As many as 40 heads of the state including betes noires of the west the President of Iran Mahmou Ahmadinejad and Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe have arrived at Rome to participate in World Food Security Conference of the United Nations to brainstorm the food crisis the world is facing today. The conference at the headquarters of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome will primarily focus on food security, and procurement of food items through effective funding and innovative technology. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged countries to grab “an historic opportunity to revitalize agriculture”.
As part of the program, recently in Nigeria, the World Bank Group has announced $1.2 billion rapid financing facility to address immediate needs, including $200 million in grants targeted at providing aid to the world’s poorest nations. Out of which, grants to Djibouti ($5 million), Haiti ($10 million) and Liberia ($10 million) have already been approved, and in a month’s time the World Bank expects to extend this financial support to Togo, Yemen and Tajikistan.
Climate Change, poor harvest, extensive use of farm land for non-food crops, etc. are blamed for the current food price spiral. Jacques Diouf, the head of the United Nations FAO, few days before the meeting said, it was sure that diverting around 100 million tonnes of cereals to bio-fuel had had an impact on food prices. The greatest fear is that, as per the FAO report, the food prices will remain high for the next decade even if they fall from current levels.
High level delegates from about 150 countries are attending the three-day summit apart from other heads of the state. Ban Ki-moon’s task force is expected to present a report which would cost up to $15 billion to implement programs around the globe to enhance food crop procurement. Analysts stated there are chances of this venue becoming a square ring for leaders to engage in wrangling owing to the presence of some leaders, and the US’s differences in relating the food price spike to converting of food crop to bio-fuel. Due to the indecisiveness and uncompromising attitude of the world leaders, that too on food related issues, only time will tell what the world has in store, analysts added.