Preface

MAC/WFY

Page-xi

0230_553559_04_prexx

Preface

the numerous attempts that have been made over the past sixty years. I felt that a
comprehensive history was necessary not only to show the many ways in which
attempts have been made to achieve world food and nutrition security unfolded,
and the sequence in which they occurred, but also why they did not succeed,
and what lessons can be drawn for the future. I also felt that such a history was
necessary as a point of reference for all those individuals and institutions interested
and involved in achieving food security for all who come at the subject from many
and diverse perspectives and specialities. As such, it contains material that appears
in the public domain for the first time: the account of FAO's early pioneering
work; a comprehensive account of the work of the World Food Council that was
set up after the world food crisis of the early 1970s and the 1974 World Food
Conference to coordinate the work of the UN system of organizations interested
and engaged in food security issues; and the compounding effect of the sequence
of international conferences that were held in the 1990s, culminating in the World
Summit of 2005.

My history is divided into four parts. The first three parts give the history of

the quest for world food security as it unfolded chronologically. The final part
gives the current status for world malnutrition and hunger seen from the various
dimensions of poverty and an assessment of effects of various attempts to over-
come these scourges in what I have called the `graveyard of aspirations'. These
developments are set against the background of the evolving concepts of develop-
ment theory and practice and major changes in the evolution of the global food
system. Part I (194570) begins with the creation of FAO in response to President
Roosevelt's call for `freedom from want' and the emergence of the new science
of nutrition, and the need, as FAO's constitution put it, `to ensure humanity's
freedom from hunger'. The first director-general of FAO, Sir John (later Lord)
Boyd Orr of the United Kingdom, who proposed the establishment of a World
Food Board as a marriage of nutrition, health, agriculture, trade and industry, is
described in detail and remains one of the boldest and most imaginative plans for
international action to achieve world food security.

The proposal, and a similar one on an International Commodity Clearing House,

was not approved. When it became clear that the major industrialized countries,
particularly the United States and the United Kingdom, were not prepared to see
some form the world food security arrangement set up under the multilateral
control of a United Nations body, the FAO secretariat kept the goal of world food
security alive through a series of seminal pioneering studies, reports and proposals
throughout the 1950s. These included: the establishment of a World Food Reserve
to meet food emergencies, control excessive price fluctuations, and constructively
use accumulating food surpluses; the drafting of Principles of Surplus Disposal
to ensure their use to support development and to avoid any negative effects on
domestic agricultural production in developing countries and on international
trade; the creation of national and regional food reserves in developing countries;
and different types of international commodity agreements.

An entirely different approach was adopted when the first FAO director-general

from a developing country, the highly respected B. R. Sen from India, was elected

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Useful links	Preface MAC/WFY Page-xi 0230_553559_04_prexx Preface xi the numerous attempts that have been made over the past sixty years. I felt that a comprehensive history was necessary not only to show the many ways in which attempts have been made to achieve world food and nutrition security unfolded, and the sequence in which they occurred, but also why they did not succeed, and what lessons can be drawn for the future. I also felt that such a history was necessary as a point of reference for all those individuals and institutions interested and involved in achieving food security for all who come at the subject from many and diverse perspectives and specialities. As such, it contains material that appears in the public domain for the first time: the account of FAO's early pioneering work; a comprehensive account of the work of the World Food Council that was set up after the world food crisis of the early 1970s and the 1974 World Food Conference to coordinate the work of the UN system of organizations interested and engaged in food security issues; and the compounding effect of the sequence of international conferences that were held in the 1990s, culminating in the World Summit of 2005. My history is divided into four parts. The first three parts give the history of the quest for world food security as it unfolded chronologically. The final part gives the current status for world malnutrition and hunger seen from the various dimensions of poverty and an assessment of effects of various attempts to over- come these scourges in what I have called the `graveyard of aspirations'. These developments are set against the background of the evolving concepts of develop- ment theory and practice and major changes in the evolution of the global food system. Part I (194570) begins with the creation of FAO in response to President Roosevelt's call for `freedom from want' and the emergence of the new science of nutrition, and the need, as FAO's constitution put it, `to ensure humanity's freedom from hunger'. The first director-general of FAO, Sir John (later Lord) Boyd Orr of the United Kingdom, who proposed the establishment of a World Food Board as a marriage of nutrition, health, agriculture, trade and industry, is described in detail and remains one of the boldest and most imaginative plans for international action to achieve world food security. The proposal, and a similar one on an International Commodity Clearing House, was not approved. When it became clear that the major industrialized countries, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom, were not prepared to see some form the world food security arrangement set up under the multilateral control of a United Nations body, the FAO secretariat kept the goal of world food security alive through a series of seminal pioneering studies, reports and proposals throughout the 1950s. These included: the establishment of a World Food Reserve to meet food emergencies, control excessive price fluctuations, and constructively use accumulating food surpluses; the drafting of Principles of Surplus Disposal to ensure their use to support development and to avoid any negative effects on domestic agricultural production in developing countries and on international trade; the creation of national and regional food reserves in developing countries; and different types of international commodity agreements. An entirely different approach was adopted when the first FAO director-general from a developing country, the highly respected B. R. Sen from India, was elected back to top Next page
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