Minister of International Development and Human Rights Hilde Frafjord Johnson

“Poverty Alleviation, Food Security and Human Rights”

The Agricultural University of Norway, Ås, 8 September 1998

Ladies and gentlemen,

Introduction

First of all, I would like to thank you for inviting me to visit the Agricultural University of Norway. It is a great pleasure for me as Minister of International Development and Human Rights to share with you several aspects of the Government's development policy that I particularly care about, namely poverty alleviation, food security and human rights. This visit is also of special interest to me personally because of my own academic background and the time I have spent as a social anthropologist in Africa. In South West (south western) Tanzania - where I also grew up - I spent a year doing fieldwork over a period of one year related to the situation of rural farmers.

I would like to start by giving you some food for thought. I would like you to ask yourselves the question: - What is development?

I think that this is one of the most essential questions in the world today. I would suggest that you use your time here at this university, whether it is one year or five, to reflect on it. - What is development? - There are many answers, and no-one has the correct one, fortunately. In my view, development is not an end, it is not a goal in itself. It is a means. It is a process. The development process depends on very many inter-related factors and players. You and I are two of them.

Development is something much broader and richer than simply increasing a country’s gross domestic product. Economic growth is certainly part and parcel of the development process, but does not in itself lead to development. As I said about development, economic growth is a means and not an end.

When we consider the term “development” we can see how the quest for development and the pursuit of human rights are closely interlinked. Moreover, it is clear that all nations are, in fact, developing. Developing either towards something better, or towards something worse. The term “developed” is almost meaningless because it suggests an end point, a utopia, and history has taught us that utopia is beyond reach. The quest for “development” is a quest for something better, for human dignity, for the individual to be met by greater respect for human rights, for the individual to satisfy his or her basic needs, rich and poor alike, not solely in socio-economic terms. Fundamentally, the human rights agenda is a developmental agenda, for poor and for rich countries alike. I will return to these issues later.

We live today in a world of contradictions. Never have so many people succeeded in freeing themselves from absolute poverty as during the last 20 to 30 years. At the same time, there have never been as many poor as there are now. And the gap between rich and poor has never been wider. Prognoses from international research institutes show that more than a quarter of the world population lives in desparate poverty. Seventy per cent of the world’s poorest people are women. They are denied opportunities for education, jobs and the chance to make decisions that shape their lives. 150 million children in developing countries will be suffering from malnutrition by the year 2000, and the increase is expected to be particularly dramatic in Africa south of the Sahara. 140 million children receive no basic schooling and 250 million children work - often in jobs that are harmful to their own development.

The situation in the Sudan serves as a glaring example of the relation between human rights and access to food. Long-term drought has created enormous problems. More alarming in a human rights perspective is the fact that the opposing sides in the civil war in the Sudan sometimes seem to use access to food as a weapon. The government in Khartoum has been accused of placing obstacles in the path of humanitarian aid deliveries in an attempt to starve the population. And elements in the rebel army SPLM have - allegedly - confiscated food aid deliveries meant for the starving people. Pressure from the international community and the UN agencies has been necessary to secure the safe delivery of food aid. Regardless of how you look upon the conflict in Sudan, those who suffer the most are the poor, women, children and the elderly - as we have seen every day on television throughout the summer.

I would like to focus first on human rights, food security and development, then on poverty alleviation as such, and thirdly on subjects related to agriculture in particular.

Human Rights and Development Policy Related to Food Security

The struggle for human dignity and fundamental human rights is at the centre of Norwegian development policy. Our primary objective is to contribute to consistent and sustainable improvements in the economic, social and political conditions of people in developing countries, particularly the poor. Improved protection of basic human rights must go hand in hand with development. As a matter of fact, development assistance is in itself a process of improving human rights, not the least the social, economic and cultural rights of the ordinary woman and man.

I believe reducing poverty and meeting the basic needs of individuals are in themselves means of promoting human rights. And in this respect we have to acknowledge that social, economic and cultural rights are as important as civil and political ones.

