UN chief calls for 50% increase in food output

ROME: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday called for a 50 percent increase in world food production to confront spiralling world food prices at the start of a UN food security summit.

“Food production needs to rise by 50 percent by the year 2030 to meet the rising demand,” he said at the three-day summit at the Food and Agriculture Organisation headquarters in Rome.

“We have a historic opportunity to revitalise agriculture,” Ban said.

“This crisis also presents us with an opportunity to revisit (past policies). ... While we must respond immediately to high food prices, it is important that our long-term focus is on improving food security,” he said.

“We must act for longer term resilience and contribute to global food security,” Ban added, recommending that governments tackle “structural issues that impede agricultural development.”

He also said rural infrastructure needs should be addressed, along with new financing mechanisms.

Notably, the UN chief called for a rapid resolution of the Doha round of World Trade Organization talks to help bring about the elimination of “trade and taxation policies that distort markets”.

Tuesday, AFP