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Results of UN Food Summit Seen as Disappointing

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This is the VOA Special English Development Report, from http://voaspecialenglish.comThe United Nations held a World Summit on Food Security in November. But the three-day meeting in Rome produced only limited measures to fight rising hunger. The U.N. World Food Program says more than a billion people -- one in six worldwide -- do not get enough food to be healthy.

The troubledworld economy is not the only cause of recent increases. The poorest countries continue to face high food prices, which have fallen elsewhere. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says more than thirty nations continue to need emergency food assistance.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said thefood crisis has forced millions of families into poverty and hunger. He said six million children die of hunger every year. And he warned that food security is closely connected to the issue of climate change.

He said: "At a time when the global population is growing, our global climate is changing. By twenty fifty we will need to grow seventy percent more food. Yet weather is becoming more extreme and unpredictable."

The delegates in Rome promised to continue efforts to reduce by half the number of hungry people by two thousand fifteen. But critics pointed out that world leaders made a similar promise more than ten years ago.

Several countries promised to increase aid for agriculture, to help developing nations become more independent. Still, critics deplored a lack of greater action. Leaders from more than sixty countries were in Rome. But Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconiwas the only leader from a major industrial nation in the Group of Eight. An official from Kenya said it showed a lack of unity in the fight against hunger.

The Food and Agriculture Organization says more than forty billion dollars a year needs to be invested in agriculture to defeat world hunger. The growing problem has affected developing countries, but also industrialized nations.

The government estimates that forty-nine million people in the United States were "food insecure" in two thousand eight. That means their households, at some time during the year, had difficulty providing enough food for all members because of a lack of resources. Almost fifteen percent of all households were in that situation. And the Agriculture Department says the numbers may be even higher in two thousand nine.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report.

(Adapted from a radio program broadcast 23Nov2009)
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