food and agricolture organization of the united...

FAOFood and Agricolture Organization

of the United Nations

Almăşan, Colicchio, Fracassetti, Martini, Nering, Rodigari, Traina Pavia, 18.11.2013

International Agrifood Economics, A.A. 2013/2014, prof.ssa Sassi

• Identity• History • Institutional structure• How it works• How it gets funds

Main features

• How it gets funds • Priorities and projects• Partnerships and external relations• Food security: theoretic approach• Critics


The Food and Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations (FAO) is an agency of the UnitedNations that leads international efforts to winthe battle against hunger, malnutrition andrural poverty.

FAO’s vision is a world free of hunger and

Identity

FAO’s vision is a world free of hunger andmalnutrition for present and future generations,where agriculture contributes to improving the livingstandards of all in an environmentally sustainable way and contributeto global economic growth.

Its Latin motto, fiat panis, translates in English as "let there be bread"

FAO has 194 member states, nations, two associate members and onemember organization, the European Union.


The idea of an international organization for food and agriculture emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century, advanced primarilyby Vittorio Emanuele III.

In May–June 1905, an international conference was held in Romewhich lead to the creation of the International Institute of Agriculture.

History

Later in 1943, the US President Roosevelt called a United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture gathering representatives from44 governments.

1945 they signed the Constitution of the Food and Agriculture Organization and the First Session of the FAO Conference was held inQuebec.

After the II World War its functions were then transferred to the recently established FAO in Rome.


History


The principal organs of FAO are:

° The FAO Conference° The FAO Council ° The Secretariat, headed by a Director general

The FAO comprises eight departments:

Institutional Structure

The FAO comprises eight departments:

° Economic and Social Policy° Agriculture° Fisheries° Forestry° Sustainable Development° Technical Cooperation° Administration and Finance ° General Affairs and

Information.


FAO's activities comprise four main areas:

•Putting information within reach•Sharing policy expertise•Providing a meeting place for nations

How it works

•Providing a meeting place for nations•Bringing knowledge to the field


The total FAO Budget planned for 2012-13 is USD 2.4 billion.

Of this amount, 42% comes from assessed contributionspaid by member countries, while 58%

How it gets funds

countries, while 58%will be mobilized through voluntarycontributions from Members and other partners.


Priorities

Make agriculture, forestry and fishery more productive & sustainable•Support practices that increase sustainable agricultural productivity•Promote the transaction to sustainable agriculture•Provide information to support the transition to sustainable agriculture•Advocate the adoption of international policies for highly productive and sustainable agriculture

Help eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition•Strengthen political will•Improve implementation monitoring and evaluation•Enhance governance and coordination


agriculture

Reduce rural poverty•Improve opportunities for the rural poor to access decent farm and no farm employment•Empower the rural poor gaining sustainable access to resources and services•Improve social protection systems

Enable inclusive and efficient agricultural and food system•Improve the inclusiveness and efficiency of food systems•Help strengthen public-private•Improve the inclusiveness efficiency of markets

Increase the resilience of livelihoods from disasters•Help countries govern risks and crises•Help countries prevent and mitigate risks•Help countries watch to safeguard•Support countries’ preparation and response

Projects

EASY-POL Resources policy making

FAO experts working on agricultural and rural development and foodsecurity policy develop resources useful for the various stages ofpolicy processes. They include issue papers, analytical tools, casestudies, methodological guidelines and other conceptual and technicalmaterials.

EX-ACT This tool aims at providing ex-ante estimations of the impact

of agriculture and forestry development projects on GHG emissions andcarbon sequestration, indicating its effects on the carbon balance.


carbon sequestration, indicating its effects on the carbon balance.

Investment policy support for agricultural investment and food

security, efforts to generate increased and more effective public andprivate investment in agriculture and rural development.

MAFAP is a joint FAO/OECD initiative. It seeks to monitor and ensure

that policies and investments are fully supportive of agriculturaldevelopment, the sustainable use of natural resources and enhancedfood security.

Project on Negotiation for Agriculture seeks to convey

awareness about the importance of proper preparation fornegotiations. It aims to develop and provide specifically studiedmaterial to strengthen capacities in negotiation.

