Minister of Agriculture Kåre Gjønnes:

Statement at the 30th FAO Conference, Rome

Agenda item 5: Review of the State of Food and Agriculture

The 30th FAO Conference, Rome, 12-23 November 1999

Mr. Chairman,
Director General,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen

I would like to congratulate you and your Vice-Chairmen on your election. It is also with great pleasure that I welcome the new member countries of the FAO. Their entry marks an important step towards making the FAO a fully universal organisation.

Mr. Chairman,

The World Food Summit made us focus on food security issues from a new angle. The importance of a rights-based approach to food was underlined, and a plan of action was agreed upon. Unfortunately, the documentation provided for this Conference shows very clearly that we are not on track to reach our ambition of halving the number of undernourished people no later than 2015. Figures at the global level, although alarming, hide the fact that the situation is even more appalling within certain regions. In Sub-Saharan Africa, where we find the highest percentage of the world’s undernourished people, there has been a steady increase in the number of undernourished people during the nineties. The FAO characterises the situation as being “of the utmost concern”. Mr. Chairman, I find the situation intolerable, not least in the light of the ongoing efforts to establish a rights-based approach to food.

I do not pretend to be giving this very knowledgeable assembly a recipe for how to tackle the problem. I do not even believe there is a single cure. However, my Government believes that a broad approach to food security is needed - an approach that takes both social and political aspects into account.

The responsibility for providing access to land and other productive resources irrespective of gender and ethnicity rests primarily with the national governments. However, contributions from other actors are necessary. FAO therefore needs to actively take part in ongoing co-ordination efforts, like UNDAF and CDF. The FAO has a particular responsibility to assist national governments in reaching the goal of food security for all. In doing this the FAO should give increasing priority to the normative work such as policy formulation, and to the realisation of access to food as a human right.

The international community is instrumental in creating enabling conditions for all countries, and in securing stable levels of ODA, including investments in the agricultural sector. During the 1990s, however, we have seen a decline in the level of ODA. Furthermore, the documentation for this Conference shows a decline in the share of ODA directed towards the agricultural sector. This trend will not bring us closer to the objective established by the World Food Summit. I therefore urge the donor community to increase ODA to reach the agreed target of 0.7 percent of GNP.

Mr Chairman,

At the World Food Summit in 1996 it was stated that food production, both in high- and low-potential areas, is essential in order to secure adequate and suitable food supplies at household, national, regional and global levels. In order to reach the goal from the World Food Summit of halving the number of starving people no later than 2015, economic development in the poorest countries is crucial. It is also necessary that national and international efforts give preference to the possibility of increasing the food production to a sufficient level, especially within the developing countries. At the same time, food productive resources such as water and soil will become more scarce. Analyses presented by the FAO in 1996 showed that during a few decades, we may move from a situation with excessive food at the world market towards a situation of scarcity.

As we start on the new WTO-negotiations, which are to include trade in agricultural products, it is essential that these long-term developing trends are given sufficient weight. In the coming negotiations the Norwegian government will work actively to ensure a national room for manoeuvre making agricultural production in the whole country possible. Within the framework of the WTO reform process, the non-trade concerns related to multifunctional agriculture must be given sufficient weight. In our view, non-trade issues such as food security and viable rural areas are closely linked to an ongoing agricultural production. For this reason, most non-trade concerns in Norwegian agriculture can only be properly safeguarded through a combination of policy measures, including extensive use of production-related policy measures.

Furthermore, I would like to underline that special and differential treatment, as well as technical and financial assistance to the poorest developing countries are required in order to enable these countries to take advantage of opportunities offered by more open markets, and to mitigate possible negative effects resulting from the reform process. Norway would, in the forthcoming WTO-negotiations, be ready to consider proposals for improved market access for developing countries, particularly for the Least Developed Countries.

Mr Chairman,

A successful conclusion of the negotiations on plant genetic resources is of principal importance for the optimal utilisation of such resources and, consequently, a key to future food security. It is therefore crucial that the FAO and the member states step up their efforts to reach an agreement before the Council meeting in November 2000, otherwise the FAO’s prestige as a global normative agency may be jeopardised. Free access to genetic resources is imperative, not least for the poorest countries. At the same time, it is important that such open access is balanced by benefit-sharing provisions in line with the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Transparent, reliable and predictable funding is needed to implement the global plan of action on plant genetic resources.

Mr. Chairman

Later this autumn, I will be submitting a white paper on Norwegian food and agricultural policy to the Norwegian parliament. This paper will emphasise the importance of multifunctional agriculture for long-term food security, certain environmental public goods and viable rural areas. The agricultural sector has a mandate to produce safe food of high quality in conformity with consumers’ preferences. The white paper will therefore emphasise the production chain as a whole, consumer concerns in general and the importance of farmers’ expertise.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman