OTTAWA – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization is facing a budget trim, even as it faces escalating demands for its food aid and development services around the world.
In Rome last week, the FAO two-year budget was set at $870 million (Cdn), down from $902 million during the past two years.
Canada will contribute $28 million over two years.
FAO director-general Jacques Diouf had appealed for a slight increase, to $935 million over two years, to cope with demand.
In mid-October, at a news conference that ended an FAO fiftieth anniversary conference in Quebec City, Diouf reacted to proposals that the budget be cut.
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“I’m convinced of the fact that with increasing needs … it is unacceptable that 800 million people lack enough food and 200 million of them are under the age of five,” he said. “I don’t believe that a position like that (calling for cuts) is at all coherent.”
Budget slashing suggested
Some FAO donors, led by the United States, had other ideas.
In Rome, at the conference to set the budget, critics argued it should be slashed to less than $804 million.
The compromise, after days of negotiation, was $871 million.
The Americans, with some support from Canada, argued the FAO can cut fat from its operation.
“We made it clear that they have to wring out the inefficiencies from the organization,” Liberal MP Lyle Vanclief said when he returned to Ottawa from Rome.
As parliamentary secretary to the agriculture minister, he represented the federal government during the budget negotiations.
The Americans, the biggest donors to the UN food agency, have fallen behind in their contributions and the FAO has been running a deficit in recent years.
