FAO chief warns of food riots, calls global meet on food security NEW DELHI, April 9: In a serious bid to ensure global food security in the backdrop of rising prices and dwindling food stocks, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) will hold a global conference at its Rome headquarters in June. All 191 member countries of the UN agency, apart from inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations, will be invited to attend the crucial conference to find answers to prevent food riots, FAO director-general Mr Jacques Diouf told reporters here today. “Some serious steps are required to come out of the situation,” he said on the sidelines of a UN-sponsored global conference on agro industries here. Later, talking to the media after his meeting with the Union agriculture minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, the FAO chief warned against food riots in some “vulnerable” poor countries in view of high food prices and shortages that are set to continue for some more time. “The problem is very serious around the world due to severe price rises and we have seen riots in Egypt, Cameroon, Haiti and Burkina Faso,” he said. “There is a risk that this unrest will spread in countries where 50 to 60 per cent of income goes to food,” he said. Mr Diouf said world cereal stocks were enough to meet eight to 12 weeks demand, while grain stocks were at their lowest since the 1980s. “This is due to higher demand from countries like India, China, where GDP grows at 8-10 per cent and the increase in income is going to food,” he said. n SNS
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