United Nations Radio

Much has changed since 2004.

agricultural investment

The world today is in a crisis. The severe financial and economic crisis was preceded by a food crisis that disrupted the international agricultural economy and highlighted the fragility of world food security.
That's what the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization Jacques Diouf told a Pan-African conference that opened in Sirte, Libya on Monday.
Diouf says it also showed us that reviving agricultural production in poor countries is the only viable and lasting solution to the fight against hunger.
And he adds "we must therefore invest more in agriculture."

Jacques Diouf

"In 2003-2005, 24 percent of Africa's population, or 218 million people, still suffered from chronic undernutrition. In 2007, the food crisis added a further 24 million people to the number suffering from chronic hunger in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, today 70 percent of its poor live in rural areas."

A programme for a "Blue Revolution" harnessing Africa's unutilized land and water resources will be examined during the conference.
The $65 billion, 20-year programme would create the irrigation and hydropower infrastructure needed to dramatically accelerate Africa's development and provide much more food and electric energy for its fast-growing population, expected to reach two billion by the year 2050.

This is Donn Bobb reporting for United Nations Radio.

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