UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Director-General Jacques Diouf on Thursday called for increased input from the private sector to help fight hunger and ensure food security.
The FAO estimates that the amount of investment needed in developing countries from Official Development Assistance (ODA) will be 44 billion U.S. dollars annually, Diouf said at an international private sector forum on food security in Milan.
The funds will be complemented by financing from national budgets and private investments in primary agriculture and downstream services such as storage and processing, he said on the first day of the two-day forum.
Diouf also said it was encouraging to see increased interest from the private sector in agriculture. Foreign direct investment (FDI) in that sector tripled during 2000-2007, from 1 billion dollars to more than 3 billion, though the number still accounts for less than 1 percent of the world's total FDI inflows.
The FAO chief encouraged private companies to take a longer-term view of investment and business opportunities in developing regions rather than focusing on immediate needs.
He said companies should take the extra step to look into countries where they have not ventured before, particularly for input supply, product procurement and agro-industry development, according to a FAO press release
on its website.
Closer cooperation is needed between international companies and smaller or medium-sized local enterprises, including input suppliers, food manufacturers, distributors and retailers which are important intermediaries
with primary producers and a major source for rural employment and income growth, said Diouf.
More than 120 chief executive officers and other leaders from the international business community are attending the forum.
The forum offers the private sector an opportunity to advance to the upcoming food summit to be held on Nov. 16-18 in Rome a concrete vision of how businesses can contribute effectively to the fight against hunger and
poverty, the FAO says.