Economic and Social Council

 Distr. GENERAL
22 January 1997
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH

COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Fifth session
7-25 April 1997


              Overall progress achieved since the United Nations
                   Conference on Environment and Development

                        Report of the Secretary-General

                                   Addendum

           Promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development *

                           (Chapter 14 of Agenda 21)

(*  The present report was prepared by the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as task manager for
chapter 14 of Agenda 21, in accordance with arrangements agreed to by
the Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable Development (IACSD).  It is
the result of consultation and information exchange between United
Nations agencies, international and national science organizations,
interested government agencies and a range of other institutions and
individuals.)


                                   CONTENTS

                                                              Paragraphs Page

 I.   KEY OBJECTIVES .......................................     1 - 2     2

II.   SUCCESSES ............................................     3 - 19    2

III.  PROMISING CHANGES ....................................    20 - 23    8

IV.   UNFULFILLED EXPECTATIONS .............................    24 - 28   10

 V.   EMERGING PRIORITIES ..................................    29 - 37   12


                              I.  KEY OBJECTIVES


1.   The present report reviews progress made in the implementation of
the objectives set out in chapter 14 of Agenda 21 (Promoting
sustainable agriculture and rural development), 1/ taking into account
the decisions taken by the Commission on Sustainable Development on
that subject at its third session, in 1995.  The major objective of
sustainable agriculture and rural development (SARD), as spelled out
in chapter 14 of Agenda 21, is to increase food production in a
sustainable way and enhance food security.  That ambitious task
requires education initiatives, economic incentives and the
development of appropriate and new technologies, as well as employment
and income generation to alleviate poverty, and natural resource
management and environmental protection.

2.   The 12 programme areas of chapter 14 are closely related to other
chapters of Agenda 21, especially chapters 10, 15, 18 and 19.  Those
programme areas, which address issues of policy and agrarian reform,
participation, particularly of rural people, income diversification,
land conservation and improved management of inputs, define the key
objectives of the chapter.


                                II.  SUCCESSES

3.   The recent World Food Summit organized by FAO (Rome,
13-17 November 1996) marked a milestone in international acceptance
and commitment to achieve the goals of enhanced food production and
food security.  Summit participants deplored the continued widespread
prevalence of hunger, and pledged at the very least to halve the
current numbers of malnourished, estimated at more than 800 million,
by 2015 and preferably earlier.  They also recognized the need for the
sustainable management of natural resources and protection of the
environment, and committed themselves to implement the outcome of the
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED),
particularly with regard to chapter 14 of Agenda 21.  Initial
proposals broadly outlining how a World Food Summit monitoring system
might function are currently being developed for discussion among
concerned institutions, for subsequent consideration by the FAO
Committee on World Food Security at its twenty-third session, in
April 1997.  Parallel to that process, the Administrative Committee on
Coordination (ACC) has been invited by the United Nations General
Assembly to consider an appropriate inter-agency mechanism to assist
in the implementation of the World Food Summit Plan of Action, and to
report on its decision to the Economic and Social Council at its
substantive session of 1997.

4.   The Summit sent a strong and committed political message.  Yet
there are similar initiatives that were already present at the time of
UNCED in June 1992, and have since evolved further.  In general terms,
in the developed countries, progress towards meeting SARD objectives
appears linked to land "set-aside" programmes as a consequence of weak
food markets and hence low prices of the early 1990s.  The opportunity
still has not been taken of linking set-aside programmes to
environmental objectives.

5.   In the economies in transition, there is the continuing issue of
transferring agricultural production systems to market mechanisms. 
Some progress has been made in correcting the worst polluting
production systems.  The desire to gain access to western food markets
is guiding production practices to meet food quality standards.  The
risk remains of those countries adopting unsustainable agricultural
policies that promote production without adequate environmental
protection.

