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COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE |
Fifteenth Session |
Rome, 25-29 January 1999, Red Room |
MEDIUM-TERM PERSPECTIVES 2000-2005 |
Item 5 of the Provisional Agenda |
II. MAJOR ISSUES AND ATTENDANT PRIORITIES
A. GREATER FOOD SECURITY AND REDUCED RURAL POVERTY
B. ENHANCED DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
C. INCREASED PRODUCTION AND SUPPLY OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
D. IMPROVED NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
E. STRENGTHENED REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE
F. EFFECTIVE INFORMATION, MONITORING, ASSESSMENT AND DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS
III. PLANNED RESPONSES TO OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS
1. This Fifteenth Session of COAG is being held at a time when a major exercise is underway in FAO to formulate a long-term Strategic Framework. In fact, two successive draft versions of the Framework (1.0 and 2.0) have been provided to the Committee. At the same time, the Organization is introducing a new programming methodology, aimed at improving programme planning and presentation. Both exercises should support greater inter-disciplinarity and facilitate FAO's involvement in crosscutting issues.
2. The strategic planning exercise should not, however, affect the largely disciplinary organizational structure of departments, divisions and services. A critical mass of expertise in disciplines relevant to food and agriculture is vital to FAO's continued provision of sound technical and policy guidance to member countries. Greater attention to thematic focus with complementary interdisciplinary working arrangements will require enhanced cooperation between the technical services at divisional, inter-divisional and inter-departmental levels.
3. Detailed proposals for the Programme of Work and Budget (2000-2001) cannot be presented to the Committee at this time, as new programme entities under the revised programming methodology are still being finalized. While taking into account the results of analytical work completed during the development of the first drafts of the Strategic Framework, the formulation of medium-term and short-term (i.e. next biennium) proposals has had to rely on existing guidance from the governing bodies of FAO. This guidance encompasses specific Conference decisions, including those taken by the Council on behalf of the Conference in June 1994, and the decisions of relevant international conferences and summit meetings.
4. This document refers to the work of three major departments involved in crops, livestock and food: i.e. the Agriculture Department (AG), the Economic and Social Department (ES), and the Sustainable Development Department (SD), including decentralized structures. It is presented in terms of major thematic issues, as reflected in medium-term objectives for each department, rather than simply describing important disciplinary components of the work programme on a strictly divisional or programme basis.
5. Global development trends, and those factors in the external environment which present major challenges to the Organization in the medium and long-term, are discussed in some detail in Version 1.0 of the Strategic Framework.1 Against the background of the World Food Summit target of reducing food insecurity at an accelerated pace, the following have been of particular significance in influencing FAO priorities:
6. The trends and determining factors that have been identified will, in turn, lead to changes in dietary and consumption patterns and will increase public awareness of food and environmental issues. These changes are taking place against a background of continued globalization and the evolving role and functions of the state, in which it is anticipated that governments will continue to withdraw from areas where the private sector and markets can perform more efficiently. Furthermore, agricultural trade liberalization is expected to continue in the wake of the Marrakesh Agreements.
7. Disparities of wealth are increasing, and it is feared by many that, in the medium-term, poverty will continue to spread. Even though urbanization is proceeding at a rapid rate, poverty and food insecurity are likely to remain acute and widespread among large sections of both urban and rural populations unless extraordinary efforts are made to combat this situation. Despite steady progress in research and technological development, and the growing impact of information and communications technology, there are increasing disparities in access to adequate food, productive resources, knowledge and technology.
8. The document containing the medium-term perspectives which was presented to COAG at its Fourteenth Session in 1997, took account of development trends in addressing the "central issues" of poverty alleviation, food security and nutrition; improving human capital and participatory processes, raising and sustaining production, improving the assessment and monitoring, rehabilitation and development of abiotic and biotic natural resources; and agricultural trade. Moreover, in the wake of the World Food Summit held in November 1996, this particular COAG document added a number of important new dimensions. Chief among these were the concepts of sustainable food security and sustainable intensification.
9. An updated view of priority areas, which are expected to govern the work of the above departments over the medium-term, can be summarized as follows:
10. Demographic trends in the developing countries, in combination with currently inadequate levels of per caput food consumption, require strong growth in food supplies. Unfortunately, not all these additional needs can be translated into effective market demand, since many poorer families simply cannot afford to buy what they require. The great social problems arising from this situation will gradually take on a predominantly urban character. Nonetheless, rural populations will continue to constitute a significant proportion of the food insecure groups in most societies.
11. In the medium-term, greater production efficiency and increased economic growth stimulated by market-based agriculture will ameliorate, but not eliminate, rural poverty in marginal areas. Furthermore, the relative poverty of the resource-poor - such as many female-headed households - is likely to increase, even in areas that are more favourably endowed. A large proportion of the rural population will continue to dwell in areas without adequate productive resources and support services, with limited non-agricultural employment opportunities and few income alternatives.
12. This situation calls for medium-term actions to improve rural livelihoods, farm incomes and household food security in food-deficit and economically marginal areas, while also assisting the poorest farm families in areas of higher potential. Policy frameworks need to recognize, and specifically target, the most disadvantaged groups with special measures to facilitate access to food, improved nutrition and sustainable livelihoods - thus providing a safety net for the food insecure. In parallel with these efforts, government strategies are needed to create rural employment and to ensure the continuity of programmes designed to enhance agricultural productivity while limiting resource degradation due to over-exploitation or poor farming practices.
13. A key priority related to food security concerns actions to prevent and combat emergencies. Enhanced disaster preparedness is, for example, closely correlated with food security. It is specifically concerned with actions that limit the damage caused by natural events such as stochastic changes in rainfall patterns leading to floods, droughts, insect plagues, random outbreaks of plant and animal diseases, and the rapid spread of certain human diseases. A wider interpretation would also include strategies to minimize the risks of household food insecurity, hunger and malnutrition often associated with serious breakdowns in law and order, civil or military conflicts and periods of economic turmoil or recession, such as those witnessed during the financial crises in several countries during 1997-98.
14. Despite the fact that the rate of growth is diminishing, the continued expansion of the world's population makes increased crop and livestock production imperative. The largest percentage of this increase will result from intensification of production systems. Intensification will take the form of higher yields or greater cropping/stocking intensity (i.e. more multiple cropping, shorter fallows; spread of intensive poultry production). Optimizing production sytems while protecting the natural resource base can involve a wide array of approaches: from appropriate "traditional'' technologies to new "cutting-edge" approaches, including biotechnologies.
15. Application of existing knowledge to reduce the yield gap between current production levels and potential thresholds can only be effective if rising productivity is stimulated by suitable price incentives arising from policies that promote efficient markets for inputs and agricultural produce. Policies that provide agriculture with conditions supportive of investment and productivity growth are the key to the success of all programmes and projects aimed at specific improvements in the agriculture and food sectors. Such policies go beyond narrowly-defined agricultural policies and extend to macroeconomic and intersectoral aspects of national economies.
16. Increasing supplies of crop and livestock products will support national economic growth and generate employment, while commercialization of production systems will lead to more value being added before produce reaches the ultimate consumer. However, the full benefit of higher productivity will only be felt by consumers if it is accompanied by increases in marketing efficiency at each point in the supply chain. This implies that both production increase and the benefits that flow from it, are dependent upon the development of effective post-production systems and commercial institutions, plus enhanced international trade.
17. In addition to generating employment, the improvement of food supply, quality and safety will add value to primary production through processing, handling, storage, packaging, transport and marketing. At the same time, greater trade liberalization and market development will both provide greater marketing opportunities and expose more farmers and consumers to the risks associated with world price fluctuations. Developments in this area are likely to be rapid and intense during the medium-term. Low-income countries will need help in exploiting new opportunities and in managing the risks related to ongoing processes of market integration, urbanization and trade globalization. It will also be necessary to protect the poor against the negative consequences associated with financial instability and economic recessions.
18. Higher productivity and increased marketing efficiency will be accompanied by adjustments to the components of supply. Farmers, food manufacturers and producers of other goods which rely on agricultural raw materials will constantly react to changing consumer demand and variations in relative production costs. Demand patterns will be affected by increased urbanization, modified taste preferences and altered levels and distribution of income, while consumers will give increasing attention to the quality and safety of food. The challenge for FAO is to play an effective role in assisting the relevant actors to adjust to these forces by optimal modifications to production and post-production systems. In responding to this challenge, the major contribution of the Organization will be through its normative work, complemented by technical and policy advice in support of field programmes organized and executed by member countries.
19. New opportunities will arise due to the increasing market-orientation of production and the vertical integration of the stages between point of production and consumption. These changes will be accompanied by selective diversification of farming enterprises and will lead to greater specialization and exploitation of high-value niche markets according to the comparative advantage of different agroecozones and farming systems. In the agricultural sector of most developing countries, the emerging private sector - and the more commercially-oriented public services that remain - will require a great deal of reorientation and capacity-building. In response to this situation, supportive policies will need to be established and made operational.
