Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations
(FAO), specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) whose main goal is to afford freedom from hunger on a world scale. According to its constitution, the specific objectives are "raising levels of nutrition and standards of living . . . and securing improvements in the efficiency of the production and distribution of all food and agricultural products. . . . "
The FAO originated at a conference called by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Hot Springs, Va., in May 1943. The 34 nations represented established the UN Interim Commission on Food and Agriculture. In October 1945 the first session of the FAO was held in Québec City.
In the late 1990s the organization had 174 member countries; the European Union is included as a member organization and Puerto Rico is an associate member. The FAO is headed by a director-general, who serves a 6-year term. Main headquarters is in Rome.
Each member has one vote in the FAO Conference, the policymaking body that convenes once every two years to approve programs, budgets, and rules of procedure, as well as to make recommendations on agricultural questions. The Conference also elects the director-general.
The 49-member FAO Council meets between conference sessions to monitor the world food situation and suggest necessary action; the Council's members are elected by the Conference for 3-year terms.
A third organ, the secretariat, is responsible for implementing FAO programs. FAO departments deal with administration and finance, general affairs and information, economic and social policy, technical cooperation, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, and sustainable development.
Functions of the FAO include collecting, analyzing, and distributing information about nutrition, food, and agriculture; fostering conservation of natural resources; promoting sustainable agricultural development; and alleviating rural poverty. Among its projects are the development of basic soil and water resources; the international exchange of new types of plants; the control of animal and plant diseases; and the provision to needy member nations of technical assistance in such fields as nutrition, food preservation, irrigation, soil conservation, and reforestation. In recent decades, the FAO has worked to develop new plant varieties, to preserve plant genetic resources, and to establish monitoring networks to warn of possible food shortages in Africa and elsewhere.
In 1974 the FAO helped organize the World Food Conference, held in Rome, which considered the critical problem of maintaining adequate food supplies. On the recommendation of the Conference, the FAO expanded its information-gathering services to facilitate improved worldwide food security.
In November 1996 the FAO hosted the World Food Summit, also held in Rome. The conference, attended by some 10,000 delegates from 194 countries passed a resolution pledging to reduce by half the number of the world's malnourished people within 20 years.