types of relief activities and related tasks and administrative procedures, which
could be brought into action in the event of a food disaster. A codification of
relief activities, tasks and procedures would facilitate quick action and ensure effi-
cient relief work. Reserve stocks, if held by governments, could be drawn down to
meet urgent requirements until arrangements could be made to procure supplies.
The establishment of disaster units, on a stand-by basis, in countries at risk and
in donor countries, could monitor impending emergency conditions and prepare
and modify contingency plans. And the establishment of early warning systems
could provide lead-time for remedial action.
oping countries in pursuing the goal of food security (FAO, 1984a). The FSAS
attempted to deal not only with short-term food supply problems but also with
improvements in food production and distribution on a continuous basis. It exem-
plified a merger of efforts under FAO's regular programme of work with projects
funded from extra-budgetary resources entrusted to FAO by donors, and identi-
fied projects and helped to mobilize funds under other multilateral and bilateral
aid programmes. The FSAS mobilized over $50 million in its first eight years
of operation. Initially concentrating on food reserves, storage and emergency
needs, the scheme was gradually broadened to deal with other elements of a food
security system, including marketing, information systems, and economic and
social incentives to food production.
1981(FAO, 1981). The survey noted that one of the most striking phenomena of
the 1970s had been the growth and changing pattern of trade and consumption
of cereals in developing countries. Increasing population, growing urbanization,
and changing income levels and diets had generated demand for imported food
and feed grains. Total cereal imports by developing countries (excluding China)
doubled from 35 million to 70 million tons during the 1970s, creating strains
on port, storage and transportation facilities. During the same period, annual
production in developing countries grew by some 77 million tons. The annual
flow of domestic and imported supplies through storage and marketing systems
in developing countries (excluding China) increase by 113 million tons during
the 1980s. About 40 per cent, or 45 million tons, of this increase was accounted
for by low-income developing countries. According to the World Bank, storage
and related processing capacity in those countries had increased by about 34 per
cent a year since 1960, while cereals and other foods entering commercial markets
had grown at about double that rate. This resulted in shortages and bottlenecks
throughout the storage and transportation systems of those countries.