UN Food Body calls for summit on global food ‘emergency’
NEW DELHI — The head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization on Wednesday urged world leaders to attend a summit in early June to discuss what he described as an "emergency" global food shortage.
"In the face of food riots around the world like in Africa and Haiti, we really have an emergency," FAO chief Jacques Diouf told a news conference in New Delhi.
Diouf said as populations have moved to the cities, food output has stagnated, prices have risen and food stocks are at their lowest since 1980.
He said this crisis should be addressed by the 191 members of the FAO in Rome in early June.
Diouf said that in fast-growing countries such as India and China, which together account for a third of the world’s population, "demand for more milk and more meat because of economic growth of eight to 10 percent means higher demand for more cereals" that in turn worsens food shortages.
