Country Statement and General Debate
For the Attention of Governments
The Conference:
1. appealed to all Member Nations who had not yet paid their assessed statutory contributions for the current year, including arrears, to honour their obligations to the Organization (para. 24).2. appealed for more aid to eastern and southern African countries to mitigate the human suffering through long-term development programmes (para. 27).
For the Attention of FAO
The Conference:
3. appealed to the Director-General to assist Member Nations in developing their water resources, especially as regarded the expansion in irrigation to compensate for variations in weather condition (para. 27).4. appealed to the Director-General of FAO to provide support to Member Nations of the Region in strengthening their institutional capacity regarding Early Warning Systems (para. 27).
5. appealed to the Director-General to assist in the reactivation of OCLALAV (para. 28).
6. requested the Director-General to continue to intensify FAO studies on the contractionary effects of some measures being implemented under SAP, especially as regarded their effects on food security (para. 32).
7. urged FAO to reintroduce the practice of convening the Technical Committee before the Plenary Session while maintaining the total duration of the Conference within one week (para. 33).
Report on FAO Activities in the Region 1990-91
For the Attention of Governments
The Conference:
8. repeated its appeal for assessed contributions to FAO to be paid promptly (para. 38).
For the Attention of FAO
The Conference:
9. re-echoed its recommendations during past Regional Conferences for the Regional Office for Africa to be strengthened, provided with adequate financial resources, and delegated with sufficient authority to promote economic and technical cooperation among African countries especially as regarded common resources shared by several countries, pests and disease control, and such special programmes as the international scheme for the Conservation and Rehabilitation of African Lands (para. 38).
Implementation of the Programme of Action of the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development
For the Attention of Governments
The Conference:
10. acknowledged that the primary responsibility for rural development rested with national governments and appealed to them to formulate a minimum Plan of Action at national, sub-regional and regional levels (para. 44).11. called upon CIRDAFRICA Member Nations to honour their financial obligations towards the Centre (para. 46).
For the Attention of FAO
The Conference:
12. appealed to FAO and the donor community to provide technical and financial support for the formulation and execution of the minimum Plan of Action at the three levels (para. 44).
For the Attention of Governments
The Conference:
13. called for the development of national programmes related to Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (SARD) within the context of UNCED's Agenda 21 (para. 54).14. expressed the need to review national budgets and development plans giving top priority to reform and structural adjustment programmes and those that favoured increased food supply, resource protection and a build-up of rural infrastructure (para. 60).
15. reaffirmed the target of twenty percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to be applied to agriculture (para. 61).
For the Attention of FAO The Conference:
16. requested FAO to consider organizing a regional meeting or series of subregional meetings, on ISCRAL to bring together countries and donors to discuss and agree on support for national programmes for land conservation and rehabilitation (para. 55).17. welcomed FAO's role in analyzing the impacts of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP) on the agricultural sector, in particular as regarded the use of inputs such as fertilizers (para. 56).
Representation of the Region in the Consultative Group on International
Agricultural Research (CGIAR)
For the Attention of Governments
The Conference:
18. elected the Republic of Ghana (Professor Kwesi Affransah Haizel) to represent the Region in the CGIAR from 1993 to 1996 (para. 66).
Update on Preparations for the International Conference on Nutrition (ICN)
For the Attention of Governments and of FAO
The Conference:
19. urged all concerned to make full use of this opportunity to fight hunger, malnutrition and diet-related diseases affecting all countries (para. 68).
Fourth International Technical Conference on the Conservation and Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources
For the Attention of FAO
The Conference:
20. recommended, as part of the preparatory process of the Technical Conference, the preparation of both the first report of the State of the World Plant Genetic Resources and the first Global Plan of Action on Plant Genetic Resources (para. 74).21. recommended that a number of expert and regional meetings be organized, and that advantage should be taken of the FAO Regional Conferences in producing the State of the World Plant Genetic Resources and the Global Plan of Action (para. 74).
The Accra Declaration on Sound Environment for Sustainable Agriculture in Africa
For the Attention of the Governments and FAO
The Conference:
22. considered the revised draft, and approved the Declaration, the full text of which is attached as Appendix D (para. 77).
Cooperation Between FAO and the OAU Secretariat For the Attention of FAO
The Conference:
23. recommended that various activities undertaken jointly by OAU and FAO be strengthened, especially in areas of nutrition and food and agriculture (para. 78).24. expressed the wish that the two organizations revise and update the existing Cooperation Agreement between them signed in 1967 (para. 79).
Date and Place of the Eighteenth Regional Conference for Africa
For the Attention of FAO
The Conference:
25. noted the offer of Burundi to host the Eighteenth FAO Regional Conference for Africa, and requested the Director-General to decide on the date and place of the Conference in consultation with Member Governments (para. 80).
