Boosting agricultural production vital to solving food crisis, ECOSOC chief says
20 May 2008 - The world has the necessary knowledge and expertise to fight the current food crisis but it needs to muster the
political will and the resources to ensure there is a lasting solution for the millions of people now suffering, the
President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) said today.
Léo Mérorès told a special meeting on the global food crisis, held at UN Headquarters in New York, that the crisis of
soaring food prices and shortages of basic crops is not only threatening the health of survival of ordinary people, but
jeopardizing the political and economic stability of many governments.
The urban poor, rural landless peasants, women, children and other members of the world's most vulnerable are among
those suffering the hardest from the current crisis, he said.
"The time to act is now," Mr. Mérorès said, stressing the need for both immediate action to meet humanitarian needs and
for longer-term increased agricultural production.
"It is my view that agriculture has to be put back in the centre of the development agenda," he said. "We need to
concentrate efforts on minimizing greenhouse emissions, deforestation and global warming, while finding ways to promote
investments in agriculture [and] maximize the use of agro-science and technology, with the aim of reducing the costs of
production and substantially increasing the productivity and output of every hectare of arable land."
The ECOSOC President welcomed the recent establishment by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of a high-level task force on
the crisis, adding that ECOSOC would do all it could to contribute.
During its substantive session in July the Council will convene round-table and panel discussions on food security and
its humanitarian segment is expected to focus in part on the challenges related to the provision of food aid.
Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro told today's special session that the crisis is driving an estimated 100
million people or more into deep poverty, on top of the 830 million others already facing acute shortages of basic
foods.
"That represents seven lost years in the global fight against poverty and hunger," she said, adding that the progress so
far towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - the set of eight anti-poverty targets which world leaders have
agreed to work towards by 2015 - could be virtually wiped out.
"Everywhere, families on the edge are cutting back. Those who ate two meals a day now get by with one. In many
countries, even people with jobs and salaries are buying rice by the cup rather than the bag. Such deprivation is
degrading. It breeds violence. We have seen it already in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean."
Stressing that much of the problem is man-made, Ms. Migiro urged policymakers to carefully examine the many cases,
including the increasing use of biofuels, especially those that are grain-based.
"The trade-off between the energy, environment and social issues involved is subtle and immensely complex," she
cautioned.
ENDS