Martin Roberts, PlanetArk 28 Jan 09;
MADRID - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Tuesday said rich nations had to do more to prevent the economic crisis from adding to an already intolerable 1 billion people going hungry in the world.
Food prices had come down for the time being but the number of hungry people was set to rise again, Ban told the High Level Meeting on Food Security for All in Madrid.
"Continuing hunger is a deep stain on our world. The time has come to remove it forever. We have the wealth and know-how to do so," Ban said.
"We worked hard to bring food assistance to those who needed it in 2008. I expect we will need to work harder in 2009, this year of recession," he said.
The two-day Madrid meeting sponsored by the United Nations and other international organizations such as the World Bank followed a summit held in Rome last year at which donors pledged $22 billion in agriculture and food aid.
Aid groups say few of the promised funds have been disbursed. U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization head Jacques Diouf told Reuters about $2 billion had been received to date, but more was due in coming years.
"A billion people are suffering from extreme hunger, so it's obvious the currently existing systems aren't doing their job," said Oxfam spokesman Alexander Woollcombe. "There needs to be demonstrative progress for these meetings to have any meaning."
Conference host and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said his government would spend 1 billion euros in farm aid and food security over the next five years.
The FAO said the number of hungry people increased by 40 million last year but investing $30 billion a year in infrastructure and agricultural production could eliminate the root causes of hunger by 2025.
FAO's Diouf noted at the meeting that $30 billion was just eight percent of the support to agriculture by OECD countries, and dwarfed by financial stimulus packages and world military spending of some $1.2 trillion a year.
Diouf has asked U.S. President Barack Obama to host a summit meeting this year to find ways and means of raising the money.
The FAO estimates 30-40 percent of food production is lost in many poor countries due to lack of storage facilities. Bad or non-existent roads also prevent food from reaching people.
Crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa are also low because just four percent of arable land is irrigated, compared with 38 percent in Asia. Similarly, just three percent of renewable water reserves are used in Africa, far below 18 percent in Asia.
(Editing by Jon Boyle)
UN warns of more food shortages without strong action
FAO 26 Jan 09;
Madrid meeting takes on global food, nutrition and agriculture problems
26 January 2009, Madrid - Chiefs of key international agencies pledged today to step up commitments against hunger and malnutrition, at the opening of a Madrid meeting on Food Security for All.
The meeting is hosted and organized by the Spanish Government and co-sponsored by the United Nations. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Prime Minister Rodriguez Zapatero will co-chair tomorrow´s plenary.
Participating are UN officials and representatives of international agencies belonging to the Secretary-General's High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis, along with leaders of think tanks, non-governmental organizations and the private sector. The objectives of the meeting are to raise the political profile of hunger and food security, develop new partnerships and increase resources.
"With an expected increase of 40 million in 2008, the world today has reached 963 million people who are malnourished," said Jacques Diouf, Task Force vice-chairman and FAO Director-General, at the opening session. "This signifies that right now there are almost one billion who are hungry, out of the 6.5 billion who make up the world population."
The FAO Director-General called for an investment of $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.
"I welcome Prime Minister Zapatero's timely initiative to call this meeting to address the crucial issue of food security," said Lennart Båge, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
"Prices have fallen from their peaks in 2008, but the food crisis has not gone away. Nearly one billion people go hungry everyday and 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. I believe that a global partnership for agriculture and food security can help to ensure that they get it," Båge said.
"When the food crisis hit last year," said Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the World Food Programme, "the world came together in the largest emergency response to hunger and malnutrition in human history. Now, as the financial crisis hits the hungry even harder, we must sustain these unprecedented efforts to meet the urgent food and nutritional needs of the most vulnerable people, while promoting smallholder farmers and agriculture."
She added that the WFP needs $5.2 billion in 2009 to provide food and nutrition assistance and safety net support to almost 100 million people, including smallholder farmers and 20 million children in school feeding programs.
"The risks for the world´s poor cannot be under-estimated," said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director of the World Bank. "Food prices are highly volatile. Millions are malnourished. We need to draw on the experience of governments of the countries concerned, who have been dealing with the realities on the ground throughout. We have solutions and results, but funds are needed for scaling them up, to ensure that those who are most vulnerable get the assistance they need."
The High-Level Meeting on Food Security for All follows through on the June 2008 Food Summit in Rome. In the 5 June Rome Declaration, 181 States and the European Community pledged to alleviate the suffering caused by soaring food prices, stimulate agricultural development, food and smallholder farmer production and address obstacles to food access and adequate nutrition.
