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. 'At national level therefore, even before the issue of global food security had reached a crisis level, my government had already launched an integrated drive towards ensuring our country's food security. But while we act at national level, we need to recognise the fact that in the highly interconnected world of today the causes of the world's food crisis have to be confronted at regional and global levels as well,' he said. The President said that while focusing on specific issues relating to the food crisis Sri Lanka would welcome the FAO to monitor - systematically and continuously - the production of food in the world adding that by doing so the FAO would be able to forecast shortfalls and price fluctuations well in advance so that countries and regions could act well in time to mitigate their adverse effects on the people, and a crisis was prevented from suddenly staring them in the face. 'It is our considered position that a regional approach to food security within a global framework is essential, since food habits and production are region-specific in nature. I would like to request the FAO to initiate a global mechanism for developing regional buffer stocks of staple food. We, in the SAARC region are home to nearly one fifth of the world population. A regional buffer stock of staple food will take pressure off governments in the SAARC enabling them to concentrate on other issues such as reducing poverty and enhancing quality of life of their peoples,' he said. President Rajapaksa said that it was regretted that warnings of a food crisis, although seen, were largely ignored, until it assumed today's magnitude. He noted that it was a crisis that had come from the growing demand for fuel, the failure to act in time on climate change, the ravages of terrorism, and problems of distribution. 'Sri Lanka, like many other developing countries, is affected by all of these factors