Reply to the 9th biennial report of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- See Doc. 3938, report of the Committee on Agriculture. Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 18 March 1977.
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
1. Having regard to the 9th biennial report of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) (
Doc. 3882) and to the report of its Committee on Agriculture giving a reply thereto (
Doc. 3938) ;
3. Thanking FAO for the very comprehensive report and the clear outline of its technical activities having a particular reference to Europe ;
4. Welcoming the FAO budget increase for the 1976-77 biennium of 54 % to 167 million dollars, but recognising with concern that over two thirds of the budget increases in the last decade have been swallowed by inflation, leaving less than one third for real programme improvements ;
5. Noting with satisfaction the positive role European countries play in development assistance, and in particular in the transfer of know-how and technology to developing countries ;
6. Considering that world food production increased from 1974 to 1975 by 2 %, whereas the world population increased by the same amount, implying that in some parts of the world, notably in Africa, the already too low average daily dietary intake per capita is still below the acceptable average figure ;
7. Noting with concern that world use of fertilizers actually diminished in 1974-75 for the first time since 1939 ;
8. Gravely concerned by the evidence of a decline in world fish stocks ;
9. Noting with concern the critical rise of 17 % in food prices in the developed countries in 1975, and the effect this has on poor people ;
10. Believing that a non-sophisticated agriculture suits best the small farmer in developing countries ;
11. Recalling that farming security is the key to food security, and that therefore farmers have to be encouraged to produce with production costs covered and that adequate remuneration to farmers must be an integral part of world food security policies ;
12. Stressing that land use planning and nutrition policies must go hand in hand in every country.
13. Stresses the desirability of all member states of FAO calling on the USSR and the German Democratic Republic to join the organisation in order to co-operate fully in the world food strategy, and especially to make available the essential agricultural statistics, so that unforeseen shortages will not disrupt world markets, and recalls that these two countries alone have declined to join ;
14. Emphasises the importance of the three following aspects, which should receive priority :
improving technical aid ;
increasing the liberalisation of international trade ;
taking appropriate measures to bring food aid to those people who are in need ;
15. Emphasises the certainty that whatever efforts are made to expand world food production in the years ahead, and even if no climatic disruptions occur and these targets are met, unless expanding national populations are brought under control, the world within ten years will be unable to feed itself ;
16. Calls upon its members to urge national parliaments and their governments to take the necessary steps to strengthen the work of FAO by :
bringing about membership of non-member countries ;
ensuring that all countries strive to attain their FAO target contributions ;
maximising their own national food output with governmental guidance ;
setting up a policy of fish farming in the sea, and ending the piratic extraction of fish by certain countries regardless of replacement and breeding stocks.
