Contents  

C. Agriculture


Rural social welfare
Development and conservation of soil resources
Education, extension (advisory services), and exchange of technical and scientific information
Production research and techniques
Integration and coordination of agricultural programs and policies
Agricultural credit, cooperation, and related matters
Special needs for fertilizer, machinery, and pesticides
Special needs in war-devastated areas
Special needs in tropical and subtropical areas
Addendum: supplementary report on general agricultural services of FAO

FUNDAMENTALLY, the goal of agricultural production before the Food and Agriculture Organization and Member governments is to integrate the soil resources of the earth and the growing body of technical knowledge in such ways as to meet the food requirements of all people. The soil resources are no doubt adequate. Although well advanced, our technical knowledge is still inadequate. The economic difficulties of production and distribution are enormous, and years will be required to overcome them and to invent the essential economic and social tools for the task.

Yet the tools are now available for great improvements. It is urgent that they be used. The first steps will suggest others. Changes in agricultural production, the development of industry, progress toward better nutrition, improvement of rural living, and increasing trade among the peoples must all proceed together. Each supports the others; failure in one blocks progress elsewhere. Above all, the goal requires peace among nations; and in turn, achieving this peace depends upon substantial progress toward the common goal of FAO and Member governments.

Large numbers of farm people throughout the world are poor, and existing patterns of production, consumption, and trade keep them poor. So are many urban families. While recognizing the general inferiority of rural education, housing, health, sanitation, and electrical facilities, as contrasted to urban services, FAO and Member governments must be mindful of the mutual problems of producers and consumers in both city and country. Human welfare must be the concern of all for all. Neither peace nor abundance can be long enjoyed by special groups, or in favored places, while others want for the essentials of decency and fear the approach of another day.

Men have a new awareness of the soils that support them. To acquire a knowledge of their nature, distribution, and responses to management is a problem common to all, since experience in one country is relevant in several others. The attainment of the goal of FAO requires finding the particular ways to use each soil most efficiently, without waste of materials, of human labor, or of the soil itself. The ends of production and conservation are thus inseparable.

The problems of agriculture are dynamic, and so are the sciences that bear on them. Each advance in technique raises new problems in the other natural and social sciences. New crops and patterns of production expose the farmer to new hazards and affect the choice of consumers. The very success of modern science emphasizes the need for symmetry and sound scholarship. Scientific discovery comes from the ideas of men as well as from organization. No one can predict where the important ones will arise or when. FAO can help to keep the language of science truly international. Through such a common language, and by free exchange of research materials and ideas and of the scientists themselves, each Member country may benefit from the researches of all.

The findings of science moreover, must be translated into terms appropriate to people. The progress made toward the goals of FAO will depend upon the skill, effectiveness, and breadth of education and extension programs. All modern techniques of press, radio, and film need to be utilized, in addition to demonstrations on operating farms. The exchange of experience and technicians among countries is no less important than the local adaptation of the programs to the needs and understanding of the people.

In the sphere of agricultural policy much should be done. Certain preliminary steps can be taken now - indeed must be taken if FAO is to fulfill its obligations; but future progress will need to be guided by careful study. Certainly the world should look to increased production and distribution of protective foods. Changes in production so that each region and country produces to the best comparative advantage, and each farm unit most efficiently, are continuing goals. Measures to these ends must be integral parts of an expanding world economy of advantage to consumers and producers alike and with full benefits to rural workers as well as to their cousins in the city.

Large capital investments will be needed if the basic objectives of FAO are to be achieved. To meet this need, many countries will have to reorganize their agricultural credit systems, not only to provide sufficient-credit at appropriate terms for productive purposes, but also to discourage borrowing for wasteful purposes - borrowing that, in wide regions, is an obstacle to agricultural programs and has severe depressive effects on the levels of rural nutrition and living. Where farmers are inexperienced in the use of credit, lending needs to be accompanied by guidance to the borrowers. Where debtor distress has become widespread, debt adjustment measures may be required. Where the prevailing system of land tenure impedes social and economic progress in agriculture, land reform may be essential to the effective operation of the agricultural credit system.

Means also must be found to meet the needs of farmers for machinery, fertilizers, and pesticides more adequately than in the past. With the help of FAO, Member governments can determine more accurately what these needs are and, with industry, explore the ways by which they can be satisfied. Certainly a world that can organize itself so effectively to produce machines and explosives for war cannot falter at the challenge of producing the materials essential to peace.

Since Hot Springs, the United Nations have won the war. Immediate attention, therefore, should be given to the problems of war-torn areas and to critical problems in other areas (even in the most highly developed countries) that had to be neglected during the war. With the unity of purpose that gave victory in the war, the goals of FAO and the ends of peace must be sought.

Rural social welfare

Improvement of rural- welfare is one of the major objectives of FAO and Member governments.

In most parts of the world large numbers of farmers, fishermen, and forest workers are poor, and the present pattern of production tends to keep them so. Land tenure arrangements need to be improved in many areas. Education, health, and sanitary services in rural areas are, for the most part, inferior to those in urban areas. Housing of rural workers is frequently bad. The benefits of electricity and other modern conveniences are less frequently present in rural than in urban households. Many rural families live without ready access to the community facilities and amenities that are an accepted part of modern living. Social legislation tends to include the rural workers and their families less frequently or less adequately than it does industrial workers. The principle that agricultural workers are not less important to the nation than other workers is not generally recognized and only rarely is it put completely into practice. The full realization of the objectives of FAO would secure to rural workers real incomes equal to those of urban workers.

Dense population in many agricultural regions is a major obstacle to increases in agricultural production and to the establishment of an expanding economy of abundance. The seasonal character of much agricultural work means considerable underemployment of rural workers. Village and cottage industries have been developed in some areas to provide employment during the inactive season; unemployment insurance for agricultural workers is provided in some countries; but much remains to be done.

The reasons for the disadvantages under which the rural people live in many areas are numerous and complex. The accomplishment of the objective of bettering the condition of rural populations will require intensive work and close collaboration with other specialized international agencies, with governments, with organizations of farmers and of farm laborers, with professional groups, and with many other groups who are concerned with significant aspects of rural life.

FAO is concerned with the welfare of all rural people, workers as well as their dependents, with operators of large and small farms, with employers and hired workers, with regular, seasonal, and migratory workers, with workers who are paid in kind or by a share of the product, and with unpaid family workers.

In concentrating on rural social welfare, FAO should be mindful of the fact that in the long run the welfare of food producers and that of food are interdependent. Reorientation of agriculture to meet nutrition needs and to supply needed foods to all elements of the population is an essential part of the steps to be taken in promoting the welfare of food producers.

Improvement in soil productivity and the efficiency of agricultural production is an important step in increasing the real incomes of farmers and farm workers. In large areas of the world production per man is low - so low that many families barely glean enough calories from their meager crops to keep them alive. Often crude methods of production require so much effort that there is little or no opportunity to enjoy the rewards which a rural life based on efficient techniques can yield.

Attainment of the objectives of FAO and Member governments in rural welfare will require: (1) measures to bring adequate nutrition within reach of all rural people; (2) measures to make available to rural people everywhere benefits of modern science for adequate health, sanitation, housing, electricity, education' and the other social and community facilities necessary for good living; (3) provisions for improving conditions of all rural people, including hired farm and plantation workers, forestry and fishery workers and the persons dependent upon them, as well as farm operators; and (4) assurance of an equitable share to rural people of the national income and the social services.

Recommendations

1. As in other fields of FAO's work, panels of experts in rural social welfare should be established to deal with the improvement of rural living.

2. The programs, proposals, reports, and statistics of FAO should be given systematic review from the point of view of the betterment of rural life.

3. Cooperation should be maintained with professional groups, representatives of international and national agricultural producers' organizations, organizations of agricultural workers, and a wide range of other organizations, including women's organizations, in the field of rural welfare. In its cooperation with national governments, FAO should seek means of securing appropriate representation of those groups which are not now well organized, including persons whose work requires migration from one area to another. Whenever it is appropriate, members of representative organizations should be asked to join the panels of experts that FAO is expected to set up.

