Rome, Italy – Economic experts of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have started working on the details of the Philippine proposal to establish a World Food Bank (WFB) where countries suffering from food shortages could access food produced in excess by other nations.
George Rapsomanikis, senior economist of FAO, and Ekaterina Krivonos, FAO economist, descrbed the World Food Bank proposal as an “exciting” idea which addresses a specific gap in world food supply.
The WFB proposal was presented by the Philippine delegation during the Plenary of the 40th Session of the FAO Conference which I chaired.
In the statement I made, I proposed the WFB to address famine, hunger and food shortages in many countries around the world.
The idea was for countries producing staple food commodities like rice, corn, cassava, wheat, meat, salt and cooking oil in excess, to “deposit” these in the World Food Bank which in turn could “loan” these out to countries suffering from food shortages.
In the statement, I said that sharing of food is part of Filipino culture and tradition where neighbors in one village could run to one another and borrow food items like rice and salt.
I emphasised that the tradition adddresed the basic food gaps in the village and while many rural families are poor, nobody died of hunger.
The FAO economic experts said they will study how the program would impact on the operations of the World Trade Organization and the World Food Aid Program.
A study on the proposal is expected to be completed by the economic experts before the end of the year.
(Photos show the FAO economic experts meeting with the Philippine delegation in the FAO headquarters in Rome. Photo by Mayette Tudlas)
More Stories
Practical Farming: Turn Used Plastic Containers Into Life-Time Laying Nests!
Super Bulb Onion Grown In Alamada, North Cotabato
Kapehan With Pareng Gob