Several studies have concluded that development projects are more often successful and achieve better results in countries where human rights, in particular civil rights, are respected. This is related to the fact that the authorities act in a more responsible manner when the inhabitants enjoy legal protection and where there is room for criticism and scrutiny. In brief, the protection of human rights helps to give the authorities a greater sense of responsibility towards the population, which in turn has a favourable impact in terms of development. There is close interaction between greater observance of civil and political rights on the one hand and economic development on the other.

In development policy, food security must be seen in conjunction with democratic development and basic human rights. The right to sufficient and nutritious food is in itself a fundamental human right. The responsibility of implementation at the national level rests with the respective governments. This in turn requires the existence of fundamental social and political rights.

The right to food is thus closely linked to other basic human rights, such as the right to work, to an income and a decent life and to popular participation. For poor people, the way to land, credit and other means of accessing food often goes through participation in political processes. Furthermore, ensuring that the necessary economic, social and political conditions for improved food security are present is a national responsibility. However, both at the national and local levels poor people often come up against political elites with entrenched ideas who stand between them and the food they need. Supporting their right to democratic participation is therefore often a necessary and important step on the route to ensuring improved food security for the poor.

Conversely, we know that sufficient access to food is often a precondition for the development of democracy and popular participation in many developing countries. If people in a community cannot meet their own basic needs, conditions for democratic development and equitable distribution will not be present. People will simply not have the time, the resources, or the energy to involve themselves in political processes. They can only think of getting food for their families.

On the international scene it has been one of the Government's concerns to initiate co-operation between UN agencies responsible for human rights and development issues. Norway has emphasized that the declaration on food security following the World Food Summit in 1996 should explicitly declare access to food to be a basic human right. We have also actively supported Norwegian and international human rights institutions in the implementation of the action programme from the World Food Summit. In a few weeks the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under my leadership and together with the UNDP and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, will host an international conference in Oslo where the links between human rights and development will be explored further. This conference is also one of many ways of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Poverty Alleviation

Alleviating and eradicating poverty is the most pressing challenge of our time. The Government considers that the urgently needed solution to global poverty constitutes a moral challenge that we cannot ignore. It is our moral duty to find solutions and to do what we can to make sure that fewer of our fellow human beings live under degrading conditions and insecurity related to food. This is not a question of Norwegian interests. It is a question of fundamental values and of human rights. On the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights we must remember that the poverty that affects one quarter of the world's population in itself constitutes a massive violation of human rights.

The Government wishes to target its development assistance efforts towards poor regions, poor countries and poor population groups. This means that priority is given to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), the poorest countries. The focus on poverty will also influence how development objectives and strategies are formulated and how development operations are designed. One objective is increased assistance to Africa. Another element is greater emphasis on sectoral programmes. The intention is to facilitate better coordination and improve the recipient government's ability to initiate its own poverty alleviation programmes. In several developing countries sectoral programmes have been formulated that combine reforms, institutional strengthening and competence building and initiatives to facilitate investments, in some cases also in the agricultural sector.

I will now turn to two areas of priority for poverty alleviation. One area which is among our highest priorieties is education. Education is essential for poverty-oriented, sustainable development. Supporting education meets several development goals simultaneously: reducing population growth, providing a stronger human resource base for industrial and agricultural development, preventing child labour, reducing gender inequalities, and giving individuals and families greater income opportunities. In my statement to the Storting on 5 May I said that the Government intended to increase the share of development assistance to education to 10 per cent by the year 2000 and to 15 per cent a few years thereafter. Today I am pleased to announce that the 10 per cent goal has in fact already been reached this year, and that we are not far off the 15 per cent figure. Our aim is to invest in human resources, in human capacity, in a wide range of educational programmes, from basic education to higher education and research, although with a strong emphasis on basic education.

