Diouf: Now is the Time to Relaunch Agriculture

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General Jacques Diouf called the attention of the international community to the threats and opportunities brought about by high agricultural commodity prices in an opinion article published in the FAO website entitled, “Soaring food prices- threat or opportunity?”. He suggested a twin-track approach to solve the problem. First, is the creation of a favorable policy environment that would unite the private sector, farmers and traders. It would then be followed by programs that would ensure that small holder farmers have proper access to resources.

Dr. Diouf emphasized the Millennium Development Goals which is to reduce by half extreme poverty and hunger in the world in 2015. He stressed that these goals can only be attained if we can boost agriculture in developing countries in a sustainable way. “The time for re-launching agriculture is now and the international community should not miss the opportunity,” he said.

Read the complete article at http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2008/1000832/index.html . To view the full statement, visit http://www.fao.org/newsroom/common/ecg/1000832/en/DGoped-soaringprices.doc .