20. Improved management of natural resources is closely tied to the goal of increased production, since it should enhance the quality of the resource base necessary for sustainable intensification of agricultural production systems. It forms the sustainability component of improved productivity in the light of growing pressure on land and water resources and the continuing degradation of the resource base. This thematic area concerns the promotion and adoption of policies based on recognition of the private and social costs and benefits of natural resource degradation, preservation and rehabilitation - with particular attention being paid to resources and environments at greatest risk and to areas of greatest poverty. Poverty is acknowledged as being one of the main threats to the natural resource base and to the environment, as it leads to cultivation in fragile ecosystems, on steep slopes, along river banks etc.
21. An increasingly important aspect of natural resource degradation is the growing threat to plant and animal biodiversity, as more farmers abandon traditional cultivars and landraces for genetically uniform varieties and species. These threats can only be met by developing national and regional agro-biodiversity programmes that encourage the effective and sustainable utilization of genetic resources, including new uses for existing crops and domestication of wild plants. The Global Plan of Action on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, adopted by the Leipzig International Conference in 1996, provides a framework for such activities. However, there is an urgent need to help countries to develop and implement strategies to further integrate ex situ and in situ conservation within a single strategic framework and to improve links to germplasm utilization. Improved management of natural resources also involves the promotion of farming methods which maintain and enhance species diversity.
22. Member countries have consistently accorded high priority to long-standing normative activities of the Organization connected to trade, product standards, genetic resources for food and agriculture, food safety and control. Regulatory frameworks, codes of conduct, quality standards and other instruments which support fair and safe use and exchange of agricultural products, as well as sustainable use of natural resources, have increasingly come to the forefront in the light of changes in the role and functions of the State, the liberalization of trade, and the increased development focus on sustainable food security and natural resource use.
23. FAO should be the recognized centre for normative work in establishing standards and servicing international conventions and inter-governmental instruments within the area of its mandate. To reach this goal, it is actively forging new partnerships especially with NGOs and the private sector, while deepening existing relationships with governments. It is widely considered that FAO has a strong comparative advantage in providing a forum for policy negotiations on the international regulatory frameworks for food and agriculture at both regional and global levels. The Organization also provides effective representation of food and agriculture interests in other fora dealing with international regulatory frameworks. The area also encompasses the development of members' capacities to participate in negotiations, adapt to the evolving international regulatory framework and respond to changes in the international trading environment.
24. This thematic area concerns strategies to ensure that global agriculture and food data are both reliable and comprehensive, as well as being accessible to all Member States and the international community. This aspect of its work involves the provision by FAO of regular assessments and analyses of trends in food security and nutrition, agricultural production and trade, natural resources and relevant scientific knowledge. It also encompasses activities designed to promote food security through monitoring the implementation of the World Food Summit Plan of Action, as well as by ensuring the associated global advocacy and interaction with all relevant partners. The Organization is a recognized world leader in assembling, processing and disseminating information, and it developed and now operates the World Agricultural Information Centre (WAICENT) which provides statistical and technical information through the Internet and on CD-ROM.
25. Recent advances now make it possible to develop integrated "knowledge bases" designed to guide technical decisions within different agroecozones and production systems. They provide a user-friendly tool to share available knowledge by accessing information from a large range of sources, while facilitating searches for specialized information to address queries or problems in distinct agro-ecological and economic environments. As such, they can provide a decision tool for the identification of intensification, diversification or specialization opportunities within particular production systems. Their creation and maintenance provides a further opportunity for cooperation between various technical sections of FAO, in partnership with relevant external institutions and organizations, in order to meet the policy, planning and programming needs of member countries.
26. As a complement to more detailed proposals, which will be reflected in the PWB 2000-2001, this section informs COAG about the proposed medium-term objectives of the three departments concerned. The proposals recognize that continuing pressure on financial resources demands a clearer focus on areas of core competency and comparative advantage. It also demands a concerted effort, within each area of work, to perceive FAO in the context of networks of partners within which the Organization should focus on complementary actions, rather than attempting to cover the whole field itself. While continuing to take the lead in some areas, the departments will seek to develop active partnerships in other joint undertakings.
