ROGER Clarke, the minister of agriculture, says that despite the fact that the number of undernourished persons in developing countries remained high, the improvement in Jamaica’s food security status over the decade of the 1990s is one of the positive indicators in the global fight against poverty and hunger.

“Available data for Jamaica indicates that there has been a downward trend in both the level of poverty, which was recognised by the World Food Summit as a major cause of food insecurity, and in the number of undernourished persons,” he said.

At the same time, he said the prevalence of under-nourishment in developing countries fell from 37 per cent of the total population in 1969-70 to 17 per cent in 2000/2002.

Minister Clarke was speaking at the 33rd Session of an eight-day conference hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations in Rome, to review wide-ranging reform proposals for the Agency and to examine the latest report on the state of food and agriculture, worldwide.

The conference, which opened last Saturday, was attended by agriculture ministers and senior officials from FAO member states.

Clarke, according to JIS News, expressed concern about the many factors that could jeopardise the sustainability of achievements in food security in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). He cited, for instance, their environmental vulnerability, mentioning the severe weather conditions throughout much of 2004/2005 in the Caribbean region, which had seriously affected farmers’ incomes and militated against long-term food security objectives.

He also stressed the importance for particular focus to be placed on the erosion of trade preferences and the necessary adjustment period, within the ambit of the new trade rules, as these policies created the framework within which all development must take place.

In light of this, said JIS News, the minister lamented the fact that progress in reducing the number of undernourished people in developing countries has been “unacceptably slow and uneven across regions” and that there has been a “significant decline” in real terms, in external assistance to agriculture, especially from 1993 onwards.

Meanwhile, Clarke stressed the need for the global community to honour all international commitments aimed at promoting food security and sustainable development in SIDS. He noted, for instance, the need for support of the ACP Group’s proposals in the WTO negotiations on agriculture, which emphasise special and differential treatment for developing countries, including the delay in the erosion of long-standing non-reciprocal trade preferences.

In underscoring the FAO’s role in sustainable development in SIDS, Minister Clarke expressed his agreement with the director -eneral’s view that the organisation must begin to target its efforts even more specifically towards helping developing members formulate strategies and policies to address their most pressing problems of poverty and food insecurity, as well as to mobilise resources internally and externally to implement programmes on a suitable scale.

“My delegation is confident that member countries and the FAO are about to enter a new era in which a revitalised partnership will emerge and which will focus resources, both human and financial, on policies and actions that will contribute greatly to the benefit of all mankind,” Clarke said.

Since SIDS were identified as a special group during the 1992 Earth Summit, a number of internationally agreed development goals have been formulated to address their vulnerabilities and to build resistance and sustainability. In keeping with this, the FAO is seeking to assist SIDS in integrating sustainable food security policies and programmes within national poverty reduction strategies.