FAO's Director-General Studies New Zealand Farming Methods

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 100, Issue 5, 16 May 1960, Page 414

FAO's Director-General Studies New Zealand Farming Methods

METHODS by which New Zealand has developed a high output of farm produce per acre and per unit of labour were demonstrated to the Director-General of FAO*, Mr B. R. Sen, during his recent visit to New Zealand. He was also shown how research is opening up prospects for per acre production considerably higher than targets set in comparatively recent times and since achieved. Mr Sen, who is visiting as many member countries of FAO as possible to stimulate interest in the organisation's work, is the first Director-General of FAO to visit New Zealand. In company with the Director-General of Agriculture, Mr P. W. Smallfield, he inspected research stations, Massey and Lincoln Agricultural Colleges, several typical dairy and sheep farms, and land development work.

K/fR SEN was obviously impressed by IVJ. research activities in New Zealand and keenly interested in the extent to which improved practices have been adopted by farmers. Persuading food producers to accept the better techniques demonstrated by research was, he indicated, a main problem in many parts of the world.

Freedom from Hunger How to improve food supplies in a world in which about a third of all the people are underfed is one of FAO’s most important missions. To focus world attention on this continuing problem and to mobilise national and international effort toward its solution Mr Sen proposed at the twenty-sixth session of the Economic and Social Council of United Nations in 1958 a

“Freedom from Hunger Campaign” and it has been unanimously supported by the members of FAO. The overall objectives are: @ To achieve better understanding of the problem of providing adequate food for the present and future world population in the light of its rapid increase and of methods by which the gap between available and optimum food supplies can be met. ® To stimulate countries to take action aimed at bridging the gap. New Zealand is supporting this campaign, which is essentially an intensification of activities for which FAO is principally responsible. The basic aim in overcoming hunger is to build up agricultural production in the less developed countries. New Zealand is already helping in this way both by provision of direct technical assistance in Colombo Plan countries and in training of students from those countries in various branches of agriculture.

World Seed Campaign „ , . 7, . , ... , Extensive use 01 high-quality seed of improved varieties is recognised as one 01 the most generally and economically applicable measures for increasing productivity and quality of agricultural, horticultural and forest products. Recognition of this has led FAO to launch an international seed campaign for 1961 New Zealand has had a highly developed programme of seed improvement for about 30 years and to that extent the FAO seed campaign aims have been anticipated here, Nevertheless, New Zealand is cooperating in the campaign through its existing Small Seeds Advisory Committee. This committee comprises representatives of farmers, seed

merchants, and the Department of Agriculture. Mr Sen saw at the Department of Agriculture’s Seedtesting Station at Palmerston North ow New z ea land had developed a S Sem for ensuring that farmers cou i d be supplied with high-quality seeds . p s , - , . , ~ „., .^ aw Zealand has advised FAO of its willingness to provide training assistance in seed certification and improvement under existing technical assistance schemes. Actually this would be only a continuation or extension of assistance already being given, as for some years Colombo Plan students have received such instruction as part of agricultural courses at Massey and Lincoln Colleges. The general technical training in agriculture which visiting students

receive is regarded by New Zealand authorities as fundamental to progress in the use of improved seeds, because this must be directed by efficient general farm advisory and technical officers. New Zealand has, therefore, already provided many students from under-developed countries with a background that fits them to assist with the national seed campaigns which FAO is fostering. Extent of Technical Assistance New Zealand has supplied considerable technical assistance in agriculture to under-developed countries, both by sending experts to those countries and in training students in New Zealand. Up to 1 March 1960, 14 agricultural experts in various fields had assisted a total of six countries, three officers going to Pakistan, three to India, three to Ceylon, two to Indonesia, two to Burma, and one to Nepal. Training in

New Zealand had been provided for 68 agricultural officers up to 1 March 1960. Countries represented were: Singapore, the Philippines, Pakistan, Malaya, Laos, Indonesia, India, Ceylon, Burma, Japan, and Nepal. The pressing need for agricultural development in Asian countries is emphasised by the fact that 12 students from Colombo Plan countries have completed the Diploma of Agriculture course and 50 are completing university courses. During his visit to New Zealand the Director-General of FAO was able to gauge the scope of the technical assistance being given, the facilities available for doing this, and results which had been achieved on farms here by the application of results from field and laboratory investigations. AT RUAKURA Ruakura Animal Research Station, like much of the Waikato, was reflecting a very favourable season at the time of Mr Sen’s visit. Its paddocks and the herds and flocks combined to demonstrate most strikingly New Zealand’s reliance on livestock fed on grass. The extent to which under an extremely favourable climate this

combination can be exploited to produce increasing quantities of animal foods was explained to Mr Sen by Dr C. P. McMeekan, Superintendent of Ruakura, during inspections of some of the principal experimental areas. On portion of an area where meat production under various systems of stocking with sheep and cattle is being studied Mr Sen saw a typical flock of Romney ewes used for fat lamb production by mating with Southdown rams. Dr McMeekan explained the standard practice among fat lamb farmers of bringing in five-year-old ewes from hill country on to fattening farms where they were mated and reared their lambs. He said that average production of carcass meat per acre in the experiment had been similar with various combinations of stocking with sheep and cattle —about 250 lb per acre. Dr McMeekan emphasised that the aim was to determine the best use of the feed available, which was grass alone. This no doubt impressed on Mr Sen the great dependence in New Zealand on pastures for livestock farming. This was again heavily accented when the visitor was taken on to a dairy unit where the performance of herds under controlled and uncontrolled grazing was being compared. Mr Sen was told how butterfat production on commercial dairy farms had been raised very substantially even in the last 30 years, how 250 lb per acre

