From Reconstruction to Development: The Early Years of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Conceptualization of Rural Welfare, 1945–1955

Biocultural Rights, Indigenous Peoples And Local Communities

“…13 The UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) began the same year, with the U.S. designated as its first, temporary headquarters. Only recently have scholars chronicled the history of FAO ( Pernet & Ribi Forclaz, 2019), its close relationship with the Green Revolution, and its developmentalist orientation (Ribi Forclaz, 2019); throughlines emerge however, such as the foundational discourse of modernizing the world's food and agricultural systems.…”

International Organizations and Food: Nearing the End of the Lean Season?

“…Supplementing its own small budget, the rapidly growing UN Expanded Program of Technical Assistance (EPTA, later to become the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)) doubled its funds to the FAO as part of its increased rural development aid (Forclaz 2019, 361). Consequently, the FAO's ability to undertake short-term technical assignments upon request by member governments grew (Forclaz 2019). The largest number of experts deployed came from the US and other Western countries and the way in which these technical missions worked was short-term, without much familiarity with the broader socio-economic contexts of receiving countries (Forclaz 2019, 363).…”

“…As contributions remained behind commitments, IFAD became a small provider of grants and loans when compared to the World Bank and regional development banks (Shaw 2009, 63, 87). 2 Nonetheless, it is the only IFI that has the mandate to invest its resources exclusively into agriculture in developing countries (Martha 2009: 457).…”