Food and Agriculture Organization

In his report on the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization in 1951–1952, the Director-General (Dodd) stated that one of the striking developments of the year ending in mid-1952 was the intensified interest in the food and population problem. He believed that during the past year FAO had made more progress in its work than in the previous five years of its existence, adding that this was mainly because nations were “moving ahead more rapidly in the program of technical assistance for economic development.” One of the ways by which FAO was trying to help meet the shortage of competent technical people in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and related fields, which he described as one of the biggest obstacles to economic development in countries where it was most needed, was through regional training and demonstration courses in which governments and organizations cooperated with FAO. Other principal “forward steps” in the work of the organization in 1951–1952 were: 1) increasing international cooperation in the form of regional action programs; 2) more attention was being paid by many governments to working out specific goals and programs for increasing production; 3) a movement to remedy un-satisfactory land tenure conditions was getting under way; 4) proposals for establishing international reserves to relieve acute food shortages and famine were under consideration; 5) expansion in the number of development projects in individual countries; and 6) continuance and improvement of basic technical services useful on a worldwide scale.