of

Secretar of Agriculture Dan Glickman
International Food and Nutrition Conference
Tuskegee University Tuskegee, Al
- October 10, 2000

[As prepared for delivery]

      "   Thank you Dr. Payton for that kind introduction and for inviting me here today. And I want to thank you and Dr. Hill and your staffs for putting together this very important and visionary conference.

       "  Next Monday is World Food Day, an appropriate time to highlight the magnitude of the food security challenge that we face. The simple fact is that world population will reach 9 billion people by mid-century. That's 3 billion more mouths to feed and, when you consider that today over 800 million people are chronically malnourished, that fact presents a fearsome challenge. With all that humankind has achieved, we have never been able to defeat hunger and malnutrition. So how are we going to cope with 3 billion more people?

          "   I was in Africa this past summer -- Kenya and Nigeria. We've all seen the pictures of starving, malnourished children and families...and we're all familiar with the hunger statistics. But I had the chance to see first hand the suffering, the sheer magnitude of the hunger problem. I went to the feeding camps and met many children with frail bodies and eyes begging for salvation. For me this experience wasn't just that I gained an understanding of the mechanics of the problems hungry people face day in and day out, but I came away with a feeling of their sense of despair, and a feeling for how hunger and poverty steal people's hope and perpetuate a defeatist sense of self. And I also saw people who were getting an adequate quantity of food, but not getting enough of the right nutrients.

           "  But amidst the despair and disillusion I also saw people taking charge, working to take control and make life better for themselves and their families. In Kenya some members of our delegation visited the Nutribusiness Development Project, a woman-owned and operated co-op that produces nutritious baby food. This project was made possible not only by a grant from the United States, but by know-how provided by Tuskegee University and Penn State University. So I want to thank the folks at Tuskegee for the work you do not just in the United States but around the world.

             "  And in Nigeria we visited the Institute for Tropical Agriculture where scientists from Africa and the United States are working side by side to develop higher yielding crops with greater pest resistance that can grow in the climate conditions of Africa.

            "   These kinds of efforts are a start, but we'll need thousands more just like them all over the world. The sad truth is that meeting the challenges of the world food crisis is only going to get tougher. I'm not saying that we can't do it. I am saying that, if we are going to succeed, we've got to ramp up our efforts quickly and forcefully.

             "  The first step in fighting hunger is for developed countries to get surplus food to people who need it, especially in times of crisis. Recently, the United States has dramatically increased food donations around the world -- over 16 million tons over the past two years. The United States is by far the largest supplier of world food assistance -- 64% last year. I'm not here to pat ourselves on the back. That's what we should be doing. The magnitude of the U.S. share suggests that this is one one area where other developed nations need to step up to the plate and do more -- a lot more.

            " But, as everyone in this room knows, supplying food to alleviate critical shortages or respond to natural disasters like flood or drought that precipitate famine is at best a band-aid approach. Supplying surplus food is not the way to cure hunger but merely to alleviate its symptoms in the short-term. Long-term solutions to hunger and malnutrition involve addressing self-sufficiency.

           "  I'm of the belief that promoting new technologies - biotechnology, advances in irrigation, water management, pest management, soil treatment and more - will continue to be the cornerstone of our efforts to feed a growing world population. There is no one answer, no single miracle that's going to solve these problems. It is advances in technology will help us to find the many answers we need.

             "  Two weeks ago at the Agriculture Department we inaugurated a Hall of Heroes - men and women who've had a profound impact on food, agriculture, forestry and nutrition. One of our first four charter members was George Washington Carver. Now, certainly, in this room I don't have to get into his long list of accomplishments, but I cite Dr. Carver to illustrate a significant point. Along with Hugh Hammond Bennett, a pioneer in soil conservation, two of the four honorees were scientists. The others were Smokey Bear and Senator Bob Dole.

       "  It tells you something about the impact of science and technology on agriculture and food production in the 20^th Century, a phenomenon that I think is too casually treated when looking back at the last 100 years. We hear a lot about the invention of the automobile, space exploration, nuclear energy, computer technology and so much more, but lost somewhere in technology's heralded century is the accomplishments brought about in agriculture - the most prominent being the exponential increase in farm productivity. In the United States we've gone from approximately half the population working in farming at the beginning of the century to under 2% today. That fact alone is hugely significant because the end result is it freed up the rest of the population, even as it grew, to pursue other interests and professions and develop the greatest economic engine the world has ever seen.

