What are the main social care activities for world people that are done by FAO?

FAO sunt grija de bunăstarea Noastră o TUTUROR. Este USOR de Vraja, mai Greu a scris o Pune umărul la CEI DIN jurul Nostru. Corect?

d)      FAO assist the logistic help to subsistence farmers who produce marginal or inadequate amounts of food.

e)      FAO assist the landless wage earners lacking adequate resources to produce food or income to obtain to food.

f)        FAO assist the households headed by women.

g)      FAO assist the households with a large number of dependents.

h)      FAO assist the households situated on marginal lands (e.g. drought-prone areas or steep slopes adversely affected by erosion).

i)        FAO assist the households with insufficient income to enable continued access to adequate supplies of safe and good-quality food.

j)        Among these households the most vulnerable groups are children under five years.

k)      FAO assist the Crop production (pests, drought, etc.) in different countries.

l)        FAO assist the Agricultural technology exchange among different countries.

Social structure

The structure of a society is the way it is organized into families, tribes, communities and other groupings or divisions. A person's attitudes, and people's expectations of that person, are influenced by the groups to which he or she belongs; so too is the individual's access to opportunities, jobs and land.

Social divisions

Divisions within a society can be based on several different factors, including age, sex, religion, residence, kinship and common economic interest.

Age

People of the same age usually have similar interests and attitudes. Young people tend to have different values, attitudes and aims in life from those of older people. In many societies, elderly people are treated with great respect, and their advice is listened to carefully. An extension agent needs to learn the particular aims, expectations and restrictions of different age groups in the society in which he works.

Sex

Traditionally, in rural areas, specific tasks are done either by men or women. Usually women are responsible for household jobs, such as cooking, collecting water and firewood or looking after children. However, in many countries, women also do a lot of farm work. In a number of African countries, over60 percent of all agricultural work is usually done by women. Often, women have their own fields in which they grow food crops, while the men are responsible for commercial cash crops such as tobacco or oil-palm.

Elsewhere, men and women work the same fields, but carry out different tasks. In Botswana, for example, ploughing and all work connected with cattle are traditionally a man's job, while weeding, bird-scaring and threshing are done by the women. Agricultural extension often concentrates on men, with male extension agents visiting male farmers. But any change in the way people farm will also affect the women, and thus may well fail unless extension agents involve women in their programmes.

Religion

Members of religious groups have common beliefs and attitudes, and these may influence their willingness to work closely with people of other religions. Religious differences can create tensions in a rural community: the extension agent should be aware of these. Some religions impose patterns of behaviour which may affect extension. Certain times of day, particular days of the week or seasons of the year may be devoted to religious ceremonies, which means that farmers are not available for farm work or for extension activities.

Residence

People who live close to one another usually have some interests in common. Residents of a village will want facilities such as a school, clean water and health services. They will want access to roads and a fair share in government development programmes. These common interests can unite the village, particularly if such interests are threatened. Where possible, extension agents should try to include in their programmes activities which will unite the whole community in a common task. But they should be aware that there may also be divisions within a village. For example, residents of one part of the village may want a new water tap to be put near their homes, while others will argue that it should be near them.

Where there is tension between different parts of a community, extension agents should as far as possible avoid making it worse and, wherever possible, they should seek ways to reduce this tension. If an agent is seen to be working on behalf of one particular group in the village, other groups may make it very difficult for him to be effective.

Kinship

The strongest groupings are often those based on relationships of birth and marriage within and between families. The smallest of these groupings is the family, which consists of a man and woman and children. In some societies, such families are independent and make their own decisions about where to live, where to farm and what crops to grow. These families will, however, usually have certain duties toward close relatives that they will be expected to fulfil, and these could restrict their freedom of action.

In other societies, larger kinship groups may live together, own land in common or even take joint decisions about farming. When this happens the individual farmer may have little freedom of decision. An extension agent would need to find out who are the leaders and decision-makers of such groups, and work closely with them.

Common economic interest

Economic differences are an important part of social structure. The type of job people do, the amount of money they earn and the quality of land they own or can rent are factors which can divide society into distinct groupings, each with its own concerns, interests, values and attitudes. In a rural area, there may be cattle owners and crop farmers; subsistence farmers who cannot afford to buy costly inputs; commercial farmers who are interested in learning about the latest farm equipment; and landowners and tenants. Each group will have its own requirements and expectations of the extension agent, and the agent will need to adjust his approach to each group's interests.