We have decided to analyze one project that FAO is realizing with thecollaboration/support of FAO Italy.It’s a collaborative initiative between the Governments of Burundi, the DemocraticRepublic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda and the Italian Government.

Improvement of Food Security in cross border districts of East Africa


Improvement of Food Security in cross border districts of East Africa

The Project is implemented through FAO, under the Global Food Security and Food Safety Trust Fund, in support to the rural modernization, food security improvement and poverty reduction.

The agricultural policy strategies of the four recipient countries and the main expected project outcomes are:•Strengthening farmer, small trader and agro-processor associations into market oriented entities in order to improve access to input and output markets;•Enhancing entrepreneurial, technical skills and learning for producers and other


•Enhancing entrepreneurial, technical skills and learning for producers and other value chain actors for increased market-oriented production, value addition and value chain-oriented approach;•Facilitating agri-business linkages and contract arrangements especially between producers' cooperatives, traders, local agro processing firms;•Providing institutional and regulatory support for enhanced cross-border trade including support to exploit market opportunities within the Eastern Africa Community (EAC) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

The project is still ongoing and we can find the evaluations of the implementation of the project on line on this web site:http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/faoitaly/documents/pdf/Final_report.pdf

Partnerships and external relations

• UN and Rome-based agencies: FAO has always maintained special relationshipswith other UN entities, with whom it shares a vision inspired by theinternationally agreed development goals. It also collaborate in many ways withagencies as the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and theWorld Food Programme (WFP) to further the global community's goal ofeliminating hunger and poverty.

• Civil Society FAO recognizes that CSOs play a critical role in the fight againsthunger given their technical expertise, their proximity to and representation of


hunger given their technical expertise, their proximity to and representation ofthe hungry and poor and their increasing presence in the field. For this reasonputs an effort into enhancing the quality, number and impact of FAO’s relationswith CSOs at the global, regional and at the national level.

• Private Sector the governance of food and agriculture has been increasinglytransformed on a global level by new technological, mechanisms. Increasingly,the private sector has been instrumental in the development of thesetransformations. FAO recognizes two main categories of contributions from theprivate sector: non-financial mutual collaborations and sponsorships.

• Cooperative and Producers organizations: FAO is the lead agency ensuring thatagriculture cooperatives are recognized and remain in the international agenda.FAO encourages member governments to establish enabling environmentsconducive to improving small producers’ livelihoods.

Basing on the definition of Food Security given in 2009 during the World Summit on Food Security, we can identify some Indicators that allow us to better understand the multidimensionality of Food Security,that'scharacterize by FOUR DIMENTIONS:

•Food availability•Economic and physical

access to food

Food security: theoretic approach

access to food •Food utilization •Stability (vulnerability and shocks) over time


Food security indicators

Measuring the complexity of food security is part of a broader debatethat currently takes place in the preparation process of the post-2015development agenda.

Food security: theoretic approach

Correlation of indicators in


The State of Food Insecurity in the World , The multiple dimensions of food security, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 2013

Correlation of indicators in order to find the policies

External opinion about FAO.Despite the thousands of positive opinions, we will focus on the few critics.

UK critics (February 2011) - “The review found that FAO performance is patchy” the UK Department for International Development said. “If the necessary actions are not implemented satisfactorily and performance does not improve then the UK will consider whether it should continue to be a member of FAO”.

Organizations Criticize FAO Director General for Explicit Support to Agribusiness (September 2012) Civil society organizations have harshly criticized Graziano Da Silva

Critics

(September 2012) Civil society organizations have harshly criticized Graziano Da Silva who have made a public call to the international community to “embrace” the private sector to lead global food, while they discredited family and peasant farming.

Northwest Resistance Against Genetic Engineering (NW RAGE) (May 2004). The FAO report "Agricultural biotechnology: meeting the needs of the poor?“ attempts to appear neutral, but in reality is highly biased andignores available evidence of the adverse impactof genetically engineered crops.


Thanks for the attention!

Mircea AlmăşanLucia Colicchio

Marta FracassettiMarta FracassettiAlessandra Martini

Rikhard NeringClaudia RodigariLavinia Traina


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