4. Cooperation should be maintained with such specialized international agencies as those dealing with health, sanitary services, housing, electrification, education and recreation, social legislation, protection of special groups of workers, credit, transportation, communications, and trade, to assure equality of services to rural people.

5. Steps should be taken to urge that whenever social security measures are developed in a country they shall apply to the rural as well as to the urban populations.

6. Steps should be taken, in cooperation with other international agencies and with governments, to develop proper balance between agriculture and industry through the encouragement of full-time industry, and of combinations of agriculture with industry, forestry, or fishing. In such developments attention should be called to the need for social security legislation which will assure that the rural areas that contribute the workers will not be left with an unduly heavy burden of support of the dependent groups who do not migrate.

7. Studies should be initiated of problems related to the welfare of rural people, especially trends in the relation of population to agricultural resources and trends in national and international migrations from rural areas to industrial areas and to new land settlements.

8. Studies should be initiated of the effects of land tenure systems on rural welfare looking toward recommendations for improvement of land tenure systems.

9. At some time in the future, FAO should study possible programs of action to reduce the adverse effects on rural people's income and levels of living of the natural hazards and uncertainties to which agriculture is normally subject.

10. It is urged that FAO immediately obtain the assistance of experts in the development of criteria for comparison of levels of living of farm people, fishermen, and forestry workers, as is already being done in the case of industrial workers. Comparable studies of levels of living of farmers and other workers should be made on a national and international basis. In the long run, this work should contribute also to the development of criteria of minimum levels of living.

Development and conservation of soil resources

Satisfactory levels of world nutrition and of welfare for farm populations may require bringing into use lands now uncultivated. This would be accomplished by such means as forest clearing, improved management of range lands, irrigation, drainage, control of soil salinity, and related practices. To maintain and increase agricultural production, there is definite need in many countries for the wider use of practices to improve and conserve the soil and water resources. Even though technical knowledge in agricultural science, forestry, and engineering is continuously advancing, great improvements in soil productivity can be made by wider application of what is now known.

The realization of the potentialities of soils for efficient production, as made possible by modern science, often requires programs and public works that serve many farmers in an area. This is true of both new and settled countries. Thus soil management and conservation are important both to farm planning and to area or regional planning.

The objectives of FAO and Member governments in this field should include (1) promotion of research, education, and extension services in soil science and management, including surveys and classification of soils that might be improved for production by the proper application of water and the use of management practices aimed at rational land utilization; and (2) promotion of water conservation and flood prevention through encouraging land-use patterns and land-management practices that reduce runoff and conserve the soil.

Recommendations

Since actions in this field are essentially progressive, the immediate needs are indistinguishable from the long-term objectives. The results of surveys of soil conditions and development measures made in individual countries are, however, of first importance to the adequate service of FAO in this field.

1. As recommended in the report to the Interim Commission by the Technical Committee on Agricultural Production, "FAO, in cooperation with governments, should make comparative studies of the legal and administrative arrangements which various countries have developed to facilitate progress in the fields of soil conservation, land drainage, and irrigation. Through such studies FAO could make available to other countries wishing to start similar action helpful and effective suggestions as to methods."

In addition FAO should arrange:

2. To undertake or implement studies of selected legislation and projects dealing with soil development and conservation, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority, irrigation in the Nile Basin, soil conservation districts of the United States, schemes for drainage districts, and rural zoning ordinances.

3. To encourage the survey and classification of lands which might be brought into production by the proper application of the principles of water and land utilization.

4. To stimulate regional land utilization surveys with a view to the more rational use of land, including reforestation or regrassing of land unsuitable for farm crops.

5. To promote flood prevention and water conservation measures, particularly by the proper application of soil conservation principles.

6. To promote the study of mixed farming and of stock and pasture management, including the management of open range and desert land, in relation to soil conservation and watershed protection.

