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Chennai: While the richest nations are cool to the burning issue of world food crisis at the ongoing UN hunger summit in Rome, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in its latest report on global crop prospects and food situation, has said food prices in poor countries that are net importers still remain high despite a good 2009 world cereal production.
The report, which calls for higher investments in agriculture to ward off hunger, was published in time for the World Summit on Food Security being held in Rome from Monday to Wednesday. The summit aims to securing a broad consensus on the immediate reduction of hunger with a focus on boosting public and private investment in agricultural development in poor countries.
Critical food insecurity is affecting 31 countries and they therefore require emergency assistance. In Eastern Africa, the situation is particularly serious as drought and conflict has put an estimated 20 million people in need of food aid, FAO, the organiser of the Summit said.
In Asia, the outlook for rice production in 2009 has deteriorated since July following irregular monsoon rains in major rice-producing India and natural disasters in some other countries, including Japan, the Republic of Korea, Lao People's Democratic Republic and Sri Lanka. Although international food prices have fallen significantly since their peaks a couple of years ago, wheat and maize prices strengthened in October and rice export prices are still way above pre-crisis levels, FAO said.
"For the world's poorest people who spend up to 80% of their household budgets on food, the food price crisis is not over yet," said FAO Assistant Director General Hafez Ghanem. "It is now a global priority to increase investment in developing country agriculture in order to fight poverty and hunger". In Western Africa, cereal production in 2009 is to decline from last year's good crop. Below average rain required re-planting in many parts of West Africa and led to livestock losses in Mali, Chad and Niger, the report said. Cereal prices in the region are still well above the levels of two years ago before the food price crisis. Imported rice was between 22 and 46% higher. FAO also warns that the expected reduction in Nigeria's cereal production could lead to new cereal price rises across West Africa. In Eastern Africa the situation is very worrying due to expected crop and pasture failures from poor...
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