27. The need for this adjustment is further emphasised by the fact that direct field actions have diminished in relation to the growth in normative work, thus stimulating a search for alternative lines of communication and ways of collaborating with the rural community. While the clarified normative orientation has been welcomed by many countries, most have continued to stress the benefits of field testing and modifying new approaches and their application under varying field conditions. Field actions are increasingly backstopped from regional offices, but headquarters' staff still need to keep in touch with rural realities. Various technical and policy assistance activities - in particular the Special Programme for Food Security and the various emergency-related activities - provide an opportunity for both headquarters and regional staff to maintain ties to the realities, the constraints and the opportunities affecting farmers and their support structures.
28. The AG Department assists in improving agricultural production and post-production systems in support of national food security and sustainable development. The department also covers key areas in direct support to the implementation of the World Food Summit Plan of Action, especially with respect to Commitment 3 relating to sustainable food and agriculture practices. It makes essential contributions to the Special Programme on Food Security (SPFS) and both components of EMPRES (Emergency Prevention System for Transboundary Animal and Plant Pests and Diseases). While striving for a holistic perspective based upon systems thinking and the primacy of human welfare, the department is the home for technical services related to crops and livestock, as well as having capacity in production economics and the commercial aspects of small-scale post-production activities.
29. The AG Department is considering seven medium-term objectives as both falling within its departmental mandate and contributing to major substantive areas and strategic issues confronting the Organization. The objectives are intended to support the overall departmental goal of, "improved production and transformation of bio-physical resources into safe, sufficient and affordable food and other agricultural products contributing to food security, economic development, poverty alleviation, and conservation of natural resources".
30. The department's medium-term objectives address:
31. Increased agricultural production on a sustainable basis is the pivotal element in the above array of departmental medium-term objectives. It can be differentiated into sub-elements related to:
The AG Department has in the past provided the technical underpinning for thousands of agricultural research and production projects throughout the world. It is now reshaping its regular programme to become more effective in providing information and advice through its normative activities. The basic aim is to facilitate the development and application of new approaches to improved production systems within the programmes of national-level partners.
32. The achievement of the key departmental medium-term objective of improved income opportunities and food security for the rural poor depends, to a notable extent, upon increased production and the jobs that accompany it. The basic strategy to be pursued is that of identifying and reinforcing farm and non-farm agricultural sector opportunities for resource-poor farmers. Activities will include collaborative technical and socio-economic efforts to assist member countries to identify and support rural employment opportunities through innovative ways of creating rural employment and of adding value to existing production. Small-scale entrepreneurs will be provided with information and opportunities for value-addition within a limited resource base and efforts will be made to increase income and employment generation in agro-industries through the provision of technical, financial and economic information that will link manufacturing scale knowledge to markets, and to rural communities who seek processing technologies that are appropriate to their needs.
33. The second objective: production systems intensification, diversification and specialization, concerns increased production resulting from improved cropping systems and better crop management, together with improved livestock production and management. The AG Department will seek to exploit FAO's unique global links in order to work with a diversity of research and development partners on approaches to technology transfer related to economically-efficient crop and livestock integration and systems intensification. It will seek to facilitate the application of lessons learned in various parts of the world to analagous ecosystems in other countries - following a process of participatory adaptation and adoption. The department acts as a watchdog on technology generation and constantly monitors technical constraints and opportunities related to improved crop and livestock production. While its major thrust is not agricultural research, where appropriate the department promotes specific investigations that respond to special needs and opportunities which have been perceived as a result of field experience.
34. Production systems are expected to evolve rapidly as a result of free-market pricing, liberalized trade, urbanization and changing patterns of consumer demand, leading to greater specialization under certain circumstances and to diversification in others. Extension workers and policy planners need to understand and respond to the basic socio-economic forces driving these changes at farm-level. Since no other institution has an equally comprehensive, global overview of production systems, this situation provides a medium-term opportunity for interdisciplinary technical assistance and advice on capacity-building to improve farming systems, founded upon socio-economic analysis of technical improvement possibilities within different agroecozones. Field handbooks, guidelines and training workshops to improve farm-level planning and resource management - targeted at extension services, NGOs, farmers'organizations, cooperatives and farmers'development groups - will be of major importance in this respect.
35. The third objective of sustainable intensification of natural resource use is a precondition for continued growth in production under conditions of increasing scarcity, degradation and competition for agricultural resources. Until recently, most agricultural production increases have been derived from expansion of cultivated area. However, as the land frontier continues to disappear and expansion of irrigated areas becomes increasingly costly, sustained increases in crop production - from which the majority of livestock feeds are also derived - become progressively more dependent on water availability and more efficient water-use.
36. Soil productivity improvement - a vital concomitant to improved water use - will include the further development of integrated (crop/soil/water/plant-nutrient) management practices to improve nutrient-use efficiency and manage the process of erosion. Managerial improvement of soil and water depends upon the promotion and introduction of rational, socially- and economically-viable land and water policies for integrated resource management. Provision of advice and assistance on policies and action programmes to arrest and reverse agricultural land and water degradation and cope with increasing water scarcity, is an essential part of the strategy.
37. Supply increases rely upon support to market-oriented production through improved urban and rural marketing, and post-production systems, by ensuring an effective transition of input and output channels under public sector management to private sector operation. Market orientation can only be effectively achieved if farmers, businessmen and consumers are assisted to adjust and respond to urbanization, liberalization, decentralization and globalization. The objective therefore concerns the promotion of agricultural sector investments, farm commercialization and strengthened vertical linkages, in order to support agricultural diversification and specialization based upon market opportunities, eco-regional differences and comparative advantage. This work will obviously involve the inputs of several different technical services.
38. Increased yields, higher product quality and diversified production systems will be stimulated by improvements to plant and animal breeding, both through new breeds and varieties and by optimal utilization of adapted local crops and livestock. A major concern is to ensure that production increases and related improvements can be sustained. The fifth objective, the conservation and sustainable use of plant and animal genetic resources for food and agriculture, is a key component in this strategy. At the local level, this involves actions to ensure that farming practices are conducive to increased productivity while averting any negative impacts on biodiversity in the agroecosystem. At the international level, the objective supports international priority-setting, and the negotiation and monitoring of relevant international instruments, through the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. It also involves the development and implementation of relevant frameworks, such as the Global System on Plant Genetic Resources and its Plan of Action for their sustainable conservation and use.
39. Planned activities include the production of a global inventory of animal agricultural resources availability and use, in relation to ecological efficiency; the periodic assessment and analysis of the status of plant genetic resources to identify gaps and inefficiencies in their conservation and utilization; and support for national and regional agro-biodiversity programmes. The International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources, currently being negotiated, will provide an international legal framework and a financial mechanism for such activities.
40. The sixth objective, plant, animal and commodity protection, is also largely designed to support the core production strategy by helping to ensure adequate levels of production efficiency and product quality through common action, standards, trade facilitation, international agreements, such as the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) and the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent (PIC). The development of international standards and codes of conduct on plant health and pesticides, to facilitate trade while safeguarding agriculture and human health and the environment, is an important component. Coordination of joint action to prevent and control outbreaks of migratory and transboundary pests is another aspect of this priority area. It is important to note that most aspects of emergency preparedness within the AG Department are subsumed under this objective. Integrated pest and disease management, with greater resort to methods of biological control, is expected to increase rapidly - both as a way of cutting production costs and of practising farming methods that are friendlier to human health and the environment. The technique is management-intensive, and capacity-building is an essential part of the strategy through inter alia the promotion of participatory approaches, such as "farmers' field schools", with the aim of empowering farmers to make their own informed decisions.
41. The final objective, strengthening information and decision support systems, concerns the collection, maintenance, sharing, and efficient use of data sets and information related to agriculture and agricultural resources. It also relates to the analysis of trends, synthesis of information and provision of analytical support. In addition, it involves the development and use of information systems, tools, and decision support systems for enhanced decision making. Within the department, the scope of associated activities - in terms of substantive areas of agriculture - is extremely wide. It includes, inter alia: global information on land and water resources and plant nutrient inputs; information in the areas of plant production and protection, plant and animal genetic resources, and seed production; farm power, manufacture, exports, imports, and sales of tools, machinery and equipment; data on food losses; and farm-level data to enhance decision-making at various levels.
42. Development and use of information systems, tools, and decision support systems includes work on information systems - at farm, agro-industry and market level - to improve decision making. It also includes the design of decision support systems, concepts and techniques for agribusiness. Participatory assessment of constraints and opportunities - and associated technological options - has also been targeted for the development of decision support systems. Associated activities planned for the medium-term include the improvement of tools for decision-making in areas such as water management policy - encompassing management of water scarcity and integrated management of river basins - land resources policy; genetic resources and agro-biodiversity; and integrated crop management.
43. The ES Department contributes to the implementation of the World Food Summit Plan of Action in a number of ways. Particular attention is given to nutrition along with food security and agriculture and trade policy analysis. The foremost contribution of the department's medium-term objectives will be to priority areas relating to food insecurity and rural poverty; agreements, regulations and standards (particularly as related to trade and to food standards); and to data and information systems including assessments and outlook studies based on these data. The department also makes a significant contribution to emergency preparedness.
