Food and Agricultural Problems

A/RES/40/181No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, published in 1986.

What other versions does this mandate have?

5 versions · 1985–1991

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/45/207

1991A/RES/45/207Food and agricultural problemsLatestCompare with previous version
1989A/RES/43/191Food and agricultural problemsCompare with previous version
1987A/RES/41/191Food and agricultural problemsCompare with previous version
1986A/RES/40/181Food and agricultural problemsCompare with previous version
1985A/RES/39/166Food and agricultural problems

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What does this mandate say?

23 operative paragraphs

Reaffirms its resolutions 38/ l 58 of 19 December 1983 and 39/ 166 of 17 December 1984, and Economic and Social Council resolution 1984/54 of 25 July 1984, as well as all other relevant resolutions concerning food and agriculture, and calls for their immediate and effective implementation;

Welcomes the conclusions and recommendations, as adopted, contained in the report of the World Food Council on the work of its eleventh ministerial session, held in Paris from 10 to 13 June 1985;26 3.

Welcomes also the conclusions and recommendations contained in the tenth annual report of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes of the World Food Programme27 and m the report of the Committee on its nineteenth session;28

General Assembly-Fo_m_·_et_h_Sess

Affirms that food represents an essential element of the world's economic, social and political development process and should therefore be treated with the highest priority by all Governments in their rededication to the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations in this fortieth anniversary year of the United Nations and to the commitment of the World Food Conference to eliminate hunger and malnutrition;

Reaffirms that urgent action should be taken to increase food production, which is one of the most important elements in meeting the food needs of the developing countries; that, in this regard, sustained efforts at the national, regional and international levels should be pursued; and that the national food strategies, plans and programmes of developing countries should play a central role in the process of establishing priorities, in co-ordinating national and international funding and in the application of technology and human resources development, in order to promote food production and increase the national selfreliance of the developing countries;

Welcomes the positive efforts of developing countries for the development of their food and agricultural production, and calls upon the international community to provide effective support to those efforts;

Emphasizes the need for priority attention at the national, subregional, regional and international levels to the timely delivery of food to those requiring assistance, especially in African countries, and the need to assist recipient countries in developing and strengthening their logistic, transportation and administrative capacities, as well as internal distribution systems, and, that emergency food aid programmes should, whenever possible, procure supplies within the region;

Appeals to the international community to provide, as a matter of extreme urgency, the logistic agricultural inputs, and fulfil the unmet aid needs of the drought and famine-affected African countries;

Notes with deep concern the substantial decline in international market prices for agricultural commodities over the last five years, which, coupled with deteriorating terms of trade for commodity exporting countries, have had particularly serious effects on developing countries. and in this context calls for appropriate measures to overcome foreign exchange constraints, including measures to diversify and increase export earnings, and for continuous efforts for the conclusion of commodity agreements and arrangements, as appropriate, particularly within the framework of the Integrated Programme for Commodities, and agrees that efforts should continue in order to improve the effectiveness of appropriate export earning stabilization schemes and to seek agreement on more effective cooperation in international commodity policy, notably through the early entry into force of the Agreement Establishing the Common Fund for Commodities; 29 10.

Emphasizes that the success of efforts of developing countries to solve their food and agricultural problems requires, as a major element, economic growth, which is severely constrained by, inter alia, the burden of external debt; and that, in accordance with recommendations of the World Food Council at its eleventh ministerial session, adjustment programmes for resolution of debt problems should take into account the food and social needs of the developing countries on a sustained and long-term basis;

Stresses the need to continue and to intensify the support for programmes and policies for increasing food and agricultural production and raising nutritional stand-

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ards in developing countries, particularly in Africa and the least developed countries, and in this context urges the international community, particularly the developed countries, to take determined action, in support of the efforts of developing countries, to increase the flow of resources, particularly the concessional flow by, inter alia. increasing their contributions to multilateral agencies;

Calls upon the parties concerned urgently to achieve the conclusion of the negotiations on the second replenishment of the International Fund for Agricultural Development in the light of the broad agreement achieved at the seventh meeting of the consultation on the replenishment;

Urges developed countries to provide the International Development Association with the necessary financial resources, including, inter alia, supplementary financing, to enable it to cover any shortfall and to increase its assistance to developing countries, particularly in the development of food and agriculture;

Recommends that the International Wheat Council should continue to explore the possibilities of raising the minimum overall commitment under the Food Aid Convention to 10 million tons;

Recommends that the Committee on Trade in Agriculture of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade should continue, within its mandate, to accelerate to the greatest extent possible progress towards more operationally effective rules and disciplines for trade in agriculture, bearing in mind the concerns of all developing countries, including wider and more predictable access to markets;

Urges all countries to demonstrate the requisite political will by refraining from creating obstacles to agricultural imports, especially those from developing countries, and all exporting countries, particularly developed countries, to endeavour to limit export subsidies and analogous practices which might hinder trade, especially that of developing countries;

Notes with satisfaction paragraph 2 (e) of Trade and Development Board resolution 286 (XXVIII) of 6 April 1984,30 in which the Board decided that, in the annual review of the problems of protectionism and structural adjustment, attention should be given to strengthening the participation of developing countries in agro-industrial production and trade and, in this regard, paragraph (g) of Board decision 310 (XXX) of 29 March 1985,31 in which the Board recommended that, in preparing the documentation for the annual review to be carried out at the thirtysecond session of the Board, the secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development should give particular attention to this question and special attention to the difficulties of the African and the least developed countries;

Recognizes the important contribution and potential of women in the development of the food and agricultural sectors and the need adequately to reward their contribution to those sectors, and urges Governments to ensure and enhance women's participation in the formulation and implementation of national food and agricultural policies, plans and projects;

Recognizes the importance of implementing famine prevention measures and, in this regard, welcomes the increased activity and proposed strengthening of the Global Information and Early Warning System in Food and Agriculture of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and emphasizes the importance of

establishing and improving national and regional early warning systems;

Appreciates the measures taken by the World Food Programme to ensure speedy and timely delivery of food aid as well as the development of an information system for the dissemination on a regular basis of all relevant information on food aid to facilitate planning and operational co-ordination;

Urges the donor community to provide the necessary financial support for the effective implementation of the programmes of action adopted by the FAO World Conference on Fisheries Management and Development;32 22.

Urges the World Food Council, within the context of its mandate, to mobilize and sustain greater efforts in the struggle to overcome hunger, to continue to review and report on major problems and policy issues, and to continue to serve as a co-ordinating mechanism in the field of food and other related policy matters within the United Nations system and, in this connection, notes that the Council, in its report to the General Assembly,33 addressed the question of strengthening its effectiveness and other related issues, and expresses the hope that necessary action, as appropriate, will be taken in that regard;

Stresses the need to strengthen subregional, regional and interregional co-operation for the promotion of food security and the development of agriculture in developing countries and, in this context, calls upon the relevant entities of the United Nations system to accord priority support to economic and technical co-operation among developing countries in food and agriculture.

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Food and Agricultural Problems

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What does this mandate say?

General Assembly-Fo_m_·_et_h_Sess

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