Nutrition and rural development.

This paper summarizes the conceptual and methodological work carried out by a team of FAO staff and consultants in a continuing effort to introduce nutritional considerations into the planning and execution of agricultural programmes and projects. Guidelines were prepared on the basis of experience acquired to various case-studies and are currently being applied in field projects.

[Study of worldwide nutritional requirements]. / Examen des besoins alimentaires mondiaux

In 1972, for the first time in 20 years, world food production decreased and the resulting food crisis was aggravated by the energy and fertilizer crisis, the arrival of new and important countries on the internationl market and by the tendency to world wide inflation. Present food needs are shown in terms of mean share of protein and energy per person and from this it can be seen that in 1970 nearly 500 million people received a share inferior to maintain energy expenditure fixed at 1,5 time the basal metabolism. The projection of alimentary needs to the year 1985, taking into account population and revenue increase, show that a prodigious effort will have to be accomplished in the developing countries to meet the increasing demand and to supplement the production of the traditional food exporting countries who will soon reach their limit. Such an effort will only be able to be put into production if the industrialized countries, conscious of the need to promote development on a worldwide scale, agree to ensure a large part of the necessary financing.