7. To stress the effect which faulty systems of land tenure might exercise on soil utilization and conservation.

8. To promote research in the control of salinity as it affects the efficiency of farming, particularly under irrigation.

9. To promote international cooperation in the use, development, and conservation of soils in areas where national boundaries intersect prominent physical features, such as drainage basins.

10. To include in economic studies of areas consideration of the potentialities of soils and requirements for their improvement and conservation.

Education, extension (advisory services), and exchange of technical and scientific information

The critical need for better and more widespread efforts in agricultural education and ex tension must be recognized if the results of research are to have their optimum and if programs for agricultural improvement are to be effective.

Five broad objectives of FAO services in these fields are recommended: (1) To assemble, summarize, and facilitate the distribution to governments of educational pamphlets, manuals, charts, posters, radio discs, films, and other material on improved production practices and methods; (2) to encourage adoption of improved extension methods as determined by comparative surveys of advisory services and their relative effectiveness under various national conditions; (3) to encourage adequate training of personnel needed in carrying into action the agricultural programs of the respective governments; (4) to encourage methods of providing agricultural and vocational education to farm boys and girls; and (5) to further general and vocational education among farm peoples on a plane broad enough to meet widening possibilities of both industry and agriculture.

Recommendations

1. The further development of extension services should be encouraged throughout the world. FAO should help to establish them in those areas where they do not now exist or do not serve in an effective manner.

2. Visual instruction should be encouraged in areas of high illiteracy, especially through the use of films, as one of the more important means of effecting changes in practices and methods. FAO may wish to consider the establishment of a special section to produce, collect, and distribute films and other visual aids. It should, when requested, be prepared to render technical assistance to disadvantaged areas in the making of films, including those showing successful results of extension teaching.

3. The importance of farm-unit demonstrations should be stressed, and information regarding methods used and experience in various countries should be collected and made available.

4. The translation of selected scientific and technical publications may be considered by FAO preceding their distribution to the people to be helped or assisted by such information.

Production research and techniques

The objectives of FAO and Member governments in research should be (1) to apply science continuously to agriculture in order to find and develop methods of sustaining production, despite natural hazards, and of producing the best possible farm products with the least expenditure of human effort and material resources; (2) to enable scientific research workers in all countries to keep fully advised of the latest discoveries in their respective fields; (3) to enable the energies and resources applied to agricultural research to achieve maximum results through securing the widest possible cooperation among scientists in all countries; and (4) to aid in the translation of known facts and principles into agricultural practice, since these form the basis of any extension or agricultural education programs.

Recommendations

1. General recommendations

Research and technical services should be arranged for by FAO to assist Member countries in mobilizing scientific personnel and facilities for the solution of problems of world agricultural production, as set forth in the Report to the Interim Commission by the Technical Committee on Agricultural Production.

Among the chief purposes of these services are the following:

(a) To provide bibliographic services, by assembling, compiling, abstracting, and disseminating scientific and technical information significant in the field of agricultural production, in cooperation with suitable existing agencies wherever practicable but independently if necessary. Assistance should be given research and other agencies in the Member nations in the preparation of lists of agencies with which exchange of suitable publications may be desirable and in effectuating such exchanges.

(b) To encourage such research and technical services as may be required for the development of internationally recognized standards or units of particular significance in agricultural science or production and for the maintenance, classification, and utilization of such standards or units.

(c) To provide assistance to Member nations, through such appropriate research and technical services as may be agreed upon, for the preliminary appraisal of problems preparatory to the formulation of programs of agricultural production, and for assistance in the initiation and development of programs designed to develop or modify agricultural production.

(d) To provide assistance to Member nations in the organization of national, regional or international research agencies designed to study problems involving agricultural production.

(e) To collaborate with scientific and technical societies, institutes, foundations, and similar agencies in the development of research or research agencies relating to agricultural production; and to secure cooperation among those societies on a regional and international basis.

(f) To collaborate with other agencies in the development of methods (techniques) designed to ensure effective integration of research findings with educational and operational programs.

