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F. Marketing

Technical aspects
Pure-food and nutrient standards
Economic aspects
International cooperation
Addendum I. marketing libraries
Addendum II. Comité consultatif du marketing

MARKETING, as conceived in this report, covers a wide range of activities in relation to food, nonedible agricultural products, and forest products.

The main problem with which the Food and Agriculture Organization is concerned is that of food supply and management, if this he conceived in broad enough terms. In its narrower sense, food management is a question of economy of the home. In its broader sense, which is that used in this report, it embraces national and international food and agricultural considerations. Food management should then be conceived as the direction and development of resources to ensure their maximum use in terms of food value, and to ensure further that all groups of both producers and consumers of agricultural products have sufficient quantities of food of the right kinds.

Marketing is the crux of the whole food and agriculture problem. It would be useless to increase the output of food, it would be equally futile to set up optimum standards of nutrition, unless means could be found to move the food from the producer to the consumer at a price which represents a fair remuneration to the producer and is within the consumer's ability to pay. Similar considerations apply to other agricultural products and to fish and forest products.

It should be the responsibility of FAO to collect all relevant facts regarding both the supply and demand situation. The collection of the facts alone will not be sufficient. FAO must advise the governments which comprise it, and the other international bodies whose activities affect supply and demand, as to the action which should be taken to maintain and increase consumption.

Unless governments adopt policies aimed at the minimizing of restriction, the maintenance of full employment, and a progressively expanding economy on a national and international scale, consumption and production of food will soon be out of step, and the world will be faced with the recurrence of all the difficulties and frustration which marked the inter-war period. Hence as one of the agencies of the United Nations, FAO is concerned with representing the interests of producers and consumers of agricultural products to governments and international organizations whose activities and policies have a bearing on the achievement of these aims and on the avoidance of the consequences of failure.

Since world agricultural production has been seriously disturbed as a result of the war, a major problem facing FAO is that of facilitating the reorientation of world agriculture. Marketing and consumption programs and policies are essential instruments in the performance of this task.

The world food situation at the present time is one of shortage rather than surplus. Nevertheless, as manpower returns to agriculture, as increased quantities of fertilizers are supplied to the land, as agricultural machinery is available in increasing quantities, and as the devastation of invaded countries is remedied, production will rise. Moreover, the increased output which has been stimulated in many countries to assist in the war effort will mean that supplies from those countries will be available on a much greater scale than in the prewar period.

It would, therefore, be folly to disregard the possibility of surpluses developing, and FAO should study how to deal with such surpluses in the period before they appear. Equally it will be concerned with the appropriate measures to be taken should shortages develop at any time.

Study and advice should cover both the technical and the economic field. There are great opportunities for increasing the demand for food and for developing more orderly distribution by technical improvements. In the economic sphere there is a vast field to be covered, ranging from the elimination of uneconomic methods of marketing to the planning of production, distribution, and consumption in an orderly and expanding manner. This report indicates the services which FAO can perform in these fields and the assistance it can give to individual countries, either directly or in cooperation with other international organizations.

The functions of FAO in relation to the technical and economic aspects of marketing include:

1. The initiation of information and research services (including statistical services).

2. The provision of advisory services and missions.

3. The study of subjects as a basis for recommendation for action by governments, FAO, or other international organizations.

On the technical side FAO should provide the above services in regard to the following:

Physical handling and movement of goods

Wartime improvements in processing and storage methods, and innovations such as gas storage of fruit and eggs and the quick freezing of fruits, vegetables, meats, and fish, have greatly added to the market opportunities for perishable foodstuffs. The canning of whale meat by ships engaged in whaling operations may provide a new source of food. Ships equipped for the canning or freezing of fish as they are caught on the fishing grounds may help in equalizing supplies throughout the year. Developments in the processing and storage of perishable products may prove useful in holding supplies during periods of temporary surplus for distribution later. These and other developments provide FAO with both an opportunity and a responsibility. It is important that existing knowledge should be brought together and the possibilities for the future assessed while wartime experiences are still fresh. It is equally important that research should be continued and extended into processing techniques and into problems of storage for both edible and nonedible agricultural products. FAO might perform a valuable service in making available to economically underdeveloped countries the knowledge and experience gained in other parts of the world.

