By IANS
Rome : The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has sent out an urgent appeal to governments of the world to take immediate measures to help poor countries overcome the steep increase in food prices, WAM news agency reported Wednesday.
Unprecedented price hikes for basic food, driven by low food stocks, droughts and floods linked to climate change, high oil prices and growing demand for bio-fuels have created near famine conditions in at least 37 countries, the UN body said and added that internal armed conflicts have aggravated the situation.
High international cereal prices have already sparked food riots in several countries, the report said.
In its November issue of Food Outlook, FAO estimated that the total cost of imported foodstuffs for Low Income Food Deficit Countries (LIFDCs) in 2007 would be some 25 percent higher than the previous year.
“Urgent and new steps are needed to prevent the negative impacts of rising food prices from further escalating and to quickly boost crop production in the most affected countries,” said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf at a press conference at the Organization?s Rome headquarters.
“Without support for poor farmers and their families in the hardest-hit countries, they will not be able to cope. Assisting poor vulnerable households in rural areas in the short term and enabling them to produce more food would be an efficient tool to protect them against hunger and undernourishment,” Diouf added.