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2 | FAO 1945–2030 AFGHANISTAN, 1969.
The Afghan Government undertook a five-year plan to improve sheep, cattle and poultry quality and production throughout the country, with the help of the UNDP Special Fund and FAO. Animal health assistants and animal husbandry workers received training at a school for non-professional assistants in Kabul and at a field training centre in Baghlan, where a demonstration area was set up for animal health and husbandry development work. FAO/F. Botts. Agricultural workers were offered short training courses. Photograph: ©
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 3 FOREWORD
or northeast Nigeria. The ongoing conflicts The 2030 Agenda there and elsewhere have displaced many for Sustainable Development calls for strong millions of people and disrupted, and political commitment to eradicate hunger by often destroyed, agricultural systems and 2030. This commitment is fundamental, but food chains. They help to explain why the it is not enough on its own. Hunger will number of chronically undernourished only be defeated if countries translate their people in the world has increased in pledges into concrete action, in order to recent years. break the vicious circle that traps the world’s FAO currently identifies 19 countries in poorERADICATING and hungry. a protracted HUNGER crisis situation; most of these While progress in combating the also often face extreme climatic events related scourges of poverty and hunger such as droughts and floods. Peace is of has been made in recent decades, these course the key to ending most protracted achievements are at risk of being reversed crises, but we cannot wait for peace to as conflict, climate change, populationBY 2030take action. We cannot save people by growth and changing dietary patterns pose simply putting them in camps. To save new challenges. lives, we have to save their livelihoods. According to the latest estimate, almost It is extremely important to ensure that 60 percent of the 815 million people these people have the conditions to keep suffering from hunger in the world live in their livelihoods or continue producing countries affected by conflict. We can all their own food. Vulnerable rural people see its terrible impacts in places such as cannot be left behind, especially youth Somalia, the Syrian Arab Republic, Yemen and women.
4 | FAO 1945–2030 Since FAO was set up in 1945, the can emerging economies reach their full world’s population has trebled and is potential if their workers are chronically now projected to reach almost 10 billion tired because of unbalanced diets? We by 2050. Back in the mid-1940s, experts at FAO are working to help make the were saying that we could never feed Decade of Action on Nutrition a success. 3 billion or 5 billion. Then came the The photographs in this book come green revolution that transformed global from different decades and from all over agriculture – although at a heavy cost the world. They bring home to me the to the environment. Now, we produce complex nature of the shared challenges enough to feed 10 billion people, yet we face today, and the importance of 815 million still go hungry. FAO’s role in tackling them. Perhaps, We need a new paradigm for above all, they show how interconnected agriculture and food systems in order to and interdependent we all are. produce more nutritious food in a more Now, more than ever, we must all sustainable manner. Indeed, the problem work together – and, as I travel the now is not only hunger, but the quantity globe, I do see real reasons for optimism. and the quality of the food we eat, and FAO’s work has evolved, but its how it is produced. mission has remained focused on the Indeed, for some countries, the so- ultimate aim of eradicating hunger called triple burden of malnutrition is a and malnutrition from our world. reality. This is where undernourishment, From the pioneering early years, to micronutrient deficiency and obesity the expansion of later decades and the coexist within the same country, the global partnerships of today, our work same communities and even the same has been recorded and documented households. Today, 1.9 billion people are every step of the way, not only in official overweight, of which at least 500 million texts and publications, but also by are obese, and 2 billion suffer from dedicated professional photographers. micronutrient deficiency. This collection of images from the The UN Decade of Action on various decades is but a sample of their Nutrition (2016–2025) is a major step work. Together with local support teams, towards mobilizing action around they have documented all aspects of reducing hunger and improving development work in the field. Like the nutrition around the world. It places people they have photographed, they too nutrition at the heart of sustainable have faced privation, hardship, disease development and recognizes that and violence. I thank them all for their improving nutrition and food systems too-often unsung contribution. are essential to achieving the entire 2030 Agenda. How can children reap the full benefits of schooling if they do not José Graziano da Silva receive the nutrients they need? How FAO Director-General
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 5 6 | FAO 1945–2030 #ZEROHUNGER FAO SPECIALFOR GOODWILL AMBASSADORS LATIN AMERICA A S I A A N D AFRICA EUROPE A N D NEAR EAST THE PACIFIC THE CARIBBEAN
KANAYO F. MAHA CHAKRI CARLO GUADALUPE DARINE Kanayo F. Nwanze was the Her Royal Highness, Princess Carlo Petrini is the President Guadalupe Valdez is an Darine el Khatib is an President of the International Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, has long of Slow Food, an organization economist and former accomplished Lebanese media FundNWANZE for Agricultural SIRINDHORNbeen a champion of projects to workingPETRINI to prevent the congresswomanVALDEZ for the professional,EL KHATIB based in Dubai, Development (IFAD) until March end hunger and improve nutrition disappearance of local food Dominican Republic the United Arab Emirates. 2017. He has been a member of in her own country, Thailand, cultures and traditions, and (2010–2016) and coordinated With more than eight years the World Economic Forum’s but also in other countries of the to ensure everyone has access the Parliamentary Front Against of media management Global Agenda Council on Food Asia-Pacific region, including to good, clean and fair food. Hunger in Latin America and experience, she has held Security since 2010. He was Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Carlo Petrini’s outstanding the Caribbean, a voluntary various television and previously Director-General the Lao People’s Democratic contributions in the fields of the association of legislators created broadcasting positions. A of the Consultative Group Republic and Timor-Leste. In 1980, environment and sustainable in 2009 to build legislative dedicated advocate of Zero on International Agricultural Her Royal Highness initiated the development have also been frameworks for the eradication Hunger, she has launched a Research (CGIAR) Africa Rice Agriculture for School Lunch recognized by the United Nations of hunger in the region. campaign against hunger on Center for a decade. He was Project, which has led to more Environment Programme, She was also the leader of the the first regional television awarded the inaugural Africa than 30 years of development which named him Co-Winner Parliamentary Front of the channel specialized in food Food Prize in September 2016 work on improving the health of the2013 Champion of the Chamber of Deputies of the and cooking in the Near East. for his leadership of IFAD and and nutrition of school children Earth Award for “Inspiration Dominican Republic, where The campaign has included his advocacy in putting Africa’s through school lunches. and Act ion”. she promoted important field visits to distribute food aid smallholder farmers at the Since then, Her Royal Through a 2013 agreement, initiatives in favour of the in the poor areas of the region, centre of the global agricultural Highness has promoted good FAO and Slow Food have been eradication of hunger, such as schools awareness campaigns agenda. He has also received nutrition for children in addition to working together to promote the Law on Food Sovereignty and a social media campaign. honorary degrees from McGill numerous other activities, such as inclusive food and agriculture of the Dominican Republic. The campaign has encouraged University, Canada, and the interventions designed to control systems and have participated Throughout her life and career, people to minimize food waste, University of Warwick, the iodine and other micronutrient in joint advocacy campaigns and Guadalupe Valdez has made donate for the needy or donate United Kingdom, as well as deficiencies, promoting adequate global initiatives, including the key contributions to food a meal per day. Through the numerous honours and awards child nutrition during Ramadan 2016 International Year of Pulses security in the region, and campaign, the channel has also from governments, and national and improved nutrition for and the 2014 International Year of created spaces for dialogue on shown how to prepare low-cost and international institutions. secondary school students. Family Farming. this issue in civil society. healthy meals.
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 7 [ABOVE] [ABOVE RIGHT] [RIGHT] DARINE EL KHATIB KANAYO F. GUADALUPE Darine el Khatib interviewing a NWANZE VALDEZ local farmer at a field school in Kanayo F. Nwanze, then Guadalupe Valdez moderating Beni Sueif, Egypt, President of the International in September 2017. a discussion with Haitian Fund for Agricultural students on the Sustainable ©FAO/H. SOWERA Development (IFAD), delivering Development Goals and a speech during the World FAO’s role in achieving Zero Food Day Ceremony at Expo Hunger at the 2016 Binational Milan in October 2015. Ecotourism and Production ©FAO/G. CAROTENUTO Fair (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) in Las Caobas, Haiti. ©FAO/ T. VALDEZ SAN PEDRO
8 | FAO 1945–2030 [LEFT] MAHA CHAKRI SIRINDHORN Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, the Guest of Honour, receives the Zero Hunger scroll from the FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific, Kundhavi Kadiresan, at the 2016 World Food Day Regional Observance, Bangkok. ©FAO
[BELOW] CARLO PETRINI President and founder of the Slow Food Movement Carlo Petrini and FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva speaking with Revolução dos Baldinhos project member Marcos José de Abreu at the São José Slow Food Market in Rio de Janeiro. ©FAO/G. BIZZARRI
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 9 water: a walk of about four kilometres every day up Enrique Yeves The concept “zero hunger” the steep hillside to the springs. They would set off FAO Director started to resonate clearly just over 15 years ago. in groups and queue up in the early morning at the of Communication It referred to a programme that would go on to only source of drinking-water for tens of kilometres show the world that clear and decisive policies around. They then returned home laden with the could end hunger once and for all. The programme, precious liquid, which they used for cooking and called “Fome Zero” (Zero Hunger in Portuguese), cleaning and for washing themselves as best they was implemented in Brazil from 2002 onwards. could. The men meanwhile would be out in the I was fortunate enough to witness that experience. surrounding fields trying to scratch together some It was there, in the small Brazilian town of food from the land with its meagre and unreliable Guaribas, that I understood how simple it would be rainfall. The children played between the shacks to end hunger if we were all able to row in the until they became old enough to accompany the same direction. older members of their families: the girls to fetch Guaribas is a small town in El Sertao, ABOUTa region water and the boys out into the fields. None of in the northeast of Brazil. The state, Piauí, is the them knew how to read or write. The pattern had poorest in the country. The countryside is wild and remained the same for generations. arid, and the inhabitants live – or scrape by – on Everything changed at the beginning of 2003, the little the land yields. The terrain is so harsh when the new Brazilian Government espoused that it is hard to understandZERO why someone, in a HUNGERthe cause of tackling hunger and poverty through desperate moment, chose to settle there. Yet it is the Zero Hunger programme. Guaribas quickly home to many poor people. This is where I met became a testing ground for any new initiatives Elisabet Nunes and her husband Normando Dies, the Government was thinking of implementing. in 2003, a few short months after the charismatic This package of measures included investment trade union leader, Lula da Silva, had been elected in infrastructure, such as roads, electricity and president of Brazil. running water, and in education and health, There was a clear division of labour in underpinned by a system of support with the direct Guaribas. The women were in charge of fetching transfer of funds to those most in need.
10 | FAO 1945–2030 This complex and ambitious programme an umbrella covering a range of different initiatives rescued more than 36 million Brazilians from that have been mutually reinforced at the local, extreme poverty in just over a decade, reduced regional (state) and national level, as part of a infant mortality by 45 percent in 11 years, cut the broad programme, initially called Zero Hunger, number of undernourished people by 82 percent and subsequently strengthened by the government and meant that Brazil – the largest country in Latin of Lula’s successor, Dilma Rousseff, and entitled America and with the world’s widest gap between “Brazil without Extreme Poverty”. rich and poor – no longer featured on FAO’s The cornerstone of this programme is annual Hunger Map. the transfer of cash to the neediest families I returned to Guaribas in 2015, 12 years after on condition that they meet certain specific my initial visit, and had lunch at the Dies family requirements, such as that their children attend house. Water flowed freely from the tap, and they school and have a check-up at the local health were able to cook and take a shower without centre once a month. Generally speaking, the having to walk to the hills. The dusty streets cash withdrawal card is allocated to the female were now paved and had pavements. The Dies head of the household to ensure that the money is children had attended school and were heading for channelled to the entire family. university. Elisabet and her husband had learned Back in the small Brazilian town of Guaribas, to read and write thanks to an adult education Elisabet was given a card identifying her as a course, which women were now able to follow beneficiary. Armed with this card, she goes to because they no longer had to spend a large part of the bank and is credited with USD 50 a month their time fetching water instead of accessing it in with which to buy food. In order for her to qualify their own homes. Their lives and those of millions as a beneficiary, her card has to be stamped by of Brazilians had improved dramatically through a the school (where her children receive three programme whose achievements were soon to be daily meals), confirming that her children are in recognized at the global level. attendance, and by the health centre, stating they How did it all start? come for a monthly check-up. On his first day in office after winning the This help has enabled Elisabet Nunes and her election at the end of 2002, the new president of family not only to feed themselves adequately Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula de Silva, summarized his but to access education and medical care. Her main priority by saying: “We are going to create family is one of 13 million to have benefited from conditions in which all people in our country can this programme, which has slashed the level of eat decently three times a day, every day, without undernutrition in the country. needing gifts from anyone (...). And to do this Education and healthcare constitute the two we have set up a programme to be known as pillars upon which Brazil has consolidated its Zero Hunger.” progress. Guaribas bears testimony to this in its In just over a decade, the dream become reality. new and modern schools, which are every bit The architect of the Zero Hunger programme as good as those found in the major towns. In was the then Special Minister for Food Security in the space of a decade, the state school acquired Brazil, now FAO Director-General, the agronomist, an information technology facility, music centre José Graziano da Silva. The programme serves as and library.
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 11 One of the keys to this success has been by social protection was harnessed to stimulate the implementation of the bold programme of increased food production by small-scale school meals supplying free breakfast, lunch farmers, who were themselves poor, thereby and tea to all pupils in state schools, a total of strengthening the local economies of their about 47 million children. These schools cater communities. mainly to the children of low-income families; The effects are clear back in Guaribas, in the provision of these daily meals, monitored the state of Piauí, where the transfer of funds to by nutritionists, has dramatically improved families has generated a local economy that was child nutrition. inexistent a decade ago. Among other things, The measures to improve nutrition in schools there is now a hairdresser’s, supermarket, have also had a positive effect on local economies restaurant, chemist’s and mechanic’s workshop. as it became law in 2009 that 30 percent of the At the microfinance centre of Instituto food destined for state schools and institutions Nordeste Cidadania in Guaribas, people are had to be sourced from small-scale farmers. queueing up to open small businesses. These This has changed, or rather saved, the lives are the poorer citizens of Guaribas who can call of thousands and thousands of small family on a collective system of guarantees, called the producers who now have their sales guaranteed. Solidarity Guarantee, to obtain microcredit to The government programme on direct fund the type of business that is springing up public-sector food procurement also means that on every street in town. Out of the 700 loans most of the needs of state institutions and the granted, there has not been a single default. requirements of emergency programmes are The programme acts as a huge umbrella met through these small family farmers. This to a wide range of initiatives including: a cash groundbreaking approach has increased the transfer programme, Water for All, Electricity income of family farmers by 52 percent in real for All, Food Procurement System, social terms since 2003, and has resulted in about four programmes targeting smallholder farmers, million rural inhabitants joining the middle class. educational projects, and My House, My Life, a One of the main challenges facing central public-sector housing programme. government has been the coordination of Poverty in Brazil dropped from 22 percent to support between the various ministries, the 8 percent between 2001 and 2013, while extreme numerous different programmes and the wide poverty went from 14 percent to 3.5 percent. range of stakeholders at the local, regional and The percentage of Brazilians with access to national levels. To tackle this, a unified register adequate food reached 98 percent. In the same of beneficiaries was devised so the coverage decade, the income of the poorest 20 percent of and its impact can be tracked in a detailed and the population tripled in relation to that of the transparent fashion. wealthiest 20 percent. Brazil implemented what technical experts The combination of these measures meant refer to as a “twin-track approach”. Policies to that Brazil met the Millennium Development raise production were combined with measures Goal to halve hunger and poverty by 2015. promoting social inclusion to enhance their This vast and complex country, with more effectiveness. The new buying power created than 200 million inhabitants, is acclaimed
12 | FAO 1945–2030 for having undergone what is already seen all civil society and private-sector stakeholders internationally as one of the most successful to boost their efforts to eradicate hunger once experiences in reducing undernutrition in recent and for all from the face of the earth, thereby years, and Brazil has served as an inspiration launching in 2012 the Zero Hunger Challenge to other countries, first within the region and with the backing of the entire UN system, led subsequently further afield. by FAO. In 2005, the leaders of Latin America, with Since then, a range of initiatives has been the backing of FAO, pledged to eradicate hunger launched throughout the world under the Zero from the region through the Hunger-Free Latin Hunger banner. Asia and the Pacific took action America and the Caribbean Initiative (IALCSH). in 2013, followed by the African Heads of State The region played a pioneering role in taking in 2014, who adopted the Malabo Declaration, on this challenge through its main body, the which sets the goal of ending hunger in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean African continent by 2025. States (CELAC), which is in the process of The goal of Zero Hunger at the global level implementing the ambitious Plan for Food by 2030 was eventually taken on by the entire Security, Nutrition and Hunger Eradication. All international community when it became one of this has meant that Latin America has done of the Sustainable Development Goals in the more to reduce hunger and poverty than any ambitious agenda adopted by world leaders at other region in the world since the beginning of UN headquarters in 2015. the twenty-first century. The evidence speaks for The concept of Zero Hunger has progressed itself and is conclusive. At the end of the 1990s, from the dusty streets of the small Brazilian 66 million people, 14.7 percent of the population, town of Guaribas to become part of the global suffered from hunger and were deprived of diplomatic agenda, spreading through every access to the food needed to lead a healthy life. continent. Within a decade and a half, while the population The experience has taught us that it is increased by 130 million, the number of people possible to reduce levels of undernutrition affected dropped to 34 million, just 5 percent of through dynamic political action. It has the population. demonstrated that social protection is not The region owes this achievement to “welfare” but a sound investment in human the high-level political commitment on the capital, which not only puts an end to hardship part of the countries involved in a context of and suffering but also stimulates growth. Above macroeconomic and political stability, which all, it has proved that rapid economic growth can made it possible to spend more public funds be combined with improved income distribution. on social issues affecting the most vulnerable This book, put together by the team at the members of society. Office for Corporate Communication, gives us The advances made in the fight against a visual perspective on the efforts undertaken hunger convinced the then Secretary-General of by FAO in its seventy-odd years to achieve what the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, to launch an until recently was seen as a dream and is now a appeal at the Rio+20 Sustainable Development solid political commitment that this generation Conference. He called on world leaders as well as can and must meet: the goal of Zero Hunger.
