FAO in Nepal

Food And Agriculture Organization (FAO)
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) was established on 16 October 1945 with a mandate to:

Mandate:

To raise the level of nutrition and standard of living To improve agriculture productivity To better the lives of rural populations To contribute to the growth of the world economy

Today, FAO is the largest specialized agency within the UN system with 187 member nations plus the European Community (Member Organisation) and more than 3,450 staff members around the world. Following recent efforts to decentralise, a little over half of them work at Headquarters in Rome, while the others carry out FAO activities at decentralised offices and field projects. There are 5 Regional, 5 Sub-Regional, 78 country and 5 Liaison Offices around the world.

Main Activities:

Putting information within reach Sharing policy expertise Providing a meeting place for nations Bringing knowledge to the field

FAO in Nepal
Nepal became member of FAO on 21 November 1951. Between 1967 and 2004, some 160 projects and programmes covering various aspects of agriculture such as policies and legislations, crop diversification, vegetable production, dairy farming, small farmer development, aquaculture, community and leasehold forestry development, marketing and post harvest management, empowerment of women and participatory watershed management have been implemented in the country. At present FAO is co-operating with various agencies of Nepal through 11 ongoing projects and programme covering such areas as: integrated pest management, olive production and processing, fodder oat technologies, transboundry animal diseases, plant quarantine and review of agricultural policies and legislation- all aiming to introduce and sustain innovative approaches to agriculture and rural development.

Among the UN-Agencies, FAO was the first one to start field level work in Nepal, in 1951. Since then nearly 200 larger and small projects have been completed covering various aspects of agricultural development.

FAO is co-operating with HMG/N in operationalising the Agriculture Perspective Plan (APP), which was approved in 1995 and covers up to the year 2015, and the Tenth Plan or Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (2002-2007). The priorities of the APP are to enhance food, high-value cash crops and livestock production, agri-business, and forestry. Irrigation (mainly farmer managed small surface irrigation system in the hills and shallow tubewells in the Terai), fertilizers, technology system (improved seeds and genetic materials) and rural roads and power are priority inputs of the APP. In essence, the APP aims to accelerate growth in agricultural output for improved food security and for poverty alleviation and sustained economic development. The major focus of the Tenth Plan in agriculture is also to contribute to achieve high and sustainable economic growth and poverty alleviation and improve in food and nutrition status of the people by increasing agriculture productivity through integrate package of agricultural inputs and services.

Future Directions
It should be noted that FAO is a technical agency . As such the financial information alone do not provide full indication on the level and depth of FAO-Nepal cooperation. Nevertheless the level of FAO funding to Nepal is expected to remain the same or slightly increase for the next few years. FAO technical co-operation programmes will continue assisting the Government in an integrated approach to address its immediate priorities of the APP and Tenth Plan through capacity building, institutional improvement, food security related issues, agriculture and rural development.

Distribution of Assistance
Sectoral Focus:
All assistance provided by FAO is in the area of agriculture (including forestry, fisheries and on-farm water management) and rural development.

Geographical Focus:
Nationwide.