Points of View
the World Food Summit: five years later
At the World Food Summit in 1996, representatives of 185 countries and the European Community set a goal of cutting in half the number of hungry people by the year 2015. The target is not being met, or even half met, and in June this year, representatives were once again invited to Rome to discuss what is going wrong and what can be done about it. Few western leaders felt it necessary to come; from Europe there were only two Heads-of-State in attendance, those of Italy, the host country, and Spain. Of the world leaders who did attend, Zimbabwe's President Mugabe attracted most attention, at least among the media; his address to the summit, in which he elaborated the success of his agricultural policy, was greeted by gasps of disbelief.
Generating the political will to end hunger was a major talking point. One proposal, endorsed by the summit hosts, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, was the need for a new human right, the Right to Food. But some questioned the value of such a right; would it really achieve anything, and would it have long term legal consequences for the wealthy nations? Typically the summit was also beset by disagreements over how best to reduce hunger. What should be the greatest priority: supporting agriculture to increase food production, supporting economic development in poor countries, or tackling the huge weight of illness, not least from AIDS, that traps people in poverty? In Points-of-View we have gathered a range of opinions both from the participants in Rome and other commentators, about the World Food Summit and its vision of cutting hunger in half by 2015.
Failing vision
"Some of the practices that tend to characterise poor countries, factors
like high population growth rates and bad governance, have contributed
to slowing down the laudable plans and targets set at the 1996 summit.
It would seem that the 1996 action plan has also suffered from the lack
of specifics on how the stakeholders were expected to work together and
mobilize resources within a time frame."
J.A. Kufuor, President of Ghana, World Food Summit, Rome, June 2002
"In a world of plenty, the FAO and the member states have to concede that
the already moderate promise to half the number of people suffering from
hunger will not be achieved by 2015, but rather by 2030 or 2050. However,
instead of reviewing the World Food Summit recommendations in the light
of the last years, the FAO decided not to reorient the policies, but rather
blame governments for not implementing the recommendations."
Oxfam International press release: Rome, June 10, 2002
A legal right to food
"The promotion of the right to food, accompanied by distinct mechanisms
of accountability, will contribute to counterbalance the bias in social
systems. It should lead to good governance, inclusion and increased equality
among citizens... A Code of Conduct [for the Right to Adequate Food] would
have the potential for empowering the poor and the hungry and helping
to keep governments and other actors accountable. At the same time I realise
that there are at present FAO and UN members who question the usefulness
of such a drafting process."
Dr Jacques Diouf, Director General FAO, 22nd May (FAO press release)
"The official declaration reduces the Right to Food to the right
to access to food. The strong lobby by most of the industrialised countries,
particularly the USA delegation, has forced a consensus that compromises
the intention of the Right to Food as a basic human right. The code of
conduct which was proposed to enhance this right has been ignored and
reduced to voluntary guidelines that support national governments in achieving
the right to food."
Oxfam International press release: Rome, June 13, 2002
Missing the point?
"Everyone can see the distortions: the dumping of surpluses that
ruin local markets, the refusal to buy Third World food - often a country's
only export - and the sale of inappropriate food technology to peasant
economies. This meeting may exacerbate the divisions. Even the attempt
to outline the concept of a 'right to food' has run into trouble: America,
ever wary of litigation, refuses to sign any declaration that might expose
it to future legal claims. The summit has plenty to discuss: food security,
genetically modified crops, sustainable development and strategies to
counter natural disasters. Instead, rich and poor look set to bicker endlessly
instead of agreeing a strategy to provide food for all."
The Times, 11th June 2002
"Much is said about the need to increase food production in order to ensure
food security. However, millions suffer from hunger and malnutrition in
spite of the fact that the global food production is big enough to feed
everybody...Efforts to increase food production can make no lasting impact
on hunger if they do not go hand in hand with efforts to ensure a stable
socio-economic environment conducive to ensure economic growth, which
provides lasting benefit for the poor."
Mariann Fischer Boel, Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries,
Denmark, World Food Summit, Rome, June 2002
"I'm not sending a minister because I don't expect it to be an effective summit."
