The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has pledged an annual amount of $30 billion for agricultural investment in developing countries to lessen human suffering. This is against the back-drop of an estimated 105 million people who are expected to go hungry this year across the world.
A statement on this year's World Food Day by the UN said: �There are now 1.02 billion malnourished people in the world and such investment was needed to achieve the 1996 World Food Summit goal of reducing the number of hungry people by half, by 2015.�
It stated that the amount was even low when compared with the $365 billion spent in 2007 to support agriculture in rich nations, $340 billion that was spent by the world each year on armaments, and trillions of dollars which were found in 2008 to 2009 to prop up the financial sector.
The statement further confirmed that the injection was expected to generate an annual benefit of $120 billion to improve agricultural productivity, livelihoods and food security in poor rural communities, among other things.It said: �Both public and private investments were needed specifically through targeted public investments in order to encourage and facilitate private investment, especially by farmers themselves.�
The FAO had asked all countries to reflect on the figures and the human suffering, adding, �Crisis or no crisis, we have the know-how to do something about hunger and also have the ability to find money to solve problems when we consider them important; let us recognize hunger as a critical problem and solve it.�World Food Day is observed on October 16, every year. Presently in Ghana, the National Planning Committee is in the process of celebrating the day. This year's celebration is under the theme: �Achieving Food Security in Times of Crisis.�
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