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 13 CONTENTS
PAGE 19 PAGE 29 PAGE 53 PAGE 91
HOW IT ALL TAKING STOCK FROM MAPS OIL CRISIS,
14 | FAO 1945–2030BEGAN AND MOVING TO DATABASES FOOD CRISIS AHEAD S S S S
40 50 60 70 PAGE 129 PAGE 159 PAGE 179
NEW WAYS, RELAUNCHING MDGs AND SDGs
OLD THREATS THE FIGHT TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 15 S S S S
80 90 00&10 SRI LANKA, 1953. In the early 1950s, there were almost no motor-powered fishing boats in the country. In very calm weather, fishers were often unable to reach the schools of fish. FAO sent a master fisher and a marine engineer to advise ©FAO/A. Glanville on mechanization of the industry. Photograph:
16 | FAO 1945–2030 INTRODUCTION
how to do practical operations in the field. A good picture This book shows how FAO has can indeed paint more than a thousand words, especially helped generations of people to combat what still remains in areas with high levels of illiteracy or where material is the greatest injustice – hunger in a world of plenty. It not available in local languages. highlights the Organization’s ongoing efforts to help its The foreword by the FAO Director-General and the Members achieve Zero Hunger in a changing world that is introductory section by the Director of the FAO Office for facing new and pressing challenges from migration and Corporate Communication provide the context for FAO’s climate change. work and a real-life example of how Zero Hunger can FAO’s photo archives contain more than a million change people’s lives for the better. In addition, there are images offering a visual testimony to its seven decades of profiles of the five recently appointed FAO Special commitment to tackling hunger worldwide. Members of Goodwill Ambassadors for Zero Hunger. Drawn from the publications team delved into these archives to select a various backgrounds and sectors, their role is to representative sample of images that would offer an communicate to their regions and the wider world that we authentic picture of the Organization’s activities from its can become the Zero Hunger Generation by 2030. Next, pioneering early years through to today. The images the photos and their captions, with some accompanying chosen reflect the variousFROM fields that FAO worksTHE in RECORDS,text, illustrate FAO’s work and significant moments in its (agriculture, fisheries, forestry, land and water history. Thus, the reader can see the single frames in the management, food security and nutrition, etc.), and span context of the whole picture. as much of the globe as possible. The images from the This portfolio is also a tribute to FAO’s photographers – early years are in black and white, and later on colour staff, freelancers and agency personnel – and their local photos become the norm. ThereFOR is also a transition THE from RECORDsupport teams. In the early years, they often worked in the use of exposed film to digital photography. extremely tough conditions with cumbersome gear and The photographs presented here were selected and with the purpose of capturing what FAO was doing in the scanned to represent some specific projects that the FAO far reaches of the globe. They married professionalism has undertaken, often in very remote places. They were with the hope that their work would begin to reveal and taken for different reasons. Some served as historical change the world. Here, some of them share their records, documenting situations and projects. Others were experiences and insights. Over the years, the names of the used for didactic purposes, also as part of films and photographers may have changed, the importance of their slideshows, to explain innovative techniques and show work has not.
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 17 18 | FAO 1945–2030 1945–1949
THE TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 19
S
40 ORIGINS the farming community on its knees. The The origins of the Food and Agriculture financial crisis saw food-importing coun- Organization of the United Nations (FAO) tries hastily erecting tariff barriers and are indissolubly linked to one name: David increasing their domestic food produc- Lubin, a successful entrepreneur who tion. From 1929 to 1933, wheat imports in turned to farming in the 1880s. In the late industrialized Europe fell by 60 percent. nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Faced with falling demand, farmers in the importance of agriculture in the global many countries had unsold surpluses on economy was declining. The sector’s prob- their hands. In June 1933, the League lems were wide-ranging. Farmers were of Nations met in an attempt to find a poorly organized and innovation was lack- solution to the problem but failed. States ing. To put it plainly, prestige and wealth were not yet ready to harmonize their were to be found elsewhere – in industry, economic policies and to pool resources trade and finance. to overcome the crisis. Lubin realized that trade played a major At the same time, research on poverty role in agricultural price-setting and that and nutrition was under way, inspired by only an international organization could John Boyd Orr, who was widely regarded [ABOVE] CHÂTEAU successfullyHOW defend IT farmers’ ALL interests. He BEGANfor his work on nutrition. It was well known, FRONTENAC, QUEBEC CITY, campaigned tirelessly in the United States for example, that one-third of the popula- CANADA. of America to garner public support for tion of the United Kingdom of Great Britain Where FAO was agriculture. Finding no support at home, he and Northern Ireland was malnourished founded. ©CHATEAU FRONTENAC PHOTO set off for Europe. Rebuffed on his travels due to an inadequate intake of milk, fruit, to London and Paris, it was in Italy that he vegetables and other foods vital for good [LEFT] UNITED STATES finally found a willing ear in King Victor health. The underlying cause was poverty. OF AMERICA, 1943 The United Nations Emmanuel II. A paradox had emerged. Nutritionists Conference on Food and In 1905, the Italian Government con- were calling for increased consumption Agriculture was held from vened the first conference of the Interna- while economists were urging production 18 May to 3 June in Hot Springs, Virginia, with tional Institute of Agriculture. The seed of cutbacks. the participation of what would later become FAO was sown. An Australian nutritionist, Frank 44 governments. It set up The number of member states rose steadily McDougall, analysed the situation. He a commission to prepare the Constitution of FAO. from 46 at its first assembly to 74 in 1934. campaigned “to marry health and agricul- ©FAO The work of the Institute was essentially ture” and to integrate various disciplines in technical in nature. However, at that time, order to combat malnutrition. His proposals growing economic and political forces, were widely accepted by governments and culminating perhaps most dramatically in the public alike. The time seemed ripe for the Wall Street Crash, were compounding collective action; however, the outbreak of agriculture’s problems. the Second World War halted all progress. The post-1929 world depression had a In 1942, McDougall, in Washington, devastating effect on agriculture and left DC, for discussions on an international
20 | FAO 1945–2030 wheat agreement, found there was great INCEPTION Charter had been signed the previous June sues related to food production. Undertaking interest in preparing for food problems in The United Nations Conference on Nutri- in San Francisco, but did not come into force world censuses regularly, dealing with plant the post-war period. He therefore resumed tion and Agriculture was held in 1943 at until ratification by the “Big Five” powers and pest control and responding to emergencies his task and drafted a second memoran- Hot Springs, Virginia, the United States of by a majority of the other signatory States. with food relief were among the key matters dum on the subject of a United Nations America, with the participation of more than addressed. Improving soil fertility was one of programme to combat food shortages. 40 governments. It decided on the establish- STARTING OUT the most pressing issues discussed. McDougall’s proposals eventually ment of a permanent organization in the field The creation of FAO could not have come at Another significant moment came in reached Eleanor Roosevelt, who arranged of food and agriculture. That decision brought a better time. With Europe in ruins, hunger 1949, when John Boyd Orr was awarded a meeting with her husband, the President the work of the International Institute of was a real threat to many. The meeting on the Nobel Peace Prize, a fitting tribute to a of the United States of America. Over Agriculture to an end and its functions were 16 October 1945 also elected FAO’s first lifetime’s work. • dinner at the White House, McDougall transferred to the new organization. Director-General, John Boyd Orr (from the argued passionately for a United Nations On 16 October 1945, 44 governments United Kingdom of Great Britain and North- programme to tackle food as its first global signed the constitution for a permanent or- ern Ireland). economic issue and for agriculture to be ganization in the field of food and agriculture FAO still needed to prove to governments considered essential to raising the living at a historic meeting at Château Frontenac in that poverty was the root cause of hunger and standards of people throughout the world. Quebec. The Food and Agriculture Organiza- malnutrition. To this end, FAO convened the President Roosevelt was non-committal, tion of the United Nations – FAO – was born, Special Meeting on Urgent Food Problems but the discussion must have struck a whereas the United Nations organization in May 1946. The meeting not only tackled chord, as a year later he convened a confer- itself did not come into existence until 24 Oc- the immediate food crisis but also prepared ence on nutrition and agriculture. tober, eight days later. The United Nations a set of proposals for dealing with age-old is-
TIMELINE
1943. An organization dedicated to food and agriculture 1948. Election of American Government representatives of 44 countries meet in Hot Springs Norris Edward (United States of America) and agree to create a permanent organization Dodd (United for food and agriculture. 1950 States of America) as second FAO 1945 Director-General.
1943 1944 1946 1947 1948 1949 1945. FAO is created The first sessions of the newly created UN, held in Quebec City, 1946. First World Food Survey Canada, establish FAO as the first specialized agency of the This survey provides a full picture of the world food situation, United Nations. FAO springs to life with 44 Members. The British confirming that widespread hunger and malnutrition are CANADA, 1945 nutritionist John Boyd Orr is appointed as its first Director-General. pressing concerns. The survey covers 70 countries and is an Sir John Boyd Orr, famed nutritionist, broad- Washington, DC, is designated temporary headquarters of FAO. innovative attempt to analyse the global food situation. casting at the Quebec Conference of FAO, where he was unanimously elected FAO’s first Director-General, October 1945. ©NATIONAL FILM BOARD
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 21
[LEFT] QUEBEC, CANADA, 1945 FAO was born on the afternoon of 16 October 1945 when its constitution was signed by more than 40 countries. ©FAO
[RIGHT] CANADA, 1945 Commemorative plaque of the newly established organization at Château Frontenac. ©Chateau Frontenac photo
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 23 24 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE] POLAND, 1947 [ABOVE LEFT] [ABOVE RIGHT] EGYPT, 1948 UNITED STATES OF A farmer decorates a member of an AMERICA, 1949 Delegates to the FAO Near-Eastern Regional Conference FAO mission in a traditional harvest outside the Agricultural Museum, Cairo. In foreground, ceremony. FAO sent a mission to Dr L.E. Kirk, FAO Chief of Plant centre, is John Boyd Orr, FAO Director-General. Poland to study the economic and Industry Branch, and Elsie Markley, technical problems involved in the FAO Agriculture Division, fill sacks The conference discussed how to provide the Near East with rehabilitation and improvement of the with seed of Wisconsin-developed capital equipment and technical assistance. It also examined food supply, agriculture, forestry, and hybrids purchased by FAO from animal and plant disease-control problems as well as the related industries. experiment stations in the state. potential for irrigation in the region.
©UN PHOTO ©UN PHOTO ©UN PHOTO
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 25 [ABOVE LEFT] GREECE, 1948 [ABOVE RIGHT] ITALY, 1949 [FACING PAGE] SWITZERLAND, 1949
Children having breakfast Sponsored by FAO, an experimental programme with hybrid maize began in Europe in 1948, and FAO sponsored a meeting of the leading provided by a joint UNICEF– was then continued and expanded. At this experiment station in Bergamo, much work was done forestry authorities of Europe in Geneva to FAO project at a school in on inbreeding regular types of corn to obtain pure strains, then crossbreeding to obtain hybrid coordinate Europe’s forestry policies and Athens. varieties. In order to do this, both the tassel and the ear of the corn plant must be protected from increase timber production. Here, a Swiss outside pollination. Here, Dr Renzo Scossiroli is covering the developing ear and the tassel with forestry inspector explains the principles of ©UN PHOTO paper bags. When the tassel is mature, pollen is shaken onto the female ear. This inbreeding goes forest conservation to a group of delegates. on for several generations, the plants becoming progressively weaker but purer in strain. Two of these types are then cross-bred to produce a healthy hybrid corn type. ©UN PHOTO
©UN PHOTO
26 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 27 28 | FAO 1945–2030 1950–1959
THE TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 29
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50 THE POST-WAR SITUATION food shortages or famine caused by war, Reducing global hunger did not only high-quality seeds and fertilizers, and After the Second World War, many natural catastrophes or pest infestations imply bringing food to people, it also en- mapping the world’s soil landscape were countries needed to restore the fertility of such as the desert locust. tailed an overall increase in investments in both priority contributions to the overall their soils. Nations were keen to increase In this new decade, the possibility of agriculture and in farmers’ know-how and hunger reduction strategy. In order to domestic crop production. Farmers solving two problems at the same time was access to technology. Farmers worldwide push for the use of high-quality seed of wanted to maintain high productivity, emerging: using surpluses to ease the pres- needed technical assistance, support and improved varieties, FAO launched a World particularly in the light of favourable sure on agricultural prices, and supplying advice to improve their production. This is Seed Campaign in 1957, which culminated prices for agricultural production. This more food to malnourished populations. also why one of the most important devel- in World Seed Year in 1961. resulted in growing demand for fertiliz- While the risk of famine, catastrophes and opments in the Organization’s work was an ers worldwide. Governments were faced pest infestations was still widespread, food increased emphasis on helping farmers with PROTECTING PLANTS FROM PESTS with rising demand for food and needed surpluses were building up in developed assistance and support. On 14 October 1958, People the world over have suffered the to understand where their farming countries. There was an urgent need to the FAO Special Fund was created to widen devastating effects of plant pests, including industries stood if they were to improve mobilize the surpluses for those countries the scope of the UN’s technical assistance in diseases and weeds, for thousands of years. their overall agricultural output. in need while enabling farmers to benefit certain basic fields. In the modern era, with the increased in- This was why FAO coordinated the from mechanisms to ensure that the prices Many of the projects adopted by the ternational mobility of people, greater trade World Census of Agriculture in 1950, of their produce remained competitive. The Special Fund’s Governing Council were and more-open borders, plant pests have which proceeded to gather statistical in- FAO Committee on Commodity Problems assigned to FAO as the implementing been able to spread more rapidly. However, formationTAKING from 81 countries STOCK and provided devised AND the Principles MOVING of Surplus Dis- agency. AHEAD This came as no surprise, and put only relatively recently have legal standards a comprehensive picture of agricultural posal and Guiding Lines. Adopted by the FAO on the road to becoming a major world been drafted to prevent the spread of plant production and its structure at that time. FAO Council in 1954, these served as a code technical aid agency. pests and to protect plant resources. In the It was a significantly more sophisticated of international conduct, while safeguard- The FAO Special Fund was to concen- 1950s, the international community first endeavour than any pre-war census. ing the interests of commercial exporters trate on large projects, including assessing set about tackling the issue. Although by the late 1940s the post-war and local producers. They have been used and developing human resources in various First, in 1951, FAO adopted the Inter- food crisis was ending, this did not mean ever since by food aid programmes as an industries such as handicrafts and cottage national Plant Protection Convention to any diminishing of interest by FAO, the effective code for monitoring food and ag- agriculture, forestry, transport and commu- address these changing circumstances and United Nations and other organizations ricultural commodity assistance initiatives. nications, building and housing, health, ed- to keep abreast of the successful interna- in dealing with food emergencies. In Au- ucation, statistics and public administration. tional interventions led by FAO with regard gust 1951, the United Nations Economic NEW HOME AND EXPANDED MISSION Assistance, in the form of surveys, research to plants and plant products. and Social Council recommended that In 1951, FAO relocated its headquarters and training, and demonstrations with pilot FAO should keep the global situation from Washington, DC, to its present home projects, was implemented by providing LIVESTOCK – COMBATING RINDERPEST under continuous surveillance and report in Rome, Italy. Staff, their families and their staff, experts, equipment, supplies and To help developing countries increase on any instances of “pending critical belongings travelled by ship across the At- services, as well as by establishing institutes their crop and livestock production, FAO food shortages or famine.” This meant lantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. and funding other appropriate initiatives, began to pay particular attention to ways that FAO could perform on-the-spot in- In its first ten years of existence, FAO such as scholarships. to eradicate diseases that affected farm vestigations and convene meetings with worked with governments to tackle urgent animals. Rinderpest was a highly con- governments “to devise the most practi- issues of worldwide hunger and malnutri- CULTIVATING FERTILE LAND TO tagious viral disease that affected cattle, cal lines of action.” It drove FAO to begin tion. During its second decade, the Organ- INCREASE CROP PRODUCTION buffaloes and other cloven-hoofed ani- studying the viability of establishing a ization started addressing long-term issues In this period, improving overall agri- mals, with death rates during outbreaks food reserve for use in cases of serious in the fight against hunger. cultural production, by advocating for approaching 100 percent. In 1947, the
30 | FAO 1945–2030 Organization’s first major disease erad- FOOD COMMODITIES STANDARDS ication project was a campaign against Work on standards for food commodities also rinderpest in China. Funded by the UN began in earnest in the early 1950s. At the first Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Com- the project proved successful and was mittee on Nutrition, international trade and later extended to other Asian countries. nutrition experts stated: “Food regulations in By the late 1950s, most countries in Asia different countries are often conflicting and had eradicated rinderpest. Finally, in 2011, contradictory. Legislation governing pres- in a historic victory for veterinary science, ervation, nomenclature and acceptable food FAO and the World Organisation for standards often varies widely from country to Animal Health announced that, thanks to country. New legislation not based on scien- ITALY, 1951 a decades-long international cooperative tific knowledge is often introduced, and little A ceremony hosted by the Government of Italy welcomed the transfer of FAO headquarters to Rome. In spring 1951, FAO effort, rinderpest had successfully been account may be taken of nutritional principles staff and their families sailed to Italy, and office supplies were eradicated in the wild. in formulating regulations.” • also shipped over. ©FAO
TIMELINE
1952. Second World Food Survey This survey finds that the average calorie supply per person has 1952. fallen to below pre-war levels, and alarmingly, the gap between the Launch of better-fed and worse-fed nations has widened. Desert Locust 1950 Programme 1956. Binay Ranjan Sen 1960 (India) is elected fourth 1955 FAO Director-General.
