Member countries of the UN food agency will hold a world food summit in November 2001 to push for more progress in fighting hunger, the organization said Wednesday.
FAO fears that unless extra efforts are made to accelerate progress in the fight against hunger, a 1996 world food summit goal of cutting by one half the number of undernourished to 400 million by 2015 will not be achieved before 2030, that is 15 years later.
The pledge had been made in Rome by 186 countries.
FAO said its governing council unanimously supported "a reaffirmation of commitment to the objectives of the 1996 World Food Summit, and of the need to intensify efforts to reach the summit's target by 2015."
Council members agreed that it was appropriate and desirable that the review be carried out at the highest political level and include the participation of civil society.
Heads of state or government are to be invited to the meeting.
In a statement to the council, Diouf said that the present state of food insecurity in the world "requires action beyond business as usual", adding that several factors have created "an environment that is making it difficult to achieve the goals of the World Food Summit."
Agricultural production increased by only 1.2 percent in 2000, as against two percent in 1999.
At the same time, "the number of hungry people is being reduced only by eight million per year instead of the 20 million necessary to achieve the goals of the World Food Summit," Diouf said.
A number of problems -- human-made and natural disasters -- were leading to a situation where the number of people affected by these disasters has increased from 52 million in 1999 to 62 million in 2000," he continued.
"We need to react and involve the highest political levels of our countries to face this situation," said Diouf – ROME (AFP)
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