The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), an autonomous agency within the UN system, is the leading international body for food and agriculture. It has a membership of 183 countries - plus the European Community (member organization) - who have pledged themselves: to raise levels of nutrition and standards of living of their peoples; to improve the production and distribution of all food and agricultural products; and to improve the condition of rural people. The Organization has four major tasks: it carries out a major program of technical assistance on behalf of governments and development funding agencies; it collects, analyzes, and disseminates information; it advises governments on policy and planning; and it provides opportunities for governments to meet and discuss food and agricultural problems. One of FAO's top priorities is food security, that is ensuring the availability of adequate food supplies, maximizing stability in the flow of supplies and securing access to food by the poor.

FAO was founded at a conference in Quebec, Canada, on October 16, 1945, following the United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture at Hot Springs, Virginia, in 1943, which established a commission to plan the Organization.

In 1949, FAO became the first organization in the UN system to set up a specific commodities section, which developed into the Commodities and Trade Division, a part of the Economic and Social Policy Department of FAO. Through the Division, FAO maintains a watch on the world market situation and outlook for some 80 major agricultural commodities, identifies specific commodity problems and proposes international action to deal with them, and issues specialized reports on agricultural commodity developments and prospects. The Organization also provides advice and assistance to its member countries on national commodity and trade policy problems, particularly as follow-up to the Uruguay Round.

Specific services provided by FAO include the Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture, which monitors global supply and demand for basic foodstuffs (in particular, cereals) and fertilizers. The System issues Food Outlook reports monthly, and special alerts whenever the food supply situation threatens to deteriorate in a country or region which may need assistance.

The Commodities and Trade Division services one of the standing committees of the FAO Council, the Committee on Commodity Problems (CCP). The CCP coordinates 11 intergovernmental commodity groups: on rice (established in 1955), grains (1957), citrus fruit (1959), jute, kenaf, and allied fibers (1963), bananas (1965) with a sub-group on tropical fruits (1997), oilseeds, oils and fats (1965), hard fibers (1966), wine and vine products (1968), tea (1969), and meat (1970), together with sub-group on Hides and Skins. It also oversees the Subcommittee on Surplus Disposal, which regularly monitors concessional transactions to ensure that they do not disrupt normal commercial trade.

COMPOSITION

183 member countries plus the European Community (member organization): Islamic State of Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, European Community (member organization), Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, The Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, São Tomé and Príncipe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia and Montenegro, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Republic of Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe

STRUCTURE

The supreme governing body of the Organization is the Conference, composed of all member nations, which meets every two years to review the state of food and agriculture and FAO's work, and to approve the Regular Program of Work and Budget for the next two years. The Conference elects, as an interim governing body, a Council of 49 member nations, who serve three-year rotating terms. The Conference also elects an Independent Chairman of the Council: the 30th Session of the FAO Conference, in November 2001, elected Aziz MEKOUAR of Morocco to this position for a two-year period.

The Conference also elects the Director-General, who is head of the Secretariat. The present Director-General, Jacques DIOUF of Senegal, was re-elected in November 1999, taking office for a second six-year term.

The Secretariat is staffed by more than 3700 staff members, a little more than half of these located at FAO's Rome headquarters and the rest on field projects and at regional, sub-regional, liaison and country offices.

GENERAL PUBLICATIONS

All in electronic form: www.fao.org/publishing/

The State of Food Insecurity in the World (annual); The State of World Fisheries and Agriculture (bi-annual); State of the World's Forests (bi-annual); The State of Food and Agriculture (annual); FAO Production Yearbook; FAO Trade Yearbook; FAO Fertilizer Yearbook; Yearbook of Forest Products; Yearbook of Fishery Statistics (two volumes: "Catches and Landings" and "Fishery Commodities"); Commodity Review and Outlook (annual); FAO Plant Protection Bulletin (quarterly); Food Aid Bulletin (quarterly); Food Outlook (monthly); FAO Periodic Bulletins of Statistics; Unasylva - forestry review (quarterly); Rural Development (annual)