Annan Warns Hunger Could Become Permanent Disaster

Kofi Annan is this year's Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) McDougall Distinguished Lecturer on agriculture and hunger alleviation. In his speech at the opening of the 37^th session of the FAO Conference, Annan warned that the current food security crisis, with almost one billion people hungry, could turn into a permanent disaster and endanger millions of lives as well as international cooperation. He added that "along with tackling the linked problem of climate change, delivering global food and nutrition security is the challenge of our time."

Annan called for the FAO to take the lead in increasing the transparency of global food stocks by compiling more accurate and accessible information on the quantity and quality of these stocks, which would help dampen speculation and market volatility. He also called for more research and development into the benefits and impacts on food security of crop-based biofuels, and for more focus on smallholder farmers and women.

Details on this news can be seen at http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/80646/icode/