The three-day World Food Summit organised by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome ended without nations making any specific pledges to help the world’s poorest farmers.

Jacques Diouf, chief of FAO, said, “To my regret the official declaration adopted by the Summit on Monday (November 16) contains neither measurable targets nor specific deadlines which would have made it easier to monitor implementation.

He noted that in some developing countries 60-80 per cent of the population can’t meet the food needs of the entire population while in developed states it is done with four per cent.

“Eliminating hunger from the face of Earth requires $44 billion of official development assistance per year to be invested in infrastructure, technology and modern inputs. It is a small amount if we consider the $365 billion of agriculture producer support in OECD countries in 2007, and if we consider the $1,340 billion of military expenditures by the world in the same year,” he highlighted.

The Summit was convened to build political momentum to increase investment in agriculture.

The FAO had proposed setting a timeline for the total eradication of hunger by 2025, and increasing assistance to $44 billion annually in agricultural development aid.

Over 60 heads of state and government and 191 ministers from 182 countries attended the Summit in Rome. The G-8 nations, except Italy, skipped the meeting, though it had already committed its share of payment at its recent summit.

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