was now commonly achieved, and that at Ruakura production exceeded 400 lb per acre. At another dairy unit Mr Sen was given further insight into New Zealand’s constant search for greater efficiency in production of animal foods. Here he saw the study of aspects of the actual milking process. Mr Sen was shown milk flow recording equipment and a device for measuring udder pressure. This special equipment was designed by scientists at Ruakura. Bridging the gap between what is achieved in scientific institutions and by farmers is obviously a problem to which the Director-General of FAO must give much thought. Dr McMeekan explained how the Ruakura Farmers’ Conference had been organised to give farmers opportunity to see and hear about research work. This annual conference enabled officers to be freed of interruption to their research work at other times, which before the holding of the conference had been an embarrassment. Mr Sen was most impressed by the meeting and lecture facilities provided in the Ruakura Farmers’ Hall, a substantial part of the cost of which was met by farmers and farmers’ organisations. He was told how beside being the chief forum for the Ruakura Farmers’ Conference the hall had become the venue for many annual meetings of farming and scientific organisations.

■CAO arose from the Hot Springs (Virginia) Conference called by President Roosevelt in 1943 to consider ways for the fulfilment of his “Third Freedom”freedom from want. The organisation was the first of the United Nations agencies to be constituted — Quebec on 16 October 1945 — Mr E. J. Fawcett, Director-General of Agriculture from 1943 to 1957, was elected to the first Executive Committee of FAO. FAO deals essentially with longterm food and agriculture policy, its chief functions being to investigate and advise. As New Zealand has reached a relatively high standard in agricultural development and a high average standard of living, its role within FAO has been in offering aid rather than receiving it. Nevertheless FAO has for us a special significance because it deals with international problems in the distribution of food. It therefore provides a very important forum in which New Zealand can draw attention to policies which react unfavourably on countries which have developed highly efficient production of important foods and whose economic welfare depends largely on their sale on the world’s markets. New Zealand has always been vitally interested in the work of FAO’s Committee on Commodity Problems (CCP), of which she has been a member since 1955. To find ways of reconciling the interests of needy states and of exporting countries likely to be affected by indiscriminate disposal of surpluses the CCP set up a special sub-commit-tee, known as the Consultative Subcommittee on Surplus Disposals (CSD), in Washington.

A most helpful function has been the setting out by the CSD (and adoption by 40 nations) of principles to be adopted by countries to ensure that surpluses are disposed of without harmful interference with normal production and trade patterns. Countries have not always observed the principles to the letter, but their mere existence and the fact that they can be invoked have been of considerable value to New Zealand. FAO discussions enable countries such as New Zealand to question the validity of some of the so-called food surpluses. For instance “surplus” butter which in 1958 provided disastrous competition for the New Zealand product was offered for sale largely because of price-support policies (including maintenance of artificially high local retail prices) within some of the exporting countries. In such circumstances the true relationship between available world supplies and needs tends to be obscured and the interests of efficient producers suffer. Agricultural Support Measures In April 1959 FAO set up a special panel of experts to study agricultural support measures and its report (to be published soon) will be discussed at the next meeting of the Committee on Commodity Problems in June. The CCP hopes to have a list of guiding principles on agricultural support measures to place before the 1961 FAO Conference. The aim will be to minimise the adverse effects on international trade of policies of agricultural protectionism. FAO’s concern with the roots of problems in the production and disposal of food and other essential

agricultural commodities makes its work of immense value to New Zealand. Great significance attached therefore to the visit of the DirectorGeneral of FAO to New Zealand. The Director-General Mr B. R. Sen, the present DirectorGeneral of FAO, was born in India in 1898 and educated at Calcutta and Oxford Universities. He joined the Indian Civil Service in 1922 and has held many important posts in the Bengal and Central governments, including the secretaryship of the Central Food Ministry, and was Director-General of Food in the Government of India from 1943 to 1946. Mr Sen went to Washington as Minister in the Indian Embassy in 1947 and later diplomatic assignments included Ambassador of India to Italy and Yugoslavia (1950-51 and 1953-54), to U.S.A. (1951-52), and to Japan (195556). He represented India at several international conferences and led Indian delegations to United Nations General Assembly, Security Council, and other meetings. Mr Sen repre-~ sented India at the fourth, fifth, and sixth sessions of FAO Conference and at the ninth, twelfth, and sixteenth sessions of the Council of FAO. He became vice-chairman of the Council in 1949 and was elected DirectorGeneral in November 1956. He was reappointed for a further term in 1959. Mr Sen has said that he regards his present job as the most challenging and potentially the most rewarding of his career.

50th Jubilee Issue of “Journal”, June 1960

npHE completion of 50 years of A publication of the “Journal” this year is to be marked in the June issue, which will have many special features of historical interest. The state of farming in 1910, when the “Journal” first appeared, is reviewed, and other articles deal with the development of many aspects of agricultural research and extension and changes in farm management techniques as reported in the “Journal” over the half-century. Subscribers will receive this special issue in the usual way. A keen demand for extra copies is expected, and it would be appreciated if orders for these could be placed in advance so that printing arrangements can be made. Additional copies at Is. each (post free) may be ordered from the Publications Section, Department of Agriculture, at Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. The July and August “Journals” will also contain small supplements reviewing the “Journal’s” reporting of agricultural research and development of farming.

* The Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations.