June 26, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 21, 1429

VIENNA, June 25: The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Wednesday that 30 billion dollars would be needed every year until 2050 to stave off world hunger, this year exacerbated by a food crisis.

Speaking to the press ahead of an agriculture conference in Innsbruck, FAO director-general Jacques Diouf said this sum needed to be funnelled mainly into boosting global agricultural production.

Diouf also estimated that the price of food commodities – which rose dramatically this year – would remain high due to strong demand, harvesting problems caused by climatic changes, as well as low food reserves.

The Innsbruck conference, running Thursday-Friday, will address agriculture in European and Central Asian countries that are experiencing the growing pains of economic transition.

Also on the agenda is how the FAO can support those countries worst hit by the food crisis.

Diouf highlighted that at an FAO food summit in early June in Rome, the international community had promised to untie seven billion euros. “Outside of European Union member states, development banks and the World Bank also gave their support,” he said.—AFP