Committee on Agriculture reviews issues ranging from livestock management to plant quarantine
Delegates from over 100 nations, UN bodies and specialized agencies, as
well as other international governmental and non-governmental organizations, will
gather at FAO Headquarters from 7 to 11 April for the 14th session of FAO's Committee
on Agriculture (COAG). The opening speech will be delivered by FAO’s Deputy Director-General
Mr H.W. Hjort.
The biennial sessions of COAG cover the work of three FAO departments - Agriculture,
Economic and Social, and Sustainable Development. COAG provides member nations an
opportunity to review the work of FAO programmes, to discuss technical issues of
particular interest, and to make recommendations based on intergovernmental negotiations
on various international agriculture-related agreements.
Some of the major issues on the agenda for the five-day session include:
- FAO programmes in the food and agricultural sector in light of the outcome of the World Food Summit, held in Rome in November 1996;
- management of livestock resources;
- animal genetic resources;
- rural development, with particular emphasis on land tenure and off-farm income;
- standards of plant quarantine harmonization;
- revision of the International Plant Protection Convention.
Highly technical discussions and negotiations will aim to facilitate international
trade flows by addressing policy, institutional and plant quarantine issues arising
from changes in the agricultural trade regime since the adoption of the GATT Uruguay
Round.
One of
the papers to be reviewed by COAG outlines a new focus for FAO’s work to assist member
countries in developing their potential for livestock production. The focus attempts
to address the changing development context, including the growing demand for meat
and dairy foods from a rapidly growing, increasingly urban and increasingly affluent
population.
Another document to be discussed analyses the dynamic relationship between land tenure
change and off-farm employment. It concludes that particular attention should be
given to changes that have resulted from economic and political liberalization and
shifts toward market economies.
The Committee will also review a report by the Ad Hoc Group of Experts on
Animal Genetic Resources. The group was established after the FAO Conference decided
in 1995 to broaden the mandate of the Commission on Plant Genetic Resources to cover
animal genetic resources as well. Its report notes the continuing loss of farm animal
genetic resources, resulting from poor management and breeding policies that do not
take into full account the diversity of production environments and the value of
indigenous breeds. The Group of Experts warned that this loss threatens efforts to
achieve global food security and stressed the importance of the Global Strategy for
the Management of Farm Animal Genetic Resources, in which FAO provides the framework
and coordination for national programmes, plans and activities.
Other resources:
- FAO’s Deputy Director-General Mr H.W. Hjort's opening statement
- COAG documents
- Agriculture Department
- Economic and Social Department
- Sustainable Development Department
- News & Highlights archive
4 April 1997