6.   In the developing countries, there is a continuing dilemma over
production/income and environmental goals.  Some progress has been
made in phasing out input subsidies, usually under fiscal pressures. 
Access to western food markets is also an important factor for some
countries and products.  The strategy of the sustainable
intensification of already converted land of greatest production
potential is beginning to be more widely accepted and introduced. 
Adoption of such a strategy should reduce the pressure on more
marginal and environmentally fragile lands. 

7.   There is a growing awareness in most countries of the necessity
and desirability of integrating environmental concerns into
agricultural policies by, inter alia, (a) adjusting agricultural
support prices and encouraging farmers to adopt environmentally
sensitive production and harvesting methods; (b) the preparation of
national environmental action plans (NEAPs) in some developing
countries, which results in a better understanding of needs for
addressing environmental problems, including SARD programme areas;
(c) undertaking sectoral agricultural policy reviews in food-deficit
low-income developing countries to improve sustainable food security;
and (d) in countries with economies in transition, the transfer of
land property rights into new forms of agricultural enterprises, and
the introduction of policies to take marginal lands out of production.

8.   Regarding the effects of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade
negotiations on agricultural trade and production, various studies
reflect the view that the direct impact of the Uruguay Round is likely
to be negligible on global agricultural production, with some
reduction in the output of temperate zone products in developed
countries and a small offsetting rise in developing countries overall. 
The Uruguay Round is expected to lead to significant gains in trade
revenue for countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and to loss
for most African countries as well as for countries in transition in
Europe.  The impact of the Uruguay Round on the objectives of SARD,
which go beyond environmental considerations, has not yet been
assessed, although an FAO study, being conducted in collaboration with
the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the World
Trade Organization is under way.

9.   In the area of peoples' participation, including development of
human resources, there is a better understanding of how to utilize the
reciprocal relations both within and among formal and informal civil
society institutions to strengthen their involvement in decision-
making and policy-making processes.  The role and participation of
women in sustainable agriculture and rural development is recognized
as essential, as is the need to integrate women's activities into
ongoing and planned programmes and projects.  It is now understood
that coalitions and networks must be formed to assist the process of
consensus-building.  In practice, progress has been marked by
institutional restructuring of agricultural cooperatives; legislation
reforms to facilitate the formation of civil society organizations,
such as rural workers' and farmers' self-help organizations; and the
empowerment of informal coalitions in civil society.  There is now
better collaboration between the United Nations system and
international trade union organizations and federations of
agricultural producers, such as the International Federation of
Agricultural Producers.  Capacity-building is focusing, inter alia, on
strengthening rural organizations' abilities to gain access to inputs,
credit and training of trainers in cooperative membership formulation. 
The aim is to build up social/ organizational capital at the local
levels (see boxes 1 and 2, for examples).  Another example is the
creation of the National Rural People's Concertation Committee in
Senegal to act as an interlocutor of rural people's movements with the
Government and external partners.  The Committee now consists of nine
national federations representing farmers, herders and fisherfolk. 
The establishment in 1996 of the Platform of Peasant Organizations in
the Sahel extends such organizations' ability to conduct a policy
dialogue at the regional level, for example with the Interstate
Committee to Combat Drought in the Sahel.

