Avoiding trouble

The best way to deal with food emergencies is to avoid them.

FAO has a special system – the Global Information and Early Warning System – that keeps a close eye on the food supply in developing countries. If a country’s food supply gets low, FAO sounds the alarm. This way, action can be taken quickly before the situation deteriorates into a full-blown food emergency.

Finding out what’s needed

A serious food emergency can be caused by natural disasters like floods, droughts or earthquakes. Every year, armed conflicts force millions of people from their homes and farms and put them at risk of starvation. Or, it can be a long series of catastrophes that brings about the food crisis.

Whatever the cause, when a country faces a food emergency, FAO and the World Food Programme work together to find out what type of assistance is needed and where.

FAO doesn’t just tell people what they need to do. FAO’s teams in the field listen carefully to local farmers, herders, fisherfolk and community leaders. These people may need help, but they’re not helpless.

Helping affected communities feed themselves

Once the extent of the crisis is known, FAO designs an emergency agricultural relief programme to help communities get back on their feet. The goal of an emergency programme isn’t to deliver food to keep people from dying of hunger. (That’s the job of the World Food Programme.) What FAO does after an emergency is help communities get back to the point where they can feed themselves.

In some cases, FAO distributes supplies like seeds and fertilizer, fishing equipment, livestock and farm tools. It also provides services and training that help the affected communities preserve and make the best use of the resources they already have.

The road to recovery can be very long. Unfortunately the world’s attention span can be very short. Once an emergency is no longer in the headlines, the people caught up in the crisis are forgotten. Out of sight, out of mind.

FAO is committed to working with devastated communities until their recovery is complete.