Improvements in storage alone would bring great benefits through reducing the enormous wastage which occurs from the effects of the weather or infestation and the ravages of pests, while the reestablishment and improvement of transport are also of great importance. Such improvements, however, would frequently require assistance in obtaining capital from outside sources and in recruiting technical personnel.

While improvements in processing and storage bring obvious advantages to both producer and consumer there are dangers which must be guarded against. It is important that these improvements should not be used for perpetuating surpluses and endangering the market for fresh produce but should be used rather as a method of smoothing out supplies or conserving them for alternative uses.

The over-refinement of food during processing sometimes leads to the removal of important nutritive elements. FAO should consider ways by which this tendency may be avoided or the nutritive elements restored. In countries which have been called upon to expand production to meet war requirements, processing and storage facilities for some products have expanded beyond peacetime requirements. Some new developments such as dehydration have not been fully tested in terms of consumer preferences under peace conditions. It is important that FAO endeavor to provide information on processing or storage capacity which may be taken account of by countries considering the development of these facilities.

Infestation

Vast quantities of food and other agricultural products are lost annually through the depredations of rats, mice, insects, etc. During the war the United Kingdom reduced its demand on shipping space by an extended campaign to combat infestation. India lost annually during the war from its home-produced supplies of cereals a quantity in excess of its normal prewar imports of cereals. The ravages of infestation know no national boundaries. Action on national and international levels is necessary. FAO should collect information as to recent developments in combating infestation and circulate this information to other governments. It should also arrange for missions of experts to be sent from countries that have conducted campaigns against infestation to other countries that have not yet dealt with this problem.

Pure-food and nutrient standards

The physical standards required in respect of food vary from country to country, as also do the methods and effectiveness of enforcement.

Some countries lay down very little in the way of requirements necessary to safeguard consumers. An analysis of the standards adopted in different countries should be prepared and issued to all countries. Those which are backward in this respect should be assisted to bring their standards up to those in the more developed countries. Advice could also be given on methods of enforcement to ensure that the prescribed standards are maintained. In particular the consumer should be protected against new foodstuffs which have not been thoroughly tried out and analyzed, and against substitutes having little nutritional value but which are sold as bona fide food.

Commercial grades and standards for staple commodities

Great variety exists in practice regarding quality standards and grading of agricultural products. In respect of many staples, marketing would be facilitated and the position of both producer and consumer benefited if recognized standards and uniform contracts were widely adopted so that marketing could proceed on a basis of accepted description, grades, and standards. Substantial benefits would accrue from the standardization of containers. Information should be collected regarding inspection services and the enforcement of recognized grades and standards. The same applies to regulations governing plant and animal inspection and quarantine, and their enforcement.

Buildings and plants

In many countries there is need for the improvement of local marketing facilities. FAO might bring together information on the organization and layout of markets and marketing facilities so as to be in a position to advise on how to build and organize markets on the most efficient, economic, and hygienic plan.

In some regions devastated by war the damage to processing and storage plants, transport, terminals, and marketing facilities creates problems of great urgency. Such destruction leads to the accumulation of surpluses in some countries while others are short of supplies. FAO might make a contribution to the solution of the problem by assembling and interpreting in formation concerning it and advising on methods of improvisation pending reconstruction. Arrangements could no doubt be made for architects specially versed in the design and layout of processing plants, storehouses, and market buildings to visit particular countries and advise on the reconstruction, removal, and rebuilding of markets and market buildings.

Suggestions for early action

These observations serve to bring into relief certain problems to which FAO might direct its attention in the near future - problems which are important and urgent and which may be brought within its range of possible action. They include:

1. Examination of the effects of processing on the nutritive value of food and of the ways in which losses 'in nutritive value might be avoided or replaced.

2. Encouraging national investigation of new and substitute foodstuffs with a view to determining their nutritive value, where this seems likely to result in the protection of the consumer against false and extravagant claims.