10.  It is becoming clear that land conservation and rehabilitation
activities can only be carried out at a reasonable cost and over large
areas through the activities of the land-users themselves. 
Governments and donors are moving away from trying to carry out
large-scale soil conservation projects themselves.  There has been
progress in implementing various initiatives under the FAO
International Scheme for Conservation and Rehabilitation of African
Lands, and its new counterpart in Asia since January 1996, the
Conservation of Lands of Asia and the Pacific.  Under the Scheme,
Malawi has produced a national land-use and management policy and
five-year action plan.  That inter-ministerial effort addresses such
issues as land rehabilitation, waste disposal, smallholder farmers,
land tenure and property rights, and business and industry (investment
and research).  Other initiatives include the introduction of the
Sloping Agricultural Land Technology in several Asian countries, the
development of traditional soil and water conservation technologies in
the Sahel, and increasing activities within national action plans
(NAPs) under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
in those Countries Experiencing Drought and/or Desertification,
particularly in Africa.  A parallel initiative is the formulation of
FAO/United Nations Environment Programme National Soil Policy
documents.  The policy document prepared for Jamaica has led to
funding proposals, and serves as a useful model for promoting the idea
to other countries, especially small island States faced with soil
degradation.  Maintaining the productivity of agricultural soil and
rehabilitating arable lands are particularly significant issues in the
context of the deliberations under way in the Commission's
Intergovernmental Panel on Forests, in which the creation of
additional agricultural land has been noted as a principal factor in
deforestation and the associated loss of the socio-economic value of
forests in tropical regions.


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            Box 1.  Farmer-centred Resource Management Programme and
                    Farming System Development approaches

     In Asia, an FAO/UNDP/UNIDO Farmer-Centred Agricultural Resources
Management programme for sustainable agriculture has been launched to
support the implementation of Agenda 21 in China, India, Indonesia,
Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam.  The programme
is targeted to resource-poor communities and farm households, with an
overall objective of improved conservation, management and utilization
of natural resources in rain-fed lowlands and uplands.  It has seven
subprogrammes, on participatory development; farming systems;
watershed management; agroforestry; integrated pest management; safe
pesticides; and biotechnology and biodiversity. 

     In Eastern and Southern Africa, farming system development now
features prominently in Kenya, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia
and Botswana, achieved through awareness programmes for decision
makers, human resources development programmes and networking.  In the
Sudano-Sahelian region of West Africa (Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso,
Senegal), a new generation of sustainable resources management
projects is increasingly using a comprehensive farming system
development approach.  In Benin, the Recherche a^gronomique en milieu
Reel project aims to improve the technological transfer process, and
the Poursuite des etudes en milieu reel project advocates improving
farmers participation in rural development. 

     In Latin America, more comprehensive systems are being launched
to promote farming system development, particularly in marginal areas
in Peru, Ecuador and Brazil, with the aim of promoting participatory
rural development.  Attention is also focused towards increased demand
for technologies that are more appropriate for small farmer
conditions, such as labour-intensive technologies, agro-ecological and
organic farming systems and low-input farming.  A private agricultural
services sector is beginning to emerge.  A network of rural farmer
credit unions is being established, e.g., in the Dominican Republic,
Honduras and Peru.  State-run national agricultural research and
extension institutions have been reduced in size and functions, but
are beginning to be replaced by private research and extension
institutions, e.g., in Chile.
----------------------------------------------------------------------


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               Box 2.  Promising changes in people's participation
                       at field level

     Although progress in raising awareness on people's participation
has been slow in most developing countries, notable progress has been
achieved in such countries as Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Tanzania
and Zambia, where Governments are currently experimenting with the
introduction of new participatory and small community-based approaches
for supplying farm inputs and services.  Bolivia has recently embarked
on an ambitious programme to promote more effective participation of
rural people at the municipal level, and other Latin American
countries such as Chile, Ecuador, Mexico and Venezuela, have embarked
on similar schemes.  New cooperative legislation is now in the process
of being discussed and debated in a broad range of countries,
including Zambia, Guinea, India and Viet Nam.  With declining
government budgets for rural developments, many non-governmental
organizations are now playing more significant roles towards enhancing
people's participation.  Rural people's organizations are now entering
into the dialogue processes with Governments in shaping sustainable
agricultural policies.
----------------------------------------------------------------------


11.  The objectives of the programme area on the conservation and
sustainable utilization of plant genetic resources for food and
agriculture (PGRFA) are being pursued essentially through the FAO
Global System.  The mandate of the former FAO Intergovernmental
Commission on Plant Genetic Resources, which monitors the Global
System, has been broadened to cover other aspects of agricultural
biodiversity and renamed the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food
and Agriculture.  The Fourth International Technical Conference on
Plant Genetic Resources, held at Leipzig in June 1996, welcomed the
first issue of the periodic Report on the State of the World's Plant
Genetic Resources, and adopted the Global Plan of Action for the
Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources,
which focuses on implementing programmes that aim towards
conservation, sustainable utilization and sharing of benefits. 
Through the Commission on Genetic Resources, countries are negotiating
the revision of the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic
Resources in harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity,
including the realization of farmers' rights and the issue of access
on mutually agreed terms to PGRFA, including ex situ collections not
addressed by the Convention.

12.  In addition, the FAO World Information and Early Warning System is
promoting a worldwide information network that provides the basis for
a periodic revision of the Report on the State of the World's Plant
Genetic Resources.  Furthermore, 12 agricultural research centres
associated with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural
Research (CGIAR) have put their core collections, with about 500,000
accessions, under the auspices of FAO, within the International
Network of Ex Situ Collections. 

13.  Key Agenda 21 objectives concerning the conservation and
sustainable utilization of animal genetic resources for sustainable
agriculture have been met through the FAO Initiative for Domestic
Animal Diversity.  The Global Strategy for the Management of Farm
Animal Genetic Resources has been launched, with a mission to document
existing animal genetic resources, develop and improve their utility
to achieve food security, maintain those that represent unique genetic
material and that are threatened, and facilitate access to animal
genetic resources that are important to food and agriculture.  A key
output of the Global Strategy thus far has been a joint FAO/UNEP
publication, The World Watch List for Domestic Animal Diversity. 
According to the Global Databank, more than 300 breeds of animals used
for food and agriculture are endangered.

14.  The global community has also made considerable progress in
recognizing the contributions to sustainable agriculture of the
conservation and sustainable use of agricultural biological diversity,
as reflected, for example, in the decision of the Conference of the
Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity at its third meeting
to establish a multi-year programme of activities on the sustainable
use of agricultural biological diversity, aiming, inter alia, to
promote the positive and mitigate the negative effects of agricultural
practices on biological diversity.  As part of that effort, the
Conference of the Parties has invited FAO, in close collaboration with
other relevant United Nations bodies and regional and international
organizations, to identify and assess relevant ongoing activities and
existing instruments at the international level.

15.  Considerable progress has been achieved in the area of integrated
pest management (IPM).  The most widely quoted successful IPM
programme is rice in Indonesia, but other programmes have been mounted
in Viet Nam, China, India and the Philippines.  IPM is being
introduced in Africa (see box 4 on Ghana), and has had quite a long
history in Latin America and the Caribbean.  An IPM facility,
combining the efforts of FAO, UNEP, the United Nations Development
Programme, the World Bank and the Centre for Agriculture and
Bioscience International, has been established in direct response to
Agenda 21.  It will provide the link between donors, co-sponsoring
agencies, farmers' groups, and national and local governments and
non-governmental organizations.  The International Centre of Insect
Physiology and Ecology consistently uses IPM methods in complementing
the activities of CGIAR centres in plant health, which its expertise
and facilities in insect biology, physiology, ecology and behaviour
well qualify it to do.  Success has been noted not only in plant pest
control through IPM but also control of disease vectors, such as
tsetse and mosquitoes.  Experience in mounting IPM programmes has
shown that for such programmes to succeed farmers must be the primary
decision makers in crop production systems, and improving their
analytical ability, typically through farmers' field schools - is the
key to IPM.  In that regard, it is to be noted that their decisions
are influenced by the policy environment, such as input subsidies or
other government programmes, which may dissuade them from adopting IPM
methods.

16.  The development of organic farming and associated accreditation
schemes continues in response to consumer concerns on food quality. 
Progress has also been made in negotiating a legally binding
instrument on the prior informed consent procedure for certain
hazardous chemicals and pesticides in international trade, under the
joint auspices of UNEP and FAO.

