Original report published by the FAO (Food & Agriculture Organization of the UN)
June 3, 2008, Rome Summit
At the Rome Summit, convened to address the current world food crisis, FAO director-general Dr. Jacques Diouf gave a speech calling for the necessary aid to help those in food crises in developing nations. His speech outlined the excessive amount (hundreds of billions of dollars) of money the world spent in 2006 on arms, the cost of wasting food, and the excess consumption of food by the world's obese. And, moreover, Diouf highlighted the fact that US funding for global food aid has decreased (in real numbers) by 58% since 1984. However, this leaves much room for improvement. The estimated amount needed to eradicate hunger, $30 billion, is easily feasible for the US. This funding would allow developing nations to re-launch agriculture and avert future threats of conflicts over food. The money would be used to increase food production and productivity in developing nations. A way to go about this would be to forge innovative partnerships between countries that have the necessary financial resources and those that have the natural resources necessary. Diouf says, “The problem of food insecurity is a political one. It is a question of priorities in the face of the most fundamental of human needs. And, it is the choices made by governments that determine the allocation of resources.” Diouf further emphasized, “The time for talking is long past; now is the time for action.”
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
The World Needs $30 billion Per Year to Eradicate Hunger - US Can Help
Posts
