Jacques Diouf, director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), expressed regret on Monday over a lack of concrete commitment in the global fight against hunger.
Speaking at a press conference concluding the first day of a world summit on food security, Diouf said he felt upset that world leaders merely
"committed to general goals, but without setting precise dates for the total eradication of hunger in the world or figures regarding the funds necessary to increasing agriculture investments in order to double food production by 2025."
World leaders started a three-day summit on food security at the FAO headquarters on Monday, aiming to save over 1 billion people across the
world from hunger and ensure food security.
The FAO has long sought a pledge from rich countries to provide 44 billion U.S. dollars per year to help developing countries increase
investment in agriculture.
It also requested rich countries to commit to a timetable for eradicating hunger by 2025.
"World leaders agreed on the urgency of eradicating world famine, but they have not said when," Diouf said. "The target year of 2025, though previously set forth by other countries in previous summits, unfortunately was not globally endorsed today."
In the same way, Diouf said, leaders committed to increasing investment in agriculture. However, no mention was made of concrete sums, or when and under what conditions these funds would be allocated.
At the Group of Eight (G8) summit in July, a 22-billion-U.S.-dollar funding over a three-year period was pledged for agriculture in developing
countries, but "so far, they have not been mobilized," Diouf said. Diouf explained that in order to definitely eradicate global famine, a
total of 120 billion dollars a year was needed, including 44 billion dollars from donor countries in the form of official development assistance (ODA), and another 76 billion dollars from developing countries themselves.
"The food crisis cannot be solved solely through external foreign assistance, but financial commitment must come also at a national level from
the developing countries," Diouf added.