United Nations Radio

The United Nations Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis, says the world faces a new hunger crisis as a result of the global economic crisis.

Food Crisis

David Nabarro who heads the task force says while global food prices had dropped significantly, mass layoffs as a result of the global economic downturn has reduced the ability of millions of people around the world to feed themselves. Patrick Maigua sent us this report from Geneva.

The UN task force on global food security was created a year ago with the aim of promoting a unified response to the challenge of achieving global food security. Mr Nabarro told a news conference in Geneva that fighting global hunger will require increased and sustained investment in small holder agriculture, which supports over one third of the global population. He said improving small holder agricultural production in developing countries will not only fight hunger but will also contribute to rural development and reduce poverty.

"We believe and we have evidence for it that intensified small scale agriculture with either co-operative working or better organisation of producers through other methods and much more efficient storage and processing of food close to the farm together with better market access will have an enormous impact. We know there is capacity to increase production in africa 3 or 4 fold through these measures and it is our judgement that this is the only way to go. The alternative creates huge problems with increasing migration of people who are put off their land to go into towns and cities and it also leads to inadequate development of rural areas."

Mr Nabarro said the drop in global food prices was yet to benefit rural communities in developing countries and warned that the gradual rise in crude oil prices was likley to lead to a spike in food prices, which could impact negativly on communities still struggling to recover from last years crisis. Patrick Maigua UN Radio Geneva.

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