(g) To collaborate with all agencies in encouragement of the training of personnel competent to carry on research in the field of agricultural production.

(h) To cooperate with Member governments, scientific and technical societies, and research agencies in the development and financing of regionally or internationally needed research services in the form of specially endowed foundations for such purposes as the maintenance of genetic stock useful in plant and animal breeding, and type culture collections of pathogenic and economically useful fungi and other micro-organisms.

2. Specific recommendations
(a) Because of the urgent need for increased production of agricultural commodities in many countries, special emphasis should be given to the recommendations dealing with immediate technical improvements in dairying, poultry production, cultural practices, and protection against insects, and diseases, and with increased production of protective foods, contained in the Report to the Interim Commission by the Technical Committee on Agricultural Production. Such projects for improvement in crop and livestock practices should receive early and high priority in FAO activities. The full implementation of this recommendation is largely dependent upon the increased availability of supplies of high protein feeding stuffs, certain pesticides, and other materials now in short supply. Yet it should be emphasized that early action would help the countries concerned and provide FAO with an opportunity for practical assistance at an early date.

(b) Attention should be given to the improvement of the nutritional quality of food plants through breeding and cultural practices, including fertilization and adaptation of food crops to soil types and other environmental factors.

(c) Urgent need exists for the distribution of improved varieties of grains and other seeds through FAO in so far as this is not taken care of by UNRRA. It is recommended that FAO should, at an early date, assist in making arrangements for the collection, preservation, and distribution of plant and animal material and seeds as a basis for breeding programs in Member countries.

(d) Immediate attention should be given to the need of collecting and abstracting the results of research and experimental work and distributing them to Member nations, especially those whose technical services were seriously disrupted by war. FAO should at the earliest moment set up a small committee of experts, including representatives from existing agencies, to survey and recommend upon the form of cooperation possible and desirable between FAO and these agencies for the purpose of collecting, abstracting, translating, and disseminating to Member nations the most up-to-date information on a technical level.

(e) It is recommended that FAO give attention to the promotion of regional research organizations where individual countries are unable to operate singly, but where it is felt that joint operation with others would be a practical solution.

(f) FAO should give early attention to investigations basic to the application of quarantine measures and international control schemes relating to insect pests and the diseases of plants and animals.

Integration and coordination of agricultural programs and policies

In line with the resolutions adopted at the of Springs Conference, agricultural policies and programs should be directed to five long-range objectives: (1) To increase total food production, the production of protective foods, so as to provide the means for increased consumption and improved nutrition; (2) to produce the world's agricultural products on farm units which are of a size and pattern to utilize efficiently improved machinery and technology and to advance rural welfare; (3) to readjust production along the lines set out in Resolution XV of the Hot Springs Conference so as to emphasize in each region or country the products which it can produce to the best comparative advantage, consistent with the maintenance or attainment of 3 balanced mixed system of farming and the maximum practicable diversification of production, and to exchange these products for other products that can be produced most efficiently elsewhere; (4) to stimulate and forward an expanding world economy, properly balanced as between agricultural and industrial production, and internally balanced as between the various components of agriculture, with such financial and social arrangements as will keep rising consumption steadily in pace with rising production; and (5) to develop and maintain such economic conditions in agriculture and in related industries as will steadily better the conditions of farmers and rural populations, and provide them with a full share in the fruits of the expanding world economy.

Most of the functions of FAO in this field will involve continuous operations at the international level.

Recommendations

1. For immediate attention

(a) Work on commodity situations and production programs should begin immediately. In the first year, FAO should make the best possible appraisal of the prospective production, exports, imports, and consumption of major commodities in all countries, in step with its initiation of work on the collection and improvement of statistics. In this connection, it should draw on the materials already compiled by the Combined Food Board, the Food and Agriculture Subcommittees of the Emergency Economic Committee for Europe, and the Combined Working Party, and any relevant material assembled by UNRRA. It should also request governments to summarize and report their own experience in carrying through internal reorientation programs.

