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While 44 billion dollars is what is required for food security, the world, it seems, spends at least three times more on securing their borders. The United States spends at least 10 times more.
The defence budget of the world is estimated to be around 1100 US dollars, according to the 2004 estimates.
To achieve food security, poor countries will need 44 (b) billion US dollars in annual agricultural aid, compared with the current 7.9 (b) billion US dollars, to increase access to irrigation systems, modern machinery, seeds and fertiliser as well as build roads and train farmers.
Jacques Diouf, Director of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), said global food output would have to increase by 70 per cent to feed a projected population of 9.1 billion in 2050.
"Solving the problem of food insecurity once and for all requires 44 (b) billion US dollars per year of official Development Assistance to invest in modern inputs and rural infrastructure in developing countries," Diouf said.
"I have 193 members who have given me responsibility to bring to their attention the problems, to say what's going wrong, what should be done, and then in the end they are the ones who take the decisions, and that's what I have tried to do by proposing the convening of this summit, which had to be endorsed by my governing body. I didn't even have the authority to call the summit, I had the authority to propose. It was accepted and when it was accepted I was told go and find the money because we don't want to use the regular programme of FAO to cover the cost of the summit. Fortunately I went and Saudi Arabia gave me 2.5 million (US) dollars to pay for the summit," he added.
The Rome-based agency announced earlier this year that hunger now affects a record 1.02 (b) billion, or one in six people, due to the financial meltdown, high food prices, drought and war.
The FAO hopes its World Food Summit, with some 60 heads of state so far scheduled to attend, will endorse a new strategy to combat hunger, which focuses on increased investment in agricultural development for poor countries. "The objective of the summit is the reinforcement of the governance
of world food security in the world," Diouf said on Wednesday.
Diouf also called on the planet's population to join him in a symbolic hunger strike to protest the number of undernourished people in the world, which has risen beyond 1 (b) billion amid the global economic crisis.
He said he hoped the move would encourage action by world leaders who will take part in the summit. He said he got funding for the summit from Saudi Arabia. The long-term increase in the number of hungry is largely tied to reduced aid and private investments earmarked for agriculture since the mid 1980s, according to the agency.
Countries like Brazil, Nigeria and Vietnam that have invested in their small farmers, are bucking the hunger trend, Diouf told the news conference. They are among 31 countries that have reached or are on track to meet the goal set by world leaders nine years ago to cut the number of hungry people in half by 2015, he said.
While 44 billion dollars is what is required for food security, the world, it seems, spends at least three times more on securing their borders. The United States spends at least 10 times more.
The defence budget of the world is estimated to be around 1100 US dollars, according to the 2004 estimates.
To achieve food security, poor countries will need 44 (b) billion US dollars in annual agricultural aid, compared with the current 7.9 (b) billion US dollars, to increase access to irrigation systems, modern machinery, seeds and fertiliser as well as build roads and train farmers.
Jacques Diouf, Director of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), said global food output would have to increase by 70 per cent to feed a projected population of 9.1 billion in 2050.
"Solving the problem of food insecurity once and for all requires 44 (b) billion US dollars per year of official Development Assistance to invest in modern inputs and rural infrastructure in developing countries," Diouf said.
"I have 193 members who have given me responsibility to bring to their attention the problems, to say what's going wrong, what should be done, and then in the end they are the ones who take the decisions, and that's what I have tried to do by proposing the convening of this summit, which had to be endorsed by my governing body. I didn't even have the authority to call the summit, I had the authority to propose. It was accepted and when it was accepted I was told go and find the money because we don't want to use the regular programme of FAO to cover the cost of the summit. Fortunately I went and Saudi Arabia gave me 2.5 million (US) dollars to pay for the summit," he added.
The Rome-based agency announced earlier this year that hunger now affects a record 1.02 (b) billion, or one in six people, due to the financial meltdown, high food prices, drought and war.
The FAO hopes its World Food Summit, with some 60 heads of state so far scheduled to attend, will endorse a new strategy to combat hunger, which focuses on increased investment in agricultural development for poor countries. "The objective of the summit is the reinforcement of the governance
of world food security in the world," Diouf said on Wednesday.
Diouf also called on the planet's population to join him in a symbolic hunger strike to protest the number of undernourished people in the world, which has risen beyond 1 (b) billion amid the global economic crisis.
He said he hoped the move would encourage action by world leaders who will take part in the summit. He said he got funding for the summit from Saudi Arabia. The long-term increase in the number of hungry is largely tied to reduced aid and private investments earmarked for agriculture since the mid 1980s, according to the agency.
Countries like Brazil, Nigeria and Vietnam that have invested in their small farmers, are bucking the hunger trend, Diouf told the news conference. They are among 31 countries that have reached or are on track to meet the goal set by world leaders nine years ago to cut the number of hungry people in half by 2015, he said.
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