FAO GIVES THE THUMBS UP FOR D8 MEETING

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 (Bernama) -- The Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) today praised the Developing Eight (D8) meeting here as it correctly
targeted key inputs, like seeds, fertilizer and animal feed to perk up
agricultural productivity.

Roughly 75 per cent of the world's hungry and poor live in rural areas and
obtain their livehood from agriculture, said FAO director Dr Charles
Riemenschneider.

Speaking to reporters after a closed-door meeting of the D8 conference on
food security here, he said the number of hungry and malnourished in the world
rose to 963 million last year from 842 million in 1990, when the World Food
Summit and Millennium Development Goals sought to halve hunger and poverty by
2015.

The countries that make up the D-8 are Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh,
Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Nigeria.

Malaysia is hosting the three-day D8 Ministers Meeting on Food Security
which began Wednesday, with the on three initiatives - creation of seed banks,
the production and supply of quality fertilizers and animal feed.

Riemenschneider said it was unimaginable that the world could meet the
growing demand for food, feed and fiber without sensible use of inputs,
especially seeds and fertilizers.

"At present about 170 million tonnes of fertilizer nutrients is consumed
annually and is estimated to grow to 230 million tonnes in 2050.

The food price crisis last year focused the world's attention on
agricultural development needs in many countries.

The UN High Level Task Force organized by the UN Secretary-General had
refocused the attention of the entire United Nations and Bretton Woods system
towards the importance of agricultural development and food security.

-- BERNAMA