3. Investigation of the improvements which have occurred in processing, transport, and storage during the war; thereafter the promotion of continued investigation.

4. Studying war damage to processing, transport, and storage facilities, including assembly points and terminal facilities, and advising on the best methods of improvisation and reconstruction.

5. Giving assistance to countries desirous of improving processing, transport, and storage facilities by making the above information available or arranging for missions or panels of experts to advise and assist.

6. Advising the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development on the financial requirements in respect of 4 and 5 above.

7. Collecting and circulating information on recent developments in combating infestation and arranging missions to countries requiring assistance.

8. Assisting in the improvement of standards applied to food and other agricultural products, including the standardization of containers and packages, and in improving inspection and enforcement.

9. Providing information on regulations covering plant and animal quarantine and their enforcement.

Market information

The collection and publication of day-to-day information regarding current prices, supplies, stocks, and goods in transit, should be primarily the responsibility of national and local bodies, in view of the importance of making such material available at the earliest possible moment. It is not a service which an international organization can normally render. The preparation and publication of such information varies from country to country, and it would be appropriate for FAO to urge upon national governments the importance of undertaking this service as extensively as possible. Such information would materially assist marketing and the planning of distribution.

FAO should publish periodic reports on supplies and prices of the main agricultural products and where practicable make estimates of the future position. Such periodic reviews would be of value to all those interests, national and international, which are concerned in production, marketing, and consumption policies.

Commodity studies

FAO should study both the short- and long-term developments of the supply and demand position in respect of particular commodities. A continuing review of the position will provide material whereby recurring surpluses and shortages can be anticipated and provision made for dealing with the problems giving rise to these phenomena.

Surpluses and deficiencies may arise from a variety of causes - from variations in yield due to weather conditions, the temporary breakdown of transport, changes in general business conditions which affect the purchasing power of consumers, and changes in consumer preferences and requirements to which production may not have adjusted itself with sufficient rapidity. FAO should be in a position to watch and advise regarding projects or involuntary expansions or contractions of production due to these influences or the result of governmental policies which, through tariffs, subsidies! and other devices, may stimulate uneconomic production or depress desirable consumption in the country itself and have serious repercussions on production elsewhere.

The measures best designed to meet the problem of excess or deficient supply will differ according to the nature and causes of the surpluses or shortages. FAO should be in a position to advise individual countries as well as to make recommendations for international action necessary to deal with the situation. In the national field it should, on the basis of the material it collects, be in a position to emphasize the importance of internal action on the part of governments to meet their own problems of shortage or surpluses. This matter is dealt with later in this report

In studies of the position in regard to different commodities, FAO should take into account the degree of elasticity in the demand for them. Elasticity of demand is here used to cover the changes in demand occurring either in response to variations in consumers' purchasing power or following on changes in the prices of individual commodities. Where the demand is elastic, the problem of disposing of surpluses by encouraging an expansion of demand, either nationally or internationally, will be much easier. Where, however, the demand is inelastic, remedies by price policy alone or by an increase in consumer purchasing power may not meet the position. FAO should study the possibility of new and alternative uses for existing foodstuffs and other agricultural products before accepting the assumption that further increases in demand are unattainable. As the result of technical and other research or by the adoption of appropriate price policies, surpluses may find a use in new fields which have hitherto not been explored.

It is a fortunate circumstance that many of the protective foods are commodities normally in elastic demand so that improvement in consumer purchasing power as a result of full employment or an adjustment of price policy should stimulate consumption and thereby ease surplus conditions. The stimulation of human consumption until optimum nutritional standards are reached should have precedence over diversion of food supplies to nonhuman uses or the curtailment or reorientation of production.

FAO should give special attention to the possibility and practicability of policies of reorientation in production so that even though changes in the supply of particular agricultural products may take place, the total agricultural output is sustained and the prosperity of the agricultural community is maintained. Such policies of reorientation of production may be carried out on a national or international scale, either as the result of advice to particular governments or as part of an international agreement.

