UN Calls for Continued Efforts to Fight Hunger

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon warned that the global economic crisis could push more people into poverty and urged rich nations to step up their commitments against hunger and malnutrition. The global food crisis issue may have slipped out of the headlines but the worst is far from over. Speaking at the Food Security for All meeting in Madrid, Ban said the high commodity prices pushed the total number of hungry people close to one billion last year. “World poverty cannot be reduced without improvements in agriculture and food systems,” Ban added.

"Prices have fallen from their peaks in 2008, but the food crisis has not gone away,” says the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). “The underlying trends show that global agricultural production cannot keep up with rising demand. The world's 450 million smallholder farms can increase production, lifting millions of poor farm families out of poverty, while helping to feed the world, if they get the support and investment they need.” FAO Director General Jacques Diouf called for an investment of US $30 billion per year in agriculture of developing countries to double food production by 2050 and ensure the basic right to food for all people.

The Madrid conference, organized by the Spanish Government and co-sponsored by the United Nations, followed the 2008 World Food Summit held in Rome at which donors pledged more than US $20 billion in agriculture and food aid.

For the full article, read http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/9904/icode/ and http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2009/sgsm12067.doc.htm