I will also give more priority to health and more so than previous governments, especially primary health services. As in the case of education, we want to reach the 10 per cent target by the year 2000. While our efforts in health and education will always be relatively small when seen in isolation, we believe that both developing countries and donors will see significant results in terms of poverty eradication if we all live up to the so-called 20/20 commitment: The UN Social Summit in 1995 proposed that 20 per cent of development aid and 20 per cent of the recipients’ official budgets should be earmarked for basic sosial services, like basic education and primary health care. This is what our commitments to these sectors are all about: to be part of a large, coordinated effort to radically expand education opportunities and improve basic health services worldwide for the poorest.

When we choose to focus on poverty oriented sectors such as education and health in many of the poorest countries, we must be aware of one thing, that our doing so may result in an increase in public expenditure in the countries concerned. This may lead to more dependence on development assistance and to a heavier burden of debt owing to the need for more loans. This makes it all the more important to stimulate income-generating activities in the private sector, which is the real engine in economic development. Here agriculture will be emphasized, and I will revert to this later.

We are now in the process of finalizing a strategy for private sector development. In this work we have tried to draw on the lessons of our own efforts to support industrial and manufacturing development in the past as well as the experience of other donors. According to this strategy, the role of Norwegian industry and the private sector will now be judged, solely in terms of how far it creates growth and employment for the recipients in the poor country, not in terms of jobs in Norway. Development policies in the private sector must be coordinated and must be consistent with the overall strategies for Norwegian development assistance. For example they must emphasize the principles of recipient responsibility and effectiveness, to name the most important ones.

Food Security and Agricultural Development

Poverty cannot be alleviated without a proper agricultural policy. This is certainly true in the poorest countries, where up to 90 per cent of the population are agricultural producers or peasants. This includes not least the populations of the priority countries in Norwegian development assistance. Agriculture is the backbone of production. It has great significance for overall employment, income and export revenues. The difference between a good and a poor harvest may be a matter of life or death, or of meeting or not meeting the basic needs of millions of people. Economies cannot grow substantially without development in the agricultural sector. The policies of the poorest countries must therefore be focused on laying the groundwork for sustainable growth in agricultural production. This would yield greater income in agriculture itself, in the local processing industry and in the service sector. In this sense, agriculture is the dynamo of economic development in many of the poorest countries. It is not an exaggeration to say that their future development to a large extent depends on the development of the agricultural sector. This should also have a bearing on our priorities in Norwegian development assistance.

The concept of food security has traditionally been closely linked to the production of food. The idea has been that uncertainty about access to food will be reduced if the production of food simply increases. Studies show, however, that although growth in food production per capita has increased more than population growth during the last four decades, the level of under-nourishment has been constant over the same period. This is a great paradox. Food distribution is therefore the key element for food security. Today, close to a billion people lack access to safe and nutritious food. Global production of food in the next 25 years will probably be sufficient to cover the needs of those who have enough purchasing power. Nevertheless, people in many developing countries will not have sufficient productive opportunities and income to cover their basic food requirements.

In other words, access to food is dependent on having the means to either buy food or produce food. The alleviation of poverty is therefore instrumental in achieving food security. Since we know from experience that food security is closely linked with access to land, credit and the means of production, it cannot be separated from general economic and social development.

Private sector development in most developing countries require a coherent and broad approach. In this context, the agricultural sector is in many developing countries the most dynamic sector. However, the fact is that a cow in Tanzania annually produces an average of 450 litres of milk compared to the 5500 litres produced by a Norwegian cow. These figures illustrate that development within agriculture will increase income generation since this is one of the most important areas in the private sector.

Providing developmental assistance to the agricultural sector, including forestry and fisheries, is crucial to the overall social and economic development of most developing countries. In this context it is important to acknowledge that agricultural production should be seen in a broad perspective, linked to poverty alleviation and distribution policy. As I mentioned earlier, agricultural production is just one part of the wider concept of food security. It is therefore important to focus on aspects like agricultural processing, trade and export of food products as well as to take into consideration who the producers are and who will benefit from increased agricultural production.