1951 1952 1953 1954 1956 1957 1958 1959 1950. First World Census 1951. Headquarters 1954. of Agriculture Philip Cardon (United 1957. World Seed Campaign conducted since move to Rome States of America) FAO launches the World Seed Campaign the Second World The Members decide to is appointed as the involving 79 countries, which will War. Covered move FAO headquarters third FAO Director- culminate in World Seed Year in 1961. 81 countries. to Rome. General.
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 31 LIBYA, 1953
In the foreground, dune fixing experiments using plants as part of an FAO programme to stabilize and reforest sand dunes. A significant part of the country was unsuitable for any kind of permanent crop cultivation, with the only option being forestation.
©FAO
32 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 33 [LEFT] ETHIOPIA, 1953
Dr Razmilic, FAO veterinarian, watches a local vaccinator administer anti-rinderpest vaccine. FAO sent a mission, including a team of veterinarians, to help modernize the Ethiopia’s agriculture and forestry.
©FAO/G. GRÉGOIRE
[FACING PAGE] INDIA, 1951
Farmers harvesting in the Terai area. FAO and the World Health Organization worked together to eliminate malaria and promote food production in the region.
©FAO/E. SCHWAB
34 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 35 36 | FAO 1945–2030 [RIGHT] THAILAND, 1953
Tilapia fingerlings caught for distribution to Thai farmers. FAO experts assisted in building up the Thai industry in order to develop an important fish supplement to the Asian rice diet.
©FAO
[FACING PAGE] INDONESIA, 1951
A farmer’s son catches carp fry. In Southeast Asia, fish production in ponds has long been a tradition and is believed to produce significantly more protein than any other kind of livestock activity. FAO contributed to the introduction of tilapia, a fish particularly suitable for farming in ponds.
©FAO/E. SCHWAB
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 37 [LEFT] PERU, 1958
An FAO expert noting down information provided by a farmer in the mountainous region of Lachaqui. Peru was home to the Census Training for Latin America – organized by the UN, FAO, and the Inter-American Statistical Institute – which conducted population, housing and agricultural census.
©FAO
[FACING PAGE] INDONESIA, 1951
Local workers constructing a 70 km canal. The Government of Indonesia undertook a project to irrigate and recover 6 000 hectares of land. FAO sent specialists to advise on irrigation and drainage.
©FAO/E. SCHWAB
38 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 39 [LEFT] THAILAND, 1953
FAO nutritionist examining two children. The younger boy shows symptoms of an enlarged spleen, caused by malaria. The FAO Nutrition Division measured health levels in the country to improve children’s diets, as part of a comprehensive nutritional programme.
©FAO
[FACING PAGE] INDIA, 1959
Children waiting in line at a milk distribution centre. With support from UNICEF and FAO, the Anand Dairy Cooperative Programme increased milk supply from 2.7 million to 27 million litres a year in just eight years in the state of Gujarat.
©FAO
40 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 41 42 | FAO 1945–2030 SRI LANKA, 1953
Fishers handling their dragnets in the north of Sri Lanka. It took up to 2 hours and 30 men to cast these nets, which were over 1.5 kilometres long. At the time, with no motorized fishing vessels, fishers caught about 9 kg of fish per week. FAO sent a marine engineer to advise on the mechanization of the industry to increase catches.
©FAO/A. GLANVILLE
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 43 [FACING PAGE] MYANMAR, 1957 [THIS PAGE] AFGHANISTAN, 1952 FAO sent Mr D.H. Panfield, a grain storage specialist, to the country to supervise the Farmers showing great curiosity about the procedure for rinderpest inoculation. FAO sent a implementation of a grain storage building programme. He was mainly concerned with the team of experts to Afghanistan to help the country increase its agricultural input and raise technical aspects of managing and operating grain storage facilities, built and adapted to people’s living standards. local conditions. This photograph shows a portable moisture tester.
©FAO/W. WILLIAMS ©FAO/S. PUNNAG
44 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 45 46 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE] INDONESIA, 1955
Dr Hauser, FAO soils specialist, and staff of an agricultural research station conducting a soil profile study. FAO helped local institutes to modernize their soil analysis methods and to train local staff.
©FAO/S. BUNNAG
[ABOVE LEFT] INDONESIA, 1955
Mr Van Der Ploeg, FAO Chief of Mission to Indonesia, examines carp harvested from a farmer’s pond near Lembang.
©FAO/S. BUNNAG
[BELOW LEFT] THAILAND, 1953
Characteristics of tilapia fish being explained to Thai fisheries representatives by visiting expert, Dr S.W. Ling (holding pipe, centre), FAO Fish Culturist.
©FAO
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 47 SRI LANKA, 1952
Henry Hirst, FAO animal husbandry expert, and two government farm managers inspect a rye field.
©FAO/W. WILLIAMS
48 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 49 50 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE] LIBYA, 1953
An FAO expert examining insect pests that were causing great losses of dates in Libya. Dates are a staple in the country but a lack of processing and storage facilities were causes of considerable wastage.
©FAO/P. MORIN
[RIGHT] INDIA, 1953
Student in a chemistry class. FAO arranged fellowships and organized seminars to train local officials and students to carry on the technical assistance programme.
©FAO/E. SCHWAB
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 51 52 | FAO 1945–2030 1960–1969
THE TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 53
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60 LAUNCH OF THE FREEDOM FROM distribution was also considered strate- CREATION OF THE WORLD FOOD grated approach to agriculture. During HUNGER CAMPAIGN gic for more accurate and useful predic- PROGRAMME the 1950s and the first half of the 1960s, As years went by, food problems in the tions as to how soil would react to spe- Many studies on famine carried out by global food production grew steadily, in- poorest and most populous parts of the cific production initiatives. However, in independent FAO experts in various creasing by over 50 percent. However, in planet showed little sign of being over- the late 1950s, the state of the world’s parts of the world in the 1950s had shown this period, political gridlock and eco- come. The conviction grew that in order soil cartography was chaotic at best and that surpluses were continuing to build, nomic crises meant that FAO faced the to eliminate hunger successfully, gov- non-existent at worst. as was food aid. At this stage, it was im- task of containing the resulting threat ernments, non-governmental organiza- In 1960, at its seventh congress, the portant to devise “a workable scheme ... of famine while continuing its research tions (NGOs) and private citizens would International Union of Soil Science rec- for providing food aid through the UN work and implementing its strategy to have to make an all-out effort. ommended publication of soil maps of system”, as President Eisenhower of the increase food security and long-term On 16 March 1955, Eleanor Roosevelt continents and large regions. As a fol- United States of America declared to the food production. and Frank McDougall travelled to FAO to low-up, in 1961, FAO and UNESCO em- UN. What was needed was a clear defi- In 1961, as agricultural performance mobilize the United Nations Programme barked on preparing the Soil Map of the nition of roles in the UN system. In De- of all crop inputs needed improvement, into creating the Freedom from Hunger World (1:5 000 000 scale). The ambitious cember 1961, FAO and the UN General and as fertilizers delivered the most en- campaign. After five years of negotia- project took 17 years to complete and Assembly adopted parallel resolutions couraging results, FAO launched the tions, FAO officially launched the cam- was the fruit of worldwide collaboration establishing the World Food Programme Fertilizer Programme to improve crop paign in 1960. Its ambitious aim was to between innumerable soil scientists. The as the UN Agency to deliver emergency production through increased use of fer- eradicateFROM hunger from MAPS the world once and TOmap’s purposeDATABASES was to enable farmers to food relief to affected areas. tilizers. The programme soon expanded for all. Governments agreed that: “the understand how soil would react to dif- This initiative was planned as a three- its scope to include all aspects of efficient persistence of hunger and malnutrition ferent farming techniques and give the year experimental programme and not crop production, such as improved varie- is unacceptable morally and socially, is best yields. Until recently, the map re- due to enter into operation until January ties, land management and weed control, incompatible with the dignity of human mained the only global overview of soil 1963. In reality, it was up and running as well as more efficient plant protection. beings and the equality of opportunity to resources. several months early, as an earthquake It is estimated that, overall, fertilizer which they are entitled, and is a threat to struck Iran (Islamic Republic of), a hurri- usage increased by 14 percent annually social and international peace.” The cam- THE COMING OF CODEX cane swept through Thailand, and newly during the 1960s. paign’s purpose was twofold: (i) heighten Noting that the conflicting nature of independent Algeria was overwhelmed By 1968, the Organization’s annual awareness worldwide of the problems of food regulations hampered trade and by five million returning refugees. Food flagship publication, The State of Food and hunger and malnutrition then afflicting affected the distribution of nutritionally assistance was urgently needed, and the Agriculture, was looking at raising agri- more than half of the world’s population; valuable food, the Joint FAO/WHO Ex- World Food Programme received the cultural yields through “technological and (ii) promote a climate of opinion in pert Committee on Nutrition suggest- mandate to provide it. improvements” as a way to free-up land which solutions could be organized on a ed that FAO and the World Health Or- to feed people. national and international basis. ganization (WHO) should study these BOOSTING AGRICULTURAL problems more closely. Established in PRODUCTION LIVESTOCK – COMBATING DISEASE MAPPING THE WORLD’S SOIL 1961, the FAO/WHO Codex Alimenta- Attitudes toward mechanization chan- Following its success against rinderpest, RESOURCES rius Commission has become one of the ged considerably between the mid-1950s FAO began to tackle other livestock dis- The use of high-quality seeds and fer- best-known and most successful cooper- and the mid-1960s, largely due to the eases, among them foot-and-mouth dis- tilizers was only a part of the overall ative projects between two UN Agencies, “green revolution” in Asia. In 1966, the ease, which had been kept at low levels. A strategy for poverty reduction. A good and its work centres on international UN/FAO World Conference on Land Re- number of European countries had been knowledge of soils, their properties and food standards. form emphasized the need for an inte- free from the disease for several years.
54 | FAO 1945–2030 ROME, 1960 Opening ceremony of the Freedom from Hunger Campaign. ©FAO
During this period, FAO also pret and disseminate information relat- agendas in the field of agriculture. Also spearheaded the fight against African ing to nutrition, food and agriculture.” in 1963, FAO launched its compre- swine fever, which affected Spain and However, in 1963, FAO had four hensive statistical database covering Portugal in the 1960s and the Western punching machines, two verifying the world’s agricultural information. Hemisphere in general in the 1970s. machines, one collating machine and Advances in information technology This remains an ongoing battle. a couple of tabulating machines. Since have enabled FAO to create information then, it has worked to create one of the systems, databases and data banks INFORMATION SYSTEMS UN’s most sophisticated information to respond to the various needs of its FAO’s Constitution states that one of its systems, one that governments can ac- Members. Indeed, these systems lie at functions is to “collect, analyse, inter- cess to help them set their own national the heart of FAO’s work. •
TIMELINE
1963. The World Food Programme is born FAO and the United Nations General Assembly adopt parallel resolutions that establish the World Food Programme to deliver urgent food aid in real time to affected areas.
1963. Codex Alimentarius 1964. FAO/World Bank Created in 1963 by FAO and the Cooperative Programme 1965. A group World Health Organization, the boosts investment of experts is Codex Alimentarius Commission in agriculture in the 1967. Election of Addeke appointed to assess 1960 comes into full operation to developing world. Hendrik Boerma (the 1970 possible methods establish international food Netherlands) as fifth FAO to protect plant standards. Director-General. 1965 genetic resources.
1961 1962 1963 1964 1966 1967 1968 1969 1960. Launch of the Freedom 1963. Third World Food Survey 1966. World Land Reform Conference 1961. Soil Map of the World from Hunger The Third World Food Survey, which now covers The conference, held by FAO and the International Labour Orga- Campaign with the FAO and UNESCO join forces to almost 95% of the population, finds that 10–15% nization, emphasizes the need for an integrated approach to land aim of mobilizing produce the Soil Map of the World. of the planet’s inhabitants are suffering from reform in order to boost economic and social progress. Ideas on non-governmental The map is based on information undernutrition and almost half of the population is land reform from all over the world are pooled at the conference, support. from 10 000 existing maps. suffering from hunger, malnutrition, or both. paving the way for a greater consensus on the action that would be taken in the coming years.
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 55 56 | FAO 1945–2030 MONGOLIA, 1966 A horse being lassoed. An FAO veterinary technician was assigned to help the government control infectious animal diseases. ©FAO/N.G. IPATENKO
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 57 58 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE] PERU, 1963 [ABOVE] NIGERIA, 1967
Andean farmer using a wooden plough. FAO and other UN Students at the University College of Ibadan using a theodolite to calculate the Agencies started a programme to advise on modern agricultural height of a plot. Their work was part of a training course provided by the Faculty of production, sanitation, literacy and community development. Forestry, and set up by the United Nations Development Programme and FAO.
©FAO/ILO ©FAO
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 59 [RIGHT] GREECE, 1964
A forestry technician measuring the spacing between trees as well as the forest’s density. A joint FAO and Greek Government team started a project to assess the size of the forests and help the country develop its forestry industry.
©FAO/J. OLSEN
[BELOW RIGHT] THAILAND, 1966
Teak logging in northern Thailand.
