ABU DHABI, 15 March 2011: FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf Tuesday stressed his call for greater investment in agriculture, using the example of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) investments in date palm development, a program that has made it the seventh date producer in the world, with 6 percent of global date production.
The expected growth in the worlds population – from 6,9 billion people today to 9,1 billion in 2050 – will require a 70 percent increase in global food production and a 100 percent increase in the developing countries, the Director-General said adding that investment was not keeping pace.
– The share of agriculture in official development assistance fell from 19 percent in 1980 to 3 percent in 2006. Currently, it stands at 5 percent. Developing countries only allocate 5 percent of their national budgets to the sector, instead of 10 percent (as promised), despite its contribution to gross domestic product, exports and the balance of payments, Diouf said.
Meanwhile, more than 100 million tonnes of cereals (korn) are diverted from food to biofuels on account of subsidies valued at 13 billion US dollar and tariff protection of the developed countries.
– If we add the impact of droughts, floods, hurricanes and other events exacerbated (forværret) by climate change and the speculation on agricultural commodity futures markets, it becomes clear that the current situation is the chronicle of a disaster foretold, the leader of the Rome-based UN food and agricultural agency added.
The Director-General reminded that, as in 2008, international agricultural markets again face higher food commodity prices that could undermine food security in a world where population, and thus the demand for food, are sharply on the rise.
As to accentuate this, Mozambiques Finance Minister Manuel Chang said Monday, that high food and fuel prices have forced the poor Southern african nation to increase its 2011 budget by 45 percent to maintain subsidies (til at holde priserne nede), that were reinstated after deadly protests last year.
The FAO-boss commended the UAE for attaching great importance to the agricultural sector despite the country’s land and water constraints and thereby pursuing the policy of the UAE’s “visionary” leader, the late Sheikh Zayed, who declared “Give me agriculture and I will give you civilization”.
Kilde: www.fao.org
