A special effort
FAO in brief
FAO member nations - As at 1 January 1960
FAO offices
Organization chart
FAO forestry development papers
FAO forestry studies
Miscellaneous
The Food and Agriculture Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, was set up in 1945 to help the people of the world in their continuing fight against hunger and malnutrition. The need for such an agency became clear during the second world war, which devastated agricultural production, transport and marketing systems. But it was also evident that a peaceful and healthy world could not be built upon the precarious prewar level of food supplies and their inadequate patterns of distribution,
Since then, the rising rate of growth of the world's population has added urgency to the need for international action to increase food supplies, to better their nutritional quality, and to make them accessible to the peoples of the earth. World population is now about 2,800 millions and is growing at the rate of more than 120,000 a day. It is expected to double by the end of the century. Food production has also been expanding, but on the whole it barely exceeds population growth. It has often not yet made good the setbacks of the war. In many places food supplies are only held at the inadequate prewar levels through greater food imports or smaller food exports, but even this is at the cost of foreign exchange badly needed for economic development.
However, the potential resources of the world are sufficient, under wise management, for greatly improving the food supply of even such a rapidly growing population. A great international effort is required to carry out this task of primary importance for the peace and well-being of the world, and it was for this purpose that FAO was created as a world-wide co-operative of governments (42 at the outset in 1945; 86 by January 1960). Each Member Government has one vote and pays a contribution proportional to its national income. These contributions provide the budget - US$ 18,980,000 for the biennium 1960-61 - to finance the regular activities of the Organization.
Member Governments review the world food and agricultural situation (including fisheries and forestry) by sending their delegations every two years to the Conference of FAO, the legislative body of the Organization. It is the Conference which plans the work of FAO and determines the level of the budget. It also elects the Director-General, who is the chief administrator, with authority over a Secretariat of some 1,300 international civil servants selected for their technical qualifications and drawn from all parts of the world.
Between sessions of the full Conference, the affairs of FAO are reviewed by a Council, which is composed of representatives of 25 governments. The three most important standing Committees of the Council are the Finance Committee, the Program Committee, and the Committee on Commodity Problems which reviews world trade in agricultural commodities.
FAO is not a supergovernment, but a " co-operative of governments " and has no executive powers of it; own. It is chiefly an advisory and consultative organization. It cannot, for example, produce food, or buy and distribute surplus stock, but it advises its Member Governments on policies and plans for food production and the disposal of food surpluses, and it provides them with technical assistance on request. It also informs the general public about food problems and enlists their support for the work which governments undertake through FAO for the solution of these problems.
FAO does three main kinds of work:
1. The initial step in tackling such an overwhelming problem as world hunger is to analyze and define it. FAO collects, analyzes and disseminates basic information such as statistical yearbooks on production and trade in agriculture, forestry and fisheries products, and prepares special studies on such diverse topics as soil conservation, animal disease control, farm mechanization, forest fire control, nutritional problems, and technical fisheries development problems. The Organization also convenes many international meetings for the study of specific aspects of food and agricultural problems. Governments are thus assisted in determining their policies and action programs for solving such problems.2. Through its international technical staff, FAO provides, on request, direct technical advice and assistance to countries. For this purpose, FAO is allocated yearly a share of the United Nations Fund for Technical Assistance (in 1960 about US$ 8 million). FAO had completed upwards of 2,000 expert missions by 1960, and had awarded over 1,750 fellowships for the training of technicians. The establishment of the United Nations Special Fund in 1959 provided another means whereby FAO supplies assistance to governments in major projects at the pre-investment stage for the development of their resources.
3. FAO promotes co-operative action towards solving problems of food and agriculture. This is done in a number of countries in the same region, or among several countries which are facing the same problems. For instance, a co-operative program embracing a number of countries in the Near East has been set up to fight the desert locust. As another example, the FAO Committee on Commodity Problems brings Member Governments together to confer on such questions as the current world agricultural commodity situation problems of surplus or deficit in agricultural commodities, and measures to stabilize markets and prices. Similarly, FAO has established various study groups, committees, councils, commissions and other bodies to help promote and coordinate world food production. Such bodies include the International Rice Commission to raise production and consumption levels in rice-eating countries, and regional forestry and fisheries commissions and councils.
