World Gets a Call to Raise Food Production

World Gets a Call to Raise Food Production
A U.N. meeting on the food inflation crisis ends with an agreement to invest more in agriculture, but no settlement on biofuels. Transcript of radio broadcast:
09 June 2008

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

A United Nations conference on rising food prices ended with an agreement to invest more in agriculture


U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said food production needs to increase fifty percent by two thousand thirty to meet rising demand. The cost, he said, could top fifteen to twenty billion dollars a year over a number of years.
About one hundred eighty countries were represented at the three-day summit meeting last week in Rome. The final declaration called for immediate support for agricultural production, including seeds, fertilizer and other supplies. It also urged countries to reduce agricultural trade barriers.

The delegates nearly failed to reach a final agreement. There were objections from Latin America on trade-related issues.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says agriculture is the main support for seventy percent of the world's poor. Yet, the F.A.O. says, aid to agriculture fell almost sixty percent from nineteen eighty-four to two thousand four.

In nineteen eighty, seventeen percent of official development assistance went to agriculture. By two thousand six that share was three percent.

The meeting in Rome was officially called the High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy. Using food crops to make fuel was a major point of debate. In the end, Jacques Diouf, head of the F.A.O., said differences of opinion about biofuels were too wide to settle.

Some countries called for international guidelines on production. But the final declaration called only for in-depth study to make sure biofuels do not threaten food security.

The European Union and the United States both support biofuels. Before the conference, American Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said biofuels play only a small part in higher food prices. He said other causes include rising energy prices and poor harvests in major grain-producing countries. He also noted increased restrictions on food exports.

High food prices have increased hunger and poverty and produced rioting in some countries. In addition to short-term measures, countries are being urged to think of longer-lasting answers to feed a growing world.

The final declaration said eight hundred sixty-two million people are still undernourished in the world today. And it noted that food prices are expected to remain high in the years to come.

And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I’m Bob Doughty.

----------------------------Google Translate

世界获得呼吁提高粮食生产
联合国会议上对食物的通货膨胀危机结束一项协议，以更多地投资农业，但没有得到解决，对生物燃料。全文电台广播：
2008年6月9日

这是美国之音特别英语农业的报告。

一个联合国会议上不断增加的粮食价格结束了一项协议，更多的投资农业

联合国秘书长潘基文说，粮食生产需要增加50 ％ ，由2000三十，以满足不断增加的需求。成本，他说，可以顶端15至200.0亿美元，今年超过了数年。
约180个国家派代表出席了为期3天的首脑会议上周在罗马。最后宣言，呼吁立即支持农业生产，包括种子，肥料和其他用品。它也敦促各国减少农业贸易壁垒。

与会代表几乎没有达成最终协议。有反对意见来自拉丁美洲与贸易有关的问题。

联合国粮食和农业组织说，农业是主要的支持， 70 ％的世界上的穷人。不过，粮农组织说，援助农业下跌近60 ％ ，从1984年to 2000 4 。

在1980年， 17 ％的官方发展援助到农业。由2000 6分享是三％ 。

会议在罗马正式所谓的高级别会议关于世界粮食安全：挑战，气候变化和生物能源。使用粮食作物，使燃料是一大点的辩论。在年底，雅克迪乌夫，主管粮农组织说，意见分歧，有关生物燃料被过于广泛，定居。

一些国家呼吁国际社会对生产的指导方针。但最后宣言呼吁不仅在深入研究，以确保生物燃料不构成威胁粮食安全。

欧洲联盟和美国都支持生物燃料。会议之前，美国农业部长，教育署，沙菲尔说，生物燃料的发挥只有一小部分在食品价格上涨。他说，其他原因包括能源价格上涨和歉收在主要粮食生产国。他还指出，受到更多的限制粮食出口。

高粮食价格上涨增加了饥饿和贫穷，生产的暴乱事件，在一些国家。此外，短期措施，国家正在敦促认为较长的持久的答案养活日益增加的世界。

最后宣言说， 8.62亿人营养不良仍然是在今天的世界上。它指出，粮食价格预计仍会维持在高水平，在未来的岁月。

这是该美国之音特别英语农业的报告，书面，由jerilyn沃森。我鲍勃doughty 。