About the Food and Agriculture Organisation
- The FAO is a specialised agency of the United Nations that is headquartered in Rome, Italy.
- Founded in the year 1945, this international body seeks to improve the food and nutritional status of people across the world and secure food security for all.
- World Food Day is celebrated on 16th of October every year to commemorate the birth of this organization and the year 2020 marked its 75th year of existence.
- The main motto of the FAO Is Fiat Panis i.e. “let there be bread”.
- The World Food Programme and International Fund for Agricultural Development are sister organisations of the FAO.
- It is an indispensable body to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
Organisational Setup
- FAO has 197 member countries, which includes the European Union.
- The conferences of FAO are conducted on a biennial basis.
- FAO Council is a 49 member executive arm of the governing body.
Functions of FAO
- Operating in nearly 130 countries world over, the FAO helps government and development agencies coordinate their activities to improve and develop agriculture, forest, fisheries, land and water resources.
- FAO also conducts research and offers technical assistance to projects.
- It operates educational and training programmes and collects and analyses data on agricultural output and production.
Initiatives Taken by the FAO
- Implementation of the Codex Alimentarius Standards throughout the world which is a joint FAO and WHO Food Standards Programme.
- Identification of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) in member states.
- Active monitoring of the Desert Locust situation throughout the world.
- Adoption and follow up on the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
- Additionally, it has several flagship publications such as The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA), The State of the World's Forests (SOFO), The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI), The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) and The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets (SOCO).
- It also releases the FAO Food Price Index which is a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities consisting of a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar.
FAO and India
The nodal ministry for FAO in India is the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. India has been approved to be a member of the Executive Board of the WFP for 2020 and 2021 by the FAO Council.
