World Food Conference 1974

MAC/WFY

Page-128

0230_553559_15_cha11

128

197090. The World Food Crisis of the 1970s and its Aftermath

Rome Forum

As part of the preparations for the World Food Conference, at the suggestion of
Sartaj Aziz, the secretary-general of the conference, Sayed Marei, asked Barbara
Ward (Lady Jackson), the eminent economist and president of the International
Institute for Environment and Development, to convene a meeting of independent
scholars, economists, scientists, politicians and business leaders from 15 countries
`to consider the issues that are likely to arise [at the conference], to examine
the proposals that are put forward, and to give guidance and leadership in the
search for solutions (Aziz, 1975b).

The meeting, called the Rome Forum, took place

on the first two days of November 1974, and adopted a declaration, which was
presented to the conference's secretary-general and circulated to delegates and
other participants on the first working day of the conference on 5 November 1974.

The declaration began by recognizing that the world food crisis `was more serious

than any that has been faced since the end of World War II'. Immediate action
to ensure access to basic supplies of food, fertilizer and petroleum was considered
to be the conference's `first order of business'. But action was also needed for the
longer term, for which the group identified three priorities. First, it supported the
strategy of restoring grain stocks, of financing them internationally, and placing
them under international supervision with an agreed policy on floor and ceiling
prices. It also supported the policy of setting aside a 10 million ton grain reserve
for meeting emergencies and for directly attacking diseases and disabilities due to
malnutrition, particularly among children. The group recognized that to establish
grain stocks and a food reserve progressively over the next three years might
mean, once again, some reduction in the high consumption standards of affluent
communities. Since, however, those standards were often a cause of ill health,
`sane nutrition dictates more modest diets'.

Second, it supported the setting up

of an early warning system of impending food crises. And third, it endorsed the
proposal for establishing an agricultural fund of the order of $18$20 billion a
year, with a $5 billion input of external resources, four times higher than aid to
the farm sector in 1974.

The group agreed that the `chief hope' for a sustained and reliable food supply

for people in the developing world lay in `a maximum development of their own
capacity to produce food'. Four priorities for agricultural investment were iden-
tified. First, to ensure that the benefits of modern agricultural technology were
extended to the whole farming community. Second, to integrate a new envir-
onmental dimension into farm practices. Third, to accompany increased agricul-
tural investment with a really large application of new resources to research. And
fourth, to combine expanded agricultural and educational investment within a
wider context of modernization in transport and communications, new settle-
ments, decentralized industry, and health services, including local centres for
family welfare and planning.

The group emphasized that its proposals would have no hope of success unless

mobilized behind the political will of governments and people, and a system of
supervision and monitoring that kept up the momentum for reform long after the

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Useful links	World Food Conference 1974 MAC/WFY Page-128 0230_553559_15_cha11 128 197090. The World Food Crisis of the 1970s and its Aftermath Rome Forum As part of the preparations for the World Food Conference, at the suggestion of Sartaj Aziz, the secretary-general of the conference, Sayed Marei, asked Barbara Ward (Lady Jackson), the eminent economist and president of the International Institute for Environment and Development, to convene a meeting of independent scholars, economists, scientists, politicians and business leaders from 15 countries `to consider the issues that are likely to arise [at the conference], to examine the proposals that are put forward, and to give guidance and leadership in the search for solutions (Aziz, 1975b). 7 The meeting, called the Rome Forum, took place on the first two days of November 1974, and adopted a declaration, which was presented to the conference's secretary-general and circulated to delegates and other participants on the first working day of the conference on 5 November 1974. The declaration began by recognizing that the world food crisis `was more serious than any that has been faced since the end of World War II'. Immediate action to ensure access to basic supplies of food, fertilizer and petroleum was considered to be the conference's `first order of business'. But action was also needed for the longer term, for which the group identified three priorities. First, it supported the strategy of restoring grain stocks, of financing them internationally, and placing them under international supervision with an agreed policy on floor and ceiling prices. It also supported the policy of setting aside a 10 million ton grain reserve for meeting emergencies and for directly attacking diseases and disabilities due to malnutrition, particularly among children. The group recognized that to establish grain stocks and a food reserve progressively over the next three years might mean, once again, some reduction in the high consumption standards of affluent communities. Since, however, those standards were often a cause of ill health, `sane nutrition dictates more modest diets'. 8 Second, it supported the setting up of an early warning system of impending food crises. And third, it endorsed the proposal for establishing an agricultural fund of the order of $18$20 billion a year, with a $5 billion input of external resources, four times higher than aid to the farm sector in 1974. The group agreed that the `chief hope' for a sustained and reliable food supply for people in the developing world lay in `a maximum development of their own capacity to produce food'. Four priorities for agricultural investment were iden- tified. First, to ensure that the benefits of modern agricultural technology were extended to the whole farming community. Second, to integrate a new envir- onmental dimension into farm practices. Third, to accompany increased agricul- tural investment with a really large application of new resources to research. And fourth, to combine expanded agricultural and educational investment within a wider context of modernization in transport and communications, new settle- ments, decentralized industry, and health services, including local centres for family welfare and planning. The group emphasized that its proposals would have no hope of success unless mobilized behind the political will of governments and people, and a system of supervision and monitoring that kept up the momentum for reform long after the back to top Next page
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