Founded in October 1945 in Quebec, Canada, the FAO has been headquartered in Rome since 1951. Currently, 194 countries and the European Union (EU) are members.
Tasks and Objectives

As a specialized UN agency, the FAO has a global mandate for food and agriculture. Its main goal is to combat hunger and improve living standards, particularly in rural areas. The FAO aims to:

• Enhance living standards
• Improve nutrition and address hunger and malnutrition
• Increase efficiency and sustainability in agricultural production and distribution
• Create better living conditions for rural populations
• Promote global economic development

To achieve this mandate, the FAO undertakes the following main tasks:

• Collecting, evaluating, and disseminating information on agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and food
• Setting global standards in collaboration with the WHO (e.g., Codex Alimentarius)
• Developing decision-making frameworks for agricultural development with member states and international organizations
• Providing policy advice and strategies for food security with a focus on sustainability
• Supporting food assistance operations under the World Food Programme (WFP)

Institutional Structure

The supreme body is the FAO Conference, which includes all member states and the EU. It decides on policy matters such as:

• Strategic direction (Strategic Framework and Medium-Term Plan)
• Organization and structure (Constitution; Basic Texts)
• Work and Budget Programme (PWB)

The conference meets every two years, with the next session scheduled for 2025. Between sessions, the FAO Council, comprising 49 members and led by an Independent Chair, exercises governance and oversight.

Funding

The FAO operates based on a two-year Programme of Work and Budget (PWB). For 2024/25, it has around US$ 1.02 billion in mandatory contributions and about US$ 3.0 billion in expected voluntary contributions. Mandatory contributions are based on a modified UN contribution key, with Germany as the fourth-largest contributor (6.112%), after the USA, China, and Japan.

The largest share of voluntary contributions comes from the USA, followed by the EU, the Green Climate Fund, Norway, and Germany (around USD 57 million in 2022 and USD 80 million from early 2022 to mid-2023).

FAO and Germany

• Germany has been a FAO member since 1950 and rejoined the FAO Council in July 2022.
• It is a founding member of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), which sets international food standards.
• The Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) has established a framework agreement with the FAO for project cooperation in food security, financing multi-year projects through a bilateral trust fund to enhance food security in priority countries.
• Other German voluntary contributions to the FAO are primarily provided by the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), including the Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), the Reconstruction Loan Corporation (KfW), and the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMU).

As of November 2024

FAO Director-General
Qu Dongyu (China), since August 2019

FAO
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Viale delle Terme di Caracalla
00100 - Rome, Italy
Internet: https://www.fao.org/home/en