Expansion of demand

Unless measures are adopted to secure a genuine expansion of consumer demand, increased production will aggravate the dangers of surpluses. Identity of interests between producers and consumers will be established only if increased production is accompanied by increased demand. Producers are naturally concerned about the results which would follow greater production, or even, in certain cases, the maintenance of production at wartime levels, an equivalent expansion of markets is not secured. Effective measures to increase consumer demand, especially by increased industrial production in less developed countries, will do much to alleviate these fears. It will, therefore, be the duty of FAO to cooperate with other international bodies and with national governments in measures which may be adopted to achieve an expanding world economy with high levels of employment and high consumer purchasing power. In providing such cooperation FAO should study the character of consumer markets for food and other agricultural products and be prepared to advise regarding the factors which affect demand and the measures which might be taken to stimulate it.

FAO should be in a position to represent to governments, the Social and Economic Council of the United Nations organization, and other international authorities, the types of study necessary in regard to consumption habits, standards of living, income distribution, and similar matters in respect of both urban and rural communities. It should also be in a position to relate such studies to deficiencies in diet, clothing, and shelter and to point to the necessary action which would both remedy them and provide an outlet for increased production.

FAO may find it desirable to encourage inquiries as to ways in which conservatism and ignorance result in unsatisfactory food habits, and to advise on the necessary educational and publicity work. By drawing on the experience of different countries and by collecting and correlating the advice of experts, it will be able to make available to other countries and to international organizations the best information as to methods of stimulating demand and meeting the needs of vulnerable groups. In appropriate cases it will be in a position to assist particular countries by providing expert missions and advice on the action to be taken to achieve the desired increase in demand.

Distribution and processing costs

A reduction in distribution and processing costs may help to ensure lower retail prices which, while being satisfactory to the producer, promote an expansion in demand. The narrowing of the spread between farm and market prices will be achieved in part as the result of technical and scientific improvements and in part by better economic organization of markets. This should be consistent with an adequate reward for essential distributive services.

In studying the costs of distribution attention should be paid to the important part which transport plays. FAO should be in a position to advise on ways and means of providing transport facilities at the most economical cost.

Comparative studies of differences in the cost of distribution, including storage, under varying systems and in different countries should be made and would provide much valuable information.

Marketing organization

Government intervention during the war has led in some countries to extensive changes in the machinery of distribution and to economies in the cost of marketing. It is desirable that the results should be recorded and studied while they are still fresh, so that full information is available to all countries. When countries wish to make use of wartime experiences under peace-time conditions and adapt them to their own particular circumstances, FAO should be in a position to advise.

FAO should examine the functions of government, cooperative, and private trading in the field of marketing both before and during the war. It should study the role of producer and consumer organizations and the changes in the structure of wholesale and retail markets which result from developments in these particular fields.

Programs and policy

"Food management" is a phrase of recent coinage. It represents the integration of actions taken in different fields. Under wartime conditions different countries had to adjust their marketing techniques to meet the exigencies of the position. Reductions in supply, shortage of shipping, and limitations of manpower made it necessary for countries to plan their food economy so as to make the best possible use of the supplies available and to adapt their own production programs to achieve a desired nutritional result. This is not purely a wartime device. It may be equally appropriate to peacetime conditions. Unless production, marketing, and consumption policies are planned as a whole, even an expanding economy may not confer the most desirable results upon the peoples of the world. Food management is thus an essential part of marketing, just as it is an aspect of production and an aspect of nutrition.

In recent decades, and especially during the war, governments have taken an increasingly positive part in influencing production and consumption. They have allocated supplies of food and other agricultural products during periods of shortage and framed their commercial, price, and income stabilization policies with a view to securing equitable distribution of available supplies.

In particular, governments have devised schemes for providing food, either free or at low prices, to vulnerable groups. They have developed schemes for providing food through school meals, factory canteens, low-priced restaurants, and the like. FAO should study such schemes from the administrative and economic, as well as from the nutritional, points of view so that it can advise governments on the measures necessary to apply them.

There is great scope for the further development of policies of food management. It is important that FAO assemble and make available information on what governments have done or announced their intention of doing. It should also assess past successes or failures and estimate the probable effect of such policies on national and international supply and demand. This should be a continuing function, but it is especially important during the years immediately after the war.

