Food waste index report 2024
<p>The world wasted an estimated 19 per cent of the food produced globally in 2022, or about 1.05 billion metric tons, according to this new report by the UNEP.</p>
Food Policy
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India well placed to tide over food crisis
by Harender Raj Gautam THE Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations is holding an emergency meeting of heads of states from June 3 to 5, 2008, to discuss "World Food Security and the Challenges of Climate Change and Bio-energy.' World foodgrain stocks are at historic lows and there is enough only for three months. World over, food prices have almost doubled in the last three years, threatening to push 100 million people into absolute poverty. The threat of hunger and malnutrition is growing. Millions of the world's most vulnerable people are at risk.
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Focus on global food security
The FAO World Food Summit, which was addressed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday, is aimed at forging a common international response to the food crisis. The immediate goal of the June 3-5 Summit - which is being attended by more than 40 Heads of State - will be to secure a massive flow of assistance to the world's hungriest people and to ensure that subsistence farmers across the globe will have the seeds and fertilisers they need to plant their crops this season.
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Rich nations attacked over biofuels
Rich countries came under attack yesterday at the United Nations food summit for their biofuel subsidies and production targets, declining spending on development aid for agriculture and large subsidies to European and US farmers. Jacques Diouf, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, told heads of state and governments gathered in Rome that "nobody" understood why cereals had been diverted from human consumption "mostly to satisfy a thirst for fuel vehicles".
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No arable land will be used for bio-fuel President
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has stressed that in the prevailing competition between food and fuel, Sri Lanka was firm in the decision that no land that can be used for food will be used for bio-fuel whatever the commercial attraction may be. Addressing the FAO Conference on food security in Rome yesterday President Rajapaksa said it was the belief of Sri Lanka that food for the people should have the highest priority, and not the running of gas-guzzling vehicles.
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Sri Lanka President proposes setting up of a Global Food Crisis Fund
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday strongly urged the world leaders to seriously consider setting up of a Global Food Crisis Fund, in order to meet future food crisis. "I strongly commend to the world leaders gathered here to seriously consider the setting up of a Global Food Crisis Fund that will have contributions from all countries and from large business organizations that transcend geographical boundaries, and from financial institutions, arms manufacturers and philanthropists of the world, among others,' the President said addressing the UN Food Summit in Rome.
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UN for urgent steps to tackle food crisis
UN chief Ban Ki-moon called for a huge rise in food production Tuesday as world leaders started a summit on the food price crisis that threatens to plunge millions more people into poverty. The UN secretary general said food output had to rise 50 percent by 2030 to meet rising demand, increased finance for agriculture and the elimination of "trade and taxation policies that distort markets."
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Abu Dhabi looks to Sudan for food supply
Abu Dhabi is preparing to launch a large-scale agricultural project in Sudan to develop more than 70,000 acres of land as part of the oil-rich Gulf emirate's efforts to secure food supplies. The project comes amid growing interest from Middle Eastern states to use land overseas to ensure food security. Saudi Arabia and Egypt have also held talks with Sudan and are considering agricultural projects of their own in Africa's largest nation, officials confirmed yesterday.
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India set to exempt Africa from rice ban
India is facing growing pressure from African countries to exempt them from export ban on rice implemented by New Delhi to curb domestic food price inflation. The pressure illustrates how efforts by large producers such as India to control a sharp rise in food costs are hurting poor nations and giving rise to a form of rice diplomacy. "I have a minister from Mali (here)," said Kamal Nath, India's commerce and industries 1 minister, in an interview with the Financial Times.
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Food summit heads for biofuels clash
Biofuel subsidies came under attack on Tuesday at the opening of the United Nations food summit in Rome as the head of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation claimed that "nobody" understood the diversion of food to fuel cars. The opening salvo is likely to set the tone for the next three days and put countries such as the US and Brazil, the world's largest biofuel producers, and also the European Union, on the defensive over their support of biofuel production.
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Food Crisis May Open Door To Genetically Modified Rice
Some rice-producing nations may drop their reluctance to use genetically modified (GM) seeds in the next few years to help offset a crisis that has forced millions to go hungry, a top expert said. "If we consider the challenges that face us, I think we would be very foolish and actually irresponsible to not invest in the development of GM crops," said Robert Zeigler, director general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).