These immediate appraisals should be directed toward placing FAO thereafter in position to advise Member governments on the integration of their agricultural programs, concurrent with the work of FAO missions in helping countries to solve their most pressing technological problems in raising levels of food production and consumption.

2. Continuing programs

As soon as possible a start should be made toward the long-term development of a full program of word` covering five aspects, as follows:

(a) Advisory service on technical phases of integration and coordination: FAO should prepare to furnish information and advice on the many technical problems that must be solved in any shift from monoculture toward more diversified farming, or from a high-cost, artificially supported production to other kinds better suited to the area. As many such problems concern a whole region rather than a single country, FAO should, in considering them, collaborate both with individual countries and with regional organizations such as those established for the Middle East and Caribbean areas.

(b) Periodic appraisal of commodity situations and production programs: FAO should make periodic appraisals of the prospective production, exports, imports, and consumption of major agricultural commodities in all countries, and contrast these with world needs for improved nutrition as indicated by consumption goals set by the authorities of each country. FAO should discuss these findings with governments as found feasible, and should encourage joint consultation between countries and mutual readjustment of programs. This work should be directed toward realizing, as rapidly as possible, the objective set forth in Resolution XIV of the Hot Springs Conference of aiding nations to develop a real "long-term coordinated production plan for the best use of their resources on a world scale."

(c) Employment of excess agricultural resources and manpower: In appraising and aiding the integration of agricultural programs, FAO should give special attention to (i) the reabsorption, in other productive employment, of agricultural resources and manpower displaced by technological improvements or governmental programs or policies; (ii) the development of systems of farming which will provide year-round productive employment for farmers and farm workers; and (iii) the provision of nonfarm employment for surplus farm population and part-time work for people under employed on farms, with particular reference to the encouragement of local or village industries in regions where such industries are suitable. This work should take into account the economic development and other conditions in each country.

(d) Integration of agricultural policies with related policies of other international agencies: FAO's work toward an economy of abundance will need to be fitted in with related activities of other specialized international institutions. In cooperation with appropriate agencies, FAO should exercise the following functions: (i) seek to secure adequate measures to expand the buying power of consumers in step with the increase of farm production, and thus to maintain markets for the growing farm output and avoid the risk of temporary surpluses resulting in subsequent deficient food production; (ii) seek to secure the proper integration of the agricultural phases of development programs with nonagricultural phases of such programs, and to provide all possible alternative uses for any excess capacity in agriculture; (iii) serve in a technical consultative capacity in negotiations between governments and the projected international bank, where agricultural reorientation programs involve new installations or facilities which require international loans; and (iv) consult with other interested international agencies as to the status of their programs for general industrial development and expansion, ascertain to what extent they provide a proper balance between industry and agriculture, and do all it appropriately can to forward and speed such programs.
(e) Development of commodity arrangements to aid coordination of production: Although commodity arrangements will be considered primarily in connection with marketing, they involve production, and FAO will no doubt aid and advise in their technical preparation and then cooperate with whatever international agency is as signed competence in this field in calling conferences to consider them. Once commodity arrangements are agreed to, FAO should study their effects and advise on any necessary changes in their operation. From the production side, FAO's advice should include fitting proposals for individual commodities into the larger framework of world agriculture as a whole, expanding yet balanced between its various parts, and seeing to it that measures for the reduction or restriction of particular products, if found necessary, are accompanied by appropriate arrangements for the productive use of the displaced resources and people.
In view of the close interrelationship between marketing and production policies, it is recommended that if an advisory committee on marketing is established in FAO to consider proposals for commodity arrangement and related matters, the committee should take into consideration the objectives and recommendations herein mentioned.

The activities outlined above will involve a continuous flow of information from governments to FAO, and from FAO to governments. Most of the information supplied by governments will be contained in the regular statistical reports, supplemented by the periodic reports from governments, particularly the sections dealing with progress in adjustments of production to meet nutritional needs and with action to ensure stability of farm income and betterment of the condition of farm people. In addition, FAO may from time to time request special information with regard to particular agricultural programs or the latest developments in agricultural policies.

In return, FAO will supply to governments periodic reviews and analyses of commodity situations and production programs with regional and world-wide summaries. As the work progresses, FAO may, with the approval of governments, convene regional or larger groups to discuss the current status of agricultural programs and their future integration. In all this work, FAO will, of course, be limited to consultation with and advice to governments.

Agricultural credit, cooperation, and related matters

In order to contribute to an improvement in economic and social conditions, agricultural credit policy needs to be designed (1) to provide needed credit at reasonable terms to farmers, forest owners, and fishermen, and to private, cooperative, or governmental undertakings servicing agriculture; (2) to discourage uneconomic borrowing, and particularly borrowing for wasteful purposes; (3) to encourage orderly debt repayment; and (4) to advise and guide farmers as to the effective use of credit.

The scope and character of the needs for agricultural credit in a given area depend on land tenure, type of farming, production techniques, and similar matters. Generally, however, the long-term and intermediate credit needs are large in comparison with the short-term ones. Moreover, farmers remote from the money market are often unfamiliar with modern commercial and financial management and frequently encounter greater difficulties in securing production and marketing credit than do those engaged in industrial and mining enterprises.

In many instances, small farmers are dependent on local money lenders, who, in the absence of effective competition, tend to charge usurious rates of interest; or they obtain credit only from merchants, making it possible for the latter to impose unjust financial restrictions on their customers.

Specialized agricultural credit institutions are needed to supplement the lending of private individuals and general financial agencies. The type of credit agency, private, cooperative, or governmental, that will be most effective depends on circumstances; even within one country, different types of agencies may be needed for the provision of the various kinds of loans.

Effective functioning of the national credit system depends on the provision of adequate legal instruments for real estate and chattel mortgages, and on well-kept land registers and registers of deeds, or, preferably, titles.

Other specific measures are needed in certain areas. Widespread debtor distress calls for debt adjustment measures. Anti-usury laws are necessary to check exploitation of the farmer by money lenders. Recourse to land reform may be necessary to remove impediments to economic and social progress resulting from an inadequate system of land tenure.

In some countries the national credit facilities will need to be supplemented by international loans, such as are envisaged under the Bretton Woods agreements, in order to make possible the financing of agricultural development projects requiring large purchases of foreign products.

Recommendations

1. Activities of FAO in the field of agricultural credit

(a) In view of the importance of effective credit for agricultural development, and in order to assist countries seeking to improve their agricultural credit systems, there should be established a reporting and consulting service on agricultural credit. The tasks of this service should comprise (i) the development, on the basis of data received, of a current information service to Member governments and the periodic publication of data that are of general interest; and (ii) comparative studies of problems of importance for the improvement of agricultural credit facilities in Member countries.

(b) FAO has a direct concern with the promotion of greater agricultural efficiency and with the betterment of the condition of rural populations. Loans from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development will, in certain cases, be needed to attain these objectives.

In order to enable FAO to exercise an influence in its own field commensurate with the purposes for which it has been established, it is clearly appropriate that close cooperation be established and maintained between the International Bank and FAO.

In conformity with Article V, Section 8 of the Draft Agreement on the Bank as adopted at Bretton Woods, FAO should be consulted by the Bank in its agricultural credit policy in general as well as in particular cases. To facilitate this, FAO should place its reporting and consulting service on agricultural credit, as well-as its other technical services on agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, at the disposal of the Bank.

2. Activities of FAO in the field of agricultural cooperatives

In order to facilitate the development of agricultural cooperatives and of central and international cooperative organizations, FAO should collect and disseminate to Member governments information on the various typos of agricultural cooperatives, the various cooperative systems. relevant legislation, and the application of tax policies to cooperatives. For the benefit of its Members, FAO should keep current a list of experts on the various problems of agricultural cooperation.

In FAO's studies of cooperative developments, special attention should be given to the preparatory educational work that is indispensable to the success of cooperative organizations.


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