FN-familiens store sololøber, Fødevare- og Landbrugsorganisationen (FAO), skal koncentrere sig om dét, den er bedst til og ikke strø om sig med kortsigtede småprojekter, skriver 21 forskere og fødevareeksperter i ny rapport – FAO svarer kontant igen: Mange af de efterlyste reformer er for længst eksekveret.
ROME, 6 November 2013 (IRIN): A report by leading academics calls for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to change the way it operates and shift to a greater focus on “global public goods” such as data and analysis, though some of its findings are rejected by a senior FAO official.
The report, entitled “Time for FAO to Shift into a Higher Gear”, has emerged from a Center for Global Development (CGD) working group of 21 academics and experts on food security. It argues that FAO has the potential for greater, wider-reaching impact if it moves away from a focus on local, short-term projects.
“We think by 2050, there will be two billion more people on the planet. There are a number of factors affecting the supply of food, including climate change and other factors that might cause volatility in the production of food,” said Vijaya Ramachandran, lead author of the 21 October report.
“We need to worry about having a proper agency that will guide the thinking and policy dialogue around increasing the productivity of agriculture and increasing our food supply.”
The working group argues that FAO is the right forum to do this. “FAO offers legitimacy, convening authority, and the trust of developing-country governments,” wrote the authors, noting:
“Moreover, it is the only entity that can provide many of the needed ‘global public goods’ in the area of its mandate (such as basic research, global analysis, statistics, international standards, and advocacy).”
But the report warned that FAO “risks squandering (forøde) its potential at a time when demand for food is rising fast, supplies are under threat, and hundreds of millions of people already don’t have enough to eat.”
FAO strongly disputed some of the conclusions, dubbing the report “inconsistent and schizophrenic”, and arguing that many of its recommendations had already taken place.
“It says `move away from production’, then it says `production is key’. It says `social protection is vital’ (and that is what FAO is introducing), but then it says `social protection is not good enough’,” Enrique Yeves, Chief, FAO Office for Corporate Communications, told IRINl.
Emphasis on reliable data
The CGD report calls for greater attention to areas where FAO can be most effective – problem-solving and providing services that cannot be undertaken by any one country alone.
Although definitions and usage of the term vary, essentially an item that is non-rivalrous (its consumption does not reduce the quantity available to other users), non-excludable (it is not possible to prevent anyone from using the good), and is available in most parts of the world, is considered a global public good.
Examples of such items include data compiled from multiple countries, weather reports and responses to global health crises.
“There is no realistic alternative source for many of FAO’s global public goods,” the report said. “International regulatory instruments under FAO auspices govern plant pest prevention, food safety, and the preservation of genetic materials.”
FAO provides early warnings on impending hunger, pest and disease crises. “It tracks emerging threats from locusts (græshopper) in North Africa, the Middle East, and India, and is developing a new Locust Watch program for the Caucasus and Central Asia,” said the report.
….because reliable data are critically important
In particular, reliable data collection needs to be emphasized.
“FAO is an important source of national and regional data on food production, utilization and prices. These data are critically important for monitoring the long-term trends on various aspects of agricultural production and are used by national and international agencies for their planning purposes,” said Suhil Pandey.
He is an agricultural economist and author of several studies on food security in Asia.
It is also an area where food and agriculture issues can be debated neutrally, and is a source of publications on technical matters and the broader policy agenda.
“FAO can make a huge difference in the world, but only if it does the right things better – and stops doing things that can be done as well or better by national governments, NGOs, and bilateral and multilateral funders,” said CGD President Nancy Birdsall in a press statement for the report.
To do this, however, the organization needed to focus on areas where it is in a position to provide added value.
“FAO’s global perspective and cross-border reach, the respect and trust it continues to enjoy in developing countries, and its network of agricultural and economics experts are its strongest assets,” said Birdsall.
But FAO’s Yeves cautioned that the organization’s main goal of eradicating poverty, “cannot be achieved solely by producing public goods in isolation,” noting that “FAO is not a research agency.”
Where is FAO going wrong?
Læs videre på
http://www.irinnews.org/report/99072/call-for-fao-to-shift-focus
