VI. Report of commission A to the conference
A. Introduction
B.
Nutrition and food management
C. Agriculture
D.
Forestry and forest products
E. Fisheries
F. Marketing
G. Statistics
COMMISSION A was established by the First Session of the Conference to outline policies and a program for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. This broad assignment involved an examination of every field in which FAO may have responsibility whether directly or indirectly. All aspects of the production, distribution, and consumption of the products of farms, forests, and fisheries thus came within its purview.
To meet this assignment the Commission set up six Committees - on Nutrition and Food Management, Agriculture, Forestry and Forest Products, Fisheries, Marketing, and Statistics. The six Committees have now presented their reports. They have examined not only the many suggestions contained in the Reports of the Technical Committees of the Interim Commission, but also numerous proposals submitted by members of this Conference. They have conceived it their duty to concentrate upon suggesting concrete programs within the policies they advocate for FAO.
The majority of the programs recommended by the Committees are in the form of suggestions to the Director-General. Taken together these make up a list so VI. Report of commission A to the conferenceformidable as to leave no doubt that FAO's help is wanted by the world. Equally there can be no doubt that the Director-General can hope to implement in the early days of FAO only parts of this program - such parts as his resources and other circumstances permit.
What stands out most from all these six reports?
It is this: The peoples straightway, if they so wish, can take a great step forward along the road toward freedom from want. They need not wait for further research, important though it be that scientists continue to make discoveries which augment man's control over his environment. They need not wait for surveys, though investigators must continue to stuffy human needs and lay bare the earth's resources. They need only to act on what is known; for every country, no matter how advanced, can achieve substantial immediate improvements in production, nutrition, and rural welfare by the more energetic application of existing knowledge.
To move forward rapidly, however, governments must work together. Although each has important programs of a domestic character, the inter-war experience has shown that there are other problems that nations cannot resolve by acting independently of one another. Many countries need outside help in improving farm practices; others need to cooperate in expanding and ordering their foreign markets. The list of FAO work projects in this report is in itself an indication of the extent of the people's interdependence.
To move forward rapidly, there must also be a linking together of production and consumption, and of industry and agriculture. Many times during the course of this Session problems have been stated in terms in which they could not be solved. One illustration is the very real fear of overproduction entertained by almost all farmers in the Western world. When the problem is considered exclusively from the producers' standpoint, there appear to be only two alternatives: unrestricted competition to drive out the weakest operators, or output control and subsidies to farmers to produce less. Neither alternative is an answer to the problem. The one impoverishes producers, the other impoverishes consumers.
If, on the other hand, the problem could be analyzed jointly in terms of production and of consumption, solutions could surely be found which would further the well-being of both parties. This FAO is designed to do. It can bring together for balanced consideration problems which have often been considered in isolation. On this basis the immediate enhancement of human well-being becomes no longer utopian but practicable.
The way forward varies with different regions of the world. The Committee discussions have emphasized - it is one of the great advantages of a large, representative international gathering - the diversity of situations and difficulties. No two countries face exactly the same combination of problems. Broadly speaking, in the highly industrialized countries the emphasis is on the better adjustment of production and consumption rather than on further technical development, though there is still much room for the latter. In the less developed countries, on the other hand shore is an overwhelming need for the study of scientific and technical problems and for improved farming methods; and underlying this is the cooper problem of how to enable the food producer who now too often lacks knowledge, capital, and sufficient resources of land to make use of otherwise available technical advances.
A special appeal comes from the suffering peoples, those who have been ravaged by the war and those among whom malnutrition and poverty are chronic. Human beings live only once and, as one of the delegates pointed out, "He who gives quickly gives twice." Although FAO is not designed as - and cannot be - a relief organization, it can choose from among its priority projects a number which will be of service to countries facing great difficulties today.
The functions which FAO should perform are set forth in detail in the pages which follow. Whereas the various services had been outlined in general terms in the Final Act of the Hot Springs Conference and in the Technical Reports of the Interim Commission, this time they have been particularized in concrete proposals. It had been agreed that FAO should collect and disseminate information, should give advice and organize missions of technical experts, should make studies and recommend action to other international agencies and to governments. This time the questions answered are what information? what advice? what studies? what recommendations?
In perusing these pages the reader will find some repetition; certain problems and programs reappear. This is quite natural. FAO emphasizes the interdependence of food and agricultural questions and therefore many topics have to be considered in more than one context. Nevertheless, the recommendations are in general consistent one with another. From the long list of items just a few of the more important are here singled out as an introductory summary.
