Political, Financial Push Urged to End Hunger

The celebration of the World Food Day which coincided with the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) foundation day was recently held in the Rome headquarters. The affair was highlighted by the FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf’s speech emphasizing that “What we need is political will and delivery on financial commitments, if we are to be able to make the essential investments that are needed to promote sustainable agricultural development and food security in the poorest countries in the world.”

Similar statements were delivered by Egypt’s First Lady Suzanne Mubarak in her keynote speech. She believed that the food crisis merited a rescue effort on par with the international response to the financial and credit crisis. A read message from Pope Benedict XVI on the other hand pointed that “an essential condition for increasing production, safeguarding the identity of indigenous populations as well as peace and security in the world is to guarantee access to land, thus helping agricultural laborers and promoting their rights.”

For details of the celebration see press release at http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2008/1000940/index.html. For details of activities related to the World Food Day, check out the FAO website at http://www.fao.org/.