<p>Food insecurity worsened around the world in 2023, with about 282 million people suffering from acute hunger due to conflicts, particularly in Gaza and Sudan, according to this report by the United Nations agencies and development groups.</p>
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.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe defended land policies blamed for devastating his country's agricultural sector, asserting at a U.N. food summit Tuesday that the West was trying to cripple the nation's economy. Mugabe's presence at a summit addressing high global food prices sparked protests from some world leaders. He is blamed for the economic collapse of a country once considered a regional breadbasket and Zimbabweans increasingly are unable to afford food and other essentials. MUGABE SLAMMED: Critics attack Zimbabwean for attending summit
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.
The SAARC Food Bank is likely to be operational soon with the completion of ratification by the member states, reliable sources said. According to a highly placed source, among the member states of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC), so far four -- Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka -- have ratified the declaration for establishment of the proposed SAARC Food Bank. The declaration is now awaiting the ratification by the other SAARC nations.
RAGHU DAYAL Shifting paradigms of food security and the impact of trade liberalisation on it FOOD SECURITY
Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda left for Europe on Sunday for talks with fellow leaders on the global food crisis as he prepares to host the Group of Eight summit in July, officials said. Fukuda, facing slumping approval ratings, hopes to use the G8 summit of world leaders to boost Japan's diplomatic clout and highlight its efforts to help tackle global warming and food shortages in developing countries. On the first leg of his five-day European trip, he is to arrive in Berlin late Sunday to hold talks with German chancellor Angela Merkel, a government official said.
M.S. Swaminathan It is hoped that at the Rome Conference on world food security, Indian representatives will serve as a bright affirming flame in the midst of the sea of despair we see around us.
World leaders are set to gather in Rome on Tuesday for a high-profile summit on food security as runaway prices have sparked riots across the world. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will open the conference by unveiling an "action plan" to confront the scourge, said diplomats ahead of the conference, which lasts through Thursday, at the Food and Agriculture Organisation's headquarters here. The plan was put together by a crisis team involving the heads of several U.N. agencies and the Bretton Woods institutions, said the sources.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Sunday he would seek to convince world leaders gathering in Rome this week that ethanol is not to blame for global food inflation threatening millions with hunger. Brazil is the world's largest ethanol exporter and a pioneer in sugar-cane based biofuels, making it a target of critics who say ethanol is behind increases in world commodity prices.
Food prices will remain high over the next decade even if they fall from current records, meaning millions more risk further hardship or hunger, the OECD and the U.N.'s FAO food agency said in a report published on Thursday. Beyond stating the immediate need for humanitarian aid, the international bodies suggested wider deployment of genetically modified crops and a rethink of biofuel programs that guzzle grain which could otherwise feed people and livestock.
