The Food and Agriculture Organization was founded in October 1945 with a mandate to raise levels of nutrition and standards of living, to improve agricultural productivity, and to better the condition of rural populations.

Today, FAO is the largest autonomous agency within the United Nations system with 180 Member Nations plus the EC (Member Organization) and more than 4 300 staff members around the world. Following recent efforts to decentralize, FAO's staff includes almost 2 300 people at Headquarters and more than 2 000 working at decentralized offices and field projects. FAO - assisted projects attract more than $300 million per year from donor agencies and governments for investment in agricultural and rural development projects.