"The FAO's measure of hunger is essentially one of food availability,
which cannot tell you who is hungry and why...[The organisation] needs
to put in place policies which deliver food to hungry people, not just
to produce more food."
Clare Short, International Development Secretary, UK
It's the global economy!
"The UN summit is calling, inevitably, for more aid. But the biggest favour
the rich could do the poor would be to give less aid - to their own farmers...whereas
aid costs money, cutting farm subsidies would save rich-country taxpayers
a billion dollars a day...Some northern farmers might suffer, but supporting
them while they look for other work would be far cheaper than the current
system. Besides, most of the rich world's subsidies go to the richest
farmers, many of them millionaires. They certainly won't starve."
The Economist, 15th June, 2002
"The global market for agricultural commodities has continued to
defy any notion of fairness. The OECD countries transfer more than $300
billion to their agricultural sectors, which means that they directly
support each farmer to the tune of $12,000 per year. In contrast these
same countries provide the developing countries with an estimated $8 billion
per year, which works out at $6 for each farmer. In addition, access to
developed country markets is constrained by customs tariffs that average
roughly 60% for primary agricultural products, as compared to about 4%
for industrial products. Tariffs on processed agricultural goods are even
higher, and are hindering the development of agro-industries in the Third
World."
Jacques Diouf, Director General FAO, Inaugural Statement, World Food
Summit, June 2002
"The current crisis that affects more than ten million people in Southern
Africa, is a clear example on the gap existing between the words and the
facts. Nowadays Malawi is not able to feed its own population. Under the
pressure of the IMF during the last years, agriculture has been liberalised
and left to the markets forces. As it turns out now, millions of people
have their life threatened, and the market does not respond to this humanitarian
crisis."
Oxfam International press release: Rome, June 10, 2002
"The World Bank reckons that, if the rich world pulled down its trade
barriers in agriculture, developing countries would be over $30 billion
a year better off by 2005. Yet it is not only rich countries holding poor
ones back. According to the bank, trade liberalisation within the developing
world itself could yield over $110 billion a year in extra income for
low-income countries."
The Economist, 15th June, 2002
National responsibilities
"We must agree that we, as responsible governments have to ensure food
security and sustainable development. No strategic plan or any well-designed
global trade architecture, however perfect it is, will work if conditions
for peace, stability and good governance are absent on the ground. Investment,
domestic or foreign, will largely depend on stable governance structures.
It is therefore of the utmost importance that governments commit themselves
to creating the requisite enabling environment, both at political and
economic levels, to build confidence in our countries...It is time that
we stop blaming others for our misfortunes."
Sir Anerood Jugnauth, Prime Minister of the Republic of Mauritius,
World Food Summit, June 2002
"Hunger is caused by bad weather, but even more by bad government.
Well-governed countries never suffer famine; but of the 25 worst-nourished
countries, all are badly governed, some of them spectacularly so. Little
can be done about the weather, at least in the short term, but policies
can change... To achieve this [poverty reduction] poor countries need
property rights, enforceable contracts, macroeconomic stability, freer
trade and non-predatory government. The hungriest lack most of these."
The Economist, 15th June, 2002
"I believe the developing countries should show the lead. If they
are asking developed countries to give them the resources to help solve
a world problem, at national levels they themselves should also better
mobilise their scarce resources in favour of the largest part of their
population - the poor - and then set the example for the rest of the world
to follow."
Dr Jacques Diouf, Director General FAO, FT Expat, May 2002
"The primary responsibility for fighting hunger and poverty rests
with national governments...A country's domestic political and economic
environment largely determines the level of food security...Countries
that make a determined effort to improve their own development and place
hunger reduction and poverty alleviation high on their agendas should
not be left to their own devices. The international community has an obligation
to assist those countries."
Mariann Fischer Boel, Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries,
Denmark, World Food Summit, June 2002
What about agriculture?
"There have been many schools of economic thought, but none has
advocated the development of a sector by depriving it of investment. Yet
from 1990 to 2000, concessional assistance from the developed countries
and loans from the international financing institutions fell by 50% for
agriculture, the livelihood of 70% of the world's poor, as a source of
employment and income. As a result, the number of undernourished has only
fallen by 6 million per year instead of the 22 million needed to attain
the objective set in 1996. At this rate, the target will be met 45 years
behind schedule."
