News stories by Jose Graziano da Silva, page 2

ROME, Jun 13 (IPS) - Continued growth in developing countries, along with poverty-reduction policies, have helped to improve both income and food security globally.

ROME, Jun 03 (IPS) - Modern biofuels have become a fact of life, part of a quest for more cost-effective and environmentally sustainable businesses and lifestyles. But to be truly sustainable, biofuel production must strike a balance between its benefits and its potential hidden costs, between energy security and food security.

ROME, Nov 11 (IPS) - A sense of urgency brought on in recent years by food price volatility inspired collective action to reduce the likelihood of further price spikes and food supply shocks.

ROME, Oct 02 (IPS) - Every year, we take a snapshot of world progress in the fight against chronic hunger. This year, the picture is looking better, but it's still not good enough.

ROME, Mar 07 (IPS) - Around the world, but especially in the planet's poorest regions, women represent a life force that renews itself daily, sometimes against all odds.

ROME, Nov 02 (IPS) - Despite a sudden increase in July this year, prices of cereals on world markets remained fairly stable. But there are no grounds for complacency, as cereals markets remain vulnerable to supply shocks and disruptive policy measures. In this context, the good harvests that are expected in the Southern Hemisphere are important.

Guiding the transition from one cycle of development to another is among of the most daunting tasks in politics, but Brazil achieved this with the launch in January 2003 of the Zero Hunger programme, which spurred job creation while restoring the buying power of the minimum wage, writes Jose Graziano da Silva, Director-General elect of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). He will assume the position in January 2012.

Eating is such a fundamental aspect of our existence, that I find it strange that anyone should question the wisdom of proposing that FAO ¬which was set up in 1945 to end hunger¬ should do all in its power to help ensure that everyone can eat 3 meals a day. But today almost 1,000 million people -one in seven of the earth’s inhabitants¬ are still chronically hungry, writes Jose Graziano da Silva, architect of the Zero Hunger Program, former Brazilian Minister of Food Security and Fight Against Hunger, FAO Representative for Latin America and candidate of Brazil for election as next Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.

If we wish to create a sustainable economic order for the 21st century, we will have to go beyond that which existed in the past. Because of this, we will have to base our actions on those tenets that have the broadest and clearest support and legitimacy in the eyes of society: human rights and the commitment to tear down the walls that prevent the equal access of all people, writes Jose Graziano da Silva, Regional Representative of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation for Latin America and the Caribbean.