Nutrition and food management
A large proportion of the world's population is undernourished and malnourished and its need for more food and better food is enormous. At the same time these consumers cannot pay for the food they require. This problem - that of increasing consumption and preventing malnutrition - is one that can be solved only by steady advance along a broad front. In fact, all the activities referred to in the reports of all the Committees are essentially means to this end. Nevertheless much can be done without delay in the field of nutrition and food management.
One of the most immediate tasks is to get needed foods to certain vulnerable groups - pregnant and nursing mothers, infants and children - a policy which has achieved much in several countries during the war years. In poor countries one method of attack is to select demonstration areas and in them to develop all resources for the improvement of nutrition, not only by education and special food distribution schemes, but also by increasing the production of foods, particularly protective foods such as milk, vegetables, fruits, fish, and eggs. FAO can assist Member nations in instituting such projects.
FAO can also arrange for international studies of numerous nutritional problems, including those of formulating dietary requirements, of developing and improving methods of collecting food consumption data, and of perfecting educational methods in nutrition and food conservation and technology. Much of the nutrition work of FAO will necessarily be carried out in cooperation with national nutrition organizations; and, since food is of fundamental importance to health, FAO in its nutrition work must associate itself intimately with national and international health experts and organizations.
AGRICULTURE
In agriculture as in nutrition some of the most urgent problems are in the less developed countries, especially the densely populated ones. FAO can serve the immediate needs of these countries with information on seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, machines, and hand tools, and with help in developing extension services to advise farmers and demonstrate better methods. Equally important but taking longer to develop are programs for soil improvement - so essential to feeding the rapidly increasing population of the earth - irrigation, livestock and crop improvement, credit and cooperation. Alongside these there should be programs for creating industries in rural areas, so that employment may be provided for surplus population and an increasing range of consumer goods may be made available for farm families. In many such regions development of agriculture needs to go hand in hand with development of industries.
The agricultural problems of the war-damaged countries are likewise urgent. In their striving to avert hunger and famine, they are experiencing an acute crisis. Their preoccupation is to act food quickly. They need fertilizers, feeding stuffs, machinery, seeds, pesticides, and other far m materials. These matters of relief and agricultural rehabilitation, it is true, are the concern of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, yet FAO might be of service in several practical ways. It might, for example, obtain the services of experts to advise on certain urgent agricultural production problems or it might organize for these countries an exchange of information regarding local surpluses and world supplies. It should be prepared to advise them, moreover, on aspects of present agricultural policies that have long-term significance.
In other countries the more immediate agricultural task is one of readjustment from wartime to peacetime demand, from monoculture to greater diversification, or from protected to less protected farming. FAO can help with information and advice on the scientific and technical problems involved, and with reports on investigations of price-support policies and commodity situations so that governments will have adequate knowledge on which to base action programs.
In all countries, rich and poor, rural life could and should offer more variety and opportunity. Basing itself on the principle that rural workers are entitled to as good living standards as urban workers, FAO should investigate ways in which rural incomes and rural services, such as health, housing, and education, can be improved, and be prepared to advise governments on plans for furthering the well-being of rural people.
FORESTRY
Forestry, the partner of agriculture in land use, also faces big problems. One early task for FAO should be a world survey of forests and forest industries including the changes wrought by the war and the need for rehabilitation and re-equipment. Another on which FAO may inform and advise is the development for tropical and subtropical forests of policies which, besides improving the forest output, can check soil erosion, provide farmers with fuel (thus saving the animal manure they now burn), and halt the ever-advancing deserts. FAO should encourage land utilization surveys and legislation to designate specific lands for agriculture or for afforestation. Over large areas afforestation is a prerequisite to better agriculture and better rural living standards.
FAO's services should be available to extend forest management practices, thus replacing policies of destructive exploitation by those giving a sustained yield in perpetuity. Forest products industries also merit study by FAO. Every year research is finding new uses- - particularly chemical uses - for wood, and to the extent that forest industries can be diversified a very high percentage of waste in wood utilization can be eliminated.
A study of levels of consumption of forest products in different countries would reveal great potentialities in demand and would indicate the contribution to rising living standards which wood can make in the form of houses, furniture, paper, textiles, and other goods.
