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Last Updated: Feb 24, 2008 - 8:12:35 PM |
Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP),
made a Statement at the Inaugural Ceremony of IFAD’s Governing Council
in the Palazzo dei Congressi, Rome, on the 13th February 2008.
She said that, "Since June [2007], WFP has been raising the alarm that a “perfect storm” of challenges may be forming, and the world’s hungry are being hit hardest in the developing world. Now with soaring global food and oil prices, increasingly severe weather shocks, due in part to climate change, and declining global food stocks, we see that storm already hitting countries with less ability to rebound from such shocks."
Ms Sheeran also pointed out that, "tension over the food prices and food supply has surfaced on all continents from Mexico to Senegal to Yemen to Pakistan, Indonesia, Afghanistan, and even here in Europe." In her opinion, the major drivers of high food prices "include [the] rise in oil and energy prices which affect the entire value chain of food production; the economic boom in nations such as India and China, creating increased demand; climate and weather-related events, like hurricanes and floods and drought, have made for some bad harvests in particular regions; and the shift to increase biofuels production which has led to market speculation, and food prices being set at high fuel price levels." She said that "Because of this, we are seeing the profile of hunger changing as households that depend mostly on markets face deteriorating conditions. These households will spend more on food to the detriment of non-food expenditures such as education and health."
In addition she noted that the WFP "has shifted to purchasing from local farmers whenever and wherever possible. Today, I am proud to report WFP spends 80 percent of its cash for food aid purchases in 69 developing nations." She also referred to her recent speech at the UN general assembly about the dire projections of climate change’s potential impact on food production, and to The Economist’s December cover story entitled “The End of Cheap Food”, which states that its food price index is higher than at any time since it was created in 1845, and "that the price of wheat alone had doubled from May to September."
Document: http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp170419.pdf
© Copyright 2008 - Andrew Palmer
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