17.  Other forms of biological control that are finding widened
application include the sterile insect technique, which has been
refined by FAO/the International Atomic Energy Agency through the use
of nuclear gamma irradiation, for example in eradication programmes
for the New World screw worm in North Africa and the Mediterranean
fruit fly in South America. 

18.  With regard to integrated plant nutrition management and
associated systems, some progress has been achieved in identifying and
carrying out country-level appraisals of all currently and potentially
available sources of plant organic and mineral nutrients.  Concepts
have been sharpened through expert consultations and the sharing of
experience (e.g., between FAO and the CGIAR International Food Policy
Research Institute) and by field trials in South and South-East Asia. 
Non-governmental organizations, such as the Swaminathan Research
Foundation in India, have been particularly active in that area. 
Progress is often constrained by the fact that such activity requires
access to external sources of nutrients as well as large inputs of
labour, particularly in cases in which massive quantities of biomass
are to be recycled.

19.  With regard to the evaluation of the effects of ultraviolet
radiation caused by the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer,
the evidence suggests that ultraviolet irradiation resulting from
stratospheric ozone depletion has little adverse effect on
photosynthesis or growth under field conditions, although there may be
longer-term damage to nucleic acids.  In contrast, increased
tropospheric ozone levels arising from atmospheric pollution will have
immediate adverse effects on most plant species. 


                            III.  PROMISING CHANGES

20.  The following important common policy approaches are emerging in
the promotion of SARD:  (a) the use of economic incentives to guide
sustainable agricultural practices; (b) education and information
exchange for human development; (c) the development and transfer of
new and appropriate technologies; (d) farm and off-farm employment for
alleviating poverty; (e) sound natural resource management leading to
environmental protection; and (f) focusing on men and women farmers
themselves.

21.  It is noteworthy that rural energy technologies, such as wind
energy, have seen a significant decline in cost in recent years. 
Power generation from wind farms or single systems has grown
dramatically, not only in Europe and the United States of America, but
in India, China, Mexico and Indonesia.  Solar photovoltaic (PV)
systems are gradually reaching competitive prices, and the market has
expanded considerably.  Large PV programmes in Mexico, India, China,
Argentina and other countries have been implemented since UNCED. 
Continued privatization and deregulation of electric power utilities
worldwide is providing new opportunities to generate electricity
through renewable energy technologies.  Impressive technical progress
has led to successful small-scale off-grid PV applications, as well as
wind energy projects and co-generation from biomass residues. 
However, in the transition of rural energy policies and technologies
to cost-effective energy sources, progress crucially depends on
economics.  Getting energy cheaply from renewable sources to small-
scale farming families in developing countries is still far from being
realized. 

22.  Other promising developments in implementing SARD have occurred,
for the industrialized economies, in the areas of policy integration,
setting agrochemicals reduction targets, the introduction of
environmental taxes and other policy instruments, and a growing
awareness of organic farming.  In developing economies, new
initiatives have reflected farmer-centred approaches and people's
participation and IPM programmes (see boxes 3 and 4).


----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Box 3.  Promising changes in policy integration and introduction
          of organic farming practices in OECD countries

     Although OECD countries in the past relied heavily on regulatory
measures, the use of economic instruments has continued to expand in
recent years.  Environmental taxes in the agriculture sector focus
primarily on pesticides, fertilizers and manure wastes.  The most
commonly practised market-based measure is the use of environmental
fees for discouraging farmers to use pesticides, including a
20 per cent sales tax on pesticides in Denmark, a 13 per cent tax on
purchase price of pesticides in Norway and a $2.50 tax per kg of
pesticides in Sweden.  In addition, voluntary programmes introduced
encourage farmers to practice IPM methods.

