pour nous l’objectif à atteindre, de même que pour le peuple centrafricain, la bonne alimentation est un souci permanent.
C’est pourquoi nous adhérons pleinement à la Journée mondiale de l’alimentation instaurée par la FAO en 1981. Depuis cette date, nous célébrons annuellement cette journée qui a pris, au fil des années, des dimensions considerables, à en témoigner par la présence du Chef de l’Etat aux festivités dans la préfecture de Sibut.
Monsieur le Président, sur le plan social, nous encourageons les paysans et les éleveurs à s’organiser en groupements précoopératifs pour leur permettre de mieux défendre leurs intérêts.
Les associations villageoises constituent les cellules de base sur lesquelles reposent les interventions de l’Etat. Le développement communautaire est considéré comme clé de voute de la politique du gouvernement de promouvoir le développement rural intégré.
Dans cette promotion de développement du milieu rural, la femme est prise en compte. C’est ainsi que des projets spécifiques sont initiés en sa faveur afin de l’amener à se constituer en un partenaire véritable des actions de développement. Je ne citerai que: le projet technologie approprié et celui de l’hydraulique villageoise qui ont pour objectifs la réduction de la pénibilité du travail, l’augmentation de la productivité, l’approvisionnement en eau potable par le rapprochement des points d’eau des habitations.
Monsieur le Président, la vaste campagne de sensibilisation à la relance des activités économiques de la République centrafricaine doit sa réussite à l’aide soutenue de la FAO, à celles d’autres organismes internationaux et des pays donateurs.
L’assistance propre de la FAO à la République centrafricaine s’est de plus en plus diversifiée et elle touche les domaines suivants:
- La recherche agronomique et la production des semences;
- La vulgarisation agricole;
- La réduction des pertes après récolte;
- Les statistiques, la documentation et la planification agricole;
- La lutte contre les maladies du bétail;
- La pisciculture;
- l’aménagement de la faune;
- la recherche pédologique.
Dans le cadre de la promotion des investissements, la FAO a éegalexnent pris part dans l’identification et l’élaboration des projets ci-après: développement des zones caféières et cotonnières, développement de l’élevage, production du sucre, développement des cultures vivrières et de la pisciculture artisanale.
En vue de développer la coopération avec la République centrafricaine et d’en assurer un meilleur suivi, une représentation de la FAO a été ouverte à Bangui, la capitale en septembre 1983.
Monsieur le Président, le Gouvernement centrafricain soutient la politique générale de la FAO dans les domaines agricoles et alimentaires et est à l’écoute de ses préoccupations relatives aux faits nouveaux intervenus dans le système des Nations Unies. Certes, notre apport aux efforts déployés par la FAO dans sa lutte contre la faim et la pauvreté dans le monde est loin d’être suffisant.
Nous nous devons de reconnaître les retards cumulés dans les réglements de nos arriérés et le montant de la contribution courante de 1985.
Comme je venais de le dire plus haut, cet état de nos contributions est dû essentiellement à la situation financière et économique difficile dè la République centrafricaine. En dépit de ces difficultés, des dispositions ont été prises par le gouvernement pour que soient épongés progressivement nos arriérés vis-à-vis de l’Organisation.
Pour terminer, Monsieur le Président, la délégation centrafricaine se joint aux autres délégations pour exprimer son soutien à toutes les recommandations du Comité technique concernant tous les sujets traités. Elle encourage la FAO dans ses actions en matière d’aide d’urgence apportée aux pays directement touchés par les calamités naturelles, et lui réitère ses vifs rernerciements pour sa contribution notoire dans le redressement économique de la République centrafricaine. Je vous remercie 1/.
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1/ Texte reçu avec demande d’insertion au procès-verbal.
LE SECRETAIRE GENERAL: Je voudrais simplement rappeler que comme il a été décidé dès le début de la Conférence, la journée de demain sera tout entière consacrée à la commémoration du quarantième anniversaire de l’Organisation. L’agencement de la salle sera légèrement différent de ce qu’il était hier et aujourd’hui; les places que vous occuperez ne seront pas les mêmes.
Je rappelle que la séance commencera à dix heures trente et que les portes seront fermées à dix heures trente étant donné que nous avons l’arrivée de deux Chefs d’Etat. Je demanderai par conséquent aux délégués et ‘observateurs de se trouver à leur place de préférence pour dix heures quinze.
The meeting rose at 18.30 hours
La séance est levée à 18 h 30
Se suspende la sesión a las 18.30 horas