In 1997, bilateral support to the agricultural sector amounted to nearly 200 million kroner, of which 25 per cent was earmarked for the forestry sector. Most of the support was allocated to eastern and southern Africa. It should be noted that an increasing proportion is directed through NGOs. The Government wishes to provide support through NGOs for the implementation of integrated programmes aimed at alleviating poverty, improving the management of natural resources and maintaining biological diversity.

The statistics for Norwegian development assistance show that direct support to the agricultural sector has decreased over the last years. A major reason for the decrease in direct support is related to the fact that commodity assistance has been reduced substantially from what it used to be in the 70s and 80s. This has led in particular to reduced deliveries of fertilisers and other input items for the agricultural sector. And I am not displeased with this.

A large part of our assistance to sustainable agriculture is provided as support for education and small-scale enterprise development in order to improve the processing of agricultural goods. This is unfortunately not reflected in the development statistics. Nevertheless, it is clear that the agricultural sector has not been given sufficient attention in our development assistance. I intend to change this situation.

The overall conditions for agriculture in developing countries have changed a great deal over the last 10 years. Government-owned or government-controlled agricultural production has decreased and producers have had to adjust to market forces. Agriculture is now largely a part of the private sector. Development assistance should therefore focus on strengthening skill and capacity building in the agricultural sector through support for research, education, training and extension services. The importance of support also for agricultural processing will be further discussed and elaborated in our new strategy for private sector development.

Much progress has been made in agricultural research related to food security and farming systems, which has already benefited small farmers in Africa. To illustrate the importance of the development of expertise in this field, I would like to mention that our support for international agricultural research through the CGIAR system this year was increased by 50 per cent compared with last year. Assistance to institutional development and increased skill building in the public sector, as well as the development of legislation and the production of maps and databases for planning purposes, are also essential. Furthermore, it is important to assist in developing effective credit systems and public support schemes.

A majority of the agricultural producers - particularly in Africa - are women. Women constitute a large proportion of the world’s small farmers. Studies have shown that women are to a great extent responsible for both food crop production and processing, as well as for the provision of household water and firewood. Repeatedly, women's workdays are found to be far longer than those of men. Women shoulder this burden of work despite unequal access to land, to inputs such as improved seeds and fertilisers and to information.

Promotion of women’s rights is therefore one of the main targets for Norwegian development assistance. In our strategy for women and gender equality the agricultural sector is mentioned as an important priority area for strengthening women's economic position. The strategy emphasizes that efforts will be made to give women rights to the land they cultivate and income from its yield, and to ensure their access to agricultural advisory services, credit and public support schemes. By supporting women’s access to such measures we have helped to strengthen their role in agriculture. A key requirement for our assistance is that the partner country takes this gender perspective into consideration at all stages of the programme.

When we want to strengthen our support in one sector, like the agricultural sector, we have to look at the overall picture.

The large number of donors and their various interests are in danger of undermining the partner countries’ ability to focus on a strategy for development. Tanzania, for example, has to relate to 60 donors supporting more than 1000 projects. And this is only one of many examples. Unless we improve coordination between the donor countries, our presence can do more harm than good.

We cannot continue to quarrel about whose flag will be raised over the various projects. We cannot all keep sending out consultants and experts to study the same topics and assess the same measures. We cannot take up all the available time of the partner countries’ authorities for separate consultations and meetings so that they are no longer able to do the job that has been assigned to them: to govern their country. We must make it easier for them to govern the country, not more difficult! How can we help? A constructive move would be if the donors agreed to cooperate on supporting comprehensive programmes.

We are currently changing the structure of our development assistance. There is an international trend to dispense with the model of individual projects. While the emphasis used to be on specific individual projects carried out in various parts of a priority country, it is now on sector development. This must of course be based on the development plans of our partners in the South. The latter must be in the driving seat. Such sectoral programmes have produced good results in education and health and represent a promising form of cooperation. The sectoral programmes should also be developed to a larger extent in the agricultural sector. They could become a joint political and contractual framework for a great deal of the assistance given to the poorest countries. Another important initiative would be to improve the division of labour between the donors. We don’t have to do the same as the Danes. We must share and distribute the tasks between the different donors. In this way, it will be possible to avoid wasting resources on work that others already have well under way. This is a challenge not only for donor governments, but for all partners in development, including the Agricultural University of Norway. The agricultural authorities and universities in North and South alike can and must make positive contributions to achieving more coherent and effective ways of cooperating.

