Freedom from Hunger Campaign

MAC/WFY

Page-79

0230_553559_12_cha08

of rural communities were enhanced through increased productivity. There were
many problems to be solved before `the vicious circle of rural poverty' could
be broken. But a start had to be made on two major objectives in developing
countries: greater production of food, and higher purchasing power of the rural
masses.

Sen explained that he made FFHC the central theme of all FAO activities during

his time as director-general (195667). When he opened the campaign, he felt
that he could best give expression to mounting international concern by quoting
from one of his favourite poets, John Donne:

One man's hunger is every man's hunger one man's freedom from hunger is
neither a free nor a secure freedom until all men are free from hunger.

These words were taken as a key to the entire campaign. The FAO resolution
approving the FFHC stated that it was intended `to promote a spirit of re-dedication
of the Organization [FAO] and its members to the achievement of the objectives
of the Organization'. Sen felt that it needed the involvement of the whole organ-
ization with the director-general at the centre personally controlling and directing
all of its activities bearing of the campaign. In expressing the idea of a continuing
campaign, he explained:

one, of course, realizes that a radical transformation of economic conditions
cannot be achieved in a few years. What we can hope for is the generation
of a tempo of development which may break the cycle of stagnation and lead
to self-sustaining growth. This campaign is not intended to be a special new
programme in itself, but only to aid and intensify our work in FAO and at the
same time the work of member governments as well as the vast masses of the
people who depend on agriculture for their livelihood. (Sen, 1982, p. 139)

Sen realized that one of the first questions to be asked would be the extent of

current world hunger and malnutrition that the FFHC would have to address. He
therefore set in motion a world food survey in 1962 as one of his first campaign
initiatives. The survey took nearly two years to complete. The first FAO world food
survey, undertaken in 1946, was more or less an extension of the work of Boyd
Orr, which had been carried out for the British people (Boyd Orr, 1936). Because
there were serious gaps in statistical information, much of the material used was
in the nature of intelligent guesswork. The second FAO world food survey in 1952
was somewhat more reliable as more realistic standards for calorie requirements
could be established, which took account of such factors as age, sex, body weight
and physical activity in different environments and temperatures. Ten years had
passed since the 1952 survey during which not only had the impact of population
growth revived Malthusian fears about adequate food supplies but also new and
significant data on food consumption patterns had become available.

The 1962 survey was based on food balance sheets data for over 80 countries

covering some 95 per cent of the world population (FAO, 1963a). It drew on food

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Useful links	Freedom from Hunger Campaign MAC/WFY Page-79 0230_553559_12_cha08 Freedom from Hunger Campaign 79 of rural communities were enhanced through increased productivity. There were many problems to be solved before `the vicious circle of rural poverty' could be broken. But a start had to be made on two major objectives in developing countries: greater production of food, and higher purchasing power of the rural masses. Sen explained that he made FFHC the central theme of all FAO activities during his time as director-general (195667). When he opened the campaign, he felt that he could best give expression to mounting international concern by quoting from one of his favourite poets, John Donne: One man's hunger is every man's hunger one man's freedom from hunger is neither a free nor a secure freedom until all men are free from hunger. These words were taken as a key to the entire campaign. The FAO resolution approving the FFHC stated that it was intended `to promote a spirit of re-dedication of the Organization [FAO] and its members to the achievement of the objectives of the Organization'. Sen felt that it needed the involvement of the whole organ- ization with the director-general at the centre personally controlling and directing all of its activities bearing of the campaign. In expressing the idea of a continuing campaign, he explained: one, of course, realizes that a radical transformation of economic conditions cannot be achieved in a few years. What we can hope for is the generation of a tempo of development which may break the cycle of stagnation and lead to self-sustaining growth. This campaign is not intended to be a special new programme in itself, but only to aid and intensify our work in FAO and at the same time the work of member governments as well as the vast masses of the people who depend on agriculture for their livelihood. (Sen, 1982, p. 139) Sen realized that one of the first questions to be asked would be the extent of current world hunger and malnutrition that the FFHC would have to address. He therefore set in motion a world food survey in 1962 as one of his first campaign initiatives. The survey took nearly two years to complete. The first FAO world food survey, undertaken in 1946, was more or less an extension of the work of Boyd Orr, which had been carried out for the British people (Boyd Orr, 1936). Because there were serious gaps in statistical information, much of the material used was in the nature of intelligent guesswork. The second FAO world food survey in 1952 was somewhat more reliable as more realistic standards for calorie requirements could be established, which took account of such factors as age, sex, body weight and physical activity in different environments and temperatures. Ten years had passed since the 1952 survey during which not only had the impact of population growth revived Malthusian fears about adequate food supplies but also new and significant data on food consumption patterns had become available. The 1962 survey was based on food balance sheets data for over 80 countries covering some 95 per cent of the world population (FAO, 1963a). It drew on food back to top Next page
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