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. A high-level conference on World Food Security has been convened by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome from June 3-5, 2008. The conference is in response to the growing global food emergency arising partly from the steep escalation in the price of fossil fuels and partly from weather aberrations. The conference will consider both the pressing problems of today and the emerging problems arising from climate change and diversion of pr ime farmland for the production of bioenergy. It has become a trend in such conferences for heads of governments/states from Africa and other developing countries to participate in large numbers. In contrast, the industrialised countries tend to be represented either by their ambassadors in Rome or senior officials. It has also become customary in such large international political gatherings for developing countries to blame both rich countries and the WTO for not responding to their needs adequately and at the right time. The industrialised countries, in turn, stress that developing countries normally neglect their farmers and also exhibit a deficit in governance and surplus in corruption. At the end of the meeting, a few small gestures of immediate assistance will be forthcoming along with volumes of advice, but the long-term problems will remain under the carpet. The entire exercise, involving considerable expenditure, ultimately becomes a forum for photo opportunity and media cynicism. The poor nations and the poor in all nations will suffer most from the inaction associated with such a blame game. As the immediate past president of the Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs, I wish to quote what Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein said in a Manifesto issued on 5 April 1955: "We appeal as human beings, to human beings. Remember your humanity and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise, if you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death.' This immortal appeal is the guiding principle behind the Pugwash movement for a nuclear-peril free world. An even greater peril confronting us today is the spectre of widespread hunger and the consequent food riots. Unless the right to food becomes a fundamental human right and gets enforced legally and socially, the hungry will have to eat only promises and platitudes. Reducing hunger and poverty by half by 2015 is the first among the U.N. Millennium Development Goals which, in my view, represent a Global Common Minimum Programme for Sustainable Human Security and Peace. Unfortunately, an assessment made at the end of five years of the 15-year period revealed that most developing countries, including India, are not making proportionate advance in achieving even this very modest target. China is a notable exception to this trend. There are no technical, economic or political excuses for the failure to eliminate endemic hunger in an effective manner. This is unfortunate since food occupies the first position among the hierarchical needs of a human being. This is why Roman philosopher Seneca mentioned over 2000 years ago that a hungry person listens neither to religion nor reason nor is bent by any prayer. The widespread social unrest we see today in many parts of the world is partly due to the growing rich-poor divide in entitlement to the minimum purchasing power essential for household nutrition security. Threats to human security Compounding the problems arising from poverty and unemployment are the new threats to human security arising from the rising cost of petroleum products and the consequent diversion of land and crops for fuel and feed production. The answer to these questions lies in improving the productivity and profitability of major farming systems in an environmentally sustainable manner. In most developing countries affected by high food prices, agriculture is the main source of rural livelihoods. They should hence initiate steps to take advantage of the vast untapped production reservoir existing with the technologies on the shelf, and thereby build a sustainable food security system based on home grown food. For example, in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the average yield of food crops like sorghum, maize, millets and grain legumes is less than 50 per cent of what can be achieved. Most of the farms in the developing countries of Asia are small in size, often less than two hectares. The smaller the farm the greater is the need for marketable surplus in order to get some cash income. Carefully planned agricultural progress can help to create simultaneously more food, income and jobs. It is only agriculture, including crop and animal husbandry, fisheries, forestry and agro-processing that can promote job-led economic growth. Modern industry, in contrast, promotes jobless growth, which will lead to joyless growth in population rich nations. Besides responding to the immediate food needs, the global community should help nations affected by the food crisis in the following areas: