United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director General Jacques Diouf on Wednesday called on Arab countries to increase investment in agriculture to ensure food security in the region.
At the end of the five-day meeting of the annual FAO Regional Conference for the Near East, Diouf said it is important for governments to forge ambitious policies that raise agriculture's share of total government spending. He added that such policies are needed because of "low" investment in the sector in the region and decreasing outside assistance.
The FAO chief also urged the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to contribute more funds to agriculture.
Hunger and malnourishment are on the rise in Arab nations such as Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran and several Central Asian nations, with the number of undernourished people increasing to 104 million from 33 million between the early 1990s and the first few years of this century, according to the FAO.
In an attempt to reverse the trend, the meeting endorsed a report which called for a 50 percent reduction in the number of undernourished people by 2015, one of the eight Millennium Development Goals, according to the Egyptian MENA news agency.
Food supplies are threatened by land degradation, water scarcity and conflicts, Diouf said, adding that limited water supply was the main obstacle for agricultural production in the region, which is home to 2 percent of the world's freshwater resources but 11 percent of its population.
Climate change could increase water shortages and reduce agricultural production in the Middle East, the FAO warned earlier.
The meeting's participants, who came from 32 countries, also agreed to give priority to studies on bio-energy and the impact of climate change on agricultural and food policies amid soaring food prices on the world markets.
Source:Xinhua
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