The FAO Field Programme and agricultural development in Asia and the Pacific gives an overview of the issues involved in agricultural development in countries extending from Pakistan to the Philippines and from Indonesia to Northern China since the 1960s.
It explains the types and stages of development that have taken place in agricultural systems throughout the world, and examines trends and sources of growth in productivity in the context of the region’s natural resources, human resources, institutional resources, macroeconomic policies and technological progress.
The support of FAO has been an integral part of these countries’ economic growth in that time. The contributions of FAO to almost every field of agricultural endeavour in Asia and the Pacific region are described. The development of infrastructure, research facilities, research and training institutions, teaching methods, fertilizer management, pest evaluation and management, seed production, plant breeding, agro-technologies for fruit, post-harvest storage and processing, participatory and farmer-led approaches to agriculture, among other matters, have all been influenced by FAO expertise and support.
Finally, the need for sustainable agricultural development in the next decade and beyond are discussed, with an analysis of past failures and of present and future constraints to growth. The successes of the Green Revolution cannot continue, and land available per head can only decrease. Agricultural development must become smarter and less wasteful of resources.
Prem Nath
Assistant Director-General
and Regional Representative
for Asia and the Pacific