©FAO/S. BUNNAG
[FACING PAGE] INDIA, 1962
A village worker candling an egg – holding it up to the light to check for freshness and fertility. The objective of this project was to ensure a balanced diet for mothers and children, through training in production practices and preparation of nutritious meals.
©FAO/F.L. CYPRIEN
60 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 61 [ABOVE] BURUNDI, 1968 [FACING PAGE] INDIA, 1968
FAO animal husbandry expert K. Pham Nhu giving practical training Hay, for livestock feeding, to students of the Agricultural Technical Institute. The institute was set being harvested at one up by FAO and the United Nations Development Programme to train of the Central Sheep and farmers in modern methods of agricultural extension, crop cultivation, Wool Research Institute’s irrigation and animal production. experimental farms.
©FAO/A. DEFEVER ©FAO/T. SENNETT
62 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 63 [RIGHT] GHANA, 1969
Construction of the Volta River dam at Akesombo created what was then reputed to be the world’s largest artificial lake at about 8 500 square kilometres. Hydroelectric power obtained from the dam is of vital importance to Ghana’s industrialization but the resettlement of 12 000 farming families presented the government with many problems. Food had to be provided for the previously self-supporting families until their new farms became productive.
The photograph shows workers building a road between two new resettlement villages.
©FAO/P. JOHNSON
[FACING PAGE] ECUADOR, 1966
Settlers looking at a wheat field at Hacienda Pesillo. As part of its land reform, the Government of Ecuador, assisted by FAO and the United Nations Development Programme, carried out a project to redistribute property and resettle landless peasants. Hacienda Pesillo had 228 families and received agricultural assistance, equipment and improved seeds.
©FAO/S. LARRAIN
64 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 65 [THIS PAGE] CHILE, 1965
A fishing boat working off the coast of Valparaiso. The United Nations Special Fund and FAO supported the Fisheries Development Institute to develop the country’s fisheries. The institute was the only fisheries school in South America and became a training ground for fisheries officers from all over the continent.
©FAO/S. LARRAIN
[FACING PAGE] INDIA, 1969
Launching a motorized catamaran at Mutham, Tamil Nadu, where an FAO project was operating. The project’s aims were to boost fish production and to improve catch distribution and marketing.
©FAO/D. MASON
66 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 67 68 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE] BENIN, 1963 [ABOVE] SUDAN, 1962
A fisher casting his net. The Government of Benin requested assistance FAO supported the mother-of-pearl industry, as an alternative to seasonal fishing. Equipped from FAO to advise on fishery development. FAO sent experts to set up with flippers, goggles and underwater breathing tube, Sudan’s Assistant Fisheries Officer, Sayed new fisheries and introduce modern equipment, such as nylon nets. Mohamed Ali Awad (foreground), and a fisher prepare to dive in search of mother-of-pearl shells.
©FAO ©FAO
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 69 SENEGAL, 1969
[RIGHT] An FAO fisheries technologist explaining the technique of filleting fish to trainees at Senegal’s Oceanographic and Marine Fisheries Technical School. Assistance for the school was provided by FAO during a four-year period to educate trainees in fisheries administration, modern fishing techniques, and processing methods.
[FACING PAGE] Trainee taking notes during a theoretical course on the installation and maintenance of a canning factory.
©FAO/N. ERACHER
70 | FAO 1945–2030
[FACING PAGE] [ABOVE] UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA, 1966 ECUADOR, 1968
FAO community development teacher guiding a student in sewing Henry Willstedt, FAO expert in forestry economics and photointerpretation, teaching techniques at a training centre. Under the Freedom from Hunger campaign, photogrammetry at the Forestry Training Centre. The United Nations Development Programme a project was established to develop home economics and raise living and FAO assisted the Government of Ecuador in improving and expanding the centre’s facilities standards in rural areas. with in-service training and fellowships and provision of specialized equipment.
©FAO/F. BOTTS © FAO
72 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 73 74 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE] INDIA, 1968
Discussion group, led by a social worker at the Bombay (Mumbai) City Social Education Centre, after a radio programme.
©FAO/UNESCO
[LEFT] NIGERIA, 1967
A student in a botany class. Faced with a limited supply of timber, and increasing demands for fuelwood and lumber for construction, Nigeria developed better management of rain forests and reforestation in the savannahs. Through FAO, the UN Development Programme assisted in setting up a forestry faculty at University College, Ibadan, to teach forestry policy, law, management, utilization and technology.
©FAO
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 75 AFGHANISTAN, 1969
[ABOVE] A young cow herder in the north of the country. The Afghanistan Government started a five-year project to improve sheep, cattle and poultry production with the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme and FAO.
[FACING PAGE] Eric Hall, a field livestock expert, demonstrates the use of a small economical sheep dip.
© FAO/F. BOTTS
76 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 77 78 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE] IRAN (ISLAMIC [ABOVE] LESOTHO, 1966 REPUBLIC OF), 1966 FAO and the United Nations Children’s Fund combined forces to help the A sergeant from the Sepahi Danesh (Literacy Government teach people about food and nutrition. Mrs M. Matule, an Corps) teaching a class outdoors. assistant nutritionist, is shown here giving a talk on nutrition to villagers.
©FAO ©FAO/ P. PI T T E T
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 79 ETHIOPIA, 1968
[BELOW] Expert taking measurements of an insect’s wings and body at the Laboratory of the Desert Locust Control Organization to find the source of locusts. FAO financed the Desert Locust Information Service.
[FACING PAGE] A locust swarm. FAO coordinated international initiatives and provided specialized assistance to fight desert locusts.
©FAO/G. TORTOLI
80 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 81 [LEFT] NIGER, 1968
Workers packaging flour in 10 kg bags in the first millet processing plant in the world. Millet production was the base of the Niger’s agriculture but it was not carried out on a commercial scale. Farmers ground the grain manually and removed the inner kernel by hand. With assistance from FAO, the government invested in the transformation, marketing and processing of millet grain in order to increase commercialization on a national scale.
©FAO
[FACING PAGE] CHILE, 1968
Distribution of World Food Programme supplies in Punitaqui.
Since its establishment in 1963, the World Food Programme, jointly sponsored by the United Nations and FAO, has given impetus to a wide range of projects aimed at encouraging volunteers to take part in rural community development work and so boost the economy.
©UN/FAO
82 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 83 84 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE] INDIA, 1967
A boy washes in water from a Persian wheel. As part of the Freedom from Hunger campaign, eight villages in the Ratnagiri district received water from a well.
©FAO/T.S. SATYAN
[LEFT] INDIA, 1969
Work on the Rajasthan Canal dykes. A team of FAO workers undertook a five-year project for the canal area. The aim was to make optimum use of land and water, ensuring efficient crop production.
©FAO/T. LOFTAS
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 85 NICARAGUA, 1964 [FACING PAGE] LIBYA, 1963
Bananas being harvested for The owner of an animal hide warehouse examining a skin tanned using a new odour-free method. packing at a cooperative plantation With the help of Libyan authorities, FAO drafted a law on animal skinning and introduced a new near Chinandega. tanning method that ensured a much higher quality product.
©FAO/Y. NAGATA ©FAO/P. MORIN
86 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 87 GHANA, 1969
This photograph shows a newly built school in a resettlement village. As children’s nutrition improved with the help of food aid from the World Food Programme, so did their school attendance and academic performance.
©FAO/PMA/P. JOHNSON
88 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 89 90 | FAO 1945–2030 1970–1979
THE TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 91
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70 PROTECTION OF OIL AND FOOD plan. Together with the World Bank In 1965, a panel of experts had NATURAL RESOURCES In 1973, the world was in the middle of and the United Nations Development come together to study ways to protect From the 1950s to the early 1970s, the a food crisis. To make matters worse, Programme, FAO formulated multilat- endangered plant genetic resources. existence of large cereal reserves in North soaring oil prices led to a drop in global eral food-aid and production plans to At that time, FAO was involved in over America had been taken for granted factory and farm production. The oil crisis strengthen food security and to ensure 615 projects assisting research at national throughout the world. In 1972, however, also sharply increased inflationary pres- that individual States adopted national level in various fields, ranging from crop world production of grains fell for the sures, which governments were already supply policies tailored to specific cri- development to irrigation to livestock first time in two decades. Demand for struggling to control. This led the United teria. These measures could not have diseases. FAO and four different research imports grew and surpluses disappeared Nations to convene the 1974 World Food come at a better time for the areas that centres in Europe cooperated and shared almost overnight. Added to this equation, Conference in Rome to address two urgent most needed them, such as the countries their findings. a series of environmental issues ranging needs: how to respond to food emergen- affected by the Sahel crisis. In 1971, the Consultative Group on from land, water and air pollution to the cies while ensuring adequate supplies to Thirty years after the end of the Sec- International Agricultural Research ongoing destruction of the world’s herit- narrow the gap between developed and ond World War, the planet had become a was created to integrate these research age of plant genetic resources threatened developing countries. very different place politically. With FAO centres and harness their strengths. Spon- a world crisis. Henry Kissinger, the Secretary of as focal point and facilitator, governments, sored by FAO, the United Nations Devel- In mid-1972, the UN Conference on State of the United States of America, in NGOs and donor organizations had made opment Programme and the World Bank, the Human Environment in Stockholm his keynote speech advocating greater huge strides in the field of cooperation and the Group was established as an informal reviewedOIL the CRISIS,global state of affairs. FAO FOOD global investment, CRISIS confirmed his coun- food security. However, it was becoming association of 44 governments and donor was asked to act to conserve the earth’s try’s commitment to making sure that increasingly clear that concerted global agencies to conduct stable long-term re- agricultural, forestry, fishery and other “no child will go to bed hungry within action was essential in order to tackle search programmes that would be beyond natural resources and to strengthen its ten years.” Governments examined the the real threat of famine. Thus, after the the capability of individual countries. The ongoing work. One of the issues that global problem of food production and Sahel crisis, the Office for Sahelian Relief World Bank provides its secretariat, while emerged from the conference was the rec- consumption, and recommended the Operations became the Office for Special FAO provides that of its technical advisory ognition that poverty alleviation helped adoption of an International Undertaking Relief Operations, with a global reach that committee. protect the environment. Indira Gandhi, on World Food Security, solemnly pro- covered all forms of emergency aid in the Prime Minister of India, mentioned this claiming that: “Every man, woman and agricultural industry. RECOGNIZING THE IMPORTANCE connection in her speech at the conference: child has the inalienable right to be free OF LIVESTOCK AND FORESTS “We do not wish to impoverish the envi- from hunger and malnutrition in order to CAPITALIZING ON In the 1960s, policy-makers had focused ronment any further and yet we cannot for develop fully and maintain their physical AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH primarily on crop production at the ex- a moment forget the grim poverty of large and mental faculties.” In the 1960s, researchers had already pense of livestock development. Ten years numbers of people. Are not poverty and One of the outcomes of the World Food noted an alarming decline in biodiver- later, incomes were rising and the demand need the greatest polluters?” Conference was the establishment of the sity due to a variety of factors, not least for animal products was increasing dra- FAO immediately set to work after FAO Committee on World Food Security. disease, environmental pollution and matically. The average intake of animal the Stockholm conference to establish a This committee would review and follow-up some farming practices. It was realized protein, including fish, rose by 20 percent framework for its programme on Natural on global food security policies, food pro- that protecting biodiversity was crucial to in developing countries. FAO turned its Resources and the Human Environment. duction, nutrition and access to food. boosting ecosystem productivity, and that attention to containing and preventing This programme had two main compo- In the same period, in the light of well-planned and properly implemented diseases, and to technologies that would nents: first, assess the state of natural the deteriorating situation worldwide, research on its conservation could pay increase production. This was achieved by resources; and second, manage them. FAO introduced a five-point action remarkably high dividends. improving livestock breeding and feeds.
92 | FAO 1945–2030 In 1978, the Eighth World Forestry nourished and 50 percent were suffering 138 States adopted the Buenos Aires set up in this period was the FAO Global Congress, held in Jakarta, Indonesia, with from hunger, malnutrition or both. How- Plan of Action in 1978. It represented a Information and Early Warning System on the theme “Forests for people”, had a pro- ever, despite rising poverty, hunger and blueprint for major changes in approaches Food and Agriculture, in 1977. found impact on attitudes towards forestry malnutrition, developing countries battled to development aid, and it has guided the The setback in agriculture caused by development and FAO’s work in this sector. back with resilience and began to consider Organization’s subsequent work in this the economic crisis of the 1970s meant that the idea of collective self-sufficiency. field. While countries of the South began FAO, governments and donor agencies UNITED IN THE FIGHT Given that developing countries shared to share their technical expertise and not- had to work even more closely together in AGAINST HUNGER similar socio-economic conditions, the UN ed improvements in their communities, different sectors to eradicate hunger and In 1976, FAO established its Technical found that a similar approach to finding the UN realized that the region as a whole stimulate public support. The idea that the Cooperation Programme to afford greater solutions to food-related problems could was far from food secure. FAO needed actions of governments, organizations, flexibility in responding to urgent situ- yield positive results in these countries. It to continue to monitor the situation and groups and individuals should be pooled ations. Then, in 1977, FAO conducted its was realized that promoting effective tech- provide timely and reliable information to fight the injustice of hundreds of mil- fourth World Food Survey on the state of nical cooperation between countries could on those countries facing serious food lions of people being denied the right to hunger and malnutrition in the world. The be vital to achieving common goals. emergencies; this so that governments food was gathering support within the overall picture was grim – 10–15 percent To promote and implement technical and the international community could UN family. This drive culminated in the of the world’s inhabitants were under- cooperation among developing countries, take appropriate action. One instrument first World Food Day in 1981. •
TIMELINE
1972. United Nations Conference 1979. World Conference on Agrarian on the Human Environment Reform and Rural Development Held in Stockholm, Sweden, and organized by the The conference, in Rome, adopts the “Peasants’ Charter” United Nations Environment Programme and FAO, to enable people to have access to land. it makes 108 recommendations, 36 of which FAO is asked to implement, in the areas of agricultural 1975. Committee on conservation activities in forestry and fisheries World Food Security 1977. The Global resources, as well as other natural resources. Information and 1970 Created at FAO Conference. Early Warning 1980 FAO already has System is up and 1975 136 Members. running.
1971 1972 1973 1974 1976 1977 1978 1979
1970. Second World Food Congress 1976. Edouard 1978. Fourth World Held in The Hague, the Netherlands, for the first time it draws the public’s attention to the issue Saouma (Lebanon) of hunger and malnutrition around the world. The global situation is discussed and five areas for is elected fifth FAO Food Survey immediate action are identified in line with FAO’s strategy: promoting widespread use of high- Director-General. In the developing world, about yielding varieties of basic food crops, reducing waste, filling the ‘protein gap’, improving the quality 455 million people suffer of rural life, and increasing earnings and savings in foreign currency in developing countries. undernutrition.
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 93 TUNISIA, 1970
[FACING PAGE] Part of a demonstration plot in central Tunisia showing the judicious use of irrigated farming in combination with dryland farming. With FAO as the executing agency, a five-year project included the production of forage crops, animals, fruit trees, the development of irrigation, the mechanization of agriculture, and related farm economic studies.
[ABOVE RIGHT] Workers constructing a new dam for cactus growing.
[BELOW RIGHT] Extension agent showing an instructional film to farmers.
©FAO/F. BOTTS
94 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 95 BURKINA FASO, 1973
After years of severe drought, the UN Secretary- General designated FAO to coordinate emergency relief operations in Burkina Faso. UN Agencies provided food aid at a total cost of USD9 million.
[ABOVE] French Air Force plane dropping 60 kg sacks of feed as part of an emergency operation to feed 30 000 cattle.
[ABOVE LEFT] Carcass of a cow that died in the desert.
[BELOW LEFT] Sacks of cottonseed, to be used to feed starving animals, being unloaded from a plane onto a trailer.
[FACING PAGE] Donkeys carrying sacks of wheat for distribution in the north of the country.
©FAO/F. BOTTS
96 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 97 BRAZIL, 1970
Technician preparing and tasting samples of coffee at a cooperative in São Paulo. In order to reduce food imports, raise nutrition levels, and reduce the country’s dependence on coffee production, the Government of Brazil started a project – assisted by FAO and the United Nations Development Programme – to provide agricultural management guidance to farmers in the region.
