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The success of the new body will depend essentially on the extent to which Governments concerned are prepared to implement the proposals made by the "Conference and endeavour, so far as possible, to pool their resources at this time of crisis for the common good. T,o a considerable extent also the success of the new body will depend upon the capability and knowledge ot the staff with which it is provided and on the delegates who will attend its meetings. It is believed that the lEFC will be able to retain the services ot some of the key members of the staff of the Combined Food Board, and as it must necessarily work in close co-operation with the FAO a considerable portion of its staff will be seconded for the purpose from that orgamzation It is worth noting in this connection that at present the start ot rAU is generally understood to be no more than adequate for its own purposes and clearly insufficiently strong to undertake with success that large and expert body of work which it contemplates. It is not impossible, therefore, that any over-ambitious programme now to meet the present crisis might well have the effect of prejudicing the long-term operations for which FAO was established. The position of the London Food Council and also of the commodity Committees which previously sat in London will no doubt be clarified at an early stage of the operations of the lEFC, but it would seem probable that the importance of the London bodies must diminish, and that to a substantial extent the work they have performed will now be transferred to Washington. I have, &c., C. A. Berendsen. APPENDIX I—APPRAISAL OP THE WORLD POOD SITUATION, 1946-47* (1) Introduction This is an appraisal of the world food situation for 1946-47 which the Food and Agriculture Organization has prepared for the special meeting on urgent food problems. This is a preliminary appraisal which can indicate only the general outline and magnitude of the problems ahead. Current estimates of acreages and live-stock numbers are at best informed forecasts, while crop yields, especially of the crops recently planted, cannot be accurately estimated until August or September or, in the case of the Far Eastern rice crop, the closing months of 1946. As a basis for estimating food deficits or shortages under emergency conditions, an expert Nutrition Committee has advised that food-supplies per caput daily at the retail stagef should not be allowed to fall below 2,000 calories for any sizable segment of the population in continental Europe. Ihe corresponding figure for the Far East, allowing for differences m age distribution size, climate, &c., is about 1,600 calories. To allow for disparities m consumption within countries, national averages must, of course, be several hundred calories above the " emergency subsistence level. A higher "temporary maintenance" level is also given to be used in preference wherever it is at all possible. Although this level is 300 calories a day

* The estimates and other material upon which this appraisal is based are described m detail in a series of technical supplements covering nutrition, continental Europe, the Far East, commodities, fisheries, agricultural rehabilitation, fertilizer, and wastage. This statement is a revision of the o7£ oase ot hom , f _ Mowing to household waste, however, actual " intake " of calories is always somewhat less than amounts supplied at retail.

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