SURINAME

His Excellency Jules Albert Wijdenbosch, President of the Republic of Suriname

At the outset I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you, Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the Government and people of the Republic of Suriname on your unanimous election to chair this meeting.

My Delegation wishes to express its appreciation to the Government and people of Italy for hosting the meeting in this city which may rightly be considered a centre of ancient and modern history. Furthermore, my Delegation applauds the Director-General of FAO, His Excellency Dr. Diouf, for the excellent organization of this Summit.

My Delegation rejoices in sharing this sublime initiative to eliminate poverty and hunger, and to commit ourselves to the implementation of polices and plans of action which will ensure sustainable economic development in our respective states and territories.

Suriname believes that the Rome Declaration on World Food Security and the World Food Summit Plan of Action, constitute a solid basis for our deliberations and a speedy decision-making.

The Republic of Suriname is of the opinion that this forum presents us with the opportunity to draw the attention of those present here to the specific and practical problems involved in the eradication of poverty and hunger in the small, mini and micro States of the Caribbean with whom Suriname shares a common history.

The Constitution of Suriname, Article 41, lays down that the Nation "has the inalienable right to take complete possession of its natural resources in order to utilize them to the benefit of the economic, social and cultural development of Suriname."

Furthermore, the policy statement of my Government, which came into office in September of this year, makes well clear that we intend to take bold steps forward in exercising the above constitutional right "Suriname is internationally known as a potentially rich country. The crisis however, has caused our country to become one of the poor countries in our region. Large groups in society have lost their minimal social securities. This is alarming, but the government is of the opinion that there are possibilities to climb out of the abyss. National reconstruction must recognize the central position of the Surinamese people. This Administration will devote itself to a developmental process that is self-generating and continuous, resulting in a maximum output of our natural resources, which guarantees welfare and well-being for the Surinamese people."

With full acknowledgement of these commitments, the country report which we submitted to FAO, prior to this meeting, provides an overall picture of the nutritional situation in Suriname. Allow me some minutes, to elaborate on our problems in this respect. On a total land area of about 16.2 million hectares, the area suitable for agricultural and food production is 1.5 million hectares. Of this area, we exploit only 85 000 hectares, that is 7 percent of the area suitable for crop production. There is room for expansion! Of the 85 000 hectares that are exploited, 80 percent is used for the cultivation of rice - paddy production. The remaining 18 percent of the arable land is exploited for the production of palm oil, citrus, bananas, coconuts, a large variety of vegetables, horticultural products, root crops, and other fruit.

In addition, Suriname is part of "the land of waters", the true meaning of the word "Guyana". Suriname has an abundance of rivers, creeks, lakes and swamps which makes irrigation a matter of modern technology and management.

It is therefore both tragic and ironic to stand here and inform this meeting that despite Suriname's wealth of natural resources and a population of less than 500 000, we are faced with the problem of hunger and poverty. Large numbers of our people suffer from malnutrition, poor health and subsequent deficient mental development. According to the 1995 World Bank Report on Suriname, approximately 47 percent of our population lives in poverty and is deprived of sufficient and healthy nutrition.

The most important developments that have lead to the present situation are: first of all, that our prime food producers have made capital-intensive investment to modernize and mechanize food production in a small-scale society where labour is scarce and expensive. In order to have an adequate return on capital and to make a reasonable profit, our food producers cannot focus on the local market alone. For we have a small economy, a small population with such an ethnic diversity, that it results in a variety of diets to be satisfied in relatively small quantities.

Our food producers have, therefore, made the external markets their prime target. Although these markets demand high quality products, the prices that are paid adequately compensate for the investments. At the same time, this approach has led to the phenomenon that the crops offered on the local consumers market are relatively high-priced and that, more often than not, our consumers are offered "B" class commodities.

This brings me to the second development that has contributed to this critical situation. Due to the rigorous and haphazard implementation of our structural adjustment programme, the purchasing power of our people has plummeted. This has caused dire poverty for a large number of the urban population and for the people who survive in the underpopulated interior as well.

By emphasizing these aspects, we wish to convey to this forum that, having a small population, does not necessarily imply an easier way out in dealing with poverty and hunger. Irrespective of the size of the country or population, political commitment and a socially integrated approach are needed to effectively deal with this problem.

At a national level the firm decision was taken that instead of implementing a Structural Adjustment Programme which uses per capita income, balanced budgets, trade balance percentages as indicators for economic development, the present Government of Suriname will carry out a National Reconstruction Programme which is based on the following principles: firstly, human development is considered the prime and most important factor for sustainable economic growth. Secondly, economic growth must be reached, striking a proper balance between economic and social factors. Thirdly, the intensive cooperation between government, private enterprises, trade unions, agricultural cooperatives, women's organisations and NGOs must guarantee an effective implementation of the programmes so adequately defined at this meeting.

At a sub-regional level, Suriname will strive for an immediate enlargement of its market by involving French Guyana and Guyana in coordinated efforts to have our producers bring food crops onto a market of more than one million people.

At a regional level, we will continue to support and implement all initiatives decided upon within the ambit of CARICOM and the Association of Caribbean States, while we urge our more advanced neighbours like the United States of America, Canada and Brazil to support us in the field of transfer of technology to improve the quality and quantity of our food production.

I have taken this opportunity to highlight the specific problems of a small-scale society in our world. We are convinced that FAO will continue to play a vital role in the targets set by my Government and the Plan of Action adopted, and that our concerted efforts at national, regional and global efforts will result in the eradication of hunger and poverty.