Global Food Crisis: ‘Raise Food Production by 50 per cent by 2030’

By T. Vishnu Jayaraman


At a recently concluded High-Level Conference on World Food Security in Rome, held from 3 to 5 June 2008, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that the world needed to produce more food and that its production needed to rise by 50 per cent by 2030 to meet growing demand.

Secretary-General Addresses Global Food Security Summit

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses a High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy - Rome, Italy.(UN Photo/Mark Garten)

Mr. Ban noted that the world’s population would reach 7.2 billion by 2015 and today’s problems would only grow unless we act now. “I call upon you to take bold and urgent steps to address the root causes of this global food crisis. We want a firm commitment to moving ahead”, the Secretary-General added. He said he had set aside a reserve of $100 million from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund to help fund new humanitarian needs arising from soaring food prices.

Thanking Dr. Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), for his leadership, Mr. Ban called upon the delegates consisting of Heads of State and Government, agriculture ministers, leaders of UN agencies and members of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to work together to scale up efforts to ensure that national authorities are able to coordinate their implementation.

Mr. Ban highlighted the recommendations by the High-level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis, which outlines both short- and longer-term measures to address global food security issues. The immediate needs include expanding food assistance through food aid, vouchers or cash, boosting smallholder farmers’ food production, adjusting trade and taxation policies to support immediate food availability, management of macroeconomic policies, improving rural infrastructure and links to markets, and expanding microcredit programmes. The longer-term measures include sustained growth in food availability through smallholder-led production, efficient social protection systems, strengthened food security risk management, improved international food markets and developing international consensus on sustainable biofuels.

The Task Force was established by the Secretary-General on 28 April 2008 to develop a clear plan known as the Comprehensive Framework for Action (CFA). The Task Force’s draft report, which was distributed informally to conference delegates in Rome, recommends application of the CFA at both national and local levels. As such, the CFA proposes six steps for action by national authorities to be undertaken within the next three months, with the support of the United Nations country teams and World Bank country directors, in partnership with civil society groups.

Farmer Harvests Sorghum Seeds in Sudan

A local farmer harvests sorghum produced from seeds donated by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) through the "Improving Seeds" project: Nyala, Sudan (UN Photo/Fred Noy)

The six CFA steps include: joint government-led assessments—to identify key needs and specific areas of vulnerability; establishment of a national food security task force—to bring together national authorities, private sectors, civil society and relevant international organizations; development of a national food security strategic programme—to emphasize the actions needed for both immediate and longer-term outcomes; organizing a national food security financing conference—to ensure adequate resources for food security strategy; maintaining good public communications—to ensure that the strategy and programme are understood among the concerned entities and the wider public; and a harmonized monitoring process—led by Governments with participation of the UN system, donors and civil society groups.

Chaired by Mr. Ban, the Task Force aims to ensure progress at the country-level, as related to the six steps and their subsequent implementation, which will be reviewed through monthly meetings, with emphasis on high-risk countries.

According to the draft report, the CFA aims to serve as a catalyst for action and synthesis of policies and priorities. Successful implementation of CFA goals will largely depend on the close partnership, at the country level, between national governments, the organizations representing the Task Force and civil society groups. The complete version of the comprehensive framework is likely to be ready, with additional input from the Rome conference, by the end of June 2008.

The Rome conference, which addressed food security issues in the face of soaring food prices, concluded with the adoption of a declaration urging the international community to increase assistance for developing countries, in particular the least developed countries and those that are most at risk. The declaration stated: “There is an urgent need to help developing countries and countries in transition to expand agriculture and food production, and to increase investment in agriculture, agribusiness and rural development, from both public and private sources.”

At the Conference, Dr. Diouf stated that the current world food crisis has already had “tragic political and social consequences in different countries” and could further “endanger world peace and security.” He further said that “the structural solution to the problem of food security in the world lies in increasing production and productivity in the low-income, food-deficit countries”.

According to FAO, food prices have risen sharply and are affecting millions of people across the world. Factors that have contributed to this development include low levels of world stocks, crop failures in major producing countries like Australia in the last two years, growing demand for grain-based biofuel production supported by subsidies, gradual changes in agricultural policies of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, and strong economic growth in developing countries.

Apart from the United Nations, the World Bank, FAO, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have allocated funds to fight the global food crisis. While the World Bank has established a new $1.2 billion rapid financing facility, including $200 million in grants targeted at the world’s poorest nations, FAO has called for $1.7 billion in new funding to provide low-income countries with seeds and other agricultural support. WFP pledges to raise an additional $1.2 billion to meet its existing commitments this year, while IFAD is giving an additional $200 million to poor farmers in the most affected countries.

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