Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman's 
World Food Day Presentation 

Transcribed by mindfully.org from Real Audio file on the USDA website 16oct02

 

Mindfully.org note: 

During Secretary Veneman's presentation, many images of starving and undernourished people flash before our eyes. Some are shown eating while eating, squatting around an open fire in a grass hut. Another is of rag pickers, most likely in India. And yet another is of a young black girl with mucous dripping from her nose. All of this is meant to play on our deepest fears and desires to alleviate the suffering. 

We have no doubt that these images are indeed real. However, technology is not going to feed them. Technology won't feed them because they already haven't enough money to pay for the natural foods that are accessible to them right now. Or perhaps, the food is not getting to them because of war or corrupt leaders that are most often supported by US policies. There are many reasons that millions of people are starving throughout the world and including the USA, but none of them are for a real lack of food. 

Many of these developing nations that have an abundance of hunger are net exporters of food. More food will not feed their populations. It is funding that they lack, not food. More technology will only make whatever food is available even more expensive, not less expensive. 

If developing countries adopt biotechnology as a savior, unfortunately, they will be walking directly into the trap being set for them by Monsanto and other GMO transnational corporations. 

Consider this please. In the US, if a farmer purchases Monsanto's GMO corn, cotton, or soybeans, there is a technology fee that must be paid to Monsanto. A standard fee at this time is $15/acre, and agree to give up all future rights to recourse. They must also agree to refrain from saving seed from one year's crop for planting the next year. This is a standard practice by most of the world's farmers [See an example]

Imagine what would happen to their meager profits if they could no longer save seeds and had to use Monsanto's proprietary herbicide Roundup on those crops. For an example see this Wall Street Journal article Difficult Times Drive India's Cotton Farmers To Desperate Actions.

For a deeper look into this issue, please read
Will Genetic Engineering Feed the World?
and   Canadian Farmer Percy Schmeiser takes on Monsanto & Genetic Engineering, 
both by Paul Goettlich

World Food Day is a reminder of the ongoing struggle to end poverty, hunger, and malnutrition throughout the world. In the era of the Internet, cell phones, and biotechnology, 800 million people still suffer from the lack of one of the basic needs of life -- food. Day in, and day out, they live with the pain of hunger and the debilitating effects of malnutrition.

ann veneman, secretary of agriculture

This year's World Food Day comes at a time of heightened attention to the challenges of this global problem. In June, at the World Food Summit: Five Years Later, I represented President Bush and recommitted the United States, along with 181 other countries to the goal of reducing by half the number of hungry people in the world by the year 2015.

A few months later, the world Summit on sustainable development focused onx breaking the cycle of poverty and hunger by approving the ability of those in need to feed themselves. In the meantime, the famine in southern Africa, and a crisis in Afghanistan are tragic reminders of the urgency of our mission.

President Bush views the alleviation of hunger and poverty throughout the world as a "moral imperative." Those are his words.

To rise to the challenge of this moral imperative, the United States, in partnership with other countries is working toward three top priority objectives:

Technology is one of the most powerful tools we have to achieve these goals. Those who have been left behind by the great tides of human development, powered by the industrial revolution, the communications revolution, and the biological revolution, can leapfrog ahead, if they have access to the scientific and biological breakthroughs now underway.

At the world food Summit five years later, I issued an invitation to ministers from around the world to join me for a science and technology conference next year, to focus on the needs of developing countries in adopting new food and agricultural technologies.

During this conference, the planning for which is well underway, we will look at the role of partnerships and ways to share the benefits of the technology.

Current and emerging technologies have the potential to increase farm yields, improve the nutrient content of foods, delivered inexpensive, edible vaccines, improve distribution, reduce food waste, reduce the use of chemicals, and offer new marketing opportunities and income sources for farmers in such areas as biodegradable plastics and bioenergy products from agriculture.

This is the power and promise of science and technology. Around the world scientists are working to develop new varieties of crops that can resist pests, use less water, and generally thrive in less than optimal growing conditions.

Hand in hand, with scientific research, countries must adopt policies that will allow their farmers to take advantage of new products being developed through research.

Government policies should encourage the safe use of new technology, not cause farmers and consumers to fear it.

When President Bush proposed a new compact for development in March, he he said that part of this historic 50 percent increase in our development efforts would be used to "raise harvests where hunger is greatest."

We'll use these funds in partnership with countries that are, as the president said, ruling justly, investing in the people, and promoting economic freedoms.

Experience shows that these conditions will help to ensure our development investment these to real tangible progress in reducing poverty and alleviating hunger.

The United States is fully committed to the ambitious goal of feeding the world's hungry, not only through aggressive relief, but also through empowering those in need to gain access to an utilized the wonders of modern agriculture to feed themselves.

Thank you very much. And thank you for participating in World Food Day

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