Publisher: Korir, africanpress@getmail.no source.apa
The United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, on Wednesday during a press conference on the sidelines of the three-day food crisis summit convening in the Italian capital, called for real action to boost next year’s harvests.
“This will enable us to avoid and reduce the instability in the countries because hunger leads to instability,” he said.
In his address at the food crisis summit which opened Tuesday, the UN boss said there was a need for US$15 to 20 billion to eliminate global hunger. The day before however, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) set such needs at US$30 billion per annum.
“We are duty bound to do something and together. This is a fight we cannot afford to lose”, Ban stressed, adding that he received a petition of 300,000 signatures from around the world urging leaders worldwide to take real action to eliminate hunger.
“We call on you to take immediate action to address the global food crisis by mobilising emergency funds to prevent starvation, removing perverse incentives to turn food into bio-fuels and managing financial speculation”, the petition read.
“The leaders taking part at this conference must therefore leave Rome with a concrete commitment and adopt an emergency response to curb hunger”, Ban said, calling for action to offer more food to women and children.
——————
African Press Intetnational – api
