Mr. Chairman;
Dear Delegates and Guests:
In the United Nations Secretary General's 2023 Report on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, it is predicted that more than 600 million people worldwide will be living in conditions of famine by 2030.
Paradoxically, this is happening on a planet that has enough food to feed all its inhabitants.
Aware that this is possible, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development established among its objectives: to put an end to hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition, as well as promote sustainable agriculture, with the premise of achieving economic, social and environmental sustainability of the States.
But the reality has been far behind the dreams. Only six years away from the deadline set to achieve those goals, global food insecurity has reached extreme levels, which are structurally exacerbated by the prevalence of a profoundly unjust and unequal international economic order.
Excellencies:
What I have described very concisely is the challenge we all face, because we will all be hit by the impacts of such imbalance if we do not accommodate potentialities and efforts.
The promotion of new research, scientific and technical development, technology transfer and access to existing technologies in the areas of food and nutrition have the potential to contribute to the eradication of hunger and poverty in all its forms and dimensions, and to the achievement of sustained, inclusive and equitable economic growth, human welfare and sustainable development from and for the South.
This was recognized by the high dignitaries of the Group of 77 and China at the Summit held in Havana last September, under the theme The current challenges of development: the role of science, technology and innovation.
In the effort to achieve global goals and guarantee the right to food, family farming has become a key sector in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
In our region, small farmers account for 40% of farms and contribute significantly to the availability of food.
Despite the significant contribution of family farming to domestic consumption, the diversification of agricultural activity and the conservation of biodiversity in our countries, 20% of this sector faces food insecurity.
Reversing the vulnerability of small farmers in Latin America and the Caribbean depends, to a large extent, on guaranteeing adequate, preferential and favorable access to scientific and technical advances and capacity building.
Science and digital innovation represent a novel alternative for strengthening family agriculture, since they contribute to increasing productivity through the use of technologies aimed at the optimal growth of agrifood and livestock production.
Applying science and innovation to this key sector also contributes to reducing environmental impact and sustainability. This is a step towards resilience and adaptation to climate change.
Excellencies:
The 38 FAO Regional Conference is taking place at a time when humanity has reached an unprecedented scientific-technical potential, with the capacity to generate wealth and well-being that, under conditions of equality, equity and justice, could ensure decent and sustainable standards of living for all.
The selfishness of those who have been enriching themselves for years at the expense of the peoples of the South has left us with more hunger and poverty. It is necessary to reverse this condition into which we have been plunged by centuries of colonial and neocolonial dependence.
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has reported that the creation and diffusion of advanced digital production technologies remains concentrated globally in just 10 economies, which are responsible for 90% of all patents worldwide.
The tendency to patent everything turns scientific advances into instruments for deepening the development gap and bending the will of governments to the interests of the richest.
This explains why, in the midst of the most colossal scientific-technical development of all times, the world has gone back three decades in terms of extreme poverty reduction and there are levels of famine not seen since 2005.
Excellencies:
The application of unilateral coercive measures has devastating impacts on the enjoyment of human rights, including the right to food.
The economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States government against Cuba has intensified in recent years to unprecedented levels, causing losses to the food sector of more than 273 million dollars, only between March 2022 and February 2023.
This data confirms the criminal purpose of that policy that seeks to starve and despair the Cuban people. The damage caused by the blockade has multiplied with the arbitrary and unjust inclusion of Cuba in the list of countries allegedly sponsoring terrorism, which is drawn up unilaterally by the US State Department.
Despite these immense obstacles, the Cuban government is implementing the Food Sovereignty and Nutrition Education Plan as a national platform for full food security, aligned with the 2030 Agenda.
Said Plan contemplates, among other issues, the reduction of dependence on food and input imports, the guarantee of quality and safety, and the reduction of food losses and waste.
We are grateful for the valuable contribution of FAO, IFAD, WFP and other UN agencies to the implementation of the Plan.
I would like to conclude by quoting the prophetic warning of the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Commander-in-Chief, Fidel Castro Ruz, when 28 years ago he warned at the Food Summit:
"The bells that toll today for those who die of hunger every day, will toll tomorrow for the whole of humanity if it did not want, did not know how or could not be wise enough to save itself."
Thank you very much
