On behalf of the Director-General of FAO Jacques Diouf, my colleagues and on my own behalf, I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific for the commemoration of World Food Day 2006 which marks the 61st birthday of FAO. In this auspicious year FAO joins the Thai people in celebrating the 60th anniversary of His Majesty the King's accession to the throne.
We are especially honored with the presence of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. We are grateful to you, Your Royal Highness, for your gracious acceptance of our invitation to preside over the World Food Day celebration here at the regional office.
Asia and the Pacific region has seen faster human and economic development during the past half century than during any previous comparable period in history. Almost everywhere, literacy rates are up, infant mortality is down, and people are living longer lives. Extreme poverty has come down from 32 percent of the total population in 1990 to an estimated 19 percent in 2005. Yet, the region is still home to 621 million poor people - or two-thirds of the world total - who earn less than US$1 a day. Likewise, the latest figures indicate that in 2001-03, 524 million people, or 64 percent of developing world's hungry, lived among us. Reversing this shameful situation is the preeminent moral and humanitarian challenge of our age.
It is indeed sad that while Asia as a region is booming economically and several Asian cities have emerged as major centres of world finance and technology, Asian villages are still poor and technologically lagging. The rural population, in particular agricultural households, are the poorest of the poor. The income equalities between rural and urban people and between agricultural and non-agricultural households are growing, mainly due to the slowing down of agricultural growth for many years.
Country experiences in the region show that overall economic growth is a primary and essential condition for mass poverty reduction, but not a sufficient condition. The responsiveness of poverty to economic growth is weak where access to land, credit, social services and infrastructure is highly unequal. Evidently, the nature of growth, not just its speed, matters. In this regard, the quality of growth has to be more broadly based than it has been for a number of Asian countries. Agriculture and rural development is the key to achieving broad based growth and the Millennium Development Goals for poverty and hunger reduction in the region. This has been confirmed by many studies.
The agriculture sector today is operating in an environment of rapid globalization and urbanization, rising incomes and their associated changes in food demand and marketing patterns. Asian agriculture also faces a shrinking and/or deteriorating natural resource base due to competing demands for urbanization and widespread intensification, rising input costs and falling output prices on a long-term basis. Not only have the costs of inputs increased, their "quality" has also declined, as indicated by small farm sizes, aging farmers, extreme weather conditions and new types of pests and diseases, such as the outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in several countries of the region. Asia-Pacific is also highly prone to natural disasters and conflicts - we are today still repairing the damage caused by the Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004. Moreover, there has been a decline in public sector resource allocation to agriculture. These conditions have naturally discouraged private sector investment in agriculture. As a result, there has been a net resource outflow from the rural to the urban sector. Future growth strategies for improving food security and winning the war against poverty need to take these realities into account and craft and implement suitable institutional changes, technological innovations, market reform and infrastructure development.
The significance of investing in agriculture for food security cannot be overstated. The experience of China and India amply show the importance of public expenditure in agriculture and the rural sector- in irrigation, agricultural R&D and rural infrastructure - in enhancing productivity, wages and employment in both the farm and non-farm sectors and in reducing the incidence of poverty and hunger. Moreover, crosscountry studies by FAO show that those countries which spend more on agricultural and rural development obtain larger and more rapid reductions in poverty and hunger.
Given the realities of the region, we have to recognize that in addressing poverty and food insecurity the most important task is enabling the rural poor to improve their livelihoods through policy, investment and institutional reforms that enhance the efficiency of domestic markets and provide improved access to technology, infrastructure and education. Such an enabling environment allows rural growth benefits to be broadly based, thereby enhancing overall nutrition, human capital development, and productivity and economic growth in the medium- to long-term. Almost invariably, successful, sustainable cases of rural development and poverty reduction are based to a significant degree on efficiency-enhancing reforms which reduce the production and marketing costs to farmers and the transaction costs of intermediaries.
In fact, the agricultural sector in the region has been adjusting and responding to changes in the external environment driven by globalization. It has been diversifying and commercializing to remain competitive. However, the opportunities for such restructuring are not evenly distributed among agricultural households. In particular, small farmers lacking access to information, technology and credit find it difficult to deal with the agribusiness sector on fair terms. They are more vulnerable to natural disasters and can easily fall into poverty traps in the absence of social safety nets. For those who are too weak to participate or are hurt in the process of restructuring, there is a role for the government to help through the provision of safety nets and building of social capital. Growth-oriented policies need to be well balanced with the quest for equity of opportunity.
For the last decade since the 1996 World Food Summit, FAO has emphasized the need for increased investment in the agriculture and rural sector in all major international forums including the Monterrey International Conference on Financing for Development held in 2002. Alongside, through its policy advice FAO has promoted efficient use of investment resources in the most productive sector that will enhance food security and reduce poverty.
On this happy occasion of the World Food Day, I wish to assure you all that this regional office remains fully committed to working with FAO member countries in the region and with development partners, including the private sector and civil society, in augmenting investment in agriculture for food security which will make a dramatic contribution to the well-being of the people in our region.
Thank you!
