By IINA,
Jeddah : In a message to the High Level Conference on World Food Security, held in Rome, from June 3 to 5 June 2008, the Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu expressed OIC’s concern about the rapidly escalating global food crisis which threatens to negate the efforts of the international community towards alleviating hunger and malnutrition, for poverty eradication and achieving sustainable development.
The OIC Chief emphasized the specific case of the OIC Member States, which are all developing countries with a large majority having agriculture-based economies. The problem of food shortage remains one of the most acute problems facing many of these countries in a context of rapid population growth and cyclic ravages of natural disasters such as floods, cyclones and drought.
Prof. Ihsanoglu indicated that food and agriculture are among OIC’s top priorities. He recalled a number of OIC’s actions and programs slated to address properly poverty and food security. He also called for reinforcing efforts to address the alarming global food shortage through immediate and long-term measures such as adopting sustainable agricultural systems, securing access to land and water, providing appropriate technologies, investment in research and development, as well as facilitating access to credit.