commodities digest
Thursday, 5 June 2008
Less than 3.0pc of global arms
bill can wipe off food crisis
ROME, June 4: More than 850 million hungry people around the globe can enjoy a better life if the world sets aside less than 3 per cent of what it spends on purchase of arms every year, for development of agriculture. Pointing out the stark realities of the wasteful spending, F.A.O. director general Jacques Diouf yesterday appealed to world leaders for USD 30 billion a year to re-launch agriculture and avert future threats of conflicts over food. In his opening speech at the F.A.O.'s Rome Summit called to defuse the current world food crisis, Diouf noted that in 2006 the world spent USD 1.2 trillion on arms while food wasted in a single country could cost USD 100 billion and excess consumption by the world's obese amounted to USD 20 billion.
bill can wipe off food crisis
ROME, June 4: More than 850 million hungry people around the globe can enjoy a better life if the world sets aside less than 3 per cent of what it spends on purchase of arms every year, for development of agriculture. Pointing out the stark realities of the wasteful spending, F.A.O. director general Jacques Diouf yesterday appealed to world leaders for USD 30 billion a year to re-launch agriculture and avert future threats of conflicts over food. In his opening speech at the F.A.O.'s Rome Summit called to defuse the current world food crisis, Diouf noted that in 2006 the world spent USD 1.2 trillion on arms while food wasted in a single country could cost USD 100 billion and excess consumption by the world's obese amounted to USD 20 billion.