FAO/3623

FAO DIRECTOR-GENERAL SAYS SURVIVAL OF HUMANITY DEPENDS ON FOOD SECURITY

16 October 1995


Press Release
FAO/3623


FAO DIRECTOR-GENERAL SAYS SURVIVAL OF HUMANITY DEPENDS ON FOOD SECURITY

19951016 Quebec City, 14 October (FAO) -- declaring that hunger and malnutrition afflicting some 800 million people are unacceptable in a world that possesses the means for change, FAO Director -- General Jacques Diouf said today the survival of humanity depends on food security.

In a statement at the opening of a three-day Ministerial Meeting on World Food Security for the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Mr. Diouf declared: "The implications of food security are vital for the world today, for what we have before us is no less than the survival of humanity. If, through misfortune, we found ourselves unable to avoid famine, if our efforts to achieve food for all prove to be in vain, then all of us, weather rich or poor, wherever we might be, will be facing the same dangers."

However, Mr. Diouf also said, he was convinced that "the final victory will be ours". According to the Director-General, agricultural growth to achieve a world without hunger implies "massive injections of capital; high- performance, on-target technology; inputs, knowledge and know-how; in short: aid and investment on an unprecedented scale".

While official development assistance has declined, the FAO Director- General said, investment was more than just official development assistance. Saving should be encouraged within countries to stimulate public and private funds and, at the same time, create conditions to attract private investment from abroad. "There is immense scope for investors in the development of agriculture," Mr. Diouf declared.

FAO, Mr. Diouf told the meeting, is launching "a new Green Revolution, skirting the shoals upon which the first nearly ran aground, that is, basically, the problems of adverse environmental impact and the risk of benefitting the wealthier, better-educated farmers and sidelining the poor ones".

He referred to two new FAO special programmes, one to support food security in low-income, food-deficit countries, aiming to increase food supplies, stabilize yields and boost work in income opportunities in

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agriculture, and the second programme to serve as an emergency prevention system for transboundary animal and plant pests and diseases, first focusing on desert locust and rinderpest.

It was expected that the Agriculture Ministers would endorse the "Quebec Declaration", reaffirming their commitment to the goal of food security for all. The Declaration was to be submitted for adoption at the 28th session of FAO's Governing Conference to be held in Rome from 20 October to 2 November. While noting the progress towards food security made globally over the last 50 years, the declaration recognized that despite advances, very many people still suffer from chronic undernutrition.

FAO member States, by the declaration, would commit themselves and FAO to concentrate on the following four areas:

- promoting agriculture, forestry and fisheries as key sectors in the quest for sustainable economic development; empowering food producers and consumers; making sustainable use of natural resources for development; and building a global partnership for sustainable development.

The Ministerial Meeting on World Food Security was held in the room at the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City, where FAO was created 50 years ago on 16 October. It capped events dedicated to the theme of this year's World Food Day: "Food for All". The Ministerial Meeting was preceded by a three-day international symposium, organized by the Government of Canada, on "People at the Heart of Development: Food Security through Know-How" with the participation of representatives from governments, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and the academic world. The participants examined possible solutions to the problems of food production and ways of providing universal access to a proper diet.

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For information media. Not an official record.