FAO Headquarters are in Rome, Italy. Its present Director-General is Binay Ranjan Sen of India. Under his authority, the Secretariat consists of a Technical Department, an Economics Department, and a Department of Public Relations and Legal Affairs, each under an Assistant Director-General, plus a Program and Budgetary Service and a Division of Administration and Finance. Within the Technical Department are Divisions for Land and Water Development, Plant Production and Protection, Animal Production and Health, Rural Institutions and Services, Fisheries, Forestry and Forest Products, and Nutrition; the Economics Department contains Divisions for Commodities, Statistics and Economic Analysis.
In order to assist governments more directly in the several parts of the world, FAO has Regional or Subregional Offices in Accra, Bangkok, Cairo, Mexico, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago and Washington. There is an FAO representative in most of the individual countries receiving FAO technical assistance.
Freedom from Hunger Campaign
In spite of fifteen years of national and international effort, progress towards the goals set out in FAO's charter has been slow and a world free from hunger is not yet in sight. Clearly, special efforts are called for if the vision and idealism behind the foundation of FAO are to yield the expected results.
It is in this context that B.R. Sen, FAO's Director-General, saw the need for a worldwide campaign against hunger and want. Under the title " Freedom from Hunger Campaign ", the Member Nations of FAO adopted the project at their Conference in November 1959. Although the inspiration for the Campaign has come from FAO, which will continue to offer leadership and guidance in regard to the various activities contemplated, the Campaign now belongs to the world. No single organization, national or international, can fulfil the purposes of the Campaign. Its success depends upon the enthusiastic co-operation and willing participation not only of governments, the United Nations and the Specialized Agencies, and international nongovernmental organizations, but also of private foundations, religious bodies and men and women of goodwill everywhere. Broadly speaking, the activities of the Campaign will be twofold: first, the promotion of a climate of opinion throughout the world in which the problems of hunger and want will be discussed, their causes analyzed and their remedies sought. This is an activity which will be most appropriately taken up by the more developed and prosperous countries. The second category of activity will include national and regional research and action projects designed to accelerate the tempo of development in underdeveloped countries and to secure increased production of food and better standards of nutrition.
The Campaign is initiated in a spirit of rededication to the basic objectives for which FAO was created. It will extend from 1960 through 1965, highlighted by a World Food Congress in 1963.
History
|
1943: |
United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture hold at Hot Springs, Virginia, U.S.A., established Interim Commission to draft constitution. |
|
1945: |
Delegates of 42 countries met at Quebec Canada, and founded the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. |
|
1951: |
FAO, with 68 member nations moved to permanent Headquarters in Rome, Italy. |
|
1960: |
Total of Member Nations 86. |
Constitution
FAO is one of the autonomous specialized agencies of the United Nations. It has close working relationships with the United Nations through the Economic and Social Council, as well as with its sister specialized agencies.
Governing and other bodies
Conference. Meets normally every other year; elects Director-General, sets policy, determines program, funds and scale of contributions; each Member Nation has a single vote.
Council. 25 Member Nations elected by Conference for three-year terms under an independent chairman (also elected by Conference); acts as the interim governing body, meeting one to three times annually.
Committees. The most important standing committees of the Council are the Finance Committee, the Program Committee and, of particular interest, the Committee on Commodity Problems which consists of 24 Member Nations elected by the Conference.
Secretariat. About 1,300, of which 1,000 are stationed at Rome Headquarters and the remainder in Regional and Subregional Offices. The Director-General is elected by the Conference: the present Director-General, Binay Ranjan Sen (India), was elected in September 1956, and re-elected in 1959 for a further period of four years. Former Directors-General: John Boyd Orr (U.K.), Norris E. Dodd (U.S.A.), P.V. Cardon (U.S.A.).
Budget. Voted by Conference. In the first year it was about $4.5 million. For the biennium 1960/61 it is almost $19 million. The budget is derived from contributions from Member Governments, proportional to their national income.
Afghanistan
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Bolivia
Brazil
Burma
Cambodia
Canada
Ceylon
Chad *
Chile
Colombia
Costa
Rica
Cuba
Cyprus
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
Ethiopia
Finland
France
Gabon *
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guatemala
Guinea
Haiti
Honduras
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Jordan
Korea
Laos
Lebanon
Liberia
Libya
Luxembourg
Madagascar *
Malaya
Mexico
Morocco
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Nigeria *
Norway
Pakistan
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland *
Saudi Arabia
Senegal *
Somalia *
Sudan *
Spain
Sudan
Sweden
Switzerland
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
Union of South Africa
United Arab Republic
United Kingdom
United States of America
Uruguay
Venezuela
Viet-Nam
Yemen
Yugoslavia
* Associate Member
Headquarters
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla
Rome, Italy
Africa
FAO Regional Office for Africa
P.O. Box 1628
Accra, Ghana
Asia and the Far East
FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Far East
Maliwan Mansion
Phra Atit Road
Bangkok, Thailand
FAO Office for the Western Zone, Asia and the Far East
21 Curzon Road
New Delhi 1
India
Latin America
FAO Regional Office for Latin America
Casilla 10095
Santiago, Chile
FAO Office for Eastern South America
Rua Jardim Botânico 1008
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
FAO Office for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean
Apartado Postal 10778
México I., D.F.
Near East
FAO Regional Office for the Near East
Box 2223
Cairo, Southern Region
United Arab Republic
North America
FAO Regional Office for North America
1325 C Street, S.W.
Washington 25, D.C., U.S.A.
United Nations
FAO Geneva Office
Palais des Nations
Geneva, Switzerland
FAO Liaison Office
Room 2258, United Nations Headquarters
42nd Street and First Avenue
New York 17, N.Y., U.S.A.
Dates in brackets are dates of formation
No. 4. Handling Forest Tree Seed $ 1.00 or 5s.
by H. J. Baldwin. 1955, ix + 41 pp. (E F S)
No. 5. Tree Seed Notes
I Arid Areas
II Humid Tropics $ 3.50 or 17s. 6d.
by R. Maggini and L. P. Tulstrup. 1955, iii + 354 pp. (E S)
No. 6. Tree Planting Practices for Arid Areas $ 1.50 or 7s. 6d.
by A. Y. Goor, 1955, vi + 126 pp., illustrations (E F S)
No. 8. Tree Planting Practices in Tropical Africa $ 3.00 or 15s.
by M. V. Parry. 1956, xii + 302 pp., illustrations (E F S)
No. 9. L'Agriculture nomade
Vol. I: Congo Belge et Côte d'Ivoire $ 2.00 or 10s.
by M. G. Tondeur. 1956, viii + 232 pp. (F)
No. 10. Tree Planting Practices in Temperate Asia: Japan $ 1.50 or 7s. 6d.
1956, x + 156 pp., illustrations (E)
No. 11. Tree Planting Practices in Tropical Asia $ 2.00 or 10s.
by Charles Letourneux. 1957, vii + 172 pp., illustrations (E F)
No. 12. Hanunóo Agriculture in the Philippines $ 2.00 or 10s.
by H. Conklin. 1957, xii + 210 pp., figures, tables, plates (E)
No. 13. Choice of Tree Species for Planting $ 3.50 or 17s. 6d.
1958, xi + 307 pp., plates, maps (E F S)
No. 14. Tree Planting Practices in Temperate Asia: Burma - India - Pakistan $ 1.50 or 7s. 6d.
1959, ix + 149 pp., figures (E)
No. 12. Poplars in Forestry and Land Use $ 3.50 or 17s. 6d.
1958, x + 511 pp., figures, tables (E F S)
No. 13. Tropical Silviculture
by I. T. Haig, M. A. Huberman and U. Aung Din
VOLUME: I
1958, vii + 190 pp. (E F S) $ 2.00 or 10s.
VOLUME II
1957, xv + 415 pp. (Tri.) $ 4.00 or 20s.
VOLUME III
1958, vii + 101 pp. (Tri.) $ 1.00 or 5s.
Fibreboard and Particle Board $ 2.00 or 10s.
1958, xii + 191 pp., tables (E F S)
World Forest Resources 2.50 or 12s. 6d.
1955, vi + 120 pp., graphs, tables (Tri.)
1957, 2nd printing
World Forest Products Statistics 1946-1955: A Ten-Year Summary 3.00 or 15s.
1958, viii + 197 pp., tables, charts (Tri.)
Pulp and Paper Prospects in Latin America $ 4.50 or 32s.
New York 1955, iv + 465 pp. (E S)
World Forest Inventory, 1958 $ 2.50 or 129. 6d.
1960, xii + 137 pp., figures, tables (Tri.)
Yearbook of Forest Products, 1959 $ 2.50 or 129. 6d.
1959, XL + 157 pp. (Tri.)
World Demand for Paper to 1975: A Study of Regional Trends $ 1.50 or 7s. 6d.
1960, xii + 159 pp. (E)
