SAINT LUCIA - SAINTE-LUCIE - SANTA LUCIA

The Honourable Ira D'Auvergne, Minister for Agriculture, Lands, Fisheries and Forestry of Saint Lucia

I bring greetings from my Prime Minister, Dr. The Honourable Vaughan Allen Lewis, to this important assembly of world leaders gathered here to deliberate on the issue of world food security. The Honourable Prime Minister regrets that due to certain pressing matters of state, he is unable to be present on this occasion but nevertheless wishes the Summit every success. This World Food Summit is timely and indeed central to the struggle of nations to free the world of hunger, poverty and malnutrition.

My Government, therefore welcomes this initiative by the Director-General, the distinguished Dr. Jacques Diouf, to convene this Summit as part of a global assault on the scourge of poverty and malnutrition. We wish to congratulate the Director-General for his foresight and his leadership on this issue. Since assuming the leadership of FAO about three years ago, Mr. Director-General, you have demonstrated a remarkable understanding of the challenges facing FAO and the imperatives facing world agriculture, in particular. We wish to reiterate our commitment to the ideals of the FAO under your leadership, and express our confidence in, and endorsement of, the path you have chosen for the organization.

In 1974, the nations of the world gathered at a World Food Conference at which many of the issues which confront this Summit were discussed and commitments made to ensure that within ten years, no child should go to bed hungry or without the basic necessities of life.

The primary responsibility for solving problems of hunger rests with national governments - the Member Nations of FAO. FAO's role is supportive of this national responsibility. Statistics have revealed both positive and negative results in this endeavour.

On the positive side, statistics showing increases in food production have demonstrated that the world is able to feed all its people, even in the face of population increases. In actual fact, the percentage of the world's population affected by hunger has decreased since the establishment of FAO.

On the negative side, this fact does not contradict the validity of the observation that 800 million human beings, who are our equals in rights, dreams and expectations are unable to satisfy their basic food needs. The necessity for addressing this issue is urgent. In fact, Saint Lucia considers this Summit to be an unprecedented opportunity for achieving substantial reductions in poverty.

The most fundamental of all human rights, is the right of access to food. But this right is influenced by a myriad of factors often overlooked as food security is often seen in the narrow context of merely being able to produce food.

But this issue of access to food is one which must be viewed holistically. It must be seen in the context of the totality of the issues of development which face all developing nations, the constraints which they face in addressing these issues, as well as the overall strategies which underpin the policies within which these issues are tackled.

This interdependence between food security and overall economic, social and political security, must be recognized by all. Peace and food security are essential prerequisites to each other. In order to ensure access by all to food, our economic and social development policies must encourage broad and equitable distribution of income. Thus, food security must be mutually reinforcing with all facets of economic development, including not only access to food, but also the provision of employment, the provision of vital social amenities, and access to the critical needs which will enable our people to enhance their quality of life; it requires attention to be paid as much to the quality of growth as to its quantity; it requires that attention be paid to economic well-being as well as respect for human rights.

Such a broad all-encompassing approach also requires that attention be paid to differing circumstances of states, taking due cognizance of each individual state, country and regional peculiarities.

Therefore, the issue of food security is as important for the food deficit countries, as it is for the small island states of the Caribbean of which my country is a part. Small Island States characterised by fragile economies, vulnerability, susceptibility to natural disasters, and all the other constraints imposed by size and scale of operation.

On many occasions during the last decade, countries like ours have been left to wonder whether we have become the forgotten ones in the global political game. It is a game where we are no longer considered useful to some of those whom we have traditionally come to recognize as our friends, and have thus been cast aside.

The world environment has become increasingly hostile to Small Island States like Saint Lucia. Conventional economic indicators have conveniently been used to deny us access to badly needed resources for our development.

While the criterion of per capita income is now being used to measure our qualification for aid by donor countries and multinational donor institutions, some of these very countries are implementing trade policies to undermine our economies by fighting to deprive us of access to markets for our traditional export - bananas, knowing full well that this is the main industry of our country, and indeed the main industry of the other sister, the Windward Islands and Jamaica. These islands now supply only a minuscule 2 percent share of the market. They do not therefore pose a threat to any other supplier. Why then can't it be accepted that we can co-exist?

The WTO is now being used as a forum to apply further pressure on our countries, and even as we gather here, we await the report of a panel which has been appointed to investigate our case, a panel I might add, that for a number of reasons is heavily weighted against us.

Those nations together with the multinationals whose interests they promote, demonstrate not only a callous disregard for the mission of this Summit, and access to basic human needs, but seek by their actions to dislocate our fragile economies, and to deprive our populations of their livelihood; access to employment, education and opportunity for our social, economic and political development.

The question to be asked is why, having used our talents wisely, to improve the quality of life of our people and to stimulate our economies towards a sustainable level of development, we should be punished, rather than encouraged and supported to maintain our economic and social stability.

If these policies are pursued, our small fragile island states will be pushed into the abyss of unemployment, poverty, hunger and social chaos, which can only result in conditions of instability which in the final analysis threaten our democratic institutions, traditions, and indeed our very existence.

Nice words, platitudes, promises and insincere expressions of concern will not solve the problems of hunger. Nor will they meet the objectives of this Summit, so eloquently and ably promoted by the distinguished Director-General.

What is needed, and indeed what this Summit demands is a conscious and irrevocable resolve on the part of the rich and able countries to help the needy.

Experience has shown, and current events illustrate, that the centres of most conflict and instability are located in areas plagued by hunger and poverty. This is further evidence of the interconnections between food security and overall national, social, economic and political stability. The quest for peace on this universe will never be achieved as long as economic inequities exist. Peace and poverty cannot co-exist. Democracy cannot blossom in an environment of poverty.

The international community should not sit idly by whilst our small helpless countries continue to suffer from this unwarranted economic aggression.

FAO has been an effective instrument in the fight against hunger, malnutrition and poverty, and in helping small states in particular. We have been asked to seek alternative agricultural opportunities, in short, to diversify our agricultural sector. This is not new to us. We too recognize this and have been actively pursuing strategies to diversify our economies to equip our country to face new types of insecurities and uncertainties.

But investments in the agricultural and rural sector can now take many years to yield results. We require support to address issues such as irrigation and water resources management, integrated pest management, human resource development, research, etc. to enable us to compete, at a time when agricultural commodity prices have been steadily declining, resulting in increased risks.

FAO is playing a vital role in supporting us, but itself needs the resources with which to carry out its technical assistance programme. It is our hope that this Summit will result in additional resources being made available, and that we will also eventually see a rationalization of the inputs of all the agencies involved in supporting agricultural and rural development.

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I would like to congratulate you on your appointment as chairman of this historic assembly.

My delegation wishes to record its appreciation to FAO for its continuing technical and material support, and wishes to congratulate the Director-General for his foresight and sense of humanity in convening this World Food Summit. We also wish to thank the Government of Italy for its excellent support and hospitality, as we endorse the Rome Declaration and accompanying Plan of Action.