     Some OECD countries have already set agrochemicals reduction
targets.  For example, Canada and the Netherlands have opted to cut
pesticide use by 50 per cent (base year 1985-1988) by 2000, and
Denmark by 25 per cent (base year 1991) by 1997.  Previously, Sweden
had opted to cut use by 50 per cent (base year 1981-1985) by 1990. 
The Netherlands imposed an excess manure tax:  while farms producing
up to 125 kg/ha/yr of manure are exempted from the tax, a tax rate of
0.25 guilders per kg is set for farms producing between 125 and 200 kg
of manure per year, and 0.50 guilders per kg beyond 200 kg/ha/yr. 
Norway introduced a fertilizer tax set at 1.21 kroner per kg of
nitrogen and 2.30 kroner per kg of phosphorus.  Finland has introduced
a similar tax.

     Austria, Italy, Spain and Switzerland have established minimum
forage areas for cattle.  In Spain, over a five-year period it is
aimed to expand the organic farming area from the current level of
12,000 ha to 28,000 ha by the year 2000.

     Recent information on organic farming in the European Union (EU)
shows increasing adaptation, with Germany having almost half the total
area in the EU.  One comparison of area under organic practices
between 1987 and 1993 indicates that in most countries, area increased
by 100-300 per cent, but from a small base.  The number of farmers
using organic techniques also nearly doubled in the EU between 1987
and 1992, from an initial figure of 7,500 to about 14,000.  The market
share of organic products is still very low, however, at about
0.5 per cent of the total food market for the EU as a whole. 
Nevertheless, it has been estimated that market share of organic
products will increase to 2.5 per cent by the year 2000. 

     In the United States, production of organic foods increased by
about 20 per cent per year between 1989 and 1995, in line with the
growing demand for those products.  While the number of organic
certified organic farmers increased from 2,841 in 1991 to 4,060 (a
43 per cent increase), the number of certified processors and
distributors handling organic foods more than doubled in the same
period, from 254 to 526.  Organic market outlets are being
increasingly diversified to meet the growing demand for organic foods.
----------------------------------------------------------------------


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            Box 4.  Successful implementation of IPM in Ghana

     Successful implementation of policies and programmes aiming at
SARD in developing countries require that they benefit farmers as
well.  The example of Ghana shows how IPM programmes successfully are
achieving that goal.

     Intensification of rice-farming systems in Ghana for meeting the
increasing demand for food posed a high risk of new pest problems.  To
cope with that situation, the national Government took steps to revise
national agriculture policy by declaring IPM a national policy for
crop protection, abolishing subsidies on pesticides, and developing
legislation to strengthen the environmental protection control over
pesticide importation and use.  With those policy changes and
government initiatives, a four-month IPM training of trainers course
was conducted for a total of 28 extension officers, and three
season-long farmer's field schools were provided to 75 farmers, of
whom 15 were women.  The process started with analysing agro-
ecosystems, comparing crops grown under the conventional inputs
package with crops produced with IPM methods.  The crop protection
trials conducted under those two categories resulted in a 32 per cent
higher return in the IPM case, with typical cost savings equivalent to
around US$ 100 per farm.  Farmers were also able to understand how the
traditional practice of using chicken manure in alkaline soils that
they were already practising was a scientific way of dealing with the
problem.
----------------------------------------------------------------------


23.  A number of international non-governmental organizations have been
very active in promoting SARD.  The International Federation of
Agricultural Producers adopted a number of SARD policies at its recent
World Assembly, and is proposing action to strengthen farmers'
organizations and links among farmers, researchers and extension
services.  The International Federation of Organic Agricultural
Movements is developing and promoting an international organic
standard system to maintain the productive capacity of the soil.  The
Pesticides Action Network is undertaking advocacy and field work to
reduce dependence on chemical pesticides by promoting sustainable
agriculture.  The World Sustainable Agricultural Association has
organized conferences on sustainable agriculture in Asia and South
America.  At the same time, informal networking arrangements have
multiplied in the non-governmental organizations world as an effective
and flexible way of exchanging experience across national and regional
frontiers.


