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New Delhi, Apr 9: While world food prices continue to rise, the visiting chief of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Jacqus Diouf, on Wednesday said food stocks have plummeted to lowest level since 1980s.
Diouf said the world's maize stocks would last for another eight weeks while there is about 12-week stock of wheat and rice. "We have necessary elements of further rise in food prices and it's a crisis situtation," Diouf said.
However, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar expressed confidence that India's food situation is comfortable with sufficient stock. "We have over half a million tonne food grain surplus than the buffer norms as on April 1," Pawar said.
According to Food Corporation of India, the wheat stock as on April 1 is 5.5 mt against the buffer norm of 4 mt. Diouf added global commodity prices were far from easing in the short term owing to tight supply-demand situation and warned of flareups over food shortage.
"The world food situation is very serious today with food riots reported from many countries like Egypt, Cameroon, Haiti, Burkina Faso and Senegal. We fear that this may spread to other countries," he added.
Diouf said the FAO has called an emergency meeting of the head of states during June 3-5 to discuss the overall situation including impact of climate change. The meeting will discuss whether to stop biofuel production in developed countries that are diverting foodgrains to make ethanol. Diouf said currently 100 million tones of cereals are being diverted for biofuel production in one country and the quantity is estimated to increase 12-fold by 2017.
He said people in the developing countries spend 50%-60% of their income on food, and any rise in food prices affects them.
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