United Nations Radio

Women farmers in Malawi

A year ago the sudden spike in the prices of grains and other basic foods sparked riots around the world.

Responding to the crisis, last June the United Nations held a high-level conference on food security, where countries agreed to increase assistance for developing countries.

This month the UN General Assembly in New York held a discussion inviting experts and policy makers to weigh in on the success of these measures.

While prices of basic food commodities have fallen on the global markets, the participants concluded that the root causes of the crisis have not been systematically addressed and the food crisis is still with us.

They agreed that efforts to address the plight of the more than 900 million hungry people in the world must be grounded on the human right to food.

(duration: 14'00)

Producer: Bissera Kostova
with interviews by Asha Jomis