One promising contribution is the cooperative model of the Norwegian agriculture sector. We should consider providing more assistance through cooperative movements at community level. In our own history, the cooperative movement has played an important role in agricultural development. While it may prove difficult to apply this philosophy directly to other societies with different social, political and cultural traditions, I believe the cooperative movement, based on popular participation and combining the principle of cost-effective management with concern for members' needs, represents a basic good which should also be of interest to developing countries. Support for cooperative movements at the community level in West Africa through the ILO programme ACOPAM has proved a successful way of achieving improvements in popular participation and institution-building with regard to natural resource management and food security.

In short, development assistance should reflect changing conditions and focus on improving the enabling environment and the overall conditions for agriculture. At the same time we are also reaching the individual producers through integrated rural development programmes and other projects in the rural areas. Finally, as already mentioned, improved coordination among donors is of paramount importance in order to strengthen developing countries' possibilities of assuming greater responsibility for their own development.

Sustainable Management of Natural Resources and Environment

No-one has more to lose from the deterioration of the quality of water, air and soil than the poor. They lose the most. The Government will therefore focus on measures to improve the management of the environment and natural resources, and on environmental quality assurance in development cooperation in general. The very poorest people often have no choice but to exacerbate the depletion of soil and water resources in order to survive. An increased focus on poverty eradication will therefore often help to reduce the strain on the environment at the same time.

To make agricultural production sustainable is the most important variable in securing viability and increased productivity over time. If assistance to the primary industries in developing countries is not based on the principal of sustainability, the basis for agricultural production will gradually be eroded. It is important to emphasise development strategies that can assist farmers, local communities and authorities in improving management and meeting unforeseen emergency situations.

Sustainability is therefore a key objective in the Norwegian Government's strategies to reach developmental goals in agriculture and food security issues. The challenge lies in finding ways of improving the environmental orientation of development cooperation.

Management of natural resources has increased nearly six-fold in the years 1993-97, from allocations of NOK 40 million to allocations of NOK 239 million, and has been focused on measures for protecting biological diversity and improving natural resource management. In the fishery sector, development assistance has moved away from transferring technology and focusing on fish production towards programmes for improved management of fish resources and the fishing industry. In several southern African countries, like Namibia and Mozambique, Norwegian assistance has aimed at institutional development and the development of legislation.

Another major challenge for many developing countries threatened by deforestation is the sustainable management of natural forestry resources. One of the most alarming examples today is China where, according to researchers, the destruction caused by the recent floods can partly be attributed to the recent commercial exploitation of forestry resources and the lack of long-term sustainable management.

In many African countries, deforestation and erosion have been caused by climatic factors like drought or factors related to poverty, overpopulation and the need for firewood and fields for agricultural production. Through partner organisations in developing countries and with the participation of the people themselves, Norway has contributed to programmes for reforestation, agroforestry and locally-based management of forestry resources in Malawi, Ethiopia and Tanzania. Support is also being given to educational programmes in order to raise awareness of the sustainable management of forestry resources which is economical and ecologically sound, as for example in Uganda where the University of Makerere, which I visited just a short time ago, plays an important role.

Research and higher education

Here, as well as in many other parts of the agricultural sector, the Agricultural University of Norway is an important partner. The University, which in 1997 celebrated its 100th anniversary as an institution for higher learning, has considerable experience in cooperation with institutions in the South. The collaboration between Norway and Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) and Norway is one of the longest-lasting programmes in international development cooperation in the area of capacity-building within education and research.

