Report of the Preparatory Commission on World Food Proposals.

  • FAO Preparatory Commission on World Food Proposals
Date:
1947
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Preparatory Commission on World Food Proposals. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    fh led to the disastrous conditions of the interwar period, and we are hopeful that this will lead to an increase in trade, to full employment and to an expanding economy, all of which are essential to the welfare of the peoples of the world. We are agreed, however, that notwithstanding all that may be achieved in this respect the need for consultation and agreement among nations on many matters relating to food and agriculture will continue. In particular, we believe that in respect of certain basic commodities that enter world trade, conditions will arise that will make intergovernmental consulta- tion and agreement inevitable. Conclusions 18. It may be useful in conclusion to relate the principles which have emerged in this Chapter to the objectives of policy agreed upon at Copen- hagen: First, in order to obtain diets on health standards for all people, there _ needs to be a great and more orderly expansion of agricultural output. Agricultural production can be expanded only if consumption is certain to be expanded too. Otherwise the expanded production merely results in a burdensome surplus, depressing prices far below any. level which could be described as fair to producers and consumers alike. Secondly, as long as undernourished people exist, essential food that could be made available for human consumption should never be destroyed. All nations of the world should make every effort, individually or by agreement, to avoid the necessity of curtailing production. Thirdly, in the less developed regions agricultural expansion must be accompanied by industrial expansion—to manufacture farm equipment, to absorb surplus farm workers, to produce consumption goods and goods for export, and to raise the level of living and the purchasing power of both agricultural and non-agricultural producers. Fourthly, this implies large scale provision of capital, much of which must come from outside the countries especially requiring development. Fifthly, the supply of such materials and equipment, including in certain cases food, is likely to prove a hopeful and possibly in the long-run, the chief means of maintaining a high level of employment in the industrial countries and’ reasonable stability of agricultural prices provided that in due course a return flow of useful products can be assured. Sixthly, having regard to the role which governments now play in the economic field and the dangers of unilateral action, corresponding inter- governmental cooperation is called for in respect to both national and international programmes. 19. Thus the two problems presented to the Preparatory Commission—how to expand agricultural production to meet the world’s needs, and how to stabilize agricultural prices—merge in the crucial problem of how to expand consumption and purchasing power. And although agriculture has its own peculiar characteristics and is different in vital ways from industry, its problems are indissolubly linked with those of industry—that is, of the economy as a whole. They cannot be dealt with effectively on any other basis. 20. What we have to say in this Report may be grouped under five main heads : , Chapter 2 takes up the development of agricultural and nutritional pro- grammes, since the primary step toward the objectives of the World Food Proposals must be a rapid increase in the world’s food production and a better distribution of the supply to those in need.
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