FAO's Origins

MAC/WFY

Page-10

0230_553559_05_cha01

194570. Early Attempts: FAO's Pioneering Work

(b) the improvement of education and administration, relating to nutrition,

food and agriculture, and the spread of public knowledge of nutritional and
agricultural science and practice;

methods of agricultural production;

(d) the improvement of the processing, marketing and distribution of food and

agricultural products;

(e) the adoption of policies for the provision of adequate agricultural credit,

national and international and

(f) the adoption of international policies with respect to agricultural

commodity arrangements.

· It was also to

(a) furnish such technical assistance as governments may request;

(b) organize, in cooperation with the governments concerned, such missions

as may be needed to assist them to fulfil the obligations arising from their
acceptance of the recommendations of the United Nations Conference on
Food and Agriculture and of FAO's constitution; and

purposes of FAO.

Like the other specialized agencies of the UN system, FAO was to have its

own budget based on assessed, not voluntary, contributions from its member
states. These contributions were augmented by resources from the UN Technical
Assistance Board (TAB), later the Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance
(EPTA) and the UN Special Fund (SF). EPTA and the SF were amalgamated in 1965
to form the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Trust funds were
also deposited by donor governments in FAO for special projects and programmes
that they wished the organization to implement.

The Quebec conference discussed both problem of food shortages and the

possible recurrence of food surpluses that had existed before the war. Concerning
shortages, it foreshadowed the need for an internationally representative body
to allocate scarce supplies. As to surpluses, it prophesized the need for national
agricultural adjustment programmes, framed in the light of international review
and consultation, and advocated international commodity agreements and special
international measures for wider food distribution. The conference also recom-
mended that `adequate reserves should be maintained to meet all consumption
needs' and that `provision should be made, when applicable, for the orderly
disposal of surpluses'. Taken together, `these recommendations constituted a
surprisingly accurate forecast of what the world would need in the post-war decade'
(Yates, 1955, p. 76).

Intent on achieving the long-term objective of improving overall food intake,

the conference at Hot Springs had recommended that `adequate reserves should be
maintained to meet all consumption needs' and that `provision should be made,
when applicable, for the orderly disposal of surpluses'. It went into some detail

Home

eBook	World Food Security: A History since 1945


Useful links	FAO's Origins MAC/WFY Page-10 0230_553559_05_cha01 10 194570. Early Attempts: FAO's Pioneering Work (b) the improvement of education and administration, relating to nutrition, food and agriculture, and the spread of public knowledge of nutritional and agricultural science and practice; (c) the conservation of natural resources and the adoption of improved methods of agricultural production; (d) the improvement of the processing, marketing and distribution of food and agricultural products; (e) the adoption of policies for the provision of adequate agricultural credit, national and international and (f) the adoption of international policies with respect to agricultural commodity arrangements. · It was also to (a) furnish such technical assistance as governments may request; (b) organize, in cooperation with the governments concerned, such missions as may be needed to assist them to fulfil the obligations arising from their acceptance of the recommendations of the United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture and of FAO's constitution; and (c) generally to take all necessary and appropriate action to implement the purposes of FAO. Like the other specialized agencies of the UN system, FAO was to have its own budget based on assessed, not voluntary, contributions from its member states. These contributions were augmented by resources from the UN Technical Assistance Board (TAB), later the Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance (EPTA) and the UN Special Fund (SF). EPTA and the SF were amalgamated in 1965 to form the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Trust funds were also deposited by donor governments in FAO for special projects and programmes that they wished the organization to implement. The Quebec conference discussed both problem of food shortages and the possible recurrence of food surpluses that had existed before the war. Concerning shortages, it foreshadowed the need for an internationally representative body to allocate scarce supplies. As to surpluses, it prophesized the need for national agricultural adjustment programmes, framed in the light of international review and consultation, and advocated international commodity agreements and special international measures for wider food distribution. The conference also recom- mended that `adequate reserves should be maintained to meet all consumption needs' and that `provision should be made, when applicable, for the orderly disposal of surpluses'. Taken together, `these recommendations constituted a surprisingly accurate forecast of what the world would need in the post-war decade' (Yates, 1955, p. 76). Intent on achieving the long-term objective of improving overall food intake, the conference at Hot Springs had recommended that `adequate reserves should be maintained to meet all consumption needs' and that `provision should be made, when applicable, for the orderly disposal of surpluses'. It went into some detail back to top Next page
© 2009