©FAO
98 | FAO 1945–2030 LIBYA, 1973
Smiling farm workers showing some of the chickens they have raised. In spite of its large petroleum industry, the country’s economy was still based on agriculture. FAO participated in several government projects on stock production, land settlement, and soil and forestry development.
©FAO
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 99 [RIGHT] ZAMBIA, 1970
Dr Armstrong, FAO Fisheries, working with a trainee in the Central Fisheries Research Institute’s laboratory. The United Nations Development Programme allocated more than USD1 million to continue the institute’s work, focused on fishing methods, in-service training, and research into commercial fish species.
©FAO/J. HAILE
[FACING PAGE] TUNISIA, 1970
Mr M. Sarson, sheep and wool expert, treating a sheep against intestinal parasites at a demonstration centre. In 1967, FAO started a five-year project to assist the Government in three major areas: crop, animal and fruit tree production; irrigation; and mechanized agriculture.
©FAO/F. BOTTS
100 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 101 102 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE] SWAZILAND, 1971 [ABOVE] SWAZILAND, 1972
A village chief surveying the land A duckling raised in the poultry section of the Obando Horticulture and Nutrition Centre. and cattle. The United Nations Development Programme and FAO Dietary improvements for infants and children help overcome the problem of malnutrition. Families sent an agricultural statistician are encouraged to grow indigenous vegetables in home gardens, and they are shown the proper use of to train local staff for research on locally grown foods through lessons in home economics and improved cooking methods. As part of agricultural questions, particularly on the FAO Freedom from Hunger campaign, FAO experts in horticulture and home economics worked overgrazing. with their local counterparts and rural extension agents in the fight against malnutrition.
©FAO/T. FINCHER ©FAO/F. BANOUN-CARACCIOLO
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 103 104 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE] BURKINA FASO, 1973
Nomads from Mali migrated into northern Burkina Faso with their herds in search of pasture, but they found a wasteland already been stripped bare by Burkina Faso nomads. Five years of very low rainfall brought severe drought and tragedy to Burkina Faso and other Sahelian countries. The UN Secretary-General designated FAO as the focal point for coordinating emergency relief operations. A major part of the relief was emergency food aid, with the World Food Programme allocating more than 57 000 tonnes to six countries in the first eight months of 1973.
©FAO/F. BOTTS
[LEFT] CHINA, 1978
Geese at a farm near Beijing producing 10 000 birds a month for the city’s market.
©FAO/F. BOTTS
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 105 [LEFT] BURKINA FASO, 1970
Watering a pawpaw-tree at the Koudiere Rural Education Centre for Girls.
This joint UNESCO/ Freedom from Hunger Campaign Gift Coupon project supplied seeds, pesticides, sprayers and dusters for 50 centres for girls and 150 centres for boys. The students also received practical training in elementary horticulture.
©FAO/F. BANOUN- CARACCIOLO
[FACING PAGE] SWAZILAND, 1977
A farmer carrying fuelwood. The government gave advice on family planning, and various UN Agencies assisted in the improvement of health throughout the country.
©FAO/F. BOTTS
106 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 107 [ABOVE] SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC, 1979 [FACING PAGE] SWAZILAND, 1977
Harvesting dwarf beans in a greenhouse. In 1977, A student projecting a film as preparation for fieldwork. A joint project between FAO and the government, with assistance from FAO and the the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency was set up to teach modern United Nations Development Programme, began the techniques in poultry raising, carpentry, textile manufacture and home economics to construction of plastic greenhouses. students at the University of Swaziland.
©FAO/F. BOTTS ©FAO/F. BOTTS
108 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 109 110 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE] CONGO, 1971
Fishers gather up nets used to catch sardines. As the Government was seeking to increase experts and domestic consumption of fish, FAO provided assistance through surveys, training and experimental fishing.
©FAO
[RIGHT] CÔTE D’IVOIRE, 1970
Fish dock in the port of Abidjan shows boxes containing sardines. In order to develop the country’s pelagic fish resources – fish that live in the open ocean – the government requested assistance from the United Nations Development Programme and FAO. Surveys, research, experimental fishing, and training were carried out.
©FAO/J.M. RENAUD
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 111 [ABOVE] LESOTHO, 1979
Women carrying boxes of pine seedlings to be transplanted as part of a reforestation programme in Lesotho.
©FAO/J. VAN ACKER
112 | FAO 1945–2030 CHINA, 1978
A worker at the Kwangchow Centre checking the growth of carp fingerlings prior to transferring them to maturing ponds. In China, carp (fish rich in protein) has always been highly prized. FAO sent technicians to Kwangchow to teach new methods for improving and propagating fish farming.
©FAO/F. BOTTS
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 113 [ABOVE] PHILIPPINES, 1977 [FACING PAGE] MALAYSIA, 1970
Fishers weaving gillnets at a A team from the Forestry Research Institute training centre. checking on the growth of Caribbean pines in its pilot plantation for quick-growing FAO provided assistance to small- industrial tree species. As executing agency scale fishers and farmers who lost for a government-backed project, FAO gear and cattle in the disastrous carried out experimental plantings in various Mindanao earthquake and tidal locations as a guide to later development of wave of August 1976. large plantations.
©FAO/F. MATTIOLI ©UN PHOTO/WOLFF
114 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 115 [RIGHT] ALGERIA, 1974
Workers planting young seedlings in an arid region. FAO and the World Food Programme assisted the government with its seven-year plan for reforestation and rural development. Workers engaged in soil conservation through land reclamation and plantation of crops on previously unproductive lands.
©FAO/F. MATTIOLI
[BELOW RIGHT] VIET NAM, 1978
A truck being loaded with boxes of seedlings to be planted as part of a reforestation project. The government’s programme for post-war reconstruction included restoration of war-devastated provinces.
©FAO/F. MATTIOLI
[FACING PAGE] TUNISIA, 1970
Worker holding seedlings on an experimental pine plantation in the north of the country.
©FAO/F. BOTTS
116 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 117 [ABOVE] BURKINA FASO, 1970 [FACING PAGE] CHINA, 1978 Working on the sides of a new irrigation canal, 11 km in length, as part of several land reclamation projects designed to boost rice cultivation. FAO and the World Food Programme supplied a weekly Spraying a rice field with ration of maize, condensed milk, canned fish, butter oil and sugar to farmers and their families over a powdered pesticide. five-year period until they were able to produce enough food for themselves. ©FAO/F. BOTTS ©FAO/F. BANOUN-CARACCIOLO
118 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 119 [ABOVE] GUATEMALA, 1972 [FACING PAGE] UGANDA, 1970
Part of the storeroom at the Technical Institute for Agriculture where World Food Programme The government established two agricultural mechanization centres to rations – including cheese, wheat flour, bulgur wheat, dried skim milk – were kept. They were run courses on tractor driving and the use of related implements. FAO used in preparation of meals for students taking courses in agricultural training. provided an expert on the use of agricultural machinery for three years.
©FAO/P. JOHNSON ©FAO/Y. NAGATA
120 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 121 [ABOVE] LIBERIA, 1970 [FACING PAGE] THE NETHERLANDS, 1972
The language laboratory at the Monrovia Trainees preparing a rural television programme. Consolidated School System. In the 1960s, following a drop in school attendance and Radio Nederland operated a radio and television training centre at Hilversum (the Netherlands) where enrolments, FAO and the World Food Programme four-month courses were organized for trainees from developing countries. Two weeks in each course were provided school meals to keep students in school. devoted to rural programmes where FAO provided participating rural radio and TV experts as instructors.
©FAO/H. NULL ©FAO/A. DEFEVER
122 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 123 [FACING PAGE] COLOMBIA, 1972
The general objective of this FAO and World Food Programme project was to help combat sickness and mortality among school children, preschool children, and pregnant and [RIGHT] nursing mothers, by AFGHANISTAN, 1970 providing nourishing meals for them. The Government, FAO Commodities supplied and the World Food included maize and Programme assisted wheat flour, canned in the maintenance of meat and fish, pulses, about 8 500 boarders in edible oil, dried secondary institutions skimmed milk, cheese in Kabul to make higher and milk biscuits, thus education available to benefiting a vulnerable students from areas population of over five lacking high schools. millions.
©FAO/P. JOHNSON ©FAO/A. FISHER
124 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 125 [FACING PAGE] AFGHANISTAN, 1972
Reconstruction of a traditional water-wheel used for raising water.
FAO assisted the Government in alleviating a quasi-emergency situation created by prolonged drought. General development projects included river-bed protection, improvement of irrigation channels, forestry development, construction of wells, and road improvements.
©FAO/F. BANOUN- CARACCIOLO
[LEFT] BANGLADESH, 1976
World Food Programme supported food-for-work projects in Bangladesh, employing up to two million workers. The aim was to reactivate some of the country’s great waterways both to conserve water for irrigation and to drain away floodwater in the monsoon season. It was estimated that as a result of this work, the farmers of Bangladesh would produce an additional 800 000 tonnes of rice.
©FAO /T. PAGE
126 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 127 128 | FAO 1945–2030 1980–1989
THE TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 129
S
80 NEW TECHNIQUES AND MORE In 1980, FAO concluded 56 agreements hunger in many communities in developing it was agreed that a coastal State’s jurisdic- STATISTICS for the appointment of FAO Representatives regions. tion over fish resources would extend to From the outset, FAO had always been an in developing countries. In 1986, FAO Thanks to technological developments, 200 nautical miles (370 km) out to sea. This active promoter of good agricultural practices, launched the world’s most comprehensive global fisheries production quadrupled was embodied in the 1982 United Nations including irrigation methods, to support and source of agricultural information and statis- from 1940 to 1970. But success came at a Convention on the Law of the Sea, which provide relief to communities affected by tics. Originally called AGROSTAT, its name is cost. Uncontrolled expansion, primarily by made it possible to manage this valuable re- crises or sudden disasters. The climate-related now FAOSTAT. industrialized countries, gave rise to the source properly. The FAO World Conference shocks that repeatedly struck the southern overfishing of many species. By the mid- on Fisheries Management and Development, regions of Africa and the Indian Ocean had USING MARINE RESOURCES TO 1970s, total global fisheries production had held in Rome in 1984, provided the first major always had a negative effect on the fragile ALLEVIATE HUNGER begun to level-off. overview of the world’s new maritime laws, economies and livelihoods of local communi- When FAO was set up, the seas were regard- Although some developed countries with a strategy known as the World Charter ties, undermining their ability to recover fully ed as available to all but the responsibility of benefited from the freedom of the seas, many for Fisheries. In addition, as developing coun- from these crises, and further increasing their no one under the principle of the “freedom developing countries did not. Moreover, they tries strove to gain a larger share of world fish vulnerability to future disasters. of the high seas”. In the following years, had to compete with foreign fleets fishing production and trade in fisheries products, For this reason, FAO now decided to give FAO realized that the development of this close to their shores. This issue was raised FAO began to provide information services greater weight to the development of small- underused resource could help to alleviate at international fora. After much discussion, on regional fish markets. scale irrigation systems. Such systems provid- edNEW an attractive way WAYS, to re-establish production OLD THREATS and income and significantly strengthen the resilience of local communities to subsequent emergencies. By contrast, large irrigation systems required huge investments and involved extremely long gestation periods. They were also highly demanding in terms of manage- ment, maintenance and training of farmers. Although small-scale irrigation projects had a more limited impact, they could be imple- mented much faster and yield immediate results, such as increasing food production for farmers and their resilience to future threats while creating stable employment conditions.
ITALY, 1985 A special ceremony commemorates FAO’s fortieth anniversary at head- quarters in Rome. ©FAO
130 | FAO 1945–2030 UNDERNOURISHMENT AND hunger was large enough to warrant action. FOOD CRISIS IN THE HORN ever-present threat. Policy-makers realized NUCLEAR DISASTER As if the problem of undernourishment in the OF AFRICA that they needed to protect and cultivate The 1980s saw increasing awareness of the world was not enough, governments also had In 1984 and 1985, no fewer than 30 African their lands if they wanted famines to become urgent need to free the world from hunger to contend with a major disaster created by countries experienced famines that led to a thing of the past. Much work was done to once and for all. The world also began to rec- human activity. massive loss of human and livestock life. In improve the monitoring of indicators that led ognize the vital role of women in agriculture. In 1986, the nuclear catastrophe known East Africa as a whole, 42 percent of the popu- to famine. One important instrument created However, it was also the decade of the first as the Chernobyl disaster saw the release of lation was undernourished, and the figures for during this period was the Africa Real-Time nuclear disaster to affect agriculture in two radioactive materials into the environment, Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia were among the Environmental Monitoring Information continents. with devastating effects on trade in agricultural highest in the world. System, installed at FAO in 1988. In 1985, FAO released the Fifth World Food and food commodities. The effects were felt The response of the international commu- In 2000, acting upon the request of the Survey. Again, it provided a full picture of the not only near the nuclear power plant where nity reflected a remarkable wave of solidarity United Nations Secretary-General and build- global food and nutrition situation. The survey the accident happened and in Ukraine, but from the public in non-affected countries. ing on its earlier experience, FAO developed found that the proportion of undernourished the fallout from the radionuclides sent into the Donors pledged almost 7 million tonnes of a strategy for concerted government and people in developing countries had fallen. atmosphere affected a wide swathe of Europe cereal aid to the countries hit by shortages. UN Agency action to combat chronic hunger Even so, the number of people suffering from and Asia. The crisis showed that famine was still an in the Horn of Africa. •
TIMELINE
1987. Measures against radioactive contamination in food In 1986 the release of radioactive particles 1982. International Seed Information System from Chernobyl spread across Europe and Asia, causing serious problems for food production Managed by a microcomputer, the system includes computer and trade. As measures taken by national techniques and management practices both for commercial authorities lack cohesion, FAO makes seed banks and forestry research programmes. a series of recommendations to control Over 20 000 seed samples are received in its first year. the trade in foodstuffs at risk of 1980 accidental contamination with 1990 1986. FAO radionuclides or other contaminants. has 158 1985 Members.
1981 1982 1983 1984 1986 1987 1988 1989 1981. First World Food 1983. The forestry 1984. The World Conference 1986. AGROSTAT 1988. Environmental control Day. Held on resources information on Fisheries Management launches system in Africa 16 October system enters into service and Development held in in over 150 The world’s most important A real-time system using satellite images, as a computerized data Rome is the first important source of agricultural ARTEMIS, processes the data received countries. system on tropical forests. step towards adopting new information and statistics. from satellites on rainfall and vegetation. maritime laws.
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 131 [ABOVE] BENIN, 1984 [FACING PAGE] CHAD, 1980 Traditional fishing near Cotonou. FAO assisted the government with its development plans to benefit the traditional rural economy. Sun-drying fish at Lake Chad.
©FAO/W. GARTUNG ©FAO/W. GARTUNG
132 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 133 [ABOVE RIGHT] NEPAL, 1981
A farmer tending a newly planted pine tree as part of a village community forestry project. In order to mitigate the country’s dramatic erosion and deforestation problems, the Government – with FAO and the United Nations Development Programme – carried out two projects: watershed management, and communal forestry development. UN activities included providing seedlings and building erosion-control structures.
©FAO/F. BOTTS
[BELOW RIGHT] COLOMBIA, 1982
A coffee grower transporting coffee beans to a processing plant.
©FAO/F. BOTTS
134 | FAO 1945–2030 COLOMBIA, 1982
Rows of coffee plants in plastic containers at a nursery. Dehydrated coffee pulp fertilization was used in the cultivation. The Colombia National Federation of Coffee Growers and the National Research Centre on Coffee promoted agricultural uses of residue resulting from the processing of coffee beans.
©FAO/F. BOTTS
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 135 ETHIOPIA, 1980
[ABOVE] Members of a peasants association dig contour bunds on degraded land as a measure to control erosion, and then plant trees and shrubs that regenerate the land.
[FACING PAGE] Shifting cultivator axing tree for fuelwood.
©FAO/F. BOTTS
136 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 137 138 | FAO 1945–2030 [LEFT] NIGER, 1983
Farmer fetching water in a traditional carrier for vegetable irrigation in an oasis garden in northeast Niger.
©FAO/W. GARTUNG
[FACING PAGE] CHINA, 1981
Harvested bamboo bound together in clusters to facilitate its moving downstream to the collection point. The country looked upon tree- growing as equally important as field crops and carried out various afforestation projects. Bamboo forests and other trees were planted for erosion control and soil conservation.
