Promoting an Integrated Approach to Rural Development in Developing Countries for Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development

UN Economic and Social Council
July 1, 2003

Plenary Statement
by Ambassador John D. Negroponte
United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations

Thank you Mr. President for the opportunity to address the Council today on a subject which justly deserves the international community's renewed attention, that is, improving the lives of the rural poor. Three-quarters of the world's poor and hungry are located in rural areas. These people depend directly and indirectly on agriculture and agriculture-related activities not only for their food, but also for their incomes.

Just last month the UN Food and Agriculture Organization reported to the Committee on World Food Security that the number of undernourished people in developing countries is estimated at almost 800 million people. This represents a decrease of barely 2.5 million undernourished people per annum over the last 8 years, a figure that will have to be raised by a factor of ten to achieve the World Food Summit (WFS) goal of halving the number of hungry by 2015.

I want to talk about raising agricultural productivity right where the world's poor and hungry live. Increasing agricultural productivity must have high priority in any effort to promote rural development, reduce malnutrition and eradicate poverty on a sustainable basis.

Increasing agricultural productivity is an income-multiplier, a powerful engine for reducing poverty and food insecurity. A greater food supply in any market means better nutrition and additional resources available for other important objectives. Increasing agricultural productivity therefore simultaneously provides more food and larger incomes to purchase food and other necessities.

· This is a process that virtually all presently developed countries have gone through.

· This is also a process that all future developed countries will have to go through.

What can be done to raise agricultural productivity right where the hungry and malnourished live?

Investment in the agricultural sector decreased in the last decade. We need to apply the lessons learned from that experience in order to make renewed agricultural investments work in favor of the rural poor: My government has identified six components as fundamental to increasing agricultural productivity, rural incomes and overall national food security:

First, supportive policy frameworks: Only with sound policies in place can domestic and foreign private investment and development assistance catalyze growth by helping people solve the problems that keep them poor and food insecure. Governing justly, investing in people, and promoting economic freedom are the building blocks of a sound policy framework.

Second, applied science and technology: Rising agricultural productivity drives economic growth. In turn, improved agricultural technology is a key component for boosting productivity. Support for agricultural research and extension -- including biotechnology research --and support for the application of improved technologies and practices are essential. For example, virus-resistant genes can reduce diseases and discourage pests that harm crops during growth or after harvest. A virus that reduced the yields of yams, a basic food crop in East Africa has been successfully overcome by such technology. Cassava, another staple crop in Africa, has also benefited from the applications of biotechnology. Biotech-engineered products already on the market have made it possible for farmers in Asia, Africa and in Latin America to reduce pesticide applications. Promising biotech-engineered products currently in the pipeline will be drought resistant, saline tolerant, and even have the potential to improve nutrition.

Unfortunately, acting on unfounded, unscientific fears, some governments have blocked the import of biotech crops. Because of these obstacles, nations avoid investing in biotech because they are worried that their products will be shut out of important markets.

Third, robust domestic markets and international trade opportunities: Expanding farmers' commercial opportunities is critical for ensuring adequate returns. This must include domestic markets and international trade opportunities, and that means negotiating further liberalization, addressing sanitary, and phyto-sanitary (SPS) measures, and critical control points/food safety issues, and continuing to advance science-based standards of trade. By some estimates, liberalization of trade in agriculture could provide developing countries with at least $100 billion in annual income.

The United States remains committed to the objectives laid out in the Doha Development Agenda: 1) to achieve substantial improvement in market access; 2) to reduce with a view to phasing out all forms of export subsidies and 3) to achieve substantial reductions in trade-distorting domestic support. The U.S. put forward an ambitious proposal in all three areas, which, if implemented, would put an end to $100 billion worth of the most trade distortive domestic subsidies, do away with export subsidies and significantly improve market access opportunities all around the world. We believe that others need to be similarly ambitious.

Fourth, secure property rights and access to finance: Farmers need secure land titles and access to credit, including micro credit. For most of the rural poor, secure access to land is fundamental to overcoming poverty. Rural women are responsible for much of the food production in developing countries, yet law or custom frequently dictates that they control only a small proportion of the assets. This is bound to change.

Fifth, enhanced human capital: Better education and improved health contribute to better scientific capacity, more productive farmers, and better decision-makers over a range of economic and non-economic activities. We particularly urge attention to higher education, basic education, school lunch feeding programs, HIV/AIDS, and health interventions, including reducing deaths from infectious diseases. Increasing use of cost-effective child and maternal health and nutrition interventions along with voluntary access to family planning and improve reproductive health are essential.

Sixth, and last: protections for the vulnerable: The challenge is to support governments and civil society in providing immediate relief while eliminating conditions that create vulnerability over the long term. Moreover, as addressed at the recent G-8 summit at Evian, conflicts should be prevented and resolved in favor of democracy, the rule of law, and governance based on principles of accountability and transparency.

The United States has announced that it will undertake an Initiative to End Hunger in Africa. The Initiative will work to empower African farmers in key countries and regions by broadening their access to both new technology and markets. The goal is to double production of basic food crops that make up African diets and increase family incomes.

The United States is deeply committed to helping achieve the goals of reducing hunger and poverty contained in the Millennium Declaration. We do not assert that agricultural productivity is the only component to be considered, but we do argue that no program of integrated rural development will be sustainable without increases in agricultural productivity and rural incomes.

All segments of global society-including developed and developing country governments, NGOs, universities, the private sector and international financial institutions- have a role to play in ensuring that the rural poor can escape from the vicious cycle of poverty and malnutrition.

Thank you very much, Mr. President.