Rome - Food and agriculture summit

Summit opens without rich country leaders

Article published on the 2009-11-16 Latest update 2009-11-16 12:09 TU

Coliseum illuminated on Sunday to mark world hunger on the eve of the World Food Summit, with Action Aid activists
(Photo: Franceso Alesi/ActionAid)

The UN Food Security summit opened on Monday in Rome where leaders are meeting to discuss the world’s billion hungry people. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said at the opening that “we must craft a single global vision to produce real results for people in real need.”

Ban also touched on the issue of climate change which is linked to food security. “There can be no food security without climate security,” he said, “we must help the more vulnerable to adapt.”

He said by 2050, 70 per cent more food will be needed to feed the world population which will potentially be 9.1 billion people.

In a bid to raise awareness ahead of the summit, both Ban Ki-moon and Jacques Diouf, head of the FAO summit, went on 24-hour fasts over the week-end.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is the only G8 leader expected to attend the summit, a point that has come under fire from  humanitarian groups.

“This doesn’t signal they are serious about finding global solutions to hunger.” said Francisco Sarmento, ActionAid’s Food Rights Coordinator.

The summit comes as a number of private companies have invested in vast tracts of land in Africa for commercial agriculture.

Professor Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere, who is director of the Addis Ababa-based Knowledge, Capacity and Innovation Division of the International Food Policy Research Institute, told RFI that private investment was not the best option for food security in Africa.

“If they grow their food and some of the food is sold where the land was acquired, I think it will help improve food security," he says, "but if all the food is shipped off then I don’t see how they are helping with food security in the country.”

He believes new technologies will help to improve the productivity of the small holder, although he stressed there would need to be improvement in road infrastructure that links the continents towns and the cities.

“Africa doesn’t trade much amongst itself, if we are able to promote regional trade, I think we can really promote food security very well,” he says. 

“Sometimes there is food abundance in some parts and food scarcity in some other parts. How do you link these two? The important thing is to link farmers to markets. We need to explore how to trade amongst ourselves".