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Agriculture Minister
Chang Tae-pyong |
By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter
South Korea has decided to increase agricultural aid to developing countries suffering from chronic food shortages, government officials said Tuesday.
In a keynote address at a food security meeting of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy, Monday, Minister of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Chang Tae-pyong said South Korea will donate 150,000 tons of rice to the Asian Emergency Food Reserve Program. The pledge was made by President Lee Myung-bak at last month's ASEAN+3 Summit.
The agriculture minister also confirmed the country will provide $100 million in aid over the next three years to help improve food security issues for developing economies, at a meeting of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals in September.
Since last year, food crises have worsened across the globe with inefficient investment in food security, coupled with the global financial downturn. This issue is a long-term mission which requires a global and comprehensive approach from the international community, Chang said.
During his speech, the minister also said the FAO should host international joint studies to clarify factors for grain price fluctuations in an attempt to establish ways to deal with periodical food crises.
The global population of those suffering from hunger rose to a record 1.02 billion this year, up 100 million from a year earlier, according to the FAO. The organization is hosting the summit, which started Monday and ends Wednesday, to urge private and public investors to inject more funds into the farming sectors of developing countries.
This decade saw a steep growth in foreign direct investment (FDI) in agriculture as it tripled to more than $3 billion in 2007 from $1 billion in 2000, but the volume still stands at less than 1 percent of the total world FDI, according to the FAO.
Prices of global food commodities are likely to stay high in the medium term, which could trigger more food price spikes similar to crises over the last couple of years, agriculture experts say.
``Korea suffered food shortages in the 1950s through the 1960s. The country got through that hard time and now stands firmly on its own feet. It can share its own experiences in overcoming shortages and offer support to developing countries to return the substantial aid that it owes to the world community,'' Chang said.
After the keynote speech, Chang met with agriculture heads from Australia, New Zealand and Norway to discuss ways to cooperate further. Before returning home, he will also meet with World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy, the ministry said.
hckim@koreatimes.co.kr
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