Food and Agriculture Organization

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO; French: Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture, ONUAA), also known as the World Food Organization in German, is a specialized agency of the United Nations based in Rome.

It has the task of improving the production and distribution of agricultural products in general and food in particular worldwide in order to ensure nutrition and improve living standards. To this end, it has developed, for example, the Codex Alimentarius, which defines international standards for food safety.

Tasks and goals

Its tasks and objectives are laid down in its own constitution, more precisely in its preamble. The most important are:

• Raising the food and living standards of peoples
• Improving the production and distribution of food
• Improving the living conditions of the rural population
• Contribution to the development of the world economy and thus to the liberation of people from hunger

In doing so, FAO must not interfere in the political circumstances of its member states.

The most important means of carrying out these tasks is technical assistance, especially for less developed regions. For example, the transfer of technical know-how for the production of food. In reality, however, numerous problems stand in the way of this intended technology transfer. First and foremost, there are the patents in force, which prohibit the free transfer of knowledge, as well as adverse political conditions in the recipient regions and the cultural differences between rural and industrialized regions.

If we look at the areas of responsibility, we see that there is a lot of overlap with the areas of responsibility of other UN specialized agencies, which can lead to conflicts with the WHO and the World Bank, for example. The 2030 Agenda gives FAO a central role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

History

Its predecessor was the "International Agricultural Institute", which existed from 1905 to 1948 and was based in Rome.

The proposal for the creation of the organization was put forward in 1943 during a UN conference in Hot Springs (USA). Following this proposal, a committee was formed and charged with preparing the creation of the new organization. Two years later, on 16 October 1945, the first 42 member states signed the founding charter in Québec, (Canada). FAO was thus a new official branch of the United Nations and had its headquarters (until 1951) in Washington, D.C. (USA). Since then, the founding day has been commemorated annually by World Food Day, also known as "World Hunger Day", as a UN commemorative day. In 1951, the FAO moved from Washington D.C. to Rome.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the organization was part of a wide-ranging effort to boost agricultural production. In the area of nutrition, the FAO was long dedicated to the cause of protein deficiency, promoting, among other things, dairy production and high-protein complementary feeding without, however, being able to improve the fundamental problems of nutritional supply. However, many aspects of the FAO's history remain unexplored.

A programme to reform the organisation has been underway since 2008.