PRESS CONFERENCE BY FAO

      In a world with so many resources, there were 790 million people in developing countries, and 34 million in developed countries, who still did not have adequate access to food, Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), told correspondents this afternoon. 

Mr. Diouf was briefing the press on the panel discussion on “Agriculture and Sustainable Food Security in Africa:  Meeting Basic Needs”.  Held earlier in the day, the panel was organized by the FAO, in collaboration with the Economic and Social Council and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs.  The panellists included Thoko Didiza, Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs of South Africa; Gordon R. Conway, President of the Rockefeller Foundation; and Hans Binswanger, Director, Africa Department, World Bank. 

The rate at which progress was being made was not sufficient, Mr. Diouf noted.  At the current rate of reducing the world’s hungry -- 8 million a year -- the goal set at the World Food Summit (Rome, 1996) of reducing the number of the world’s hungry by half by 2015 would only be achieved by 2030.  “This is not acceptable.”  It was matter of political will and resources.

He said that in sub-Saharan Africa, 34 per cent of the population was undernourished compared to 18 per cent for the developing countries.  Agriculture was a key element of African economies.  The share of agriculture in gross domestic product (GDP) in sub-Saharan Africa was 29 per cent, and agriculture represented 33 per cent of the exports of those countries.

Africa, he said, had been having problems with productivity due mainly to factors such as water control and minimal use of fertilizer.  It was also having serious problems with pests and diseases, as well as with access to markets, in the context of globalization.  The panel had also examined the impact on food security of a number of other issues, including war and civil strife, climate change and HIV/AIDS.  In sub-Saharan Africa, 28 million people in 21 countries were facing serious food shortages.

All of those factors were of great concern, particularly for achieving the goal of the Food Summit to halve the number of hungry people by the year 2015.  The number of the world’s hungry would have to be reduced by 20 million a year in order to achieve the Summit goal.

Hence, the need to call another meeting of the heads of State and government later this year from 5 to 9 November to not re-open the discussion, but address the lack of necessary political will and resources to achieve the goals of the Summit, he added.  While food aid was important and necessary, in the long term it was not the solution.  The solution should be to help countries, particularly those in Africa, with food production and access to food.

Asked if addressing the hunger problem was linked to addressing the HIV/AIDS crisis, Mr. Diouf replied that it definitely was linked.  The main livelihood of

people in the continent was agriculture.  If they could not afford to be educated enough, it would be difficult for them to protect themselves.  As a result, HIV/AIDS prevention, which was based on education and information, would be more difficult to achieve.

Asked to what extent the food crisis was man-made, he said that it was mainly a problem of political will, and setting priorities and translating them into action.  Everyone agreed on the basic right of human beings to food and on the importance of the issue.  However, when it came to ensuring that people had the capacity to produce food, deeds often did not follow words.  Then there were the technological aspects, such as lack of water control and use of fertilizers.  Those problems, however, could be addressed with the right amount of political will.

Among the FAO’s priorities was the special programme on food security, which aimed to accelerate food production and facilitate access to food in low-income food deficit countries.  That programme, which was operational in 62 countries, half of them in Africa, focused on aspects such as water control, crop intensification and diversification into small animal production.  It also sought to advise governments on how they could improve their policies to create a better environment for increased investment and increased income for the farmers. 

With regard to foot-and-mouth disease, he said that the principle in developed countries was not to trade in animals that had the disease or were vaccinated.  Once the animals were vaccinated, they could not be sold.  Therefore, the only solution was to destroy the animals.  It was a race against the dissemination of the disease.

In the other group of countries, where the animals that were vaccinated could be sold, the FAO had instituted its programme on the prevention against transboundary pest and disease.  In those places, the FAO vaccinated animals and taught people how to detect the disease and protect against it.

He believed that foot-and-mouth disease was a very marginal problem.  It had received so much attention because it occurred in developed countries, where the media was able to bring the images of animals being destroyed to the public eye.  While it was an issue to be dealt with, it should not distract the international community from the real priorities.

Asked why he did not bring the matter of fighting hunger before the Security Council, Mr. Diouf said that the members of the Council were also members of the FAO.  They were also among the same States that approved the Rome Declaration and Plan of Action in 1996.  Yet, even after approving those documents, their deeds did not follow their words.  While many subjects were discussed in the Council, it had yet to discuss the fundamental right to food. 

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