Suggestions for early action

FAO should:

1. (a) Encourage the collection and speedy publication of market news and intelligence in particular countries, (b) publish periodic reports on supplies and prices of the main agricultural products, and (c) study and report on general trends of supplies, prices, and demand.

2. Investigate, in respect of particular commodities (such as cotton, tobacco, wool! and fish) the special circumstances which lead to the development of immediate and prospective surpluses or shortages. In particular, FAO should wherever possible relate the treatment of surpluses to the satisfaction of nutritional and other human needs.

3. Undertake, or encourage international organizations or governments themselves to undertake, investigations into the character of consumer markets, the factors affecting demand, and the means which might be adopted to stimulate demand both generally and in regard to particular commodities.

4. Undertake or facilitate comparative studies of distribution (including transportation) needs, methods, and costs.

5. Investigate the relative advantages of different marketing methods, with particular reference to new administrative techniques undertaken by governments under wartime conditions.

6. Study the measures which have been adopted to achieve wider food distribution, particularly to special classes, in different countries.

7. Assemble, analyze, and make available periodic reports on price-support and income-stabilization policies.

The earlier parts of this report examine the services FAO should provide in the field of marketing. It is necessary to consider how these services can be employed to achieve the objectives of FAO in the international field.

The marketing activities of FAO fall functionally into two categories - those in the technical field and those in the economic field. They also fall into two other classes - those which the Organization can carry out on its own responsibility direct with national governments and those which it can promote only in collaboration with other international organizations.

In those fields where action is the responsibility of the Food and Agriculture Organization itself, FAO would invite governments and other interests concerned to participate in conferences with the object of reaching agreement on matters of mutual concern and preparing conventions or series of recommendations which the governments concerned could adopt.

In the other fields where action primarily lies with some other international organization, FAO would collect information, study the problem involved, submit suggestions and proposals to the other organization, and participate in any discussions or conferences which that organization might convene.

In regard both to agreements which FAO might itself sponsor and those which were undertaken by other international bodies, FAO would, after agreement had been reached, be entrusted with the duty of watching, from the point of view of food and agriculture, the operation of such agreements, drawing attention to unexpected or undesirable developments and preparing suggestions for adaptation to new conditions.

Collaboration in the technical field

In organizing collaboration in the technical field, FAO will in part work directly with governments concerned and in part with other international organizations such as those responsible for health, commercial policy, and transport. In the former field FAO might well call conferences of interested countries at an early date to promote agreements in relation to such questions as the following:

1. The formulation and adoption of international standards or minimum requirements for requisites of agricultural production.

2. The formulation of regulations to be adopted internationally regarding the use of certifications, such as recognized trademarks and labels, indications of origin, etc., for foodstuffs and other agricultural products.

3. The formulation and adoption, where possible, of uniform grades and standards for agricultural and aquatic products and in suitable cases the standardization of packages and containers.

4. The achievement of uniformity in commercial documents such as contracts, bills of lading, etc., giving the terms of sale of food and other agricultural commodities.

5. The initiation of common action against infestation.

Activities which FAO might sponsor on an international scale and in consultation with other international bodies might include the following:

6. The formulation and adoption of international standards in respect of the nutritive quality and the purity of foods.

7. The negotiation of agreements as to plant and animal quarantine and inspection regulations in order to ensure that such regulations are directed to technical and not to economic and political ends.

In the economic field the forms of international collaboration in which FAO will be most directly concerned will in the main relate to matters which are the responsibility of other international organizations, particularly such organizations as may be set up to undertake responsibility for commercial and commodity policy. Nevertheless, before action on an international scale, through such organizations, is necessary, FAO may be able in consultation with one or more national governments to devise means for dealing with certain economic situations which will meet the immediate commodity problems of individual or adjacent countries.

Problems of local surpluses may be capable of solution by the producing countries concerned. Levels of food, clothing, and shelter in such countries may fall short of the optimum desired, and the introduction of improvements in marketing may stimulate demand so as to reduce surpluses. if not to remove them altogether. It should be the duty of national governments first to consider action which may be possible within their own boundaries to stimulate demand before appealing to FAO for remedies on an international scale. In the light of its investigations FAO should be able to advise such countries on measures for reducing the cost of distribution, increasing consumer demand, developing schemes for wider food distribution to special classes, and so on.