The Agricultural University of Norway also participates in the NUFU programme, which represents a unique combination of development assistance within research and skill building in the developing world and strengthening of development-related research in Norway. More than six hundred researchers, graduate and post-graduate candidates and administrators from Norway and the developing countries now take part in the NUFU cooperation program.

The Agricultural University of Norway is also one of NORAD's main partners in offering courses for students from developing countries. The 700 students who have followed a two-year master’s programme such as the “Natural resource management and sustainable development” programme here at this university have returned to institutions in developing countries with valuable new knowledge and expertise. I hope that some of the foreign students are here today.

Research and higher education are basic, long-term instruments to improve people’s lives and to build self-supporting and democratic societies. Universities play a central role in areas of importance to a country’s economic, social and cultural development, as well as promoting public debate and political diversity both at home and in other countries all over the world.

It is an important goal within our development policy to support research and higher education in developing countries, both as a separate priority area, as I mentioned, and as an integrated aspect of Norway’s development cooperation in general. We are currently finalizing the strategy on research and higher education in relation to developing countries where these issues are highlighted.

We are interested in bringing international research and the work of multilateral organisations closer to the various scientific communities in Norway, including this university, and to make use of Norwegian researchers and experts in our discussions in international fora. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has for a long time worked closely with NORAGRIC on issues related to the work of the CGIAR network, FAO, IFAD and the World Bank. We hope this experience will also be useful to the general research being conducted here and will provide feedback for future NUFU programmes and courses for students from developing countries.

The Agricultural University of Norway is to be commended on its involvement in the various programmes related to developing countries and on the range of international contacts it has acquired. I would like to take this opportunity to challenge the university to explore further how these programmes might to a greater extent support each other and contribute to an even greater awareness of the various issues related to developing countries in the agricultural research and educational community. I am convinced that in the visiting students and researchers from developing countries you have a unique resource for increasing your knowledge of the changing conditions of the agricultural sector in many developing countries. You should make use of it and increase your capacity to see matters from a broader institutional and political perspective.

The history of the Agricultural University’s involvement in development cooperation goes a long way back. Many dedicated men and a few women have established personal contacts with researchers, students and teachers in developing countries. I believe that this has been of great value for the University as a whole, and many students have had fieldwork at institutions in the South as an important part of their education. Some of these contacts have also led to broader cooperation, where institutions in the South send students to be trained at Ås. I hope that the Agricultural University has been able to - and still is able to - build on these individual contacts and programmes and establish an international network. For instance, most students from developing countries that attend courses here at Ås have in-depth knowledge of the agricultural sector in their home countries. They do not come here only to learn, they also have much to teach colleagues and fellow students at the University.

My main challenge to you is to make use of your outstanding international network of current and former students and research fellows. This should be utilised not only to develop awareness and knowledge of the connection between development and agriculture. But also, and not the least to be partners in a network which can provide guidance on how to develop the agricultural sector in third world countries. This network could also be utilised in the priority countries of Norwegian development assistance. For example, when we are involved in developing agricultural sector programmes in our partner countries.

I hope the Agricultural University is interested in playing an important role as a partner for the Ministry and NORAD in promoting development, particularly in the agricultural sector. In this respect, I regard the following as key issues:

• First of all, the University as a research institution could provide research-based knowledge and analyses of the situation of the agricultural sector in developing countries, how it differs between countries and regions, how countries are affected by globalisation, how the agricultural sector is linked with the rest of the country’s economic and social development, what is needed to promote increased income-generating activities and how best to alleviate poverty.
• Secondly, cooperation between the University and the Ministry and NORAD would benefit if you could identify issues that would have implications both for our policy dialogue with the authorities in developing countries on overall development objectives and for the planning of and support for agricultural sector programmes together with other donors.
• Thirdly, the University’s involvement in both multilateral and bilateral development cooperation places it in a very good position to provide guidance on how information on and lessons learned from the various programmes can be exchanged and shared among a wider audience.
• Finally, what matters most is how we can contribute to a stronger agricultural sector in the South within a wider development context. The University has long experience in cooperating with institutions in developing countries, and I would like to hear from you how this role could be further strengthened so as to improve conditions for the agricultural sector in developing countries.

