STWR - Share The World's Resources

Poor developing countries will be forced to cut food consumption and risk an increase in malnutrition after an “alarming” increase in their agricultural commodities bills, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation warned on Wednesday.

A long-held basic human right, the right to adequate food for the world's 854 million hungry people, is being threatened once again -- this time by the conversion of wheat, sugar, palm oil and maize into agricultural fuel.

EU plans to increase the use of biofuels could spell disaster for some of the world’s poorest people warns international agency, Oxfam in a new briefing.

Seeking a five-year moratorium on use of bio-fuels, an independent United Nations human rights expert has warned that the effect of converting staple foods into fuels would be "absolutely catastrophic" for the poor nations which import food.

Europe is undermining its own efforts to strengthen African agriculture by foisting free trade on the continent, a Ghanaian farm leader has complained.

At first, the numbers don’t seem to add up. The world produces more food than ever—enough to feed twice the global population. Yet, more people than ever suffer from hunger; and their numbers are rising. 

According to Suetonius, courtiers once collected special flavors for the famous banquets of the Roman emperors “in every corner of the Empire from the Parthian frontier to the Straits of Gibraltar.” The Chinese emperors, too, demanded a succession of unusual and exotic treats from distant lands opened up by the Silk Road. Today, this tradition still lives on, fitfully, in North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s requests for Czech beer and Italian pizza.