FAO might examine and advise upon the extent to which consumption of a surplus commodity could be stimulated by measures to meet the needs of low-consumption groups. Or again, because of its knowledge of actual and potential supply and demand of all food and agricultural products, FAO should be able to assist countries embarrassed with a local surplus of an inelastic commodity to divert production to elastic products for which satisfactory local or international markets could more readily be found.

There will, however, be commodity problems which can he solved only on an international basis. In such matters FAO will work with and through other international bodies.

In this connection FAO would naturally wish to emphasize the importance of maintaining and developing an expanding and progressive world economy, with its implications of continuous achievement of high consumer purchasing power and high levels of employment in the interests of producers and consumers alike. Without the achievement of such a policy through whatever international organizations may be created, producers will not enjoy a steadily expanding demand for their products, nor will consumers be in a position to obtain adequate diets at prices which are reasonable to them and remunerative to producers.

Although changes in international purchasing power lie outside its immediate responsibility, FAO must keep a close watch on the trend of world economic activity and where necessary make recommendations and proffer advice to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations on the relation of the broad economic issues involved in food and agriculture. The provision of advice with regard to international investment and its effects on food and agricultural policies would he a proper function for FAO.

FAO must also be in a position to advise the appropriate international bodies on those aspects of national and international commercial policy which impinge on the welfare of primary producers and the achievement of high standards of consumption.

Further, FAO should be prepared to make representations to international bodies responsible for transport, communications, and specialized economic activities. For instance, FAO would have an active interest in international shipping arrangements which affect the margin between the producer and the consumer.

In short, FAO must actively uphold the interests of food and agriculture with each of the related organizations and agencies of the United Nations.

In addition, FAO has, under its Constitution, a special and important responsibility in respect of international commodity arrangements and in relation to any international body or bodies which may become responsible for formulating, administering, or supervising such arrangements. FAO should collaborate closely with such body or bodies in determining the principles which ought to govern international commodity arrangements.

FAO should be prepared to participate in the drafting of international commodity agreements. It should also provide the international organizations responsible for such arrangements with statistical and other analyses of commodity situations. Further, as part of such agreements, it should advocate measures for mitigating an international surplus of one commodity by increasing its consumption or diverting production toward commodities in shorter ' supply or more elastic demand. Such measures could include special arrangements by which surplus commodities could be supplied on specially advantageous terms to countries of low purchasing power and great nutritional need, for special distribution among their low-income and disadvantaged groups.

In the advice which FAO tenders on commodity agreements it should emphasize their positive functions. Such agreements should be designed to provide an expanding economy in production as a whole even when they involve adjustments of production and consumption between one commodity and another. They can thus be used in the long run to expand both production and consumption without prejudice to the ultimate interests of producers and consumers.

Liaisons

The greatest importance is attached to making the necessary arrangements to enable FAO to be represented at and participate in all international discussions and meetings of 'organizations on the subject of commodity arrangements in respect of food and other agricultural products.

Great importance is also attached to making arrangements whereby the Director-General and his staff are kept in touch with the latest developments in the different countries on the subject of commodity problems and present and proposed policies. It is also desirable for machinery to be created whereby the Director-General can obtain the advice of experts from different countries in planning investigations into the marketing of food and other agricultural products.

It is therefore recommended:

1. that the Director-General consider how best these objectives can be achieved - whether by the establishment of an Advisory Marketing Committee, by the setting up of special ad hoc committees, or by the calling of special conferences on which various interests would be represented - and make special recommendations either to the Executive Committee or to the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization for establishing the most appropriate machinery

2. that in view of the urgency of the objectives to be attained, the above action be taken as early as possible;

3. that the Director-General endeavor, with the object of avoiding duplication, to arrange that FAO be accepted as the agent for providing international commodity organizations responsible for agricultural products with the service they require in respect of both national and international statistics and other relevant information; and

4. that the Director-General should aim at securing consistency of the policies of international commodity organizations with the agricultural and food policy of FAO.

The Marketing Committee attaches great importance to the early creation of adequate libraries and sources of information in different centers throughout the world on all marketing questions. This is a matter of equal interest to other committees of the Conference. It may be desirable to make some general recommendation on the subject. So far as the Marketing Committee is concerned, it recommends that the Director-General should:

1. Proceed as soon as practicable with the establishment of (a) a world bibliography on marketing, (b) a list of the main sources of statistical and other information on marketing, (c) a list of experts on marketing problems and (d) a list of institutions concerned with research and teaching in the field of marketing.

2. Establish libraries of publications on marketing at The main office and at appropriate regional offices with The object of maintaining a full set of publications in America, Europe, and Asia, respectively.

3. Approach governments with the request that they take action to ensure that copies of all relevant publications on marketing issued within their territories are supplied to FAO for the libraries mentioned above.

Projet de recommandation: Comité Consultatif du Marketing

La Conférence attache la plus haute importance à ce que les arrangements nécessaires soient faits en vue d'obtenir que l'Organisation pour l'Alimentation et l'Agriculture soit représentée et participe à toutes discussions, conférences et organisations internationales concernant des arrangements internationaux (commodity arrangements) relatifs aux produits alimentaires ou agricoles.

La Conférence attache aussi beaucoup d'importance à ce que des arrangements soient faits grâce auxquels le Directeur-Général et son personnel se tiendront au courant de l'évolution des idées et des faits dans les différents pays sur le sujet des problèmes et des politiques concernant les produits agricoles.

La Conférence recommande au Directeur-Général:

(1) De rechercher la meilleure façon d'atteindre les objectifs énoncés ci-dessus et de soumettre soit au Comité Exécutif, soit à la Conférence, des recommandations spéciales tendant à réaliser les moyens les plus propres a atteindre ces buts. On peut à cet égard envisager la création d'un Comité Consultatif du Marketing ou de comités ad hoc ou la convocation de conférences particulières où serait assurée la représentation des divers intérêts.

(2) De prendre aussitôt que possible les mesures précitées, en raison de l'urgence des objectifs à atteindre.

(3) De s'efforcer de faire des arrangements ayant pour but d'éviter les doubles emplois, c'est-à-dire de faire accepter que la FAO soit l'organe chargé de fournir aux organisations internationales spécialisées (commodity organizations) chargées de produits agricoles, tous les services dont elles ont besoin dans le domaine des statistiques nationales et internationales, et autre documentation appropriée.

(4) De viser à réaliser la concordance entre d'une part, les mesures envisagées dans le cadre de la politique des organisations internationales spécialisées (commodity organizations) et d'autre part, la politique générale agricole et alimentaire de la FAO.

DRAFT RECOMMENDATION: ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON MARKETING

The Conference attaches the greatest importance to the necessary arrangements being made to provide for the Food and Agriculture Organization's representation and participation in all discussions, conferences, and international organizations concerning international arrangements (commodity arrangements) dealing with food or agricultural products.

The Conference also attaches a great deal of importance to arrangements by which the Director-General and his staff will be kept au courant of the development of ideas and activities in different countries on problems and policies concerning agricultural products.

The Conference recommends that the Director-General:

(1) Investigate to determine the best means of attaining the objectives outlined above and submit either to the Executive Committee or to the Conference special recommendations concerning them. In this regard, the creation of an advisory committee on marketing or ad hoc committees may be considered, or special conferences may he convened where the representation of diverse interests would be assured.

(2) Take as soon as possible the aforementioned measures, in view of the urgency of the objectives to be attained.

(3) Strive to make arrangements aimed at avoiding useless repetition, that is, to have it accepted that FAO be the body charged with furnishing specialized international organizations (commodity organizations) entrusted with agricultural products with all the services of which they have need in the field of national and international statistics and all other appropriate documentation.

(4) Aim at bringing about agreement, on the one hand, between the measures considered in the framework of the policy of specialized international organizations (commodity organizations) and, on the other, the general agricultural and food policy of FAO.

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