Economic Factors and the International Framework

Today we know from experience and empirical research that it is extremely difficult, perhaps impossible, to achieve any meaningful or sustainable development if most or all of the macro indicators are pointing in the wrong direction. The key indicators have to do with international terms of trade, the debt burden of any given country, and the macro-economic policies that governments pursue.

In 1988 I spent a year in a village in Tanzania doing fieldwork for my thesis in social anthropology. I lived and worked among village farmers and ”measured” at close range how international prices, debt, government subsidies, or the lack thereof, and adjustment programmes affected these women and their families. Make no mistake about it; these seemingly abstract, almost academic, phenomena to us here about which we publish books, papers and articles are deciding factors in the lives of millions of people. A development assistance programme is virtually meaningless unless it takes these conditions fully into account. That is why my first job as minister was to form a debt relief plan.

If the developing countries are to have the necessary room to manoeuvre and to pursue a development-oriented policy that will benefit the poorest, the international framework must be structured accordingly. The way in which trade and debt issues are dealt with internationally will directly affect the ability of a poor woman farmer in a rural area or an unemployed man in a town to acquire productive work that offers a hope of improving their living conditions. The Government will therefore make active efforts to improve the international framework to tailor it more to the needs of the developing countries.

There are a number of factors that influence a country's economy. I have mentioned one of the most important, i.e. the international framework. For poor developing countries this is mainly a question of debt and trade, in relation to trends in raw material and oil prices, and export and import conditions. In terms of figures, these factors are of far more significance for these countries than the amount of development assistance they receive. The country's own economic policy and the development assistance given by the large number of different donors come in addition to these factors.

This is one of the main reasons for the debt relief plan launched by the Norwegian Government. Unless we somehow address the debt crisis at an international level, many of the poorest countries do not stand a chance. The more we can contribute to sound economic policies in our partner countries and provide poverty oriented assistance to that effect, the more poor people can be helped. We are actively working to build alliances between like-minded governments and institutions aiming at these goals. The debt plan is only one example of how a small country like Norway can work at international level to achieve progress on the development agenda. Donor coordination and stopping the donor countries’ practice of demanding that developing countries purchase their goods and services in return for development assistance are other examples of our involvement.

Conclusion

I would like to summarize my speech today in five points:

· The right to food is a basic human right.

Poverty is deprivation of basic human rights.

Today’s global poverty therefore represents a moral challenge.

• Poverty can be alleviated only by focusing on agricultural production, because agriculture is the dynamo of economic development in many of the poorest countries. Poverty-oriented development strengthens, almost by definition, economic, social and cultural rights.
• The Government intends to give more priority to the agricultural sector in our development assistance.
• The Agricultural University of Norway is an important partner with regard to skill-building in the South as well as in the North-South agricultural research dialogue. Use your experience and your international network to further develop a way of thinking that takes the development of the whole agricultural sector into consideration. This is equally important as regards South-South cooperation.
• In this context, I would like to invite you to express more of these ideas to me. Such exchanges are part of the development of human resources, in Norway as well as in the so-called developing countries. As the UN Development Programme (UNDP) puts it when launching this year’s report; “ every person counts”.

Last Sunday’s Aftenposten had an article and some beautiful photographs on the many “foreign” trees at this university. I read that there are more than 50 different trees of foreign origin here, which were planted more than 75 years ago. One could therefore say that the Agricultural University of Norway has a long tradition of “international agricultural and cultural exchange programmes”. I am sure that these foreign trees have contributed to Norwegian forestry research. I would therefore like to end my remarks to you this morning with the following:

Firstly, make use of all the knowledge and experience foreign students bring with them about their own agricultural sector.

Secondly, development assistance is about sowing seeds. Many seeds have already been sown and are now waiting in the ground. They can begin to grow as soon as we give them light and air.

This is what development is about.

Thank you.

This page was last updated 10 September 1998 by the editors