was the revolt against `poverty in the midst of plenty'. This led to a series of basic
questions that were often repeated in the international debate. If supplies in some
parts of the world exceeded requirements, why, it was asked, cannot those supplies
be used to relieve hunger and starvation in other parts where nutrition levels were
low and famine threatened? Moreover, why should crop fluctuations due to the
vagaries of weather and other factors influencing the short-run movements of
supply and demand be allowed to lead to rapid alternations of glut and scarcity,
accompanied by even more erratic and sharp fluctuations in the movements of
food prices? Why, in a world which was becoming `richer and smaller than it
had ever been', could not all those evils be met and discrepancies of supply and
demand be bridged in space and time through the operation of an international
food reserve?
as regards the methods of achieving those objectives, the answers were not always
as simple as might appear at first sight, nor could they always be found in the
direction that at first might seem the most obvious. Some answers had not been
found. On others, informed opinion differed. In several major respects, however,
the answers were clear and the call for action urgent. It was of great practical
importance that the issues were understood as widely as possible. Otherwise, there
was the danger that well-meant, but wrongly directed, efforts would lead to unne-
cessary frustration and delay progress in fields where the need for action was both
urgent and clearly defined. The report recognized that FAO itself, in its early plans
for a WFB, `did not perhaps pay sufficient heed to the crucial need for clarity of
concepts as a basis for action'. While the basic issues remained to be solved, a good
deal of further thinking had been done, and some practical experience gained,
since the WFB was first proposed in 1946.
General Assembly resolution, with special reference to the scope and limitations of
food reserve operations. In addressing the background to the problems, the report
showed the serious and widespread character of under-nutrition and malnutrition
in many parts of the world.
to be done to promote economic development. It was not possible, however, to
cure the world's chronic malnutrition through the establishment of a WFR that
operated on a self-financing basis and, at the same time, acted as a world buffer
pool, for two main reasons. First, malnutrition was a chronic problem the main
cause of which was lack of consumers' purchasing power. Food distribution to
poor consumers would have to be subsidized on a continuing basis, which would
deplete the resources of a WFR unless they were constantly replenished or the cost
of food subsidies were paid for, at least in part, out of income derived from the
additional development that extra food supplies would help to finance.