44. The ES Department is considering medium-term objectives which fall into the following six domains:
45. The medium-term objective of food, nutrition and agriculture statistical information systems involves the maintenance and updating of a comprehensive statistical information system at the international level, with common concepts, standards and definitions to reflect the global situation. The systems include production, trade and food supply/consumption statistics, as well as economic statistics relating to agriculture. Increasing attention will be given to gender in such statistics. Support will also be provided to strengthening national statistical information systems, to provide reliable and timely data for planning and policy decision-making, and monitoring and evaluating performance at the national level, as well as improved targeting of the most disadvantaged groups. This objective also envisages the development of national and global food insecurity and vulnerability information and mapping systems in partnership with member countries and other UN and bilateral agencies and concerned international NGOs.
46. The second ES departmental objective, world food, nutrition and agricultural monitoring assessment and outlook, will build on information derived mainly from the first objective, but also from commodity market intelligence systems. The objective is to make available to member countries strategic analyses and assessments of the situation and outlook of food, nutrition, agriculture, commodity markets and trade, and food security at national, regional and global levels, as well as long-term perspective studies. These syntheses aim to permit the monitoring of the global state of nutrition, food and agriculture, and to provide member countries with the information and assessments in a regional and global context within which their decisions and policies operate. Monitoring the implementation of the World Food Summit Plan of Action in partnership with international and bilateral partners, civil society and regional/sub-regional organizations, until the Medium-Term Review in 2006, will also be undertaken within the context of this objective.
47. The third objective of food standards, quality control and consumer protection is to develop international science-based food standards for use by governments (through the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme (Codex Alimentarius) including the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives), and to promote their adoption through the development of national and local food control systems, thereby ensuring the quality and safety of food throughout the food chain for consumer protection and for promoting fair practices in food trade. The work on standards setting will also contribute to objective 4 on agricultural commodity trade by providing essential reference points for member countries in implementing the Agreements on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and on Technical Barriers to Trade.
48. Planned medium-term activities related to the fourth ES Department medium-term objective of reform in the international trading environment and enhancing the contribution of agricultural trade to commodity market development and food security, concentrate upon the collection, collation and interchange of agricultural commodity information, the analysis of trade issues and the provision of policy advice as follow-up to the Uruguay Round. The objective aims to promote international cooperation in order to improve agricultural commodity trade performance through: a) strengthening the capacity of developing countries to analyse the implications of alternative policy options and of changes in multilateral trade agreements affecting agricultural and commodity trade; b) supporting regional activities among developing countries to expand agricultural trade and export earnings; and c) assisting countries to adapt to changing competitiveness of agricultural commodities through the promotion of measures leading to increased productivity, quality improvement and product development, as well as through enhanced efficiency and effectiveness of the functioning of commodity markets.
49. The fifth medium-term objective, food, nutrition and agricultural policies and programmes for sustainable agricultural and rural development, is also concerned with normative, comparative policy analyses contributing to policy advice. Firstly, this aims at enhancing the capacity of member countries to develop, implement and adjust food and agriculture policies in response to rapidly changing conditions, including those affecting the natural resource base. The general policy is to aim at sustainable improvements in the standard of living and nutritional status of the whole population - women and men equally - taking full advantage of the multiple contributions made by agriculture to rural development and the reduction of poverty and food insecurity. Secondly, at the programme and project level, it will seek to improve nutrition and household food security among the malnourished and socially disadvantaged while ensuring that the food insecure and malnourished benefit from agriculture and economic development, and that poor and marginalized population groups participate meaningfully in the development process.
50. The sixth objective constitutes the ES Department's intended medium-term contribution to the Organization's inter-disciplinary approach to emergencies, which aims to increase the resilience of countries, populations and communities to cope with the actual and potential impacts of natural hazards and complex emergencies. The department's contribution will be two-fold. Firstly normative work will involve concepts for and analysis of effective and efficient preparedness programmes, crisis information systems and relief and rehabilitation projects that will reduce impact of disasters on vulnerable people, and restore sustainable agricultural activity rapidly and with a minimum of displacement.
51. Secondly, more operational work will assure continuous monitoring of food crop prospects and the overall food situation and outlook at both the global and individual country levels. This work will enable FAO to continue its provision of early warnings concerning imminent food crises in countries affected by natural and/or man-made disasters, thereby allowing timely food and humanitarian interventions. It will also facilitate the effective programming and analysis of emergency food aid requests from governments, in addition to improving the flow of data from vulnerable countries. This latter work will continue to be undertaken in close collaboration with the SD Department, together with WFP and other agencies concerned.
52. Since its establishment in 1995, the SD Department has focused on holistic knowledge and advice related to cross-cutting bio-physical, institutional, social and human dimensions of sustainable development. More specifically, it aims at promoting, co-ordinating and leading the formulation of concepts, policies and strategies for:
53. The department is considering four strategic medium-term objectives as follows:
54. The initial medium-term objective, capacity-building to support knowledge enhancement and technology transfer, focuses on planned activities related to increased supply of agricultural produce by raising the management intensity of natural resources. The department will also continue to assist member countries in integrating all aspects of sustainability into programming and implementation of national agricultural research and extension systems. This work will include the systematic integration of environmental education into extension programmes.
55. Strengthening agricultural research and information systems to enhance national capacity to access knowledge and promote appropriate technologies is a key element of departmental work that will continue to receive high priority. It concerns the improved performance of National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) in developing, and transferring to farmers, technologies that are gender-responsive and which can be both feasibly and profitably integrated into the farming system. It will also encompass the promotion of extension and communications strategies that are both participatory and gender-sensitive. The department will continue to provide institutional, technical and logistical support to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and to its Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), as well as to the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) and the NARS Secretariat.
56. The equitable, sustainable livelihoods and food security objective will be pursued mainly through the promotion of gender-responsive policies and actions to facilitate equitable access to productive resources. An important issue in this regard is more equitable access to land and related resources (water, etc.) through improvements in land leasing, sale markets and tenure regularization. The department also plans the continuous development of diagnostic tools to identify constraints to participation in markets by the rural poor; and to study changing inheritance patterns - especially as applied to rural women. A significant strategy element related to this departmental objective is the further development of gender-responsive tools and participatory methods for formulating policy and programme priorities concerning food security and rural development. The work will include the production of information on the comparative costs and benefits of employing participatory approaches. The aim is to collaborate with all concerned parties in order to mainstream the approach throughout the FAO Programme, including partners within government and civil society.
57. Another important activity that is planned under this particular medium-term objective is the continued co-ordination of the ACC Network on Rural Development and Food Security that facilitates the integrated implementation at country level of follow-up activities to the World Food Summit. The Network is jointly managed by FAO and IFAD in close cooperation with WFP; the SD Department provides the Secretariat. This activity complements work which focuses on the assessement of household income-generating strategies. It also supports efforts to assist member countries to strengthen rural institutions - in both civil society (farmers groups, cooperatives etc.) and public sectors - to engage in providing agricultural services. These services relate mainly to informal savings and credit, land and water management, and improving access to productive assets. The work on restructuring rural public institutions will include the production of guidelines and training materials on decentralization, privatization and redeployment.
58. Planned departmental activities for assisting the implementation of Organization-wide responsibilities resulting from international environmental conventions, agreements and obligations include the enhancement of capacity and knowledge for addressing policy matters, programming needs, and project formulation and implementation issues that arise from UN conventions, conferences and agreements on sustainable development. These relate mainly to issues of biological diversity, climate change and desertification that were highlighted in UNCED/Agenda 21.
59. The department is charged with the responsibility for co-ordinating FAO's follow-up to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED - the Earth Summit, as well as post-UNCED Conventions). In preparation for the 8th Session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-8), which will focus on land resource management and agriculture, the SD Department - with technical support from the AG Department - is taking a leading role within FAO to assist in the co-ordination of an International Conference entitled "The Multifunctional Character of Agriculture and Land" that is being organized jointly with the Government of the Netherlands. It is anticipated that follow-up work will form an integral part of the departmental medium-term programme.
60. Besides environmental responsibilities, the department will also continue to serve as a focal point within FAO for follow-up to the International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo in 1994, and the 4th World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995, the UN International Conference on Population and Development, and the UN World Summit for Social Development. The SD Department will also continue to catalyze and monitor Organization-wide implementation of FAO's Plan of Action for Women in Development and to promote gender mainstreaming.
61. The planned departmental focus on the area of information technology, database development and data analysis concerns the development and use of sustainability indicators in order to enhance the quality of policy analysis, and the improvement of gender-related aspects of data collection and analysis. This aspect of the medium-term programme will also include assistance to help countries to use remote-sensing, agro-meteorology, geographic information systems (GIS) and global terrestrial observation systems (GTOS) to monitor and manage natural resources. Software tools will be developed to support environmental data analysis, as well as natural resource assessment and programming.
62. The above work also embodies an element of disaster preparedness and improved resource management. The objective will be addressed by inter alia promoting the development and use of data and by timely provision of information on natural resources, including environmental, social, institutional and economic aspects of sustainable development, food security and natural disasters.
63. Even where departmental medium-term objectives correspond to a specific area of corporate priority they frequently also relate to other priority areas, as these tend to be mutually reinforcing, e.g. an information element could complement a food security focus. It is instructive, therefore, to reflect the strength of these relationships - and the breadth of focus of each departmental medium-term objective - in the form of a matrix. Table 1 illustrates the situation for each of the three departments concerned, indicating the degree to which each departmental medium-term objective supports the various priority areas.
64. The matrix must, however, be interpreted very carefully if erroneous conclusions are to be avoided. For example, the interest of the AG Department in food security tends to be understated; in fact the department makes an extremely important contribution to this priority area through its work on raising the productivity of agriculture by means of yield increases and greater intensity of land use. These aspects of the department's work are, however, captured mainly under other headings (supply increase and natural resource management). It should also be borne in mind that the resources devoted to the various objectives necessarily differ in volume, but that the matrix does not take this into account.
65. Bearing in mind the above caveats, however, the matrix gives some indication of the balance of priorities within the three departments. A high proportion of the AG Department's effort is devoted to the area of supply increase, including market orientation of production systems and the improvement of urban and rural marketing and post-production systems. This effort also includes the highly complementary area of improved natural resource management that encompasses sustainable intensified resource use.
66. The major thrust of the SD Department is clearly shown to be in the areas of food security and resource sustainability - including the major effort planned in support of the Organization's responsibilities for environmental agreements and monitoring international commitments. The ES Department is also heavily involved with the area of food security, with an additional concentration on international trade and policy analysis, regulations and codes of conduct, consumer protection and trade. The department is also contributing to the creation of a favourable policy environment within which supply increase, rural poverty alleviation and enhancing food security can be achieved on a sustainable basis.
67. The Committee is invited to provide its views on the proposed departmental medium-term objectives and their associated activity outlines, as regards the Agriculture, Economic and Social, and Sustainable Development Departments.
| Priority Areas Mid-Term Objectives | Food Insecurity and Rural Poverty | Emergency Prevention and Response | Ag. Trade and Regulatory Frameworks | Increased Production and Supply | Resource Sustainability | Info, Data and Statistics |
Agricultural Dept. (AG) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1.Production and supply of food and agricultural products |
** |
|
|
** |
** |
|
2. Efficient Market-Oriented Agriculture |
** |
** |
**** |
**** |
* |
** |
3. Household Food Security and Ag.Sector Opportunities for the rural poor |
***** |
** |
|
*** |
|
|
4. Sustainable Intensification of Natural Resources |
* |
|
* |
***** |
***** |
|
5. Germplasm and Biodiversity |
|
* |
**** |
*** |
** |
** |
6. Plant, Animal and Agricultural Product Protection |
** |
** |
** |
** |
|
** |
7. Integrated Information System |
* |
* |
* |
* |
* |
***** |
Sustainable Development Dept. (SD) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1. Equitable, Sustainable Livelihoods and Food Security in Rural Area |
***** |
|
|
** |
** |
** |
2. Information and Data Analysis For Food Security/Sustainable Development |
*** |
*** |
|
***** |
***** |
|
3. Organization-Wide Responsibilities For International Env. Agreements |
|
|
***** |
|
**** |
* |
4. Capacity-Building To Support Technology Enhancement and Transfer |
*** |
|
*** |
***** |
***** |
* |
Economic and Social Dept. (ES) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1. Food, Nutrition and Agricultural Information System and Monitoring |
**** |
* |
** |
** |
* |
***** |
2. World Food, Nutrition and Agricultural Assessment and Outlooks |
** |
|
*** |
** |
|
***** |
3. Food Standards, Quality Control and Consumer Protection |
* |
|
***** |
|
|
** |
4. Reform in the International Trading Environment and Enhancing Int. Trade for Commodity Mkt. Dev./Food Security |
*** |
|
***** |
*** |
* |
* |
5. Food, Nutrition and Agriculture Policies for SARD |
***** |
* |
*** |
**** |
*** |
* |
6. Addressing the impacts of natural hazards and complex emergencies |
** |
***** |
|
|
* |
*** |
Note: five stars denotes an area of intense focus whereas, at the other end of the spectrum, one star indicates a weak relationship.
2For the purpose of this COAG document the term agriculture is here confined to crop and livestock production