World Food Council

MAC/WFY

Page-188

0230_553559_21_cha17

188

197090. The World Food Crisis of the 1970s and its Aftermath

the objective of limiting the growth of hunger and poverty and meet local currency
costs. The WFC secretariat proposed that the initiative be established on a trial
basis, of say three to five years, and continued if it proved effective. The Council
was requested to endorse the initiative in principle and establish a consultative
group of interested governments and international organizations to work out
modalities.

The proposed initiative was supported `in principle' but many WFC ministers

felt that it did not go far enough. They felt that it dealt more with food aid and the
utilization of food surpluses than with the eradication of hunger and did not take
adequate account of the problems inherent in increased food aid. Instead, a much
broader initiative, called `The Cyprus Initiative Against Hunger in the World', was
articulated and supported (see below). The initiative focused more directly on the
possibility of hunger eradication in the foreseeable future and how to go about
it, which, in the Council's view, could make a significant contribution to food
security in the long run.

At its fifteenth session in 1989, the Council adopted `The Cairo Declaration' (see

below), which, among other things, significantly committed WFC ministers to set
an example to the rest of the world by putting into place policies and programmes
to reduce hunger and malnutrition in their own countries (emphasis added) as well
as at the global level. They undertook to review the action taken to provide food
security for all at its sixteenth session in 1990. To assist them, the executive director
produced a review on a range of national policies and programmes to reduce
hunger and poverty. The review drew on four regional consultations that the WFC
secretariat had organized to identify additional and more effective measures and
to draw attention to the constraints and problems that countries faced in their
implementation (WFC, 1990a).

The review made a number of recommendations for WFC ministers' approval.

Ministers from developing countries were requested to consult with their cabinet
colleagues on practical ways to increase government efforts to reduce hunger
including: setting specific national hunger-reduction targets for each year until
the end of the decade of the 1990s; reviewing and strengthening national
food strategies; upgrading inter-ministerial co-ordination; allocating additional
resources to deliver effective programmes; and improving national capacity to
collect data on hunger and monitor progress. Other recommendations included
giving priority support to small farmers, food-subsidy schemes and nutrition inter-
ventions for the poor and most vulnerable groups, and employment-generation
in rural and urban areas.

Ministers from developed countries were requested to give priority to ensuring

that development assistance promoted equitable economic growth. The WFC's
president was requested to convey to the governing bodies of the international
financial institutions the wish of the Council that more effective measures were
taken to ensure that the welfare of the hungry poor was given the greatest import-
ance in the design and implementation of economic adjustment programmes.
It was also recommended that the WFC secretariat prepare a report on the
status and prospects for increasing food production in developing countries on

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Useful links	World Food Council MAC/WFY Page-188 0230_553559_21_cha17 188 197090. The World Food Crisis of the 1970s and its Aftermath the objective of limiting the growth of hunger and poverty and meet local currency costs. The WFC secretariat proposed that the initiative be established on a trial basis, of say three to five years, and continued if it proved effective. The Council was requested to endorse the initiative in principle and establish a consultative group of interested governments and international organizations to work out modalities. The proposed initiative was supported `in principle' but many WFC ministers felt that it did not go far enough. They felt that it dealt more with food aid and the utilization of food surpluses than with the eradication of hunger and did not take adequate account of the problems inherent in increased food aid. Instead, a much broader initiative, called `The Cyprus Initiative Against Hunger in the World', was articulated and supported (see below). The initiative focused more directly on the possibility of hunger eradication in the foreseeable future and how to go about it, which, in the Council's view, could make a significant contribution to food security in the long run. At its fifteenth session in 1989, the Council adopted `The Cairo Declaration' (see below), which, among other things, significantly committed WFC ministers to set an example to the rest of the world by putting into place policies and programmes to reduce hunger and malnutrition in their own countries (emphasis added) as well as at the global level. They undertook to review the action taken to provide food security for all at its sixteenth session in 1990. To assist them, the executive director produced a review on a range of national policies and programmes to reduce hunger and poverty. The review drew on four regional consultations that the WFC secretariat had organized to identify additional and more effective measures and to draw attention to the constraints and problems that countries faced in their implementation (WFC, 1990a). The review made a number of recommendations for WFC ministers' approval. Ministers from developing countries were requested to consult with their cabinet colleagues on practical ways to increase government efforts to reduce hunger including: setting specific national hunger-reduction targets for each year until the end of the decade of the 1990s; reviewing and strengthening national food strategies; upgrading inter-ministerial co-ordination; allocating additional resources to deliver effective programmes; and improving national capacity to collect data on hunger and monitor progress. Other recommendations included giving priority support to small farmers, food-subsidy schemes and nutrition inter- ventions for the poor and most vulnerable groups, and employment-generation in rural and urban areas. Ministers from developed countries were requested to give priority to ensuring that development assistance promoted equitable economic growth. The WFC's president was requested to convey to the governing bodies of the international financial institutions the wish of the Council that more effective measures were taken to ensure that the welfare of the hungry poor was given the greatest import- ance in the design and implementation of economic adjustment programmes. It was also recommended that the WFC secretariat prepare a report on the status and prospects for increasing food production in developing countries on back to top Next page
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