             " On this subject of hunger and technology I'm reminded of a visit I made to the world renowned International Maize and Wheat Research Center (CIMMYT) in Texcoco, Mexico -- as most of you know the birthplace of the Green Revolution which brought about the massive technological advances that enabled us to feed a rapidly growing world without destroying our environment. When I toured this facility, I was stunned into silence by a sign on one of the walls. It had to do with Norin 10 --the dwarfing gene for wheat. The sign read: "A single gene ... has saved 100 million lives."

        " Next week I will be at the United Nations for the presentation of the World Food Prize to two extraordinary scientists from CIMMYT, Dr. Evangelina Villegas and Dr. Surinder K. Vasal, for their work in developing maize with higher quality protein -- a discovery which is helping to save millions of children worldwide.

         "The point here is that challenging the frontiers of science and technology is where we are going to find our answers. During my tenure as Agriculture Secretary I have been out front talking about the remarkable potential of biotechnology to battle hunger, improve nutrition and empower farmers in developing countries. I have also been very forceful in calling for rigid controls on new technologies so that we may realize their potential and avoid the roadblocks that sometimes befall new technologies.

         "A few weeks ago Nigeria's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Hassan Adamu -- whom I had the chance to meet when I was over there -- wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post forcefully making the case for what biotechnology can mean to Africa, not only as a means to beat back hunger and improve nutrition, but to aid in developing African agriculture and their move toward greater self-sufficiency. He argued, and I agree with him, that it is "paternalistic and morally wrong" for those of us in developed countries to presume to know what is best for developing nations. For those of us in the developed world, our task should be to help provide the tools so that nations that can use a helping hand can make the best choices of what will work for their own people.

        " But if we're really going to find ways to feed 3 billion more people in the next 50 years, then we're going to have to apply that same level of ingenuity and innovation that we find in science and technology to policy making. We simply can not afford to stay the course.

         "That's why when Ambassador George McGovern and Senator Robert Dole suggested to President Clinton an international program based on the U.S. experience with the School Meals program - to try it around the world to help feed children -- the President immediately took to the idea. Within a matter of months we moved to get it off the ground. Not only would it fight hunger and improve nutrition, but studies indicate it would improve school attendance and education - a major contribution to local economies. So the Global Food for Education Program was born and the United States committed $300 million to fund the first year's pilot effort - and we sincerely hope other developed nations will join in this effort. The fact is there's no way any single nation can do this alone, but the United States is willing to get out front, test the waters and lead the way.

         "Something else we have to consider is not only how much food people are getting, but also the quality of that food. The irony of the American experience is that even though we have all the food we need, we're not necessarily consuming it in the healthiest ways. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control announced that half of all Americans are overweight and that nearly one in five Americans is obese - in most cases about 30 pounds overweight. This is not a cosmetic issue. It's not about competing with the covers of Vogue or GQ. This is a serious health issue. Obesity has been directly linked to heart disease, diabetes, stroke, arthritis, cancer and other diseases. This is not a precedent that other countries would want to import.

         "In the United States we are asking ourselves what are we doing wrong and how do we change it. It won't be easy, because in part it means altering dietary habits that have been formed over many years and are being passed from one generation to the next. Hopefully, we can help other nations avoid some of these nutritional pitfalls.

         "But, in the rush to produce enough nutritious food for a growing world population, we must avoid creating new problems that threaten our health and well being such as in food safety.

         "In the new models of food production, where one meat packing plant can produce upwards of a million pounds of ground beef in a single day and ship it virtually overnight anywhere in the country, we test our ability to maintain the safety of our food supply. In addition to having the most abundant food supply in the world, the United States also has the safest. But we are not without challenges. Mass production of food increases the likelihood of major disease outbreaks. That's why we've instituted a science-based inspection system in our meat and poultry plants. Already, in just two years we are seeing dramatically positive results - for example, the incidence of salmonella is down up to 50%. Our experience with maintaining a safe, farm-to-table food supply can be of great benefit to other nations as their food production systems grow.

*

         "You know, many people come at the issue of hunger and malnutrition from a moral perspective or even out of religious conviction. They view it as the right thing to do, to help others in need. I couldn't agree more. But there's more here than pure altruism. Investing in people, in a better world, and in developing economies serves to improve the world in which we live for all of us. After World War II the United States helped to rebuild Europe and Japan. Today those nations are our friends and allies contributing to peace, stability and democracy all over the world. The same is true for individuals as it is for countries - help them, empower them, give them a hand up, and they will become productive, contributing members of our world community. The challenge for all of us in this room and beyond, is to find ways to create a liveable world for all. That must be our commitment. Thank you."

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