MORE than 100 representatives Of NGOS
from 20 Asian and Pacific countries predicted a gloomy future for Asian food
stocks, when they recently held a two-
day meeting in Bangkok to draft a
regional platform in preparation for the
World Food Summit in November. As
more Asian countries jump on to the
bandwagon of rapid urban industrialisation, traditional agriculture and farming communities fall into neglect. This
in turn would result in food shortage in
the continent as well as in the whole
world. The world has about 800 million
malnourished people of which more
than 500 million live in the Asia-Pacific
region.
The declaration observed that
the 1974 World Food Conference had
promised to work towards a world
without hunger. But today there
were more hungry people, more
poor farmers and agriculture was in
a poorer state. Though global agricultural production is on par with the
growing population, poor countries
are denied their share of food. Global
trade policies were proving detrimental
toy poor Asian farmers who could
not compete with low international
prices.
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