                         IV.  UNFULFILLED EXPECTATIONS

24.  The implementation of agriculture and rural development objectives
during the five-year post-UNCED period is still far from satisfactory. 
The elaboration of comprehensive rural policies that bring together
production, environmental and rural welfare objectives has for the
most part not been achieved.  The Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) group of countries have made some
progress towards integrating agricultural and environmental policies,
delinking agricultural support from production incentives and
promoting sustainable agricultural practices.  However, environmental
improvement is still highly dependent on market forces:  low prices on
world markets and high stock levels often determine land set-aside
measures, leading to less intensive and more environmentally friendly
production systems.  The importance of non-farm, industrial-promoting
policies for employment, especially for areas of lower agricultural
potential, is not well reflected in rural development and environment
strategies.  The possibilities for small-scale organic systems are
constrained by the lack of biomass, mixed (crop/livestock) systems,
labour supply and economic incentives.  There is often a lack of
coherence between agricultural and environmental policies.  In
addition, different government authorities with different mandates and
interests are involved in implementing SARD at the country level. 

25.  As emphasized by the Rome Declaration on World Food Security and
the World Food Summit and Plan of Action, many developing countries
face continuing challenges of poverty and hunger, highly inequitable
access to land and production inputs, and a need for environmental
protection.  Little progress will be made towards achieving SARD
without a radical reduction in the numbers of undernourished people,
in a wide variety of countries and ecological settings and in a
relatively short period.  Hence, the coexistence of poverty, hunger
and environmental degradation still makes achieving SARD an elusive
target.  Lack of proper financing mechanisms for rehabilitating
degraded lands has also aggravated the problem. 

26.  The share of agriculture in total official development assistance
(ODA) has declined.  In terms of constant 1990 dollars, external
assistance to agriculture fell from about $19 billion in 1986 to only
$10 billion in 1994.  Although development banks and other donors are
reorienting their investing strategies towards SARD, the scale of
international funding is still well below the levels required to
fulfil the expectations raised by chapter 14. 

27.  As mentioned above, there has been notable progress made in the
institutional aspects of genetic resources for food and agriculture;
there has been less progress, however, in developing networks of in
situ PGRFA in protected areas and early-warning mechanisms.  The
process of revising the International Undertaking on PGR has been
hampered by the lack of financial commitment to the Undertaking. 
Major challenges remain in instituting mechanisms for the conservation
and utilization of animal genetic resources at the national and local
levels. 

28.  The low levels of energy inputs for productive activities in rural
areas is at the root of low agricultural productivity, continued human
drudgery and increasing marginalization of the poorest of rural
populations, particularly in Africa.  Similarly, institutional and
policy weaknesses and the increasing reliance on market forces are
having a negative effect on energy investments in rural areas:  rarely
are the latter commercially viable.  That situation, which has been
further compounded by the phasing out of subsidies and other
developmental and promotional tools, explains the relative stagnation
of investment in rural electrification programmes.


                            V.  EMERGING PRIORITIES

29.  An important issue is the need to focus on men and women farmers. 
Their involvement in technology development, policy formulation and
investment decisions, as well as their participation in seeking
solutions to technical and socio-economic problems, is vital.  Out of
that appreciation flow at least four priorities:

     (a) The need to develop a stronger focus on farmers' and rural
workers' organizations as a means to transform rural societies with an
SARD focus;

     (b) The need to provide appropriate opportunities and incentives
for the full and effective participation of women in SARD programmes
and projects, by, inter alia, developing legal measures and
administrative regulations to improve their secure access to land and
credit, using public awareness campaigns to remove social and
attitudinal constraints, and ensuring equal access of women and men to
education, training and extension services;

     (c) The need for farmer-centred, participatory approaches, such
as farmers' field schools that have proved successful in promoting
IPM, may be used to promote other SARD-oriented technologies, such as
integrated plant nutrition;

     (d) The need to stress indigenous knowledge and technology, which
are often the best option for the local environment, and should be
carefully recorded and assessed.

