The extent of death by hunger and starvation in World War II rivals that of death in combat. By 1945, agriculture has been wrecked; hundreds of millions eke out a living on the equivalent of two potatoes a day. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is born as an agency of the newly founded United Nations. Spurred on by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s call to secure freedom from want, its mission is to help build a “world of plenty’’. In a series of podcasts, Andre Vornic revisits the international context that led to FAO’s creation, and examines how the period since 1945 has reframed our understanding of humanity’s most vital need. In this first episode, a hungry world rolls up its sleeves.
Acknowledgements: Karel Callens, Anna Lartey and Truman F. Peebles (FAO); Lizzie Collingham, historian and writer, Cambridge, UK; Jessica Fanzo, Johns Hopkins University, USA; Jane Howard, World Food Programme (WFP); Andrew Watson, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Read the publication online: www.fao.org/3/cb1182en/online/cb1182en.html
Producer and reporter: Andre Vornic
Post-production: Eric Deleu
