The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is convening a World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (WCARRD) at FAO headquarters in Rome from July 12 to 20, 1979. This will provide a unique opportunity— perhaps the last, best chance—to come to grips with a problem that has long been crying out for an aggressive, well-planned attack.

The trends are disastrous. The hour is already late. With each passing day some 200,000 more people are added to the world population, mostly to the poor nations to swell the ranks of their destitute.