©FAO/F. BOTTS
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 139 MALI, 1983
A new-born calf about to be weighed by staff of the International Livestock Centre for Africa.
©FAO/J. VAN ACKER
140 | FAO 1945–2030 NIGER, 1983
Villagers operating a traditional well at the Iferouane oasis. The UN assisted the country in addressing drought problems.
©FAO/W. GARTUNG
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 141 142 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE] SENEGAL, 1988
Agricultural extension worker placing trays of papaya and banana paste to dry in a solar oven. To reduce losses of vegetables and fruits in the country, FAO introduced improved orchard management practices and preservation techniques.
©FAO/R. FAIDUTTI
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC, 1987
[TOP RIGHT] As part of a pasture management project, a worker is teaching herders to keep their cattle within defined areas for better protection of pastureland.
[BOTTOM RIGHT] Team members of a mobile research centre setting up traps to catch insects. FAO workers promoted improved practices for animal health care and pasture management.
©FAO/J. VAN ACKER
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 143 MOROCCO, 1980
[ABOVE LEFT] Captain of a boat. FAO launched a special programme for the development of fisheries in West African countries, including Ghana, Morocco and Senegal. The organization provided technical guidance in evaluating fish stocks.
[BELOW LEFT] A carpenter working on a small fishing boat, helped by a young apprentice, at Essaouira – a port south of Casablanca.
©FAO/F. MATTIOLI
[FACING PAGE] SENEGAL, 1980
Fishers put out to sea in a pirogue from the beach of Kayar, a village near Dakar.
©FAO/F. MATTIOLI
144 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 145 [ABOVE RIGHT] PERU, 1985
A farmer harvesting rice in Moyobamba Province in the region of San Martin. The Peruvian Government is promoting settlement and rural development in the region by a variety of means, including loans to small farmers by the Agrarian Bank.
©FAO/F. MATTIOLI
[BELOW RIGHT] NIGER, 1985
Planting a tree. The stone wall behind protects it, acting as a windbreak.
©FAO/F. MATTIOLI
[FACING PAGE] COLOMBIA, 1980
Farmers of Balboa, a village some 140 km from Popayan, the capital of Cauca Province, taste food prepared from World Food Programme rations at a cookery demonstration held on the village school premises.
©FAO/F. MATTIOLI
146 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 147 [ABOVE] BENIN, 1984 [FACING PAGE] NIGER, 1983
Learning to count and write at a fish cooperative. In 1980, the government set up 30 Niger was one of the Sahelian countries most seriously fish processing cooperatives to reduce reliance on imports and boost consumption of affected by the drought of 1968–1973. Mud-built millet local fish products. FAO assisted the country in establishing improved production and granaries, typical constructions of the Haussa tribe, near distribution techniques. Tahoua.
©FAO/T. FENYES ©FAO/W. GARTUNG
148 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 149 [ABOVE] CHINA, 1983 [FACING PAGE LEFT] PERU, 1985 [FACING PAGE RIGHT] THAILAND, 1987
Well-tended agricultural contours. As part of the Preparing soil bags for planting tree seedlings at an FAO nursery A villager climbing a palm tree. FAO National Conservation Plan, the UN assisted in Cuzco. The UN initiated a reforestation programme to support helped farmers improve their self-reliance members of Gong Yi People’s Commune in the government’s forestry activities in Andean communities. by teaching them new income-generating preparing a steep hill slope for tree planting and FAO also established improved woodstove programmes, school activities, such as duck-farming and palm-oil erosion control. forestry education plans, and furniture-making training courses. and sugar production.
©FAO/M. CHERRY ©FAO/I. DE BORHEGYI ©FAO/P. JOHNSON
150 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 151 152 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE] INDIA, 1987 [ABOVE] MOROCCO, 1980
Students researching how to improve maturation rates of fish for faster A catch of sardinella and mackerel is unloaded from the breeding. With assistance from FAO, the Central Marine Fisheries Research hold of a purse seine vessel in wicker baskets which are Institute was established to teach courses in marine biology and aquaculture. passed along a “human chain” and emptied into crates Field laboratories and training centres also introduced new technologies in stacked on the quay of Essaouira, a fishing port south of marine fish and prawn farming. Casablanca.
©FAO/I. DE BORHEGYI ©FAO/F. MATTIOLI
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 153 154 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE] CHAD, 1981 [ABOVE LEFT] COLOMBIA, 1980 [ABOVE RIGHT] COLOMBIA, 1980
Basic health education given at a health Children at school watching a nutritionist prepare their Pilar Rodriguez, World Food Programme, addressing centre. After civil conflict, the World lunch, using World Food Programme rations. Beginning farmers in the village of Balboa. Through the Food Programme and the UN High in 1969, UN Agencies assisted the Colombian Institute government’s Integrated Rural Development Commission for Refugees authorized for Family Welfare in the protection and care of minors. programme, the UN provided food aid for the emergency operations in the country. The Supplies – including wheat flour, dried skimmed milk, improvement of the rural population. The 40 000 UN supplied food and assisted villagers in meat, cheese, pulses, vegetable oil and biscuits – were beneficiaries paid 30% of the value of the rations they drought-rehabilitation works. provided annually to 1.1 million beneficiaries. received to finance basic public infrastructure works.
©FAO/A. GIROD ©FAO/F. MATTIOLI ©FAO/F. MATTIOLI
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 155 BHUTAN, 1982
Students eating lunch at Ura Primary School. The country received assistance from UN Agencies for the nutritional improvement of children. In 1980, FAO established a school- feeding project to increase primary school enrolments and reduce school- dropout levels in rural areas.
PHOTOGRAPH: ©FAO/F. MATTIOLI
156 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 157 158 | FAO 1945–2030 1990–1999
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 159 THE
S
90 WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON access the food they needed in order to live irrigation pumps, silos and even fish smoking There were many reasons for paying special NUTRITION healthy lives. The Summit adopted the Rome ovens. The most successful marathon TeleFood attention to the role of women in agricultural In 1992, FAO and the World Health Organ- Declaration on World Food Security and the event was the Spanish telethon “Gala FAO”, development, especially as women have tradi- ization convened the first International World Food Summit Plan of Action. which raised more than USD15 million. tionally constituted the principal labour force Conference on Nutrition, devoted solely to The Summit was not intended to be a for both cash crop and food production. addressing the world’s nutrition problems. The pledging conference nor was it aimed at THE CODE OF CONDUCT FOR In the 1980s and 1990s, there was a general conference saw a wave of commitment by gov- creating new financial mechanisms, institu- RESPONSIBLE FISHERIES issue of inequity – the place of the woman as ernments that pledged to eliminate starvation, tions or bureaucracy. Countries had complete In 1995, FAO celebrated its fiftieth anniver- the “unequal half” in a male-dominated soci- widespread chronic hunger, malnutrition and freedom as to how they were going to achieve sary. To mark the occasion, it returned to its ety. This reason alone was enough to warrant undernutrition, especially among children, the objectives outlined in the Plan of Action. birthplace, the city of Quebec, to hold an in- efforts to secure the social advancement of women and older people, before the end of The process received a boost in 2002 follow- ternational symposium in the same ballroom women in rural areas. Second, there was a gen- the century. Governments also pledged to ad- ing a series of intergovernmental negotiations in Château Frontenac where FAO had been der bias in institutions that prevented women dress a number of food-related issues ranging under the Declaration of the World Food created decades before. The theme of the from accessing credit and joining cooperatives. from micronutrient deficiency to non-com- Summit: Five Years Later. The FAO Council symposium was “People at the heart of devel- Worse still, under some systems of traditional municable diseases, inadequate sanitation unanimously adopted the Voluntary Guide- opment: food security through know-how”, law, women were unable to inherit land. To ad- and unsafe water. Lest anyone should forget lines to Support the Progressive Realization of and it aimed to reflect intergovernmental, dress such issues, FAO carried out substantial the need for urgent action to eradicate star- the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of governmental, academic and private-sector programmesRELAUNCHING to assess the impact of its actions vation THE and chronic undernutrition,FIGHT the world National Food Security, known as the Right to concerns. In its first 50 years, the membership on women, and it introduced measures to en- food situation was confirmed again in 1995 Food Guidelines. of FAO had grown from 44 States in 1945 to sure that women obtained real benefits. More at the FAO Conference as it reviewed World 179 in 1995. than USD24 million received by FAO from Agriculture: Towards 2010. This report stated TELEFOOD CAMPAIGN Following the symposium, a special min- the United Nations Development Programme that, despite an increase in food production To sustain the momentum generated by the isterial meeting on food security was held. has funded a wide range of special projects and food security, there were still 800 million 1996 World Food Summit, FAO increased This resulted in the Code of Conduct for for women. The Special Programme for undernourished people in the world. public awareness about global hunger and Responsible Fisheries, known as the Code. Food Security, which FAO launched in 1994, advocating action by launching a fundraising The Code provided a framework for national targeting low-income food-deficit countries, WORLD FOOD SUMMIT campaign named TeleFood. During its first and international efforts to ensure sustainable has touched and improved the lives of many Despite the commitment at the 1974 FAO year, in 1997, TeleFood reached a global audi- use of living aquatic resources, and to do so in female farmers. Conference by heads of state to eradicate ence of 500 million. By 2001, the campaign had harmony with the environment. However, for hunger, the food situation showed little sign raised more than USD28 million, which was any code to be effective, it must be adhered to, MAJOR INITIATIVES of improvement. Thus, in order to renew the used to fund over 1 000 projects in more than and a monitoring system needs to be put in Despite all efforts, and also as a result of nat- global high-level commitment to eradicating 100 countries. TeleFood sent the donations, place. In 1999, FAO’s Committee on Fisheries ural and human-induced disasters, the food hunger and malnutrition and achieving lasting with no administrative costs, to farmers to adopted plans of action on fishing capacity, situation in the early 1990s had not improved food security for all, FAO convened the World help them develop the capacity to produce sharks and seabirds. In the same year, FAO and the number of hungry people in the Food Summit in November 1996. This was more and better food for their families. These built the Fisheries Agreement Register, an world had not decreased. In fact, the numbers attended by heads of state and government projects were grassroots microprojects where easy-to-search computer database on bilat- were actually increasing at an alarming rate. and by other high officials from 186 countries. farmers were able to buy tools to grow crops, eral and multilateral agreements related to From 1996 to 2005, important initiatives were This was the first time in history that world raise livestock or fish, and to process food to sell fisheries. It provided up to 34 descriptor fields launched with the aim of halving the number leaders turned their attention to “food securi- it at a higher price. Over the years, the money for each record and contained information on of hungry people in the world by 2015. ty” and the way in which their citizens could has been invested in seeds and fertilizers, 1 927 agreements dating back to the year 1351.
160 | FAO 1945–2030 CONTINUING THE FIGHT System for Transboundary Animal and Plant countries were finding their way, through seeks to promote shared responsibility and AGAINST PESTS Pests and Diseases, which strengthened the trade, to developing countries. cooperative efforts by traders of certain haz- In 1991, the International Plant Protection Organization’s contribution to preventing, In order to limit the severely hazardous ardous chemicals in order to protect human Convention was ratified with 92 signato- controlling and, where possible, eradicating pesticide formulations that presented a health and the environment from potential ries. That same year the FAO Conference diseases and pests. health risk to farmers, FAO brokered a legally harm. Second, it aims to contribute to the en- on Agriculture and the Environment was binding convention to control the trade in vironmentally sound use of those hazardous convened in the Netherlands to discuss CONTROLLING TRADE IN PESTICIDES pesticides and other hazardous chemicals. chemical products by facilitating information requirements for sustainable agriculture and At the same time as combating pests, it was The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior exchange about their properties, by providing rural development. The conference acted as a also necessary to control the use of pesticides. Informed Consent Procedure was adopted for a national process for decision-making precursor to the United Nations Conference Pesticides and industrial chemical products on 10 September 1998 and entered into force on importing and exporting these chemical on Environment and Development. In 1994, that were banned or heavily restricted for on 24 February 2004. The objectives of the products, and by disseminating these deci- FAO launched the Emergency Prevention health or environmental reasons in developed Rotterdam Convention are twofold. First, it sions to the stakeholders. •
TIMELINE
1995. FAO celebrates 50th anniversary 1996. World Food Summit An international symposium is held in Quebec City, Canada, followed by a Special Ministerial Meeting on Food Security. The World Food Summit convened at FAO headquarters in Rome, FAO has 171 Members. involved meetings at the highest level with representatives from 185 countries and the European Union (Member Organization). 1994. Election The Summit saw 10 000 participants and provided a forum for of Jacques Diouf debate on one of the most important issues facing world leaders 1990 (Senegal), seventh in the new millennium – the imperative of eradicating hunger. 2000 FAO Director-General. 1997. FAO launches the 1995 TeleFood campaign
1991 1992 1993 1994 1996 1997 1998 1999
1994. Special Programme for Food Security 1995. Emergency 1999. FAO Goodwill Ambassadors Prevention System Its goal is to support low-income food-deficit for Transboundary The purpose of the programme is to raise public and countries in their efforts to improve food security, Animal and Plant media awareness of the unacceptable situation of a reduce the variability of agricultural production year Pests and Diseases billion people suffering hunger and malnutrition. Nobel on year, and improve their people’s access to food. (EMPRES) laureate Rita Levi, actor Gong Li and footballers Roberto Baggio and Raúl take part, among others.
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 161 [ABOVE] SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC, 1995
A regional government grain warehouse. Loading operations for transport to Damascus.
©FAO/R. FAIDUTTI
162 | FAO 1945–2030 [LEFT] ALGERIA, 1995 [ABOVE] UGANDA, 1996
A camel harnessed to a well Attending a lesson in nutrition education during a pause in drawing water from a considerable work on a banana plantation. This non-formal population depth in the middle of the Grand education project assisted the government in promoting the Erg Occidental Desert. health and welfare of the population.
©FAO/J. VAN ACKER ©FAO/R. FAIDUTTI
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 163 164 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE] NIGER, 1991 [LEFT] BOLIVIA The Keita Integrated (PLURINATIONAL Development Project was STATE OF), 1996 launched in 1984 following an agreement between the Farmers preparing land for Governments of Niger and planting. Italy, with FAO in charge of its implementation. FAO’s “Fertisuelos” project The objectives of the works with 36 communities project were to: improve in the region, involving about agricultural techniques and 1 800 families. The altitude increase soil productivity; in this area is 3 200–3 500 m, increase the availability with annual rainfall of of water; fight erosion; 500–600 mm. and strengthen roads and infrastructure. It has ©FAO/R. JONES enjoyed strong popular participation and support, with women making up almost 90 percent of the work force, as most men migrate in search of seasonal labour.
Activities have included land reclamation, soil and water conservation, reforestation, crop production, rural engineering, training, and setting up credit and alternative incomes. The construction of wells, schools, and dispensaries as well as maternal care centres is aimed at improving health and nutrition. The project’s long- [LEFT] ERITREA, 1996 term objectives are to reduce the food deficit, halt land Drip irrigation. Part of an degradation and strengthen international project on local institutions. Gahtelay farm.
©FAO/R. FAIDUTTI ©FAO/R. FAIDUTTI
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 165 [ABOVE RIGHT] LIBYA, 1990
Programme for eradicating New World screwworm from North Africa by applying a larvicide to kills screwworm and protect against re- infestation.
FAO confirmed the presence of New World screwworm in Libya in 1989 – the first such incidence outside the Americas, where it is a major livestock pest. The fly lays eggs on animal wounds as small as a tick bite. Within 24 hours, larvae hatch and begin eating their way into the wound. As the wound is enlarged, more flies are attracted and the wound becomes re-infested. Unless treated, the host will eventually die. Fully grown cattle can die within ten days.
This method of pest control also involves releasing millions of sterile flies who mate with wild ones to produce sterile (dead) egg masses and breed the population out of existence. The last wound infestation was detected in April 1991. Sterile fly release ended six months later after the dispersal of [BELOW LEFT] more than 1 300 million sterile SENEGAL, 1990 flies in Libya, but surveillance activities continued in order Arranging mango slices on trays for drying, as to ensure no screwworm had part of an FAO project to promote household survived. processing and conservation of produce.
©FAO/R. FAIDUTTI ©FAO/R. FAIDUTTI
166 | FAO 1945–2030 [ABOVE] [ABOVE] UGANDA, 1994 INDONESIA, 1990 Producing raffia objects during a village meeting programme aimed at improving the livelihoods Farmer using animal to discuss a cooperative’s problems and find of people in developing countries, especially the traction to plough rice solutions. The FAO project helped to market rural poor through the reinforcement of national fields. items produced by the cooperative and obtained and regional institutions. credit from local banks. Forests, Trees and ©FAO/R. FAIDUTTI People Programme Phase II was an innovative ©FAO/R. FAIDUTTI
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 167 GHANA, 1995
Close-up of boy with handful of small fish at Chokomey market.
Small-scale farming and food processing programme where FAO cooperated with non-governmental organizations through the Freedom from Hunger Campaign/Action for Development Programme. The programme was launched with six village associations in the areas of cassava processing, fish smoking and vegetable production. Women are the major beneficiaries of the programme, with three of the associations being women’s groups and the other three having about 45% women members.
©FAO/P. CENINI
168 | FAO 1945–2030 [ABOVE] UGANDA, 1996
Artisanal smoking of fish at a maritime port. There are many traditional methods of smoking fish. FAO has developed a method that is more efficient and less harmful to human health.
©FAO/R. FAIDUTTI
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 169 [ABOVE LEFT] ERITREA, 1996
Experimental breeding of ostriches.
©FAO/R. FAIDUTTI
[BELOW LEFT] URUGUAY, 1996
Cow being examined at a slaughterhouse.
©FAO/R. FAIDUTTI
[FACING PAGE] UGANDA, 1996
Transport of milk by bicycle to a collection centre. The objectives of this FAO project were to increase milk production, strengthen farmers’ organizations, and develop the dairy products market in rural areas and in smaller urban centres.
©FAO/R. FAIDUTTI
170 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 171 172 | FAO 1945–2030 THAILAND, 1995
Pens for rearing fish.
Fish is an important source of protein and micronutrients, and a staple in South Asian diets.
©FAO/R. FAIDUTTI
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 173 [ABOVE] ALGERIA, 1994 [FACING PAGE] NIGER, 1995
Caravan of camels in the Grand Erg Rural women collecting water from a Occidental Desert in southern Algeria. well in southern Niger.
©FAO/J. VAN ACKER ©FAO/R. FAIDUTTI
174 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 175 [THIS PAGE] LEBANON, 1995 [FACING PAGE] BOLIVIA The project was financed by FAO at the request of the (PLURINATIONAL Government of Lebanon, which helped to execute it. The aim STATE OF), 1996 was to create a more-effective food-control system. FAO was responsible for planning activities, training personnel, buying Extension meeting to educational materials and teaching aids, controlling foodstuffs, examine new varieties of and for providing administrative and technical support. potatoes.
©FAO/R. FAIDUTTI ©FAO/R. JONES
176 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 177 178 | FAO 1945–2030 2000–NOW
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 179
S S
00&10 advocacy campaign to secure USD20 million to in the world. Under this agreement, FAO will implement the guidelines that aimed at helping provide technical guidance to this network of governments safeguard the rights of people to 13 million volunteers to reach some 150 mil- own or access land, forests and fisheries. Two soft- lion people – and help poor households cope drinks giants, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, joined the with the threats and disasters that affect agri- campaign and gave their official support. In ad- culture, food security and nutrition. SUSTAINABLE FARMING million farming families in time for the planting dition to their commitment to fair and legitimate In 2014, to guide the new Global Nutrition THROUGH PLANT PROTECTION season. An additional 235 000 families received negotiations on land transferrals and acquisitions Agenda, FAO partnered with the World Health In the late twentieth century, several key feed, medicine and shelter for their animals. in developing countries, the companies vowed Organization to organize the first important crops – a product of natural evolution, selec- In Africa, two regions of Somalia suffered to increase their participation in the Committee world event on nutrition in 20 years. The tion by farmers and selective breeding – were from famine due to the worst drought in on World Food Security, and pledged to carry Second International Conference on Nutri- in grave danger. Serious threats included 30 years. More than 260 000 people lost their out social and environmental assessments across tion was held at FAO headquarters in Rome pollution, resource degradation, the destruc- lives and millions more were put at serious their global supply chains. For PepsiCo, the work in November 2014. The event ended with tion of habitats and alterations to ecosystems. risk. FAO and the international commu- began in Brazil, its top sugar-sourcing country, the 172 governments adopting, to universal After seven years of negotiations, the 2001 nity responded with USD120 million for while Coca-Cola worked alongside Oxfam in acclaim, a general political commitment – the FAO Conference adopted the legally binding drought-stricken areas in the Horn of Africa. several major sugar-sourcing countries. In 2014, Rome Declaration on Nutrition – and a International Treaty on Plant Genetic Over the decades, FAO has accumulated in the Committee on World Food Security ap- supportive framework for concrete action. The Resources for Food and Agriculture, considerable experience on bird flu (avian proved the Principles for Responsible Investment Declaration enshrines the right of everyone to which supported the work of breeders and influenza) epidemics and other animal health in Agriculture and Food Systems, which are based have access to safe, sufficient and nutritious farmers everywhere. This treaty encourages or food safety emergencies. Based on this, FAO on the voluntary guidelines. food, and commits governments to prevent- sustainable agriculture through the equitable works to provide assistance in real-time around ing malnutrition in all its forms. The related sharing of genetic material and its benefits the world. In 2006, the Organization unveiled LAND PROTECTION Framework of Action recognizes that govern- among plant breeders, farmers and public its high-tech Crisis Management Centre to In the past decade, FAO has renewed its com- ments have the primary role and responsibility andMDG private researchs institutions.AND The treaty,SDG monitors disease outbreaks and dispatch experts mitment to improving the health of the world’s for addressing nutrition issues and challenges. which came into force in 2004, is considered to any hot spot in the world within 48 hours. limited soil resources and stopping land deg- vital to permit the continued availability of radation. In fact, 33 percent of the world’s soils FAO RECOGNIZES plant genetic resources that countries need to VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES are still moderately to highly degraded due to OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT feed their people and future generations. ON RESPONSIBLE GOVERNANCE erosion, nutrient depletion, acidification, salini- The Millennium Summit of the United Nations Despite natural emergencies and other In addition to responding to emergencies, FAO zation, compaction or chemical contamination. in 2000 set a series of time-bound targets with disasters occurring in the first decade of the continues to work to promote and ensure the Recognizing that urgent action was re- a deadline of 2015, known as the Millennium new millennium, the setting of development sustainability of agricultural development in a quired to improve the situation, the Global Soil Development Goals, or MDGs. Since then, goals against a tight timeframe did see a world whose natural resources are being depleted Partnership adopted a series of action plans real progress has been made in reducing the paradigm shift in food security and agricul- and becoming increasingly scarce. in 2014 to safeguard the soil resources that number of chronically undernourished people tural development. Finally, some measurable Supporting sustainable development and support the world’s agricultural production. in the world’s poorest regions. In 2013, FAO progress was being made towards radically protecting the environment are in fact among the To raise public awareness, the UN declared recognized 38 countries for reducing by half the reducing the number of people suffering major goals of the FAO Voluntary Guidelines 5 December World Soil Day and made 2015 proportion of people who suffer from hunger. from chronic malnutrition worldwide. on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of the International Year of Soils. Eighteen of these countries were recognized COUNTERING FLOOD, Land, Fisheries and Forests. Endorsed by the WIDENING THE CIRCLE OF ALLIANCES both for this goal and for the more stringent FAMINE AND DISEASE Committee on World Food Security in 2012, the FAO has also strengthened its network of objective set by the 1996 World Food Summit, Since the turn of the century, Asia and Africa guidelines call for a commitment from both the partners to improve food security and the re- which was to halve the absolute number of have experienced major natural emergencies. public and private sectors, and they include rec- silience of vulnerable communities all over the undernourished people. In 2010, Pakistan was struck by the worst floods ommendations on how to safeguard the rights of world. In 2013, for example, FAO signed a new A year later, in 2014, FAO honoured the in its history. Seed stores were destroyed and local populations in the event of large-scale land partnership agreement with the International achievements of 13 countries for their out- millions of head of livestock were lost. FAO acquisitions and how to ward off land grabbing. Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent standing progress in the fight against hunger, responded by distributing wheat seed to half a FAO launched a major fundraising and Societies, the largest humanitarian network an achievement that included reaching the
180 | FAO 1945–2030 MDGs before the 2015 deadline. On 7 June to be done. Food production needs to grow to guide actions of governments, international first-ever binding international treaty that 2015, FAO recognized another 14 countries and food wastage must be cut in order to feed agencies, civil society and other institutions focuses specifically on this major threat to for achieving the target of halving the per- a projected population of 9.7 billion in 2050. over the next 15 years (2016–2030). The SDGs sustainable fishing. centage of people suffering hunger by 2015. In the words of José Graziano da Silva, the set out specific objectives for countries, devel- At the start of 2015, encouraged by the success current FAO Director-General: “Political com- oped and developing, to meet within a given PEACE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT of other countries, Viet Nam launched the mitment at the highest level is fundamental to time frame, with achievements monitored In June 2017, Colombia and FAO signed an Zero Hunger Challenge to eradicate hunger advancing towards food security. We have the periodically to measure progress and ensure agreement to support policies aimed at restor- in Viet Nam by 2025. opportunity to end hunger within our life- that no one is left behind. ing rural areas affected by armed conflict, to times. This is the greatest legacy we can leave bolster the peace process by rebuilding rural THE SUSTAINABLE to future generations.” On 25 September 2015, TREATY AGAINST ILLEGAL FISHING communities, and to increase the country’s ag- DEVELOPMENT GOALS the UN adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sus- On 5 June 2016, the FAO Port State Meas- ricultural competitiveness. FAO will work with The founders of FAO imagined “a world free tainable Development and the Sustainable ures Agreement became international law. Colombia’s Rural Development Agency to from want”. However ambitious or achievable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of 17 as- This groundbreaking international accord develop rural development plans and projects this goal may be, it is clear that much remains pirational objectives with 169 targets expected aimed at stamping out illegal fishing is the with a comprehensive territorial approach. •
TIMELINE
2007. Committee on 2009. World Summit 2011. Eradication 2001. International Fisheries: a legally on Food Security of rinderpest Treaty on Plant binding global The summit adds urgency FAO and the World 2017. Colombia Genetic Resources for agreement to the fight against hunger Organisation for Animal Health and FAO sign as 60 heads of state announce the eradication of an agreement Food and Agriculture 119 countries approve and government and rinderpest – a deadly cattle to help restore The treaty enters into force a proposal to develop 192 ministers adopt a disease – from the natural conflict-hit rural in 2004 as a legally binding a legally binding declaration to eradicate environment. areas. agreement that promotes measure to address hunger from the world as sustainable farming by ensuring the illegal, unreported soon as possible. equitable access to plant and unregulated fishing 2011. José Graziano 2000 genetic resources and by practices responsible da Silva (Brazil), is 2017 sharing their benefits among for serious economic, elected eighth plant breeders, farmers and social, biological and FAO Director-General. public and private institutions. environmental damage. 2010
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2 011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2014. The Blue Growth Initiative is a new approach 2016. 2000. FAO 2002. World Food to marine resources that is necessary to protect world develops a FAO Port State Summit: five years later 2008. Conference food security and sustainable development. strategy to Measures fight chronic Attended by delegations from on Climate Change hunger in the 179 countries, it reaffirms FAO organizes a conference involving 2015. José Graziano da Silva (Brazil), Agreement Horn of Africa. the international community’s 43 heads of state and 100 government ministers on the is re-elected with 177 votes for a The groundbreaking commitment to halving the impact of climate change and the rise of bioenergy on food second term – the broadest consensus international accord number of people suffering security and food prices. A resolution is approved to increase achieved in an election for Director- against illegal fishing hunger by 2015. support and investment to develop world agriculture. General in the history of FAO. comes into effect.
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 181 182 | FAO 1945–2030 [LEFT] KENYA, 2003 [BELOW] MADAGASCAR, 2001 Farmers measuring the growth of a corn crop in a farmer field school. The United Nations Development Programme and the Government of Kenya aim Rice production and fish to increase the uptake of farmer innovations and new technology options at the farming. A fisher with a community level for food production, combatting desertification and generating farmer weeding a nearby income. rice field.
©FAO/A. VITALE ©FAO/J. VAN ACKER
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 183 [ABOVE] SRI LANKA, 2005 [RIGHT] KENYA, 2005
Farmers working in a rice field. Collecting water to drink from a polluted watering hole. Due to the lack of drinkable water, FAO has distributed rice seeds many people suffer from diarrhoea, cholera, malaria and other diseases. Pastoralists still and fertilizers to thousands of face problems after years of drought – severe stress, food insecurity, livestock deaths and farmers. high rates of malnutrition.
©FAO/ P. SI NGH ©FAO/A. VITALE
184 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 185 186 | FAO 1945–2030 [LEFT] BANGLADESH, 2008 [ABOVE] INDONESIA, 2005
Fishers pushing a boat into the water. Fishers in Aceh building new fishing boats. FAO partnered A model developed by the Empowerment of with the American NGO Austin Coastal Fishing Communities for Livelihood International Rescue Operation Security provided a platform for coastal by providing leadership for the communities to organize, mobilize and manage initiative and keeping track of human capital towards achieving collective the type of boats that should be economic, social, educational and political goals. introduced to avoid overfishing.
©FAO/G. NAPOLITANO ©FAO/A. BERRY
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 187 188 | FAO 1945–2030 [LEFT] DEMOCRATIC [ABOVE] UGANDA, 2009 REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, 2009 Beekeepers harvesting grasses for beehives. When the area was declared a national park in 1991 and local communities banned from removing forest resources, beekeepers complained An old growth tree in the that they lost their livelihood. Now beekeeping enterprises produce hives woven of grasses, Nkula Forest. Once these which have also improved yields and the quality of the honey. trees are logged, others will be unable to regrow Apiaries have been established and beehives populated so that people can produce and sell under the shade of the honey and beeswax, using traditional knowledge and appropriate technology. The annual forest. expected income from the improved hives is about USD30–40 per household.
©FAO/G. NAPOLITANO ©FAO/R. FAIDUTTI
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 189 AFGHANISTAN, 2007
FAO project designed to support a private-sector seed and planting materials industry in Afghanistan to help farmers boost agricultural productivity and ensure food security. The project will provide systems to the government, which will regulate a private-sector seed industry that meets international standards.
[RIGHT] A laboratory assistant working on seed germination at a seed complex.
[FACING PAGE] Potato trials at Mullah Ghulam farm.
©FAO/G. NAPOLITANO
190 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 191 192 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE] PHILIPPINES, 2011 [ABOVE] DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, 2011
Rosalie Chavez feeding her dogs and chickens Harvesting vegetables in a community garden in Lubumbashi. after breakfast. Her husband works as a forest patrol ranger for a natural reforestation project Part of a project to support urban and peri-urban horticulture development to established to prevent illegal logging. strengthen the production base through intensification, diversification and expansion.
©FAO/N. CELIS ©FAO/G. NAPOLITANO
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 193 [ABOVE] VIET NAM, 2006 [RIGHT] ETHIOPIA, 2009
Veterinarians administering free vaccines to national capacity to control outbreaks of diseases Veterinarian at work during an chickens to prevent another outbreak of bird flu of epidemic potential; and strengthen national emergency vaccination campaign at one of the many vaccination points set up by capacity to prepare for, respond to and recover for livestock in the Shinile Somali the Vietnamese Government. The objectives from public health emergencies. region, in partnership with Caritas. of the programme are threefold: control and eradicate bird flu in domestic poultry; strengthen ©FAO/H. DINH NAM ©FAO/G. NAPOLITANO
194 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 195 196 | FAO 1945–2030 KENYA, 2010
Maasai women herding cows to a watering hole in a village about 50 km southwest of Nairobi. An ambitious global effort has now eradicated rinderpest, a deadly cattle plague, in the wild.
©FAO/T. KARUMBA
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 197 [ABOVE RIGHT] EGYPT, 2009
Workers collecting eggs at a poultry farm outside Cairo.
FAO is assisting the Government of Egypt in its efforts to control and eradicate bird flu through detection and response with vaccine efficacy.
©FAO/G. NAPOLITANO
[BELOW RIGHT] SRI LANKA, 2010
A veterinarian holding a blood sample taken from a cow for testing to make sure the rinderpest virus has not returned.
