Prof. Marcello Gorgoni[1][1]

FAO/Italy Cooperative Programme

 

 

The seminar starting here today is, among other things, the crowning activity of an ambitious and complex exercise in international development and cooperation, lasting more than a decade. The exercise has been carried out with the participation of three institutional partners: the two cooperating Governments of China and Italy and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the specialised United Nations Agency for Food and Agriculture.

 

It is now more than 12 years since, in the second half of the 1980s, within the FAO/Italy Cooperative Programme, the first exploratory steps were taken, in connection with the technical assistance to be provided to the Chinese Government for restructuring and modernizing their agricultural and rural statistics system in view of the possible future undertaking of an agricultural census. When a first five-year, US$6 million project was approved in 1987, the prospects for an agricultural census were actually still remote and uncertain. In the meantime, the three partners combined their efforts in an intensive programme of capacity-building and institutional strengthening having, among others, two particularly important components: one for training, and the other for the procurement of modern hardware and software. The job appeared, from the very beginning, as long and demanding as it eventually proved to be.

 

Encouraged by a good, although difficult, start, and by good, although partial, results, upon conclusion of that first phase, a new phase was agreed upon in the early 1990s. This was more directly aimed at the preparation of the First National Agricultural Census, although it was in the absence of a specific commitment by the Chinese Government. The new phase was formulated and approved, in line with the experience and lessons from phase one, and entered into operations in 1993, as a new 3.5-year, US$5.4 million project within the FAO/Italy Cooperative Programme.

 

Contributing to the preparation of the agricultural census was now in clear evidence within the project structure. However, There was a long way to go. As the project proceeded in implementing activities, and delivering partial outputs, it was becoming clear that a full completion of the job was calling for a further phase. This was particularly true if, after the census was completed, assistance was to be provided for the elaboration, tabulation and analysis of the census results. Having, since the very beginning, been committed to such a promising and demanding project, Italy had a clear interest in continuing its partnership, notwithstanding the constraints of a tightening budget for the entire Cooperative Programme. This led to the approval, in 1996, of a final phase, the present one: a three-year, US$4.2 million project (GCP/CPR/020/ITA). An ancillary, although formally, fully separate, US$1.0 million (made available on the bilateral account) project came into being shortly afterward to cover pending needs, mainly in the procurement of hardware and software. With the census field operations completed in 1997, this last and present phase was about to finalize its activities in 1999.

 

Difficulties met in data processing and analysis led to a project extension within the existing budget until the end of the present year. A more specific reason for such an extension was given by the difficulties encountered in the preparation of this seminar, because of its significance as a crowning final activity to such a long, difficult and promising venture.

 

Long and difficult indeed, lasting more than 12 years, and having a global budget in the range of US$16 million, but certainly worth trying. In more than one occasion, in view of the shrinking budget for the entire FAO/Italy Cooperative Programme, volatile geopolitical priorities, and the increased competition for increasingly scarce funds, discouragement for persisting difficulties might have led to withdrawing. Luckily, this did not happen, and the tripartite partnership has kept working until now, in spite of all difficulties, including those met organizing this seminar.

 

From the general perspective of the FAO/Italy Cooperative Programme, there is more than one reason for having persisted up to the present seminar. First of all, satisfaction for a rewarding partnership in the modernization process of such an important sector, in such an important country. More specifically, the contribution to be made to the enhanced knowledge, based on sound and reliable scientific foundations, of the entire Chinese farm sector and rural society, as a new, better-grounded starting point for exploring future development perspectives. When both country and sector dimensions are taken into account, the significance of the exercise, leading to a new, scientifically-grounded, picture of the Chinese rural sector is becoming clear, from both the country and global, that is, planetary perspective. There are, in addition, more specific reasons for satisfaction, such as:

 

·        ·        Within the FAO/Italy Cooperative Programme, the support provided to the preparation of the first agricultural census in China has further strengthened and better highlighted the normative role of the agency, and the importance attached to it by Italy. This is in line with a long-standing position reiterated on several occasions, both directly, and through the European Union Presidency.

·        ·        This project has offered to the Italian Cooperation, in line with a general policy orientation, the opportunity to mobilise, through its Cooperative Programme with FAO, not only financial resources but the professional skills and experience available in selected national institutions, such as the Istituto Centrale di Statistica (ISTAT), the Istituto Nazionale di Economia Agraria (INEA), and the Universities of Bologna, Firenze, Napoli, Padova, to mention a few. In practical terms, this has led to the involvement of individual experts in the implementation of specific project activities, and the hosting of Chinese fellows for training, particularly on- the-job training.

 

The project is also a success story in long-range confidence building, showing that important results in development cooperation may imply long-term commitments, much patience in learning by doing, and the farsightedness of staying there even when prevailing circumstances, in any given moment, might suggest the contrary. Noting with satisfaction the catalytic role and contribution made by the FAO/Italy Programme in both modernizing the whole agricultural and rural statistics system, and in undertaking the agricultural census, it is only fair to stress that it would not have been possible without the continuous strong commitment on the Chinese side, at all levels.

 

Given its dimensions and novel characteristics, undertaking the First National Agricultural Census in China has presented its own complexity, both technical and operational. This was certainly no reason for surprise. For similar reasons, and with a bit more surprise, difficulties have shown up in data processing and analysis, with delays in delivery, and disappointment in waiting much longer than anticipated for fully meaningful results. Owing to such difficulties, a first presentation of census results, made in Beijing late in 1998, was far from being fully satisfactory, both in coverage and detail. For international observers, expecting new and more reliable information on a number of open issues in the international debate, that presentation provided few answers.

 

It was at that time, as a reaction to the sense of frustration, and in acknowledgement of the difficulties in providing reliable answers to outstanding questions, concurrence was expressed within the project for the preparation of an improved presentation of results, which was to have wider coverage, and substantially more detailed information. The expectation was for a first set of analytical exercises, offering at the same time adequate detail and comprehensiveness, to be presented for discussion to a qualified international audience. This was with the understanding that this could hardly be anything more but the beginning of a broader endeavour, far beyond the capacity of a single project in its final stage. This is where this seminar comes in.

 

The seminar format was chosen in the spirit of raising awareness and stimulating an exchange of views in the international community. To that end, special attention had to be given to a wide coverage of issues, and to an adequate richness and potential diversity of presentations.

 

Difficulties in organizing the seminar have not been few, and at several times the temptation has been strong to give up. There have been postponements but no giving up. Here we are today with a rich and promising programme, it appears, both in terms of thematic coverage and diversity of individual presentations.

 

Last but not least, there are grounds to expect that, in line with the seminar formula adopted, there will be lively and frank discussion aimed at a better, though partial and provisional, understanding of the Chinese farm sector. In such a spirit and in the broader context of the FAO/Italy Cooperative Programme, the seminar is to be regarded as the crowning event of an exceptionally long endeavour. Let us hope that, beyond the boundaries of this particular tripartite undertaking, it is coming to a conclusion. The richness of the presentations, and the discussion offered at the seminar will be a good start for the analytical work ahead, which will be far beyond the boundaries of any specific cooperative programme.

 

The extent and coverage of the analytical work for a better understanding of the Chinese farm sector in its present reality and future potential for development, calls for a wide mobilization of human and institutional resources, both in China and in the international community. A crucial point here is expected to be the easiness and friendliness of access to the new information generated by the census. Let us hope that the FAO/Italy Cooperative Programme has made a meaningful contribution in starting such a mobilization, and let us hope that this seminar will provide convincing evidence of this.