Jacques Diouf, Director General FAO, Inaugural Statement, World Food
Summit, June 2002
"As a continent, we have established a framework through the New Partnership
for Africa's Development, NEPAD, within which the World Food Summit Plan
of Action will be implemented. NEPAD identifies agriculture as a priority
sector. In this regard, we want to ensure that we extend the area under
sustainable land management and reliable water control systems; improve
rural agriculture and market access; increase levels of investment in
agricultural research; and, increase food supply while reducing hunger."
Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa, World Food Summit, June 2002
"We must modernise our farming methods...I believe that if investment
is directed at this sector of the economy, and if the technology and research
findings are made available to farmers, through extension services, food
production will be radically improved in Ghana...The European Union and
President Bush in Monterrey have pledged extra money in aid to help developing
nations. The challenge should be not only on developing nations adhering
to good governance and the rule of law, but also on the donors as well,
to ensure that the aid would empower the recipient countries to stand
on their own feet."
J.A. Kufuor, President of Ghana, World Food Summit, June 2002
And Mugabe?
"Since the 1996 World Food Summit, my Government has made some strides
towards the implementation of the Plan of Action...Where previously only
a handful of Colonial Settler farmers were undertaking commercial farming,
the country now has over 260,000 farmers, on various sizes of land...Through
the communal Areas Reorganisation Programme, communal areas are being
transformed into vibrant agricultural zones, destined to yield improved
incomes and greater food security. Contrary to widely disseminated misrepresentations
by our detractors, there is now a brighter future for our farming community
across colour, gender and ethnic divides. Our Land Reform Programme is
indeed a firm launching pad for our fight against poverty and food insecurity."
Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe, World Food Summit, June 2002
No hope without health
"A dual tragedy has hit sub-Saharan Africa: that of famine and that of
AIDS. Contrary to what many would believe, the two emergencies are closely
interlinked. In just two decades, AIDS has killed seven million agricultural
workers in Africa. Figures generated by FAO indicate that HIV/AIDS is
causing a loss of up to 50% of agricultural staff time in sub-Saharan
Africa. Because of AIDS, farming skills have been lost, agricultural extension
services have declined in both capacity and outreach, rural livelihoods
have disintegrated, productive capacity to work the land is disappearing,
and household earnings are shrinking while the cost of caring for the
ill sky-rockets...without success in HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support,
the goals of the 1996 World Food Summit to halve the number of undernourished
people by 2015 will not be met."
Marika Fahlen, Director of Social Mobilization and Information, UNAIDS, World Food Summit, June 2002
"Alleviation of hunger and malnutrition is a fundamental pre-requisite for poverty reduction and sustainable development. More that 570
million of the world's women suffer from anaemia. Their babies are small, they are weakened and tired and their lives are at risk. We need a longer
term perspective which places the health of people and the health of our planet at the centre."
Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director General, World Health Organisation, World Food Summit, June 2002
The 'take home message'
"I believe that this summit inspires hope... It shows that the nations
of the world are accepting they must be each other's keeper...We have
it within our will to eradicate hunger. Let us therefore make sure that
this time, our resolutions are backed by specifics on time, resources
and political will."
J.A. Kufuor, President of Ghana, World Food Summit, June 2002
"We have the knowledge. We know how to enable the poor to get the food
they need. We know how to avoid micro-nutrient deficiencies. We know how
to encourage breast-feeding of infants. We know how to ensure safe food
from farm to plate...From this summit I hear that we have the will."
Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director General, World Health Organisation, World Food Summit, June 2002
"The Oxfam International delegation announces the failure of the World Food Summit: five years later, due to the clear absence of political will, in part shown by the absence of leaders of industrialised countries, and by the weak and ambiguous declaration that the summit has approved...Oxfam states that this summit has not only repeated what already was said five years ago, but that some of the messages have even been diluted."
"Oxfam is left with the impression that during this 2002 World Food Summit, there has been more interest in scoring a goal at the football
World Cup than achieving the goal of food security for all."
Oxfam International press release: Rome, June 13, 2002
