10 June 2002
At Food Summit, U.S. Sees Biotech Role in Ending Hunger, June 10, 2002
(Carries a promise of additional benefits to poor)
By Kathryn McConnell Washington File Staff Writer
Rome -- Biotechnology could help decrease hunger, provide medical benefits to the poor and promote sustainable farming, say senior U.S. officials participating in the World Food Summit: Five Years Later ministerial conference in Rome.
Under Secretary of State Alan Larson, briefing reporters June 10, said that many developing countries facing famine want to embrace biotechnology because the use of genetically modified crops in other countries has resulted in expanded harvests.
Genetically modified crops also improve the environment by allowing greater production on less land using less chemicals and less water, U.S. officials said.
Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, briefing with Larson, added that because biotech crops require fewer pesticides, the quality of water sources near fields where they are being grown is improved.
Larson acknowledged that more research is needed in agricultural biotechnology and that the United States stands ready to support it.
He said the U.S. delegation is pleased that ministers in Rome have agreed to strong language concerning biotechnology and trade.
Veneman said that the United States would play a strong role in a global alliance to reduce hunger envisioned in the summit declaration.
She said agricultural and medical biotechnology would be coming together in the future to produce foods with medical benefits.
Later, in her remarks at the plenary session, Veneman said that the United States would host a world science and technology conference in early 2003 to examine the role of technology partnerships in boosting food productivity.
Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Andrew Natsios, also speaking to reporters, said that with higher yields of biotech seeds, farmers will not exhaust their fields so rapidly, thus reducing the need to clear forests for more farmland and saving valuable forest resources.
He called on other developed countries to do their part in promoting agriculture in poor countries. A decision to decrease agriculture aid made by several donors 13 years ago was a "mistake," he said.
Pointing to the priority USAID is giving to agricultural development, Natsios said the agency is increasing its annual budget for agriculture programs by $100 million.
He added that better early warning systems to detect famine need to be developed and urged donors to commit food aid early when signs point to a coming famine.
Natsios noted that the United States, as the largest provider of food aid, has been donating three-fourths of the food distributed through the World Food Program. "Other donors need to step up," he said.
Natsios said developing countries could do their part in famine prevention and intervention by dropping waiting periods for famine monitors trying to enter these countries and giving them access to remote areas that previously had been off limits.
On another issue, the U.S. officials have expressed support for an aggressive trade agenda within the World and Trade Organization (WTO). Veneman said that more trade could enhance poverty reduction efforts.
She said she was "puzzled" by charges that the 2002 Farm Bill changes other countries' access to the U.S. market. Veneman stressed that current trade preferences, such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act, remain unaffected and that the bill is consistent with U.S. commitments to the World Trade Organization (WTO). She added that the bill allows the Secretary of Agriculture to intercede to prevent breaking these commitments.
Veneman said that the Farm Bill includes about the same amount per year for price support programs as was spent annually in the last 4-5 years.
Answering related question, Natsios said that the price supports do not really affect farmers in developing countries because these programs cover commodities that developing countries do not grow for export.
