Rarely has World Food Day assumed greater meaning than at the present time, as rapidly rising food prices risk increasing the number of hungry people, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Monday.
World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy is the theme of this year's World Food Day on 16 October, the day that FAO was founded in Quebec City in 1945, and now observed annually in some 150 countries.
With the number of undernourished people currently estimated at more than 850 million, high food prices are not only putting at greater risk the hungry but those also on the brink of poverty, according to FAO.
The implications of soaring food prices and related issues were considered at the recent High-level Conference on World Food Security, involving the UN Secretary-General, 181 governments and 41 Heads of State or Government, that took place at FAO headquarters from 3 to 5 June.
Last December, FAO also launched an Initiative on Soaring Food Prices, to help farmers in some of the poorest countries through the provision of seeds, fertilizers, and other tools they need to boost agricultural production for the coming planting seasons through 2009.
In connection with World Food Day, from 14 to 17 October 2008, FAO will host the Committee on World Food Security to assess the current global food situation and implications for the future. During the meeting, special events will also be organized to consider specifically, the impact of high food prices on nutrition and the theme of high prices, food security issues and policy responses.
Source:Xinhua
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