SPOTLIGHT ON VOLATILE FOOD PRICE AT BANGKOK MEETING

BANGKOK, March 24 (Bernama) -- Volatile food prices and market uncertainties
are on the menu of a Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) conference here
next week which will be attended by agriculture ministers and senior officials
from 43 Asia-Pacific countries.

He Changchui, FAO Assistant Director-General, said that the conference was
taking place at a time when the world was undergoing a financial and economic
crisis, preceded by a food crisis last year which plunged an additional 41
million people into chronic hunger in the region.

"Facing multiple global crises, we should not forget that hunger and poverty
remain major global concerns as they threaten social stability in several parts
of the world, including in this region," he said here Tuesday.

He said that courageous steps were urgently required on the part of
concerned governments and international organisations to help unlock untapped
agricultural production potential and rapidly boost production investment in
infrastructure in the most affected countries.

This, he said, was necessary to improve food availability and access to
alleviate the combined effects of high food prices and economic crisis on poor
and vulnerable groups.

"Climate change and bioenergy have helped move farming to the political and
economic centre stage, as agriculture, fisheries, forestry and livestock have a
significant role to play as a solution provider to a new green economy," He
added.

It is in the agricultural sector that problems must be addressed -- such as
non-sustainable production, poor use and management of natural resources, and
deforestation, habitat exploitation and loss of bio-diversity as well as
inadequate institutional support, the FAO statement said.

The main technical agenda items are coping with water scarcity, agribusiness
and competitive agro-industries in the context of globalisation and free trade,
food safety and trade, and transboundary animal diseases in the region.
-- BERNAMA