Rich nations should reverse the decline in agricultural aid they give to the world's poorest so as to reduce hunger and improve global peace and security, dpa quoted the head of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as saying today. "The share of agriculture in official development assistance has fallen from 17 per cent in 1980 to 3.8 in 2006. We need to bring resources back to their 1980s levels," Jacques Diouf, a Senegalese diplomat who has headed the FAO since 1994, told the German Press Agency dpa. Diouf, who spoke to dpa by telephone, issued the appeal a day before meeting Group of Eight leaders at a summit in the central Italian city of L'Aquila. In 2005, G8 leaders pledged to double their aid to Africa by 2010 in a bid to meet the UN's Millennium Development Goals, which include the target of halving extreme poverty by 2015. But pressure groups say that pledge is now unlikely to be met. In the meantime, the number of hungry people has surged to 1 billion. "In 2002 I had to call a summit warning that at this rate the goals (of halving world hunger) would be reached in 2150. I am sorry to say that I was right," Diouf said. Noting that just 7 per cent of Africa's land is irrigated, Diouf said agricultural aid should focus on irrigation, roads and storage. "For some commodities, we lose up to 40 per cent because of lack of adequate conservation. Parachutes have to be used to deliver food because there are no roads. How can we develop agriculture if there are no roads?" Diouf said. While in L'Aquila, G8 leaders were expected to discuss plans by the United States and Japan to invest 12 billion dollars, over the next three years, in long-term farming. The move would mark a significant shift away from emergency food assistance. Diouf welcomed the proposal, saying he had been calling for this shift in emphasis for at least a decade. Recalling the food riots that shook 22 countries after food prices surged last year, Diouf called the G8 discussions "a step in the right direction. "We must focus on what is really important to avoid not only world hunger, but also to help peace and security in the world," Diouf said. The FAO's director-general was due to meet G8 leaders and heads of state and government from some 20 other major economies along with other international organizations, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