30.  Greater attention needs to be given to sustainable
intensification.  The use of environmentally friendly technologies to
intensify production on already high-potential land already converted
to agriculture is preferable to converting more marginal fragile land
and valuable forests to low productivity or shifting agriculture. 
Such development may be facilitated by increasing population densities
that allow the higher labour inputs that intensification demands and
the access to markets and inputs that are often required.

31.  Emergency situations and disasters, both natural and -
especially - man-made, are a major enemy of SARD.  They undermine food
security, widen and deepen poverty, and may lead to immeasurable
environmental damage.  Disaster preparedness - early warning, early
action and rapid rehabilitation following relief - is part of the SARD
agenda.

32.  Urban and peri-urban intensive agriculture provides opportunities
for sustainable, small-scale, poverty-reducing and nutrition-improving
systems as a complement to but not as a substitute for better linking
urban food demand with rural supply.

33.  In the important area of genetic resources for food and
agriculture, a number of priorities are shifting, with a resulting
need to adjust key objectives for PGR:  from increasing the number of
gene banks to ensuring better maintenance of existing ones and
regulation of access; from ex situ collection and conservation to
on-farm and in situ conservation; from highly uniform cultivated
varieties to locally adapted crop varieties and crop diversification;
from free to regulated access; from ad hoc activities to developing
economic analytical methods to internalize the costs of conservation
into costs of production; and from sophisticated biotechnologies to
differentiated, appropriate biotechnologies and local technologies. 
Also, following the Fourth Technical Conference on PGR, there is a
need, under the guidance of the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources
for Food and Agriculture, to follow up on, evaluate and prioritize the
implementation of the Global Plan of Action.  There is also a critical
need to widely recognize that farm animal genetic resources are under
serious threat and are essential for the sustainable development of
most production environments.  Implementing the Global Strategy is
essential.

34.  The situation of low fertilizer application rates and low
productivity, coupled with evidence of nutrient mining, is found in
much of the sub-humid rain-fed areas of sub-Saharan Africa.  A
strategy of merely promoting fertilizer use will inevitably lead to
the exclusion of many resource-poor farmers, given the severe
supply-side problems that they face.  Past programmes proposed more
self-reliant plant-nutrition strategies but failed to consider links
to the cycling and use of the organic materials to which farmers have
access.  To move out of a low-productivity, low-input cycle, it will
be necessary to combine the external sources of nutrient inputs with
management practices to increase soil organic matter.

35.  Since rural energy problems persist and energy is not playing its
full role as a motor for rural development, the following issues have
emerged as complementary priorities or as new areas of focus: 
(a) more emphasis on the micro or household level; (b) renewed
interest in eco-village projects, solar villages etc.; (c) promotion
of innovative financial schemes to promote small businesses; and
(d) emphasis on the impact of rural energy on agricultural
productivity.

36.  In some situations, the efficient utilization of existing
resources, channelling of information and protection of indigenous
skills and technologies may be more important than extrabudgetary
resources.  While financing is an important issue, in some situations
more coherent SARD-oriented policies and the use of existing knowledge
may have equal or greater relevance to improving food security and
protecting the natural environment - the two key components of SARD.

37.  The continuing revolution in information technology offers
exciting opportunities for promoting SARD.  Increasing accessibility
to computers and electronically transmitted information permits ever
more rapid and wider sharing of knowledge and experience; the Domestic
Animal Diversity Information System is just one example.  The future
challenge is to harness those opportunities effectively and convert
much of the task into a virtual system of information generation,
capture and exchange.


                                     Note

     1/ See Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, vol. I, Resolutions Adopted by the Conference (United
Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and corrigendum),
resolution 1, annex II.


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Date last posted: 10 December 1999 17:25:35
Comments and suggestions: DESA/DSD