©FAO/I. KODIKARA
[FACING PAGE] CHAD, 2012
A poultry farm worker carrying cartons of eggs. This is one of many poultry farms participating in a South–South cooperation project.
©FAO/S. KAMBOU
198 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 199 200 | FAO 1945–2030 BANGLADESH, 2012
FAO is supporting a number of initiatives new agricultural technologies, improved [FACING PAGE, FROM TOP LEFT, from a communal pump. A to improve the productivity of crops, water management and strengthened CLOCKWISE] Workers unloading beneficiary who received livestock livestock and fisheries in the southern market access. the morning’s catch at a fish through the project feeding her coastal belt of one of the poorest and market in southern Bangladesh. chickens. most climate vulnerable regions in the [ABOVE] Selling poultry at a local Consumers shopping for fresh country through the introduction of market. fish. Collecting drinking-water ©FAO/M. UZ ZAMAN
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 201 MADAGASCAR, 2011
Betroka Region, southern Madagascar: a dense swarm of locusts during spraying operations with an FAO-contracted helicopter.
©FAO/Y. CHIBA
202 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 203 [LEFT] PAKISTAN, 2010
Children filling bottles with drinking-water from a water truck at a camp for internally displaced persons set up for flood victims.
©FAO/A. HAFEEZ
[BELOW LEFT] DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, 2011
Farmers harvesting corn. As part of an FAO project, local farmers received tools, seeds and technical training to boost production and mitigate rising food prices.
©FAO/O. ASSELIN
[FACING PAGE] BURKINA FASO, 2008
An FAO initiative to alleviate the effects of soaring food prices by boosting food production, availability and accessibility on targeted poor and vulnerable groups.
©FAO/A. BENEDETTI
204 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 205 206 | FAO 1945–2030 MOROCCO, 2015
Workers at a citrus packing house where fruit and vegetables are produced in a natural way. Above, chemical treatments are avoided as much as possible, but, when unavoidable, they are subject to very strict regulation. Sterile-insect techniques are also used to combat parasitoids and fruit fly.
©FAO/A. BENEDETTI
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 207 208 | FAO 1945–2030 [ABOVE LEFT] NEPAL, 2010
A farmer carrying a watering can and gardening tool to work on field crops in an FAO project to improve access to agricultural production inputs and support services.
©FAO/S. KHAREL
SENEGAL, 2010
An FAO project provides participative training on integrated production and pest management through farmer field schools for Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal.
[FACING PAGE] Beneficiary transferring water from a well into a concrete tank while working in her cabbage garden. Management of family crops has improved greatly with the assistance of FAO’s integrated production and pest management programme.
[BELOW LEFT] A farmer using a magnifying glass to check rice reeds for insects to determine how much damage the plants can safely handle and when to use pesticides.
©FAO/O. ASSELIN
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 209 [ABOVE LEFT] SENEGAL, 2015
Strict phytosanitary checks are made on fruit and wood at Dakar International Airport to avoid the risk of altering the endemic flora [FACING PAGE] and fauna species. Conformity [ABOVE RIGHT] GAZA STRIP, 2013 HAITI, 2011 checks are also run on goods that are exported or re-exported to make sure they comply with A beneficiary tending to the vegetable One year after the Haiti the quality requirements and garden she maintains on the rooftop of her earthquake, an FAO officer waters phytosanitary standards of the home as part of an FAO project to promote seedlings at a greenhouse next to destination country. household-level food production. the FAO office.
©FAO/M. LONGARI ©FAO/M. LONGARI ©FAO/W. ASTRADA
210 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 211 UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA, 2013
Small-scale farmers in Dodoma preparing trenches and fertilization on a 120 hectare grape production project.
©FAO/IFAD/WFP/E. DEACON
212 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 213 [ABOVE] BELARUS, 2016 [FACING PAGE] CÔTE D’IVOIRE, 2015
A fisher sorts fish at a fish Fishers unloading tuna at Abidjan’s industrial fish port. farm in the village of Ozerny, some 50 km southeast of The global fisheries initiative focuses on strengthening policy, legal and regulatory frameworks to incorporate Minsk. environmental, social and economic sustainability considerations.
©FAO/S. GAPON ©FAO/S. KAMBOU
214 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 215 216 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE, TOP] NIGER, 2013
A view of a dry reservoir.
A new project aims to improve the food security and nutrition of 32 100 households through agropastoral production activities, contributing towards diversification, improved nutritional levels and reinforced purchasing power.
©FAO/G. NAPOLITANO
[FACING PAGE, BOTTOM] BANGLADESH, 2010
A boat passing by homes still flooded by Cyclone Aila, which swept through Bangladesh in May 2009, flattening homes, killing livestock and damaging crops.
©FAO/M. UZ ZAMAN
[LEFT] HAITI, 2011
Watering chard plants inside tyres distributed for people affected by the 2010 earthquake. The project objectives are to improve nutrition, food availability and living conditions through urban agriculture.
©FAO/W. ASTRADA
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 217 218 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE] DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO, 2011
Watering a vegetable field in Lubumbashi, Katanga Province. As part of an urban and peri-urban horticulture project, FAO has provided farmers with improved-variety seeds, and has restored irrigation and flood-prevention infrastructures.
©FAO/O. ASSELIN
[RIGHT] SOUTH SUDAN, 2016
Students cultivating staple food crops in the school garden, as well as setting up nurseries to grow seedlings. They will learn improved cooking practices, and exchange visits will be organized with neighbouring schools practicing urban agriculture so that students can share what they have learned. FAO has provided schools with water-harvesting structures to capture rainwater as the rainy season progresses.
©FAO/J.C. MCILWAINE/ UNMISS
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 219 [LEFT] SOMALIA, 2017
Following an FAO project, the coastal community in Eyl now exports up to ten tonnes of fish abroad every month.
©FAO/J.C. MCILWAINE/UNMISS
[FACING PAGE] THE GAMBIA, 2017
Fishmongers meet the boats at a landing site.
©FAO/V. CRESPI
220 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 221 222 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE] [ABOVE] IRAQ, 2016 SOUTH SUDAN, 2017 Participants in an FAO “cash for work” project clean A young cattle herder at a cattle camp an irrigation canal to resupply water for agricultural in Lulwuot. production in a previously conflict-hit area.
©FAO/A. GONZALEZ FARRAN ©FAO/C. YAR
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 223 [ABOVE] GREECE, 2016 [FACING PAGE] GREECE, 2016
Migrants and refugees head The symbol of an apparently endless crisis – towards a border camp. a refugee family gathered around the fire at night.
©FAO/G. CAROTENUTO ©FAO/G. CAROTENUTO
224 | FAO 1945–2030 TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 225 226 | FAO 1945–2030 [FACING PAGE] TUNISIA, 1970 BEHIND THE LENS Following the plough. Florita Botts at work in the field. ©FAO
[RIGHT] CHINA, 1988 Florita Botts training Chinese colleagues in educational photography techniques. ©FAO
[BELOW] NIGER, 1972 Frédérique Banoun taking notes with the project manager of a dairy centre in Niamey, which was receiving milk supplies from the World Food Programme. ©B. Chabot For more than 70 years, photographers working for FAO have travelled the developing world to record the work of the Organization and to capture images of hardship and progress as billions of people have struggled for freedom from hunger. Conditions have often been difficult, at times even hazardous, for the photographers and their support teams. With all their gear, they have ventured to what were, and in some cases still are, remote or rather inaccessible areas. For example, in 1972, Frédérique Banoun reached the Sahel by crossing the Sahara in a converted army ambulance to film an FAO project to build wells for nomadic cattle breeders in Niger. She then pushed on to Côte d’Ivoire to document the efforts of the FAO Freedom from Hunger Campaign to raise funds to support lepers in their farming activities. Through theTHE decades, the Organization’s WORK photographers OFhave witnessed every aspect of rural life in many developing countries across regions and continents, recording how FAO’s work has helped to transform subsistence economies into market ones. They have covered the full range of FAO’s technical assistance projects and the differing realities of workers of the developing world’s soils, forests, deserts andFAO seas. They havePHOTOGRAPHERS seen and documented environmental destruction and conservation, poverty and exploitation, development projects and their beneficiaries – poor farmers, foresters and fishers. They have contributed to bringing about beneficial change through the images used in FAO technical and general publications. And they have done more. Beginning in the 1960s, FAO photographers such as first Florita Botts and later Roberto Faidutti helped develop techniques to go beyond recording what they saw. Realizing that experts in the field needed visual aids to communicate their subjects
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 227 [RIGHT TOP] BURKINA FASO, 2016 Giulio Napolitano surveying a desert expanse during an FAO assignment to document actions promoting sustainable land management and dryland restoration. ©FAO
[RIGHT BELOW] SWAZILAND, 2014 Giulio Napolitano photographing activ- ities at a factory that produces naturally healthy food in a sustainable way and generates income for local people. ©FAO/M. ROEST
[LEFT] AFGHANISTAN, 2002 Roberto Faidutti on a mission to document FAO projects: seed selection in Herat, and rebuilding stocks of small ruminants and chickens in Feyzabad. ©FAO/R. FAIDUTTI
228 | FAO 1945–2030 SUDAN, 1990 Working as part of a wider FAO forestry project in the Sudan, Roberto Faidutti is pictured here training a local extension agent in camera techniques so he too can create educational filmstrips. ©FAO/C. WEB
more effectively, and to dialogue with local populations, they began making countries – working with students eager to capture images of their own “filmstrips” – combinations of slides, still images, cartoons and subtitles in local communities and evolving realities. languages. The filmstrips told simple stories that local people could relate to, When on a mission for FAO, the professional photographers are always facilitating learning for trainers, extension workers and farmers alike. This proved conscious of the importance of their task. For example, Giulio Napolitano an effective way of communicating messages about farming techniques and topics understands that most people cannot travel the world but often form their views such as how to prevent livestock disease, how to kill termites and how to preserve using evidence from reporters and others, and also by relying on photographs. mangos. The filmstrips also helped in reaching out to and informing local Thus, he feels a special responsibility towards both the public and the people he communities in various countries on broader themes such as education and photographs. The photographers are aware that their images will endure as part of technological change. To spread FAO’s messages effectively across large areas, the FAO archives, part of its historical memory, small pieces in an ever-growing people were sent out on motorbikes to remote communities to show the filmstrips. collective mosaic. Using just a portable projector, a simple cassette player and a car battery, the Whether in black and white or colour, images of hunger appear discouragingly filmstrip shows proved popular and effective in raising awareness. timeless. However, much has changed for the better, and photographers working Another side of photographers’ work with FAO, and a source of personal job for FAO will continue to document not only the difficulties but also the very real satisfaction for them, is that of training aspiring photographers in developing progress the developing world is making in the drive to eliminate hunger.
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 229
COMMITMENTS ACTIONS
& WORLD FOOD SUMMIT 1996 In order to renew the global high-level commitment to eradicating hunger and malnutrition and achieving lasting food MILESTONESsecurity for everyone, FAO convened the World Food Summit in November 1996. This was attended by heads of state or government and other high officials from 186 countries. This was the first time in history when world leaders turned their attention to “food security” and the way in which their citizens could access the food they needed in order to live healthy lives. At this Summit, they adopted the Rome [ABOVE] Declaration on World Food Security and ROME, 1996 the World Food Summit Plan of Action. FAO Director-General, Jacques Diouf, addressing the World Food Summit at WORLD SUMMIT FAO headquarters. ON FOOD SECURITY 2009 © FAO/L. Spaventa The purpose of the summit was to add urgency to the fight against hunger. [RIGHT] ROME, 2009 Sixty heads of state and government and FAO Director-General, 192 ministers unanimously adopted, in Jacques Diouf, taking part November 2009, a declaration renewing in a panel discussion at the World Summit on their commitment to eradicating hunger Food Security. from the world as soon as possible. © FAO/A. Benedetti.
232 | FAO 1945–2030 FROM REDUCTION TO ERADICATION In 2013, the FAO Conference approved FAO’s Global Goal 1: Eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, progressively ensuring a world in which people at all times have sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.
ROME, 2013 Plenary meeting at FAO headquarters during the 38th Session of the FAO Conference. ©FAO/G. Carotenuto
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 233 ROME, 2015 FAO award ceremony to recognize progress in the fight against hunger. ©FAO/G. CAROTENUTO
FAO AWARDS FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS In June 2015, FAO hosted an award ceremony to recognize progress in the fight against hunger (see also p. 180). The majority of the countries evaluated by FAO – 73 out of 129 – had achieved the Millennium Development Goal to halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by 2015.
ADOPTION OF THE SDGs On 25 September 2015, the 193 Member States of the United Nations adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, global objectives expected to guide the actions of the international community over the next 15 years NEW YORK, 2015 (2016–2030). Both the SDGs and FAO’s A view of the General strategic framework are geared towards Assembly Hall during tackling the root causes of poverty and the United Nations summit for the adoption hunger, building a fairer society and of the SDGs. leaving no one behind. ©UN PHOTO/L. FELIPE
234 | FAO 1945–2030 Three FAO regional initiatives in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean seek to strengthen actions by countries in those regions to achieve Zero Hunger within the next two decades. In each region, FAO is working closely with a diverse range of stakeholders, including inter-regional organizations, non- governmental organizations (NGOs), associations and grass-roots organizations that are already engaged in the fight against hunger. REGIONAL INITIATIVES FOR ZERO HUNGER
COSTA RICA, 2015 HUNGER-FREE LATIN AMERICA FAO Director-General, AND CARIBBEAN INITIATIVE José Graziano da Silva, Latin America and the Caribbean vowed presented the Plan for Food Security, Nutrition that the present generation of children, and Hunger Eradication by women and men would be the first to see 2025 to the Third Summit hunger eradicated. In 2005, the region Meeting of the Community of Latin American and committed to end hunger by 2025, and it Caribbean States (CELAC). became the first and only region to achieve ©FAO both the Millennium Development Goal of halving hunger rates, and the more ambitious goal of the World Food Summit of 1996 to reduce by half the absolute number of undernourished people. High-level plans, such as the CELAC Plan for Food Security, Nutrition and Hunger Eradication 2025, have been successful and provide encouragement to other regions that ending hunger can be achieved.
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 235 EQUATORIAL GUINEA, 2014 Malabo, the 23rd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union. ©FAO/M. MBA ADA
AFRICA’S COMMITMENT TO END HUNGER BY 2025 In Africa, FAO supports governments with technical expertise on food security and nutrition policies and programmes through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme initiative. Countries are being supported in capacity strengthening and intersectoral coordination for accountability on investments and more harmonized programme delivery. The aim is to accelerate and add value to ongoing regional and country efforts. The Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods, and its vision of ending hunger in Africa by 2025, is being implemented by scores of African countries today.
236 | FAO 1945–2030 ASIA AND THE PACIFIC’S ZERO HUNGER CHALLENGE Launched in 2013, the Zero Hunger Challenge saw FAO and UN partners prepare a “Regional Guiding Framework for Achieving Zero Hunger in Asia and the Pacific”, calling on everyone to continue the momentum. To support countries, FAO is spearheading the Regional Initiative on Support to the Zero Hunger Challenge in Asia and the Pacific. For example, in Bangladesh, the initiative outlines a country plan for food security and nutrition, drawing on the success of the strengthening food policy capacity programme. For FAO, it is equally important to improve the capacity for measurement and calculation of undernourishment in the region, and to improve nutrition for children so that stunting becomes a thing of the past.
MONGOLIA, 2014 Presentation on the Zero Hunger Challenge in Asia and the Pacific and the Regional Guiding Framework for Achieving Zero Hunger in Asia and the Pacific. ©FAO/C. DUGERMAA
TOWARDS ZERO HUNGER | 237 PUBLICATION PREPARED BY: Pedro Javaloyes (Chief of Publications Branch); Rubén Bruque (art director) and Fabrizio Puzzilli (senior graphic designer); Julian Plummer (editorial project manager) and Lyn Hunt (language editor); with the language versions prepared by the following editors: Hamza Bari (Arabic); Teresa Cebrián Aranda (Spanish); Sophie Ditlecadet (French); Yongdong Fu (Chinese); and Irina Tarakanova (Russian). Eleonora Boni coordinated the translations.
PHOTOGRAPHS PREPARED BY: Sherri Dougherty and Alessandra Benedetti, Giuseppe Carotenuto, Giulio Napolitano and Alessia Pierdomenico.