FISHERIES
Since this is the first time there has been a truly world-wide organization for fisheries, one of FAO's most urgent tasks is to get information and statistical services started with world coverage of production and markets - something analogous to what has already been done for agriculture. Another urgent task is to explore the resources of hitherto untouched fishing grounds. In normal times over ninety percent of the world's fish supply is caught in the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans, but during this war fishing grounds have been developed by several South American countries, and fishing could be extended elsewhere. Indeed, fish from adjacent areas or fresh-water fish from local ponds might form a valuable addition to diets lacking in animal protein, especially in countries where livestock industries cannot easily be developed.
In Northern Hemisphere waters the pressing need is for conservation measures. The food shortages in Europe and elsewhere will probably stimulate overfishing - as after the war of 1914-18 - with subsequent impoverishment of fishermen and dislocation of the industry. By helping to ascertain and publish the facts, FAO can stimulate governments to work out the necessary conservation agreements.
MARKETING
Nutrition and agriculture, forestry and fisheries all have an interest in marketing. In this field FAO has three immediate activities. The underdeveloped countries need information and advice in creating the technical equipment of modern marketing, since many areas lack such basic essentials as roads and railways, storage and processing facilities, and protective grades and standards. In the more developed countries, on the other hand, the immediate problem is to improve existing marketing facilities and to effect economies in overelaborate services of distribution. Improvement in some cases calls for international measures to deal with infestation of food stocks, and agreements on uniform grades, standards, nomenclature, and instruments of sale - a type of action which FAO might well initiate.
But the big problem in marketing, perhaps the most crucial problem in all FAO's activities, is the economic adjustment of international markets. It is hypocritical to lament the wide extent of malnutrition while quantities of food are not reaching consumers, or while producers are being required to restrict output. It is equally hypocritical, and indeed irresponsible, to urge farmers to produce more if the food already at hand cannot be sold at reasonable prices. The Marketing Committee's report urges that constructive solutions be sought: measures to maintain purchasing power (sponsored by other United Nations agencies in consultation with FAO), measures to meet the nutritional deficiencies of vulnerable groups or the needs of low-consumption groups or areas, measures to stimulate new uses for commodities, and measures for the reorientation of production to other commodities for which demand is stronger. FAO should investigate all these approaches to the problem. If as seems probable, other organizations will be charged with the administration of 'international commodity agreements, FAO should nevertheless participate in the preparation, negotiation, and administration of such agreements and provide the bodies concerned with statistical and other analyses of commodity situations.
STATISTICS
FAO's general statistical services are predicated as a background to most of the work already mentioned. FAO and equally the Member nations will need a comprehensive statistical service to reveal the anatomy of the international body politic. Without statistics it is impossible to measure the tasks ahead or the progress made.
FAO can help to improve and develop national statistical services. Before the war attention had been paid to the international collection of agricultural statistics. This must be resumed and can be improved further. Much greater work needs to be done in the field of forestry and forest products; and in fisheries and food consumption hardly any systematic and regular collection of figures on an international scale has hitherto been attempted. One task in all these fields will be to develop comparability in figures through comparability in techniques. Another will be to lay plans for a world census of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and their products. Yet another will be to take over and adapt some of the measurement techniques devised during the war.. It should soon be possible to obtain for the first time a picture of food supplies and consumption in all the major regions of the world, thus facilitating the adjustment of demand and production.
Finally, for all these purposes FAO will need to build up a library, particularly supplementing in other fields the agricultural library of the International Institute of Agriculture which FAO may hope to inherit. One suggestion favors the creation of regional libraries, perhaps three in all, so that these facilities may be more readily accessible to research workers.
TO CONCLUDE
The various items mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, it must be emphasized, are only a selection from the proposals marshalled in the six reports. They do, however, indicate the range and importance of the tasks before governments and of the work that FAO is expected to undertake. FAO will have to husband its resources carefully and use them to the best advantage. In sending out missions to countries, it will have to choose a few among many in urgent need. Fortunately, though it cannot assemble a staff of technical experts and advisers in every branch of its work, it can count on borrowing experts, certainly enough to man its missions and perhaps also to reinforce its headquarters staff, especially in the early growing period.
The programs suggested in these reports are ones which governments will be concerned to undertake; FAO will render service with investigations and advice. It can help governments to help themselves. Not all these tasks can be undertaken immediately, but all of them are important and should be begun as soon as possible.
Governments can help by providing information readily. In signing the Constitution of FAO they have undertaken to make periodic reports on progress achieved in the fields of nutrition, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and rural welfare. The various Committees have now suggested that the Director-General should at an early date consult with governments regarding the form and content of these reports.
One or two have listed some desirable headings. The first reports, diagnosing the food and agriculture problems of each country in the aftermath of the war, should have unique historical as well as practical significance.
The object of these periodic reports is to give FAO the information on which to advise Member governments, and they should be framed with that end in view. The object of collecting statistics is to provide a basis for measuring the extent of problems. The object of FAO's studies and recommendations is to help governments in their programs. FAO will win governmental cooperation by providing the services that are wanted. Conversely, governments can benefit from FAO by acting wherever possible on its advice. FAO will be useful to the extent that it is used.
It will be for the Director-General to take over and examine the suggestions in these reports. He has to find staff, and it requires time to find the best men and women. He will have to establish relations with various United Nations agencies and work out with them an apportionment of tasks. This will be the period of growth.
But he can go forward in confidence, for the nations have decided that they need a Food and Agriculture Organization. They want to make it work. Their delegates assembled here in Quebec, having examined the Hot Springs Resolutions and the reports of the Interim Commission, are anxious to work for the objectives there set out. They want action along these lines. In all the committee discussions, and over a wide range of topics, a remarkable degree of agreement has been recorded. That is most heartening. The United Nations have found a platform on which they can work together toward an economy of abundance.
B. Nutrition and food management
A practical program for immediate action
Problems fob study in collaboration with experts in member countries
Other lines of work
THE primary objective of the nations united in the Food and Agriculture Organization is to raise levels of nutrition throughout the world, to ensure not only that all peoples are freed from the danger of starvation and famine but that they obtain the kind of diet essential for health. It is the responsibility of Member nations to take the steps necessary for attaining this objective, and the responsibility of FAO to assist them by all possible means. In the international sphere the work of FAO in the field of nutrition must be closely integrated with that of other international organizations concerned with health, social and economic problems, and the welfare of industrial and other workers.
While much remains to be done, scientific research has made it possible to define, with sufficient precision to guide practical food management, the amounts of nutrients necessary for human well-being. The remarkable benefits to health which have been obtained in certain countries in war time by the application of relatively simple and inexpensive nutritional measures are full of promise for the future. It must be recognized, however, that to bring about a general rise in nutritional levels the productivity of those engaged in both agricultural and nonagricultural pursuits must be increased so that workers may have the purchasing power to buy food at prices fair to food producers, while the latter have the means to pay for industrial products and services contributing to their welfare.
The basic principles which must guide FAO in its nutritional activities, and the objectives to be aimed at, have been fully stated and discussed in the Report of the Hot Springs Conference, while the Technical Reports of the Interim Commission have outlined a comprehensive program of work. Because of the scope and excellence of these reports, it is unnecessary to go over the same ground again. The present report, therefore, is confined to suggesting certain lines of work which might receive the attention of FAO at an early stage in the development of its immediate and long-term programs. Some of the recommendations refer to practical measures for improving, nutrition, others to subjects which will call for detailed study in collaboration with experts. Among the latter are problems, e.g., the definition of satisfactory dietary standards, which are closely interlinked with the future development of FAO, and their study should proceed simultaneously with the prosecution of the other activities referred to in the report which call for immediate attention.
Responsibility for the activities of the Organization will rest largely with the Director-General and his expert staff; and since the nature of the work undertaken will be influenced and modified by changing conditions, the program of the Organization cannot be fully defined at this stage. . However, the suggestions that follow may be of value to the Director-General in the formidable task of launching the new international organization. Practical contributions made at an early date towards the alleviation of hunger and malnutrition will do much to establish world confidence in FAO. At the same time the Organization will itself benefit from the experience gained.
A practical program for immediate action
Hunger and malnutrition
FAO must employ all the means at its disposal to relieve existing hunger and malnutrition. A rapid survey should be made of available food resources and the supplies and requirements of necessitous countries should be assessed. Every effort must then be made to have supplies of food directed where they are most needed, to stimulate the production of foods in short supply, and to ensure that the utmost value, in terms of nutrition, is obtained from available foods by all known means. The nutrition branch of FAO will be closely concerned in guiding the execution of this task.
While the effects of the war on the food supplies of countries are prominent in the public mind, it must not be forgotten that a large part of the world's population is inadequately nourished at the best of times. The Interim Commission remarks that "more than half of the world's peoples still face the elemental problem of producing enough food to supply their ever-growing numbers at meager levels of living." The attack on this tremendous problem must be launched immediately. In many of the less developed countries methods for ensuring the satisfactory nutrition of the people, such as those successfully followed in the United Kingdom and other countries during the war period, are not fully applicable and a different approach may often be necessary. One method is to choose groups of people in typical areas and attempt to raise their standards of living and nutrition by all available means. First, comprehensive surveys of health conditions and of natural resources may be carried out by national agencies with the encouragement and support of FAO. These should be followed by planned efforts to develop to the utmost all resources. within the selected area in order to bring about an improvement in the standard of living. This means the intensive development of human and natural resources, including among the latter agriculture, fisheries, and irrigation. Such experimental areas are of great value as training grounds, and as working models for demonstration purposes and for similar projects in other areas on a wider scale.
The Second World War has led to severe food shortages in certain countries. FAO should do all in its power to assist in the task of relief and make use, in furthering its own policies, of the experience gained by UNRRA and other relief organizations. For example, there are teams of workers at present engaged in dealing with urgent problems of undernutrition and malnutrition, and the supply, production, and distribution of food in various countries. It is probable that the scientific and administrative experience of these teams will be of value to FAO.
In the case of countries in which the immediate problem is less urgent but nevertheless serious, FAO should devote special attention to practical and administrative measures for increasing and distributing food supplies, such as "Grow More Food" campaigns, and procurement and rationing schemes. An important question for study is how long measures introduced during the emergency period to ensure the equitable distribution of available food supplies should, in the light of FAO objectives, be continued in the postwar period. In this connection, the planning of the home production of protective foods, with the object of improving the diet of rural communities, also warrants consideration.
Vulnerable groups
Improvement of the diet of the vulnerable groups should be an immediate preoccupation of FAO. Much could be rapidly accomplished in this field in many countries, whatever the prevailing conditions. The matter should also occupy a prominent position in the long-term program of FAO. Studies should be made of measures followed in different countries and reports made available to Member nations for their information. An investigation of school-feeding methods, with special reference to cost and organization, would be of particular value. While all agree that the provision of nutritious meals to school children is an effective means of improving the nutrition of this group, the practical methods to be followed, consonant with local dietary habits and food and financial resources, have not yet been worked out in many countries.
National nutrition organizations
National nutrition organizations can contribute much to the work of FAO. At present such bodies have not yet been formed in certain of the Member countries, while in others organizations created before the war are no longer functioning. One of the first tasks of FAO in the field of nutrition should be to encourage the formation or resuscitation of national nutrition organizations or equivalent agencies. The form of such bodies will inevitably vary with the circumstances and methods of different countries. Whatever their precise form, their objectives should include the formulation of food policies for the consideration of governments, the coordination of research, and the development of operational and educational programs for the improvement of nutrition. Through these bodies Member nations can carry out their obligation under the Constitution of FAO to report periodically to each other on progress achieved in the field of nutrition. Such reports should clarify the approach to the problems of nutrition and food management under widely varying conditions and serve as a guide and a stimulus to Member nations. As soon as feasible, a meeting of the representatives of national nutrition organizations should be convened.
Training in nutrition
National nutrition organizations cannot function effectively unless their members have some knowledge of nutrition and their work is guided by nutrition experts. In many countries progress is retarded because of the lack of such knowledge among administrators, doctors, health workers, agricultural experts, social workers, etc. Another handicap is the insufficient number of specialized nutrition workers, including research workers, public-health-nutrition workers, dietitians, and home economists. FAO should encourage and develop appropriate teaching and training in nutrition in existing national institutions. Organizations for the training of personnel for work in tropical and Eastern countries are much needed. As a preliminary step, a directory of existing institutions and facilities for training of various kinds should be prepared and made available to Member nations. Governments may be invited to provide the widest facilities possible for the study of nutrition, food management, and allied subjects and to assist students from other countries to make use of these facilities.
Collaboration with health organizations and other international organizations
The association between food and health is one of the keynotes of the Hot Springs Report. There should be close collaboration between FAO and the United Nations health organization - which, it is hoped, will be created in the near future - to the mutual benefit of the work of both. This is particularly necessary with regard to the nutritional aspects of FAO work. Many of the activities in this sphere suggested in the Report to the Interim Commission by the Technical Committee on Nutrition and Food Management are the primary concern of health authorities, and in developing this part of its program FAO should associate itself intimately with national and international health organizations and experts. Close contact must also be established between FAO and all other United Nations organizations for mutual assistance and the benefit of Member nations.
The collection of data
In association with appropriate agencies, FAO should undertake the collection, on a world-wide scale, of data on food consumption and dietary habits, the state of nutrition of populations, and the prevalence of malnutrition and deficiency diseases, along with information on the measures taken to improve nutrition in various parts of the world.
Information services
FAO must be prepared to supply accurate, useful, and up-to-date information on nutrition and food management. It must, therefore, collect the books and documents necessary for a comprehensive library. This will take time, and in the early stages particularly the organization should make use of the information services of other bodies, as well as of the services of nutrition workers of repute in Member countries. By degrees, as experience is gained, an efficient information service should be built up within the Organization itself. The activity referred to in the preceding paragraph will pro vice material for the information services and enhance their value to Member nations.
Problems fob study in collaboration with experts in member countries
While FAO will need the help of experts in Member countries in the development of all aspects of its program, the study of certain questions particularly requires the collaboration of appropriate expert groups. Among these studies are the following:
Dietary standards
The problem of dietary standards was discussed in some detail in the Hot Springs Report. Since this problem is of basic importance to the work of FAO, it must be the object of frequent discussion and continuing research. It is suggested that FAO convene a group of experts which, in cooperation with the United Nations health organization, should attempt to define tentative dietary standards, thereby facilitating the comparison of levels of food consumption in different countries and the appraisal of food needs.
Dietary surveys and their technique
The subject of developing and standardizing methods of investigating food consumption so that accurate and comparable data may be obtained is one to which considerable attention has already been given by international organizations. Work in this field should be continued and expanded by FAO. Similarly, study by health experts of the problem of assessing states of nutrition should be encouraged.
The composition of foods
Much information is already available on this subject, and in many countries this information is in general sufficient for practical purposes. It is the responsibility of individual countries to undertake the analysis of the foods consumed by their populations. FAO can assist in this field by encouraging the standardization of methods of analysis, by compiling and editing available data, and by establishing the principles to be observed in their presentation.
The classification of foods
One of the duties of FAO will be the collection of food consumption data and the results of diet surveys in different countries. Agreement on methods of grouping foods, with appropriate nomenclature, and on the number of groupings, would facilitate the international comparison of consumption data and nutritional and economic analyses.
Popular education
The need for educating the public in nutrition was strongly stressed in the Hot Springs Report. Since many educational methods are not effective, there is great room for improvement. Countries will benefit by the exchange of information about methods and of educational material, including posters, pamphlets, and films. The question should be studied in all its aspects by a group of workers experienced in nutritional and health education.
Food conservation and technology
An early activity of FAO might be the study of the problem of conserving the nutritional value of foods, particularly staple foods, with the object of reducing loss of nutrients to a minimum. This is a problem of wide dimensions which includes such important questions as the effect of milling and domestic methods of preparation on the nutritive value of cereals, e.g., rice, wheat, and corn. Closely associated matters are the addition to foods of special materials, such as vitamins and minerals, the use of these in various ways to improve nutrition, and the place to be assigned in public health nutrition policy to the distribution on a wide scale of vitamin pills and concentrates. All these questions could suitably be studied on an international scale, and the experience gained in any country made available to all. The bearing on nutrition of modern developments in food technology is too broad a subject for discussion in this report, but emphasis may be laid on its study by FAO. The situation is similar as regards the related question of improving the palatability of food. The Report of the Hot Springs Conference points out that "it is essential, in considering plans for improving the diet of populations in any part of the world, that the factors of palatability and acceptability should receive attention."
The questions referred to are worthy of special attention in the early stages of the work of FAO. Various other useful activities in the field of nutrition and food management which could be included in the long-term program of FAO are enumerated in the report to the Interim Commission by the Technical Committee on Nutrition and Food Management. Many recommendations in this report concern other branches of FAO besides that concerned with nutrition, or require the cooperation of health authorities for their prosecution. Among lines of work and questions for study the following may be mentioned:
(1) The effect on food consumption of social and economic policies and measures, including among the latter minimum-wage and social-security legislation, family allowances, taxation of various kinds, food subsidies and special feeding programs, etc. This is a wide subject which might be studied by FAO in collaboration with other international organizations.(2) The social and psychological background of dietary habits.
(3) The discovery and development of food plant strains and varieties which are of exceptionally high nutritive value and the use of production methods which enable full advantage to be taken of their nutritive qualities.
(4) Assistance to nutrition workers in the identification of plants and animals which are sources of food. This might be provided with the cooperation of existing scientific institutions.
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