United Nations Radio

Three UN agencies dealing with food security and agriculture are reminding world leaders that this silent food crisis, involving a sixth of humanity, poses a serious risk for world peace and security.

Fighting hunger and malnutrition

 Bissera Kostova has more on this.

Wyatt: We have to be shocked by these figures - that after all of humanity's progress over generations and generations there are more hungry people today than there have ever been in human history. But we must not let our paralysis lead to shock.

NARR: Matthew Wyatt, Assistant President of IFAD, the International Fund for Agriculture says international aid for agriculture has fallen from 20% to about 3% in 2006, with disastrous consequences for the world's small farmers.

Wyatt: Around 2 billion people in the world, that's about a third of humanity, depend on their small-holder farms for their livelihoods and for their food and they include most of ... the billion hungry people. With the right support these farmers can double or triple their very meager yields and they can then feed themselves and their families.

NARR: Supporting small-holder farmers would have a triple payoff, Mr. Wyatt points out - it would create more food, would reduce poverty, and would stimulate the economy. Jacques Diouf, the Executive Director of FAO, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, says the world has both the knowledge and the means to combat hunger, with the twin-track approach advocated by FAO.

Diouf: By combining the promotion of agricultural growth and investment, especially for small holders in developing countries with targeted safety nets and protection programmes for the most needy and vulnerable. However, it has become clear that governance of the global food security is an indispensable pillar in this effort.

NARR: The Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Josette Sheeran, says the economic crisis has impacted the UN's ability to provide adequate food to all of the people in the world who need it.

Sheeran: With all the stimulus packages put in place to stabilize the global situation, with less than one percent of that cost you could stabilize the humanitarian crisis that has unfolded in many places due to these compounding crises of the food and financial crisis. So for less than one percent, we know we can cool things down and help people get through the worst of the trouble. So we're making an appeal and we're really pleading with the world to stick with us during this most difficult time for the world's most vulnerable.

NARR: A third World Food Summit will be convened by FAO in November. For UN Radio, I'm Bissera Kostova.

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