Food And Agricultural Organization
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It is an intergovernmental organization; FAO has 194 Member Nations, two associate members and one member organization, the European Union. Its employees come from various cultural backgrounds and are experts in the multiple fields of activity FAO engages in.
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FAO leads international efforts to defeat hunger.
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The goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have access to high-quality food to lead active and healthy lives.
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FAO has identified 5 key priority areas:
- Help eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition
- Make agriculture, forestry, and fisheries more productive and sustainable
- Reduce rural poverty
- Enable inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems
- Increase the resilience of livelihoods to threats and crises
- Its flagship publications include State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA), State of World’s Forests (SOFO).
- Globally important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) are outstanding landscapes of aesthetic beauty combining agricultural biodiversity, resilient ecosystems, and valuable cultural heritage.
- But these systems are facing many threats like climate change, increased competition for natural resources, and migration due to low economic viability which has resulted in traditional farming practices being abandoned.
- The GIAHS initiative by FAO aims to identify, support and safeguard these agricultural systems and also improve the well-being of farming communities in an integrated approach while directing activities towards sustainable agriculture and rural development.
- There are 3 GIAHS sites in India:
- Koraput, Odisha: This region has rich biodiversity and is the best-suited region for growing varieties of crops like paddy, millets, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables.
- Pampore region, Kashmir Valley: Also known as a Saffron Heritage Site of Kashmir in India. Popularly used a set of unique low-tillage traditional agricultural practices
- Kuttanad, Kerala: only system in India that favors rice cultivation below sea level in the land created by draining delta swamps in brackish waters.
FAO in India
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Strengthening Institutional Capacities for Sustainable Mountain Development in the Indian Himalayan Region.
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Promoting Nutrition Education and Communication in India.
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Strengthening Agriculture and Allied Sector Contributions to India`s National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBAP) 2008 and the National Biodiversity Targets (NBTs).
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Technical Assistance to Farmer Water School Programme and Agricultural Activities under the Uttar Pradesh Water Sector Restructuring Project (UPWSRP), Phase- II.
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Support to the implementation of Indian Ocean Tuna Commission Regional Observer